Danielle Choi

Danielle Choi is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She teaches in the MLA core studio sequence and leads design research seminars.

Choi’s research concerns infrastructure, technology, and the synthetic role of landscape design as a cultural practice. Current research projects include: a critical environmental history of 20th century interior landscapes; water infrastructure and the invention of public nature; and the politics of preservation, conservation, and restoration in the current climate crisis. Archival research is central to design research methodologies as a means of contaminating, rather than consolidating, landscape and urban histories, as well as a way to uncover evidence of ecological systems and social practices over time that may be unresponsive to formal analysis.

Choi’s research has been published in Journal of Architectural Education, Harvard Design Magazine, Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, and Landscape Architecture. Prior to joining the GSD, Choi taught studio in urban design at Columbia University. She is a licensed landscape architect, and has practiced with Topotek in Berlin and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) in New York; as a senior associate at MVVA, she led strategy and design of complex urban landscapes and managed large, multi-disciplinary teams. Choi holds a degree in art history from the University of Chicago and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the GSD, receiving the Jacob Weidenmann award for excellence in design.

Research Areas

• Ecology
• History & Theory
• Infrastructure
• Sensory Media
• Urbanism