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Urban Designer/Planner

Los Angeles

Overview of Position
Studio-MLA seeks an Urban Planner/Designer with 5-7 years of professional experience to collaborate with our team leading urban design and planning projects in our Los Angeles office. An expert with attention to detail and a demonstrated ability to communicate effective and clear solutions to complex urban problems is a must. The firm often focuses on water-related projects in the urban realm, therefore the candidate should possess a deep understanding of site operations, hydrology, and ecology, as well as ecological urbanism, performative landscape, and urban regeneration. The candidate’s background may include training in landscape architecture or architecture, however, a degree and expertise in planning and urban design principles, theory, and execution is essential.

Key Aspects of Position

  • Ability to think through complex urban problems and resiliency planning strategies
  • Demonstrated sensitivity and understanding of issues facing communities of all incomes and a high level of cultural competency.
  • Familiar with evaluation strategies and sustainable impact metrics to deploy frameworks multi-beneficial solutions
  • Generate/coordinate high quality illustrations, 3D renderings, and presentation materials
  • Perform site inventories, data mining, historic investigations, and systems research
  • Ability to write design narrative, technical memorandum, and summary reports
  • Explore innovative solutions for performative site design and infrastructural systems

Skills and Experience

  • 5-7 years professional experience
  • Working knowledge of the latest versions of AutoCAD, Sketch-Up, Rhino, Adobe CS, ArcGIS
  • Strong digital graphics and hand illustration skills

Studio Culture
We are a woman-owned, minority-owned practice with a deep commitment to recruiting and retaining an outstanding and diverse team. The studio is a welcoming, collaborative, hands-on space where each of us is encouraged to create, investigate, and explore.

To Apply

  • Please e-mail your cover letter, resume, and portfolio for review
    to jobs@studio-mla.com
  • Excellent benefits package.
  • Compensation commensurate with experience and skill level.

About the Firm
Studio-MLA is a design studio that integrates landscape architecture, urban design, and planning to create places that inspire human connection, unite communities, and restore environmental balance. “Advocacy by design” is a foundation of our practice – a powerful tool to catalyze ecological and social change with inclusivity and authenticity. For more than 25 years, founder and president Mia Lehrer, FASLA has sparked the team’s inventive thinking to address complex relationships within urban and natural environments. From the master planning of cities to the design of intimate plazas and gardens, the studio is recognized for creativity, pragmatism, and advanced strategies for resiliency across a range of scales and geographies.

With offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, our 45-person team includes landscape architects, designers, planners, botanists, and ecologists from around the world. Diversity and multiple perspectives add meaning to collaborations and value to outcomes. Together, we believe in the transformative power of design to recalibrate our shared surroundings for a just and resilient future.