Kaki Martin
Principal, FASLA, PLA (she/her)
Kaki Martin is a landscape architect with over twenty-five years of practice experience focused on urban mixed-use, plazas and streetscapes, institutional and open space master planning, park design, and experiential learning landscapes. She is keenly interested and knowledgeable in the design and construction of public urban landscapes. With extensive public design process experience, Kaki has led numerous multi-disciplinary projects in the public sector, all of which included a wide range of stakeholder groups.
She is passionate about the process of finding solidarity with stakeholders and expressing a co-created vision using artful and contemporary solutions which deliver landscapes that engage and build community.
Kaki is the former President of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects (BSLA). She is a former adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of Design and taught in a similar capacity at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Additionally, she has been a member of thesis advisory teams at the Boston Architectural College and continues to be a visiting design juror at many institutions, including the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, and Wentworth Institute of Technology. Kaki served on the Cambridge Conservation Commission for twenty years and in that capacity also served as a committee member for the City’s Community Preservation Act.
Kaki is a Trustee for the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine and is also a founding board member of Good Sports, a Boston based non-profit devoted to ensuring that disadvantaged youth have the equipment they need to participate in organized athletic programs.
“Kaki’s designs arise from the human wish and need to formulate ideas, to recreate them into built spaces for people to use.”
— Niall Kirkwood, DSc. FASLA
Qualifications
Registration and Licensure
Landscape Architect:
MA #4272
CT #1150
ME #4925
NH #00140
RI #0700
Council of Landscape Arch. Registration Boards
(CLARB) Certification #6361
Education
Harvard University
Master of Landscape Architecture
Colby College
Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Painting
Select Honors and Awards
2022
Eric Carle Award 2022 BSLA Simplicity and Stewardship Award
2019
Merit Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, Central Square East Boston 2019 Merit Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, Hoyt Sullivan Park
2018
Merit Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, Fisher Hill Reservoir Park
Merit Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, Suffolk University, Roemer Plaza
Architecture Masterprize, Landscape Architecture - Public, Fisher Hill Reservoir Park
2017
Merit Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, Kennedy Plaza
Honor Award, Boston Society of Architects, Fisher Hill Reservoir Park
2016
Citation Award, Institutional Work, American Institute of Architects New England, Roemer Plaza, Suffolk University
Merit Award, American Institute of Architects New England, Historic Preservation + Adaptive Reuse, Fisher Hill Reservoir Park
2014
Honor Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, Boston Schoolyard Initiative
Paul Davidoff Award, American Planning Association Rhode Island, Providence Rapid Transit Improvements (R-Line)
2013
Silver Medal, Award of Urban Design Excellence, Rudy Bruner Foundation, The Steel Yard
2012
Best Urban Regeneration Project in Asia, MIPIM Asia, Shanghai Bund (w/CKS, SMEDI)
The Senator John H Chafee Conservation Leadership Award, Environmental Council of Rhode Island, The Steel Yard
2011
Honor Award for Design, General Design, American Society of Landscape Architects, The Steel Yard
Great Places Award for Design, Environmental Design Research Association, The Steel Yard
Honor Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, The Steel Yard
Honor Award - Boston Society of Landscape Architects, North End Parks (Crosby|Schlessinger|Smallridge)
2010
Reuse and Neighborhood Preservation Award - Providence Preservation Society, The Steel Yard
2008
First Place in International Competition, Shanghai Bund Waterfront (in collaboration with Chan Krieger Sieniewicz)
Kaki’s News
Fun Facts
Never seen without // My Marimekko Backpack, One Of Many Pairs Of Reading Glasses, And A Water Bottle
Quirk // I Have Many! I Don't Like 'Luncheon Meat' Or Eating From Salad Bars. I Over Purchase Sneakers And My Obsession With Led Zeppelin Dates Back To Middle School Shop Class
Fueled by // Very Dark Chocolate, Avocado, And My Weird Homemade Smoothies
Best thing about KMDG // We Have A Fantastic Team! And, We Also Have Data On Every Employee Dating Back To The Start Of The Firm About An Odd List Of Likes And Dislikes Such As Whether Or Not They Like Hawaiian Pizza Or Believe In Ghosts
One of top 5 New England landscapes // Haystack Mountain School of Crafts