Sasaki recently welcomed five new designers to its ranks of associate principals. Rishi Nandi, newly hired, joins Carla Ceruzzi, Philip Dugdale, Margit Liander, and Meredith McCarthy, who were promoted from within the firm. Each brings fresh thinking and new approaches to leadership that Sasaki says will uphold its commitment to diversity, collaboration, and progress.
Philip Dugdale
Philip Dugdale, ASLA, PLA is a landscape architect and co-director of Sasaki’s office in New York. He is responsible for the realization of a wide range of projects from pop-up parklets and urban plazas, to large-scale landscape planning, public parks, and waterfront developments. Philip brings proven experience in realizing complex urban sites across a range of scales, often collaborating with large multidisciplinary teams.
Philip looks to create dynamic, experiential landscapes that integrate art, ecology and resiliency. A systems thinker, he aims to balance the complex infrastructural demands of our urban environments with the evolving social, environmental, and cultural needs of today’s public spaces.
“Philip is the embodiment of what Sasaki does best—collaborating naturally with large, integrated teams internally and externally. He has dedicated himself to honing the professional skills that contribute to Sasaki’s special sauce—design excellence, relationship building, and a fervent belief in a strong firm culture centered on authenticity and camaraderie. I am excited to see how Philip continues to lead, and to the future successes his leadership will add to Sasaki’s growth.”
Michael Grove – Principal and Chair of Landscape Architecture, Civil Engineering, & Ecology
Carla Ceruzzi
Carla Ceruzzi, AIA, LEED AP BD+C is an architect in Sasaki’s campus architecture practice with broad involvement in design, master planning implementation, and project management. She has significant experience working with institutional clients, and particularly enjoys projects that serve a diverse public. Her work seeks to build consensus around design solutions that are grounded in a deep understanding of each project’s aspirations, program, and site. She finds great fulfillment in helping clients develop design solutions that meet their needs within real-world budgets.
Carla’s built experience includes academic, residential, student life, recreation and wellness, performing arts, and library spaces. She collaborates closely with landscape architects and planners to develop architectural designs within the context of both existing campus landscapes and ongoing site and strategic planning projects.
Margit Liander
Margit Liander, AICP is a planner and project manager in both Sasaki’s urban and campus practices. She brings her public-minded perspective and strong understanding of the interrelationships of institutions and cities to a range of projects within the firm. Margit has extensive local and national master planning experience for large-scale communities, urban districts, park systems, and university campuses. She manages complex multidisciplinary projects and works closely with a range of public and private sector clients.
As an urban planner, Margit aims to shape cities and universities around their people and communities. She strives to create visionary, yet realistic and sustainable solutions based on a strong understanding of the physical, regulatory, and cultural context. She believes that meaningful community engagement is key to ensure an equitable planning process and an implementable plan. As a result of her experience working with a range of urban stakeholders, Margit is an effective communicator who adapts easily to different audiences.
Meredith McCarthy
Meredith McCarthy, AIA works in both the commercial architecture and corporate interiors markets, excelling at taking projects from initial programming through design and construction. Meredith enjoys the problem-solving challenges that design presents, as well as the client relationships that emerge from meeting those challenges together. She’s a storyteller at heart, and seeks to find the narrative and vision in every project she takes on. Meredith often pushes ideas forward, working to develop concepts into implementable strategies and designs, always staying true to the overarching goals of the client and the project. She thrives in collaborative and creative environments, guiding teams through the design process while always looking to learn from her experiences and her teammates.
Having had great mentors herself, Meredith is passionate about opening doors and creating opportunities for people to grow and learn. As a Board Member for the Hideo Sasaki Foundation, Meredith leads the various youth design education programs offered throughout the year. She understands the benefits and strengths that diverse voices bring to design and is focused on making more equitable and inclusive pathways to help those voices be heard.
Rishi Nandi
Rishi Nandi, AIA, LEED AP, is joining Sasaki as an associate principal in architecture to lead the firm’s science and technology practice. A licensed architect, Nandi brings over 20 years of experience conducting research, space planning for academic institutions, and creating built work for both institutional and commercial clients. He has worked on buildings for academic institutions including Harvard University, MIT, and Northeastern University; planning studies for Syracuse, Columbia, and Northeastern Universities; and commercial laboratories for clients including MITIMCo and BXP.
At Sasaki, Nandi will lead the firm’s science and technology practice across the project lifecycle from space utilization and optimization, to programming and conceptual analysis, to the design and implementation of buildings and interior environments. He will work collaboratively as part of Sasaki’s integrated design teams across sectors, providing technical expertise and design leadership. He will also work alongside Sasaki’s data science team to develop proprietary design tools for contemporary research environments.