CONSULTING

Bringing artistic inquiry into the design process

Rachel Kavathe works with design teams, municipalities, developers, and organizations to bring artistic inquiry, public art, and place-based thinking into the planning and design of places.

As a public artist, licensed landscape architect, urban designer, and former city planner, Rachel brings together perspectives that are often considered separately. She works alongside architects, landscape architects, planners, engineers, developers, arts organizations, and public agencies to identify opportunities where art, design, and a deeper understanding of place can strengthen a project.

ART + PLACE + DESIGN

Art does not have to be something added to a project after the design is complete. Artistic thinking can contribute much earlier to how a place is understood, what possibilities are imagined, and how people might experience it.

Rachel helps project teams combine artistic inquiry and design thinking to uncover a place's distinctive qualities and explore possibilities that conventional approaches may overlook. This might lead to a public artwork, but it can also influence the larger design of a site, landscape, public realm, or the experience of a place.

Her consulting practice brings three areas of expertise together:

ART Artistic inquiry, public art planning and strategy, artist selection and integration, and site-responsive approaches to art.
PLACE Site analysis, place identity, narrative, material and sensory qualities, and the relationships between people and their surroundings.
DESIGN Landscape architecture, urban design, planning, and collaboration within multidisciplinary design teams.

HOW RACHEL CAN CONTRIBUTE

Rachel can join a project at different stages, from early visioning through design development and implementation.

EARLY VISION + STRATEGY

Bring a fresh perspective to the beginning of a project through artistic inquiry and place-based investigation.

  • Artistic inquiry and conceptual development
  • Site and place analysis
  • Place identity and narrative
  • Art and design visioning
  • Identification of opportunities for art, experience, and site-specific interventions

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Work alongside the design team to develop ideas about art, place, and experience within the physical design of a project.

  • Selection and integration of artists into the design process
  • Public art opportunities and strategies
  • Site-specific art concepts
  • Design strategy connecting art, place, and experience
  • Interdisciplinary concept development
  • Public-space, landscape, and experiential design concepts

PUBLIC ART + IMPLEMENTATION

Help projects move from vision to meaningful and achievable public art programs.

  • Public art planning and strategy
  • Artist selection and integration
  • Artist/designer collaboration
  • Artist briefing and project development
  • Coordination between artists and project teams
  • Guidance through implementation

WHY BRING AN ARTIST INTO THE DESIGN PROCESS?

Artists bring a distinct way of observing, questioning, interpreting, and imagining. Artistic inquiry can challenge assumptions, reveal qualities of a place that might otherwise be overlooked, and open up possibilities beyond conventional approaches to design. On the other hand, designers bring systems thinking, spatial understanding, and the ability to connect ideas across scales. They are expert problem solvers and understand the complexities of the building process.

Rachel works at the intersection of these ways of thinking. As a practicing artist, licensed landscape architect, urban designer, and former city planner, she understands both the exploratory nature of artistic practice and the practical realities of planning and design. She helps teams bring these approaches together, using artistic inquiry to expand what a project could become while connecting those ideas to the realities of designing and implementing a place.

A COLLABORATIVE ROLE

Rachel's interdisciplinary background allows her to contribute directly to design while bringing an artist's way of seeing to the process. She can work within a project as an artist, landscape architect, urban designer, or planner, and move between these roles to connect ideas, disciplines, and opportunities.

The role can be tailored to the needs of a project, from a focused period of inquiry or strategy development, to ongoing collaboration as part of a multidisciplinary design team, to development and implementation of a public art program.

EXPERIENCE

Rachel brings 25 years of combined experience across public art, landscape architecture, urban design, city planning, and higher education teaching. Her work has included public art projects, public-space design, urban design and planning, and collaboration with municipalities, arts organizations, and multidisciplinary design teams.

Her experience allows her to understand projects from multiple perspectives and connect artistic ideas to the practical realities of designing and building places.

LET'S WORK TOGETHER

If you are developing a project and see an opportunity for art, place, and design to inform one another, Rachel would welcome a conversation about how she could contribute.

GET IN TOUCH