Founder

Contact: chris@agencyartifact.com

Chris is an award winning landscape architect and urban designer creating public spaces that merge extraordinary experiences, everyday culture and resilient systems.

He has over a decade of domestic and international experience creating projects ranging from urban and ecological systems to site specific interventions. Prior to founding Agency Artifact, he was a co-founder at Superjacent and has lead projects at Rios Clementi Hale Studios, Walt Disney Imagineering, Skidmore Owings & Merrill and the public art program at LA METRO. Chris was a Design Principal at the Jerde Partnership and served as a Vice President for the organization with over a 100 designers working around the world.

Beyond his work as a practitioner, he was a visiting researcher of Urban Design at the Queensland University of Technology, lecturer in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism at USC, Vice President of the LA Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, member of Mayor Garcetti’s Great Street’s design advisory committee and served on the Board of Directors of the Landscape Architecture Foundation. He is currently a Planning Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles.

He received a BA in Urban Studies from Loyola Marymount University, NY/P program in Urban Design at Columbia University GSAPP and MLA from UC Berkeley where he co-founded the GROUND UP Journal.

Senior Designer

Contact: emilio@agencyartifact.com

Emilio is a senior landscape designer creating spaces for people and communities to grow and share.

Emilio has experience in a wide array of project types and scales throughout Southern California. From regenerative landscape design and installation in the San Gabriel Valley, to community master planning in Paso Robles, and to high end residential in Malibu, Emilio has seen how Landscape Architecture enhances people’s lives. He enjoys moving between scales from detailed design efforts of laying out plants in a garden to laying out streets in new cities.

He received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

SENIOR DESIGNER

Contact: melanie@agencyartifact.com

Melanie is a senior landscape designer with extensive construction documentation and administration experience, leading the implementation of projects ranging from public, multi-family housing and custom estates through-out Southern California.

She brings a deep knowledge of all aspects of horticulture and ecology of the varied climates of California. Prior to practicing in top design firms in both Central and Southern California, Melanie worked for large scale landscape contractors and commercial nurseries collaborating with designers and builders on complex landscape installations. Melanie’s deep passion for help communities transform through access to sustainable landscapes can be seen in all of her work

She received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Contact: viraj@agencyartifact.com

URBAN & LANDSCAPE DESIGNER

Viraj brings a unique blend of architectural, landscape and urban planning experience both in the U.S. and internationally. He is devoted to crafting sustainable and inclusive spaces, breaking free from traditional constraints and positively influencing those who inhabit them. Utilizing strategies derived from mapping, research, and community-centric design, Viraj implements inventive approaches for sustainable urban solutions. His projects integrate nature, space, and built systems seamlessly, laying the foundation for a robust and captivating global future achieved through resilience and unity.

Viraj holds a Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism from USC and B.Arch in Architecture from NMIMS, Balwanth Sheth School of Architecture (BSSA).

URBAN PLANNER

Contact: miriam@festivaltail.org

Miriam is an Urban Planner, Researcher and Policy expert working in the fields of resiliency, climate adaptation, public space and community empowerment. Miriam is the Project Manager for the Festival Trail, an innovative mobility, public space and resiliency project to create a Games for All during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond. Miriam was previously a researcher at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, researcher at TreePeople and worked in global education at the Institute for Field Research.

Miriam holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning at UCLA , BA in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and training in Environmental Design from UC Berkeley