OUR STUDIO IS A PLATFORM FOR COLLABORATION.
We believe that 1+1=11.
There is power and infinite possibility when ideas are born from a meaningful exchange of perspectives. We bring a diversity of experience working in landscape architecture, curating, horticulture, public art administration, underground radio stations, urban design, product design, engineering, chicanx studies, environmental planning, floral design, punk bands, academia and non-profit development. Our experience builds empathy, trust and openness for the unexpected to emerge. Our process binds together our clients, communities and stakeholders around the common goal of using design as a journey to create the future.
FOUNDING PARTNER
Christopher Esteban Torres, RLA
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 Commission for the City of Los Angeles- South LA Area Planning Comission.
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.
EMILIO URANGA III
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.
MELANIE BUFFA
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.