Gina Ford and Laura Gornowski Marett are landscape architects who practice in Sasaki’s Urban Studio, an interdisciplinary and energized team of collaborators focused on the vitality of American urban environments. Much of their recent work has involved examining urban waterfronts and creating strategies to reclaim these often brownfield environments for public use and access, repurpose open space for the service of disadvantaged communities, re-establish riparian corridors and habitats, and withstand the forces of increasingly common floodwaters.

This spring, Gina and Laura took part in the Ground+Water exhibition and lecture series at the Rhode Island School of Design. Their lecture—Water Work—examines a sequence of recent projects focused on the role of rivers in the American Midwest. The work reveals a compelling accumulation of experience, from disaster and recovery to resilience and regeneration.