Dr. Arta Yazdanseta will begin her assistant professor role with the School of Constructed Environments in the Spring of 2018. She will be teaching courses in architectural environmental design and technology.

Dr. Yazdanseta earned her Doctor of Design (DDes) and Master of Design (MDes) in Energy and Environments from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and her professional architectural degree (with Honors) from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Her research explores the intersection between design, building science, and plant biophysical ecology, and emphasizes coupling building energy performance with vertical vegetative surfaces through design strategies.

She was a research assistant at the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities (HCGBC) where she developed architectural environmental design strategies and provided performance analyses for the Center’s headquarters’ “Positive Energy Retrofit” project. She was also appointed as the principle leader for the data visualization group for the Center’s “House Zero” project.

Dr. Yazdanseta’s work experience includes both large-scale master plans and small residential projects. She has worked with well-known design firms such as SHoP Architects and hMa. She founded her own architectural design studio, LINX Architecture, in 2008, while serving as a visiting instructor at the Pratt Institute.

She has taught at North Eastern University, Harvard GSD, Boston Architectural College, and the Pratt Institute. As a Teaching Fellow at GSD, she taught various courses, ranging from studio courses with Professor Inaki Abalos, to courses concerned with the theoretical principles of energy in architectural design, to technical courses addressing building systems and construction. She has served as a guest critic for theses and final reviews at numerous schools, such as the Pratt Institute, Harvard GSD, and Northeastern.

In 2012, Dr. Yazdanseta’s team was the first prize winner of the IBPSA Competition Award in Chambery, France, and her Master’s thesis, Radiative Cooling Roof Systems, was a winner of the Harvard Sustainability Grant. She is a recipient of the Circle Award Fellowship and was an AIA Women’s Architectural Auxiliary Eleanor Allwork Scholar. Her work has been displayed at the New York Chapter of the AIA and has been published in Metropolis magazine.