Mikyoung Kim, Founding Principal

Mikyoung Kim is the founding principal and design director of Mikyoung Kim Design. Her work is focused on bringing the science and art of health and wellness in the public realm. She is known for culturally significant designs that serve as a powerful tool to celebrate the beauty of the collective human experience. Mikyoung’s diverse background in design, music and sculpture has shaped her body of humanistic work, blurring the boundaries between the landscape, ecology and architecture. From large scale urban and waterfront parks to botanic gardens, her work reflects a deep commitment to memorable place making that captures the public imagination.

Throughout her career, she has crafted an exceptional body of work that has been highlighted in numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Geographic, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Architectural Record, Dwell, Surface, Garden Design, and the Chicago Tribune. Mikyoung is a recipient of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and the ASLA National Design Medal. She was named by Architecture Digest as an AD Innovator and is a Fellow with the American Society of Landscape Architects. Mikyoung's firm has been recognized by Fast Company as one of the most innovative companies in the world.

A frequent international speaker, she has spoken at Yale University, the Gardner Museum, Stanford University and the National Building Museum in Washington DC. She has served on numerous juries including the Rome Prize jury and the Heinz Awards. Mikyoung currently serves on the Mayor's appointed Civic Design Commission in Boston. She has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and is a Professor Emerita at the Rhode Island School of Design where she was awarded the college's Dean's Leadership Award when she was Chair of the program. Mikyoung was trained as a concert pianist at Oberlin College and Conservatory, studied Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and public art at MIT. While at Harvard, she was an Olmsted Scholar and received the Norman T. Newton Prize and the Jacob Weidenman Prize.

Emmett Gregory, Senior Associate

Emmett is a senior project manager overseeing a wide portfolio of work. His experience with large public parks and urban renewal projects gives him the skills to lead design teams on many resilient focused planning projects across the firm. Emmett oversees our research team on health and wellness in the studio.

Emmett is passionate about working with people to better their communities through design. He enjoys the creative process and believes first and foremost the design must be effective and address the problems at hand. At MYKD, Emmett helps to guide a team of designers on variety of projects from the Texas Medical Center research campuses to urban infill and public park spaces in downtown Boston. His current work includes the TMC Helix Park, Eastman McDermott Court at MIT and the campus at New York Presbyterian Cancer Center. Emmett holds a Bachelor’s in Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia.

Ian Downing, Associate Principal

Ian is a senior project manager who oversees projects through all phases of work, with a special focus on ensuring a smooth process from design development through final construction and implementation. At MYKD, Ian facilitates a dialogue between designers and builders to enhance landscape details and streamline the construction process. Ian appreciates how the design-build environment sparks rapid innovation, new construction methods, and material combinations.

With an eye towards sustainability, he implements environmentally responsible design strategies and has extensive experience with LEED projects. Ian has lectured extensively on the importance of responsive and sustainable detailing including numerous presentations at the national American Society of Landscape Architects Convention. A graduate of Wentworth Institute of Technology, Ian has a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Architecture.

Chloe Naese, Designer

Chloe is a designer at MYK focused on the green infrastructure systems that shape the landscapes that we design. Chloe focuses her work on resilience and on honoring the local histories and ecologies and brings those interests to our research group focused on further developing our study of neurodivergent populations in our shared spaces. She received her BA from Montana State University and her MLA from the University of British Columbia.

Bryan Chou, Associate Principal

Bryan Chou is a senior designer at Mikyoung Kim and is focused on our urban work in the public realm. Bryan has presented at numerous conferences, including the Greater and Greener Parks Conference and the Cooper Hewitt’s Design Symposium. Bryan is active in the local and national design community and has served as a jury member for the Philadelphia Airport Image Maker Competitions and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects’ awards program.

He has also been a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Pathways to Inclusion. He has been a guest critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and at the Rhode Island School of Design. Bryan is a registered Landscape Architect and holds a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and a B.A. in Environmental Planning from the University of Washington.

Ryan Vorndran, Designer

Ryan loves working on innovative planting strategies, digital and physical fabrication, and intricate model making. With a solid background in landscape construction, he combines practical know-how with creative design to bring projects to life. Ryan enjoys exploring new digital tools within the design process while also valuing traditional methods like hand sketching and model building, believing that balancing the two methods can lead to interesting and unique designs.

With experience in both design and construction, Ryan aims to blend ecological integrity with aesthetic appeal in all his work. His work at MYK includes the design of a new Botanic Garden in Charlottesville, Virginia and several Healthcare resiliency projects. He earned his Master’s in Landscape Architecture from The Ohio State University.

