1994
Bachelor of Architecture
Catherine Seavitt
Catherine Seavitt traveled to France and Italy.
Catherine Seavitt
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Jury
Adele Chatfield-Taylor
David Childs
Henry Cobb
Cynthia Davidson
Michael McCarthy
Richard Metsky
Billie Tsien
Impact of the Award
July 1, 1996
The beauty of the fellowship was its gift of solitude and time
a singular opportunity to read, to think, to observe. . .
in fact, to reflect, on architecture and on building,
that universal experience.
The experience of another culture,
another history, another language
gave me (more than anything)
a deep appreciation of time
and the sense of its weight.
Chapel of the Resurrection. © Catherine Seavitt.
Catherine Seavitt Nordenson
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Catherine Seavitt Nordenson
is an architect and landscape architect, registered in both professions in New York State. She is a tenured full professor and program director of the Master of Landscape Architecture Program at the Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York, where she teaches graduate design studios and research seminars; she is also the founding faculty editor of the annual student-edited landscape journal PLOT. Seavitt’s work explores adaptation responses to the climate emergency in urban environments and the novel rethinking of landscape restoration practices. Many of her academic design studios explore toxic landscapes and disturbed ruderal sites, and examine the social, cultural, and ecological underpinnings of toxicity while addressing the possibility of landscapes, communities, and ecologies to both regain value and prepare for climate-adaptive futures. Seavitt’s research and publications also examine the broader history of the role of landscape architects as significant participants in environmental advocacy, political power, public health, and the design of equitable public space and policy. Her books include Structures of Coastal Resilience (Island Press, 2018); Depositions: Roberto Burle Marx and Public Landscapes under Dictatorship (University of Texas Press, 2018); and On the Water: Palisade Bay (Hatje Cantz, 2010). Her work has been published widely, including many book chapters, and her essays have appeared in the journals Architectural Review, Artforum, Avery Review, Harvard Design Magazine, JoLA, LA+, Landscape Architecture Magazine, PLATFORM, and Topos. Seavitt received a Bachelor of Architecture from the Cooper Union, a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the City College of New York, and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. She is a Rome Prize Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and a recipient of both a Fulbright fellowship and a Graham Foundation fellowship for research in Brazil.