Nancy A. Takahashi

BSLA, M.Arch, MLA University of Virginia

Distinguished Lecturer

WEBSITE BIO
Since 1985, Ms. Takahashi has been teaching the first-year landscape design studios, Eco-Tech Site Assembly course, and Dew Travel Studio to Barcelona in the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
The design of school grounds has been the focus of her research since 1997. Her 1999 handbook “Educational Landscapes: Developing School Grounds as Learning Places”, published by the Thomas Jefferson Center for Educational Design, proposes a new design process for creating school landscapes and improving the instructional value of school grounds. In 2003, Ms. Takahashi contributed several chapters to the Virginia Department of Education’s first guidelines for public K-12 school grounds. School grounds projects include a Master Plan for the Princeton Junior School in New Jersey (2000-2003), a new entry garden for the Village School in Charlottesville with Hays-Ewing Architects (2005-06), and the State Arboretum of Virginia at UVA’s Blandy Farm Research Station. Related to her interest in educational landscapes, Ms. Takahashi chaired from 1999-2006 the University Arboretum and Landscape Committee, a faculty and student advisory committee charged with exercising broad oversight of the Grounds and landscape.
Built works include Canal Basin Square Museum Park in Scottsville, Virginia with VMDO Architects which was awarded a 2005 Central Virginia AIA Honor Award; Old Michie Courtyard in Charlottesville (1995); Science Center Entry Courtyard at University of Virginia at Wise (2003), and Hereford College at UVA with VMDO Architects and Williams/ Tsien (1992).
In June 2008, Ms. Takahashi assumed the position as Principal at UVA’s Hereford Residential College, where she is seeking to enrich the student community experience by engaging them in hands-on design, gardening, and recreational initiatives at the college’s Observatory Hill setting.