ABOUT

Kendra Taylor Landscape Architecture, PLLC, based in Richmond, Virginia, provides a full range of services from initial conceptual design through construction project management. Focusing primarily on high-end residential and institutional projects, KTLA’s portfolio also includes resort and commercial work. Many projects include work within historical contexts. KTLA draws upon Kendra Taylor’s broad international experience and firm knowledge of architectural and landscape history; the firm is also well-versed in contemporary design and recent construction technologies. Our approach is based on pragmatic analysis of the client’s needs as well as artistic interpretation of the distinctive characteristics of a place. KTLA believes that a landscape must be appropriate to its context, both architectural and natural. The work aspires to a simple elegance that transcends style so that distinctions of formal/informal or traditional/modern are irrelevant. Current projects include new residences in Pittsburgh, PA; Blacksburg, VA; King George County, VA; Charlottesville, VA; a large garden in southern Maryland; and several gardens in Richmond, including a rejuvenation of a Charles Gillette garden for the 2023 Richmond Symphony Show House. KTLA is collaborating with Kennon Williams Landscape Studio on a landscape master plan for Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville and has also collaborated with a number of eminent architects. Current collaborators include Ferguson & Shamamian, WITH Architecture, Island Architects, and Acme Architecture.

Kendra Taylor is a Landscape Architect registered in New York and Virginia. She received an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and worked for several years as an editor and literary agent, during which time she completed a Master of Arts in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She returned to UVa for a Master of Landscape Architecture degree. She has worked with world-class design firms including Peter Walker and Partners, Deborah Nevins & Associates, and Robert A.M. Stern Architects, where she was the Director of Landscape Design. Her projects are located in all regions of the United States as well as in France, Switzerland, Canada, Turkey, and Kazakhstan. She has written for art and design publications, served on design and awards juries, and taught in the graduate Landscape Architecture program at UVa.

EDUCATION:

  • Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia
  • Master of Arts, English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
  • Bachelor of Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies (Echols Scholar), University of Virginia

 

HONORS:

  • First Alternate, Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, Spring 1998
  • Stanley William Abbott Award, University of Virginia, May 1995
  • Lowe Scholar, Columbia University, 1987
  • Raven Society, University of Virginia, 1985

 

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Registered Landscape Architect in New York, Virginia

 

RELEVANT PAST EMPLOYMENT:

  • HG Landscape Architects, Richmond, VA – Landscape Architect
  • Robert A.M. Stern Architects, New York, NY – Director of Landscape Design
  • Deborah Nevins & Associates, New York, NY – Landscape Architect
  • Peter Walker & Partners, Berkeley, CA – Landscape Architect
  • Hargreaves Associates, San Francisco, CA – Landscape Architect

 

TEACHING AND RELATED ACTIVITIES:

  • Presenter, AIA Architectural Exchange, Fall 2015
  • Adjunct Faculty, University of Virginia Department of Landscape Architecture, Spring 2011
  • Adjunct Faculty, University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies Landscape Design Program, 2010 -2012
  • Awards Jury, Washington DC chapter of the American Institute of Architects “Washington Unbuilt”, 2010
  • Team Leader, Landscapeforms Extreme LA Event, Fall 2008
  • Design Juries, University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University
  • Instructor, Boston Architectural Center, Site Planning and Design, Fall 2002
  • Designed Landscape Forum Conference Committee, San Francisco, CA, November 1996 (international, interdisciplinary conference at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)

 

RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS:

  • Review of “Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau: The Cathedral of Erotic Misery”, Elizabeth Burns Gamard, ed.; “Kurt Schwitters: I is Style (Ich ist Stil; Ik is Stijl”); and “In the Beginning There Was Merz; From Kurt Schwitters to the Present Day”, Susanne Meyer-Buser and Karin Orchard, ed.Journal of Architectural Education, Fall 2002
  • Review of “Recovering Landscape”, James Corner, ed. Land Forum.Spring 2002
  • Review of “William Faulkner and the Tangible Past: The Architecture of Yoknapatawpha.” Design Book Review. Fall 1999
  • “Designing a Civic Center: The San Francisco Prize Competition,” Design Matters(a publication of the Architecture and Design Forum of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). Vol. 4, No. 4. Fall 1997
  • “Prospect Green,” (with George Hargreaves), Garten + Landschaft, Munich, Germany. October 1996
  • Review of Lynne Coen show at P.P.O.W., ARTnews, October 1988
  • “Documents of Destruction,” Artweek, 1986

 

OTHER EMPLOYMENT:

  • Literary Agent, Watkins/Loomis Agency, New York, NY, 1988-1992
  • Assistant Editor, Washington Technology (since acquired by the Washington Post), Vienna, VA, 1985-87