Diana Balmori
Dr. Diana Balmori, FASLA, founded Balmori Associates, Inc., a landscape and urban design firm, in 1990. The New York based practice is recognized internationally for designing sustainable master plans, waterfront parks, public spaces, and gardens.
The Firm’s approach is rooted in the exploration of the boundaries between nature and structure through landscape. Inventive thinking and analysis of hydrological, ecological and temporal dimension leads to an artistic and functional design aesthetic.
In 2006, Diana Balmori created BalmoriLABS, within Balmori Associates, to explore form in landscape and to consider the intersection with ecology, architecture, art or engineering: green roofs, Floating Islands, Temporary Landscapes, Forms of Representation, and Zero Waste City, among others. Diana Balmori is recognized as a theoretical designer through a variety of publications and maintaining an active role in the design/architecture and landscape communities. Since 1993 she has been a Critic at Yale University in both the School of Architecture and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her book, A Landscape Manifesto (Yale University Press, 2010) has received international attention and was recently translated into Chinese. Her most recent book is Drawing and Reinventing Landscape is being published in the spring 2014 by A/D Wiley.
In addition to practicing and teaching, Diana Balmori keeps an active voice in national policy and decision-making on topics that relate to design and development. She has served on the Boards of: The United States Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, DC; Senior Fellow of Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC; Allston Development Group at Harvard University, Boston, MA; The Van Alen Institute, New York City; The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for the World Trade Center Site, New York City; served as a Committee Member for the Comprehensive Design Plan for the White House, and numerous roles at Yale University’s School of Architecture and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Diana Balmori’s opinion-editorials and articles about her work have been featured in Dwell, The Architects Newspaper, Monocle, El Pais, PBS, WNYC, Design Observer, and Utne Reader, which named her one of fifty “Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World” in 2009. In June 2013, she was named Fast Company’s 2013 Third Most Creative People in Business and one of ten 2013 Innovators by Architectural Digest.