Michele Chen, Designer

Michelle is a designer at MYK working on the development of strategic social and ecological systems within the campus. She is interested in discovering and visualizing ethnographic cultures, ecological processes and psychological engagement in the design of communities in the public realm. She is interested in work that crosses boundaries between the various design professions. She has received awards from the BSLA and the International Design Ideas Competition for her project, "Reciprocal Living- Local Forest Coalitions" Michele is part of the research group at MYK and brings our neurodiversity toolkit to her work for the campuses for Nova Nordisk and MIT.

Michele holds a Masters in Landscape Architecture and Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a B.S. in Architecture with a minor in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Laura Pease, Designer

Laura is a trained architect and urban designer with a focus on urban design. She is interested in the interface of climate change and human health and well-being. Laura is passionate about human centered design, focusing on connecting urban fabrics to their historical contexts through large-scale developments. Laura is currently working on the Ford's Michigan Central Park in Detroit and the Revere High School Resiliency Campus Plan. She received a Masters in Architecture from Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Alek De Mott, Project Designer

Trained as an Architect and Landscape Architect, Alek is a Project Designer working on project sites at the University of Virginia and the Michigan Central Park in Detroit that are focused on the resonances of history in placemaking. Originally from Poland he saw a constant transformation of the city that developed his interest in the urban environment and its impact on the global scale. For the past two years, Alek has been a vital member of MYK’s research group helping to develop a better understanding of health and wellness in the public realm.

Alek is a recipient of the Susan Nelson Fleiss Travel Scholarship supporting international travel for the purpose of research, design, or personal development. Alek received his Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia.

Tian Yi, Designer

Tian is a landscape designer and architect who has a keen interest in parametric design and its potential to create dynamic and responsive landscapes. She holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Harvard's Graduate School of Design and has a background in architecture and visual art from the University of Toronto. She is passionate about exploring the intersection between landscape, architecture, and resiliency, and brings her background in architecture into her work at MYK.

Robbie Gaskins, Designer

Robbie is an urban designer at MYKD and has been focused on both landscape architecture and urban scaled construction. Robbie is currently working on the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont and the Revere High School Resiliency Campus. Robbie has experience in both landscape design construction and architecture, having worked in the profession for the past few years. Robbie received a Bachelors and Masters in Architecture from the Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Heejung Shin, Project Designer

Heejung is passionate about urban design projects that support resiliency, connect fragmented communities, and restore habitats and environmental systems. Heejung has worked and studied in both the US and Seoul, Korea giving her a unique outlook on ecologically and environmentally functioning urban landscape design strategies. She brings an interest in creating equitable, livable and resilient cities, with a particular focus on design-driven engagement and visual storytelling. Her work at MYKD includes masterplanning design for the Wellesley Science Hill Campus and resiliency parks in Boston in the Seaport District.

Trained as both an architect and landscape architect, she brings numerous years of experience in both fields to her projects. Heejung received a Master’s in landscape architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

Abigail Williams, Administrative Assistant

Abigail provides administrative support for the studio including Human Resources assistance. She is passionate about community development efforts locally and around the world and aims to partner with communities, designing ever-improving systems that support holistic health for all. She has a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs.

Patrick O'Connor, Project Accountant

Patrick oversees the studio's accounts while maintaining overall budgeting and financial planning and reporting. He works closely with our clients and consultants on billing and project financial planning. Patrick holds a Masters in Accounting and a B.A in Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Isenberg School of Management.

Katherine Hill, Project Designer

Katherine is interested in biophilic design strategies that unify architectural elements with landscape architecture. She strongly believes in the physical, mental, and social benefits of re-imagining the relationship between the two disciplines and the sustainability opportunities therein. Additionally, she highly values the importance of teaching and volunteering as a medium for design exposure and likes to spend her free time volunteering in her local community. She has brought this ethos to her work on the Nova Nordisk campus and the Pryde Campus.

She was trained as both an architect and landscape architect, gaining experience at several design firms across both disciplines. Katherine holds a bachelor’s in architecture and a master’s in landscape architecture from the University of Tennessee.

Yufei Yan, Project Designer

Yufei believes that landscape architecture has the power to regenerate and transform the environment bringing about a positive change that builds unique connections between communities and their context. She gravitates towards the conservation of the natural environment to provide sustainable design solutions through a balance of urban development to coincide with nature. She is a member of our neurodivergent research group.

At MYKD she’s contributed to the Michigan Central Park Masterplan project and the New Science Hill Masterplan at Wellesley College. She received her bachelor’s degree of Landscape Architecture at SUNY ESF and her MLA degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Patrick Nasta, Design Intern

Patrick Nasta, a studio intern at Mikyoung Kim and recently graduated from Brown University with a double major in Architecture and History. He is overseeing the model making responsibilities for the Michigan Central Park in Detroit. He also holds a Master of Gastronomy from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy, where he studied the intersection of agriculture and architecture. Patrick has experience working at a forensic conservation firm and as a teaching assistant in modern architecture.