Arta Yazdanseta

Dr. Arta Yazdanseta is the Director of the Master of Architecture Program at Parsons School of Design. Her research explores Bioclimatic Envelopes at the intersection of design, building performance, and plant biophysical ecology. As a Director and educator, she is committed to the development of novel pedagogical approaches to environmental design and education through addressing the perceived dichotomy between poetics of design and building science. She is the co-founder of Growery Collective Lab with a mission to enhance socia-natural systems by cultivating their self-organizing potentials.

Arta earned her Doctor of Design and Master of Design in Energy and Environments from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and her professional architectural degree from the Pratt Institute. As a researcher at the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities, she developed architectural environmental design strategies and provided performance analyses for the Center’s headquarters’ Zero Carbon Retrofit project. Her research contributions have been published in Empire, State & Building, Essays On Thermodynamics: Architecture and Beauty, and Phyto: Principles and Resources for Site Remediation and Landscape Design. As an architect and designer, she has worked at SHoP Architects and hMa.

Arta was the first prize winner of the International Building Performance Simulation Association Competition Award in Chambery, France. She was the recipient of the Harvard Sustainability Award, Circle Award Fellowship, and AIA Women's Architectural Auxiliary Eleanor Allwork Scholar. Her work has been exhibited at the New York Chapter of the AIA and has been published in Metropolis magazine. She has taught at North Eastern University, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Boston Architectural College, and the Pratt Institute.

Companies

• Director of Master of Architecture Program Parsons School of Design - The New School (2021)
• Assistant Professor Parsons School of Design - The New School (2017)
• Coordinator of Sustainable System Parsons School of Design - The New School (2018 — 2021)
• Research Assistant Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities (2014 — 2017)
• Vice President IBPSA Boston (2013 — 2015)
• Research Assistant Harvard Graduate School of Design (2012 — 2013)
• Partner Linx Architecture (2010 — 2012)
• Visiting instructor Pratt Institute School of Architecture (2009 — 2012)
• Design Associate SHoP Architects (2007 — 2008)

Education

• Doctor of Design Harvard University Graduate School of Design (2014 — 2017)
• Master of Design Harvard University (2012 — 2014)
• Bachelor Pratt Institute (2001 — 2007)