Alisa
Blatter
Alisa Blatter — Landscape Architectural Designer
I am a landscape designer, mapmaker, and writer living in St. Louis. Struck by the tallgrass prairie landscape since my childhood in Minnesota, I seek to resolve its loss against the forms of the urban spatial environment and across private, public, and nonprofit realms. My writing, cast from first-person research, considers the phenomenology of this and other landscapes. I hold a masters degree from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis.
I collaborate and partner with other designers, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community members to conceptualize, design, and manage projects in the landscape as an
intra-referential, aggregated practice.
I am passionate about native plants and plant communities and their relationship to the urban matrix, infrastructure, and human and non-human habitation.
Education
2017
Master of Landscape Architecture, cum laude
Washington University in St. Louis
2010
2005
Certificate in Native Plants, Phipps Conservatory
Penn State Master Gardener, Phipps Conservatory
Bachelor of Arts, Art History + Spanish, cum laude
University Honors Program
Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
Awards
2018
2018
ASLA National Award of Excellence
Student Collaboration, The One Tree Project
ASLA St. Louis Chapter Honor Award
project team member for Christner, Inc., Danforth Plant Science Center Signage
2018
ASLA St. Louis Chapter Award of Excellence
Student Team Award, The One Tree Project
2017
The Master of Landscape Architecture Award
Washington University in St. Louis
2017
ASLA St. Louis Student Service Award
Washington University in St. Louis
2017
CityStudioSTL Student Grant
Office for Socially Engaged Practice, Washington University in St. Louis
2016-17
ASLA St. Louis Named Scholarship Recipient
Washington University in St. Louis
2016
Outstanding Second Year MLA Student
Washington University in St. Louis
2014
ASLA Pennsylvania/Delaware Chapter Merit Award
Student Collaboration
Project Experience
12/17 - present
Landscape Architectural Designer, St. Louis, MO
Design and project manage independent and collaborative landscape projects across nonprofit, public, and private realms. Projects focus on relationships among people, communities, and urban ecology, from local to regional scales, built to speculative.
fa 2017
Landscape Design Intern, Arbolope Studio, St. Louis, MO
Developed and designed site analysis diagrams and presentation, drafted and revised construction details, created plants and materials books, and supported marketing.
su 2017
Landscape Architecture Intern, The Nature Conservancy + WashU Collaboration
Summer immersion in design and management of TNC’s Dunn Ranch tallgrass prairie as a conservation and restoration site. Created a book of research and design findings based on sustainable productive landscapes, community integration, and facilities and infrastructure design.
fa 2016
sp 2017
Research Assistant, Charting the American Bottom project
Divided City Urban Humanities Initiative, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Edited and coded project text for the website theamericanbottom.org, which interprets the floodplain of the Mississippi as a complexly layered social, industrial, and ecological condition.
su 2015-
su 2016
Research Assistant, Baden Pilot Project, St. Louis Urban Vitality + Ecology Initiative. Ferguson Academic Seed Fund Grant, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Prepared project mappings and analysis. Designed a book for partner organizations detailing studio work in the Baden neighborhood around demolition, vacancy, and neighborhood-scale stormwater management strategies.
2008-14
Board Member, Chatham Village National Historic Landmark, Pittsburgh, PA
Oversaw policy and budget concerns for a 57-acre historic coop community planned by Clarence Stein. As chair of the grounds committee, guided studies and projects relating to stewardship, recreation, safety, security, preservation, and community.