About
Since founding the studio in 2013, designer, activist, academic and now author, Julia Watson has been leading the field in search of indigenous technologies for climate-resilient design. Her monograph Lo-TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism, will be published by Taschen in the Fall. She teaches Urban Design studios at Harvard GSD and Columbia GSAPP, while also leading an urban, experiential, and spiritual design practice: Julia Watson Studio. As a designer focused on positively changing our interconnected ecologies, she’s a Director and Co-Founder of A Future Studio. After graduating from Harvard with the highest award for her work on conservation and spiritual landscapes, she’s been widely published and co-authored the Spiritual Guide to Bali’s UNESCO World Heritage with Dr. J. Stephen Lansing. Julia approaches design as ‘Rewilding,’ with a portfolio of projects including the UNESCO Reef Resilience Initiative in collaboration with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes, private estates with the German-American art collector Artur Walther of The Walther Collection, Marc Glimcher and Fairfax Dawn of PACE Galleries and Marfa Ballroom, and the African-American artist Rashid Johnson. She’s held a Summit REALITY, a Pop!tech, Robert S. Brown Charles Eliot and an Olmsted fellowship, received a Christensen Fund for work in conserving Bali’s first UNESCO World Heritage site, and was a Disruptive By Design Ambassador for WIRED. As a previous winner of the New York State Council of the Arts Architecture + Design award, she now judges this grant. Born in Australia, Julia regularly journeys to natural sacred sites across the globe. Formerly Studio REDE, the studio was formed to counsel the Republic of Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture and Education, on the conservation of the Cultural Landscapes of Bali UNESCO World Heritage Site. A new vision for world heritage conservation and sustainable tourism was conceived for the sacred landscape, focused on bio-cultural conservation and livelihood development. This was accompanied by a spiritual guidebook endorsed by the Prime Minister.
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Clients
Profiles
ARCHINECT | Working Out of the Box series
HUMANS AND NATURE | On Designing Indigenous Landscapes
POPTECH | Poptech Social Innovation Fellow and Speaker
UQ | Alumni Profile from Australian Undergraduate University
Exhibitions
Awards & Honors
SELECTED AWARDS
2019 Panelist | New York State Council on the Arts/ Architecture + Design Independent Projects Panel
2018 Panelist | New York State Council on the Arts/ Architecture + Design Independent Projects Panel
2017 Recipient | New York State Council on the Arts/ Architecture Independent Project Grant
2015 Fellow | Schusterman Foundation’s REALITY: Eden to Zion Traveling Fellowship
2013 Ambassador | Oakley & WIRED Magazine’s Disruptive By Design Campaign
2013 Social Innovation Fellow | Poptech
2013 Recipient | Christensen Fund Conservation of Cultural and Biological Diversity Grant
2012 Fellow | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Robert S. Brown ‘52 Faculty Award
2008 Fellow | Harvard University’s Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship
2008 Fellow | Harvard University’s Olmsted Scholarship Candidate and Fellowship
2007 Recipient | ASLA Student Honor Award for He Sapa Leadership Academy
2006 Recipient | Harvard University Penny White Student Traveling Award
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SELECTED HONORS
2019 Speaker | Harvard Landscape Architecture Urban Design Lecture Series Boston
2019 Speaker | Harvard Landscape Architecture Technology Seminar, Boston
2019 Speaker | Columbia Urban Design Lecture Series, New York
2018 Speaker | Columbia Urban Design Lecture Series, New York
2018 Speaker | Cornell University, Fall Lecture Series, Ithaca, New York
2017 Speaker | Future Cities Conference, Kolkata, India
2016 Speaker | RISD Design Theory Lecture Series, Rhode Island
2016 Speaker | Columbia Urban Design Inhouse Lecture Series, New York
2015 Speaker | International Conference on Sustainable Development, Columbia University, New York
2015 Speaker | Columbia Urban Design Inhouse Lecture Series, New York
2015 Speaker | Columbia Architecture Inhouse Lecture Series, New York
2014 Speaker | ASLA National Landscape Architecture Month “Global Perspectives”, New York
2014 Speaker | Landscape and Envionment School of Government, Trentino School of Management, Italy
2014 Speaker | Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, San Fransisco
2014 Speaker | XX International Conference o fthe Society for Human Ecology, Maine
2014 Speaker | Queensland University of Technology Guest Speaker, New York
2014 Speaker | RISD Design Theory Lecture Series, Rhode Island
2013 Speaker | Singapore Heritage Science Conference ‘Heritage Science as a Complex System’ NTU
2013 Speaker | Pop!tech ‘Sparks of Brilliance’ Social Innovators Conference, Maine
2012 Speaker | Complexity and Governance Workshop, “Bali Cultural Landscape” NTU, Singapore
2012 Panelist | New Museum’s Ideas City, What MOCA Can Do panel, New York
2012 Speaker | Pop!tech ‘Towards Resilience’ Social Innovators Conference, Maine
2011 Speaker | CCNY Graduate Lecture Series, New York
2011 Speaker | Columbia Urban Design AAD Lecture Series, New York
2010 Speaker | Columbia University, Advanced Architectural Design Studio, New York
2008 Speaker | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, DD Studio, New York
2007 Program Representative | Harvard GSD: Admissions Open House, Boston
2001 Speaker | RMIT University: Mesh Conference 2001 - Infrastructure as Landscape, Australia
2001 Speaker | Riversymposium 2001 with D. Anderssen, H.Mackay, J. Petrie, & J. Watson, Australia
2001 Speaker | Rivers as Urban Landscapes Conference with J. Watson & H. Mackay, Australia
2000 Speaker | IFLA Annual Meeting, Australia
Publications
SELECTED BOOKS
Lo–TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism, TASCHEN, 2019
Water Urbanism: Kolkata Spring 2017
Abstract: Columbia University Annual 2017
Abstract: Columbia University Annual 2015
K. Shannon & B. De Meulder (eds), “Water Urbanisms as a Way of Life” in Water Urbanisms East (Zurich: Park Books, 2014)
J.N.Watson, ‘Landscape Architecture without Landscape Architects’ in IFLA 50th World Congress Published
Proceedings, (New Zealand: IFLA, 2013)
J. Watson, ‘Landscape Architecture without Landscape Architects’ in ACSA Subtropical Cities Conference
Proceedings, Fall 2013.
J.S. Lansing & J.Watson, Guide to Bali’s UNESCO World Heritage (Jakarta 2012)
J. S. Lansing & J. Watson, ‘Cultural Landscape of Bali’ in World Heritage of Indonesia (Jakarta, 2012)
A. Guiney & B. Crain (eds), By The City / For The City (London: Multi-Story Books, 2011)
A. Saunders (ed), ‘Newly Sacred Shaker Landscape’ in Material Manifestations, (Troy, NY: RPI, 2011)
M. Kubo (ed), View 2008 (Cambridge: Harvard, 2008)
W. Thompson (ed), ‘Student Awards’ in Landscape Architecture Magazine, (October 2007, p. 55)
A. Heighes (ed), Studio Works, (Cambridge: Harvard, 2007)
C. Steinitz & C. Werthmann (Eds), An Alternative Future for the Landscape of Castilla-La Mancha (Toledo,
Spain: Foro Civitas Nova, 2007)
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SELECTED JOURNALS
N. Kirkwood (ed), ‘Sacred Innovation’ in Nakhara Journal (Vol.12 Oct, 2016).
UQ Architecture: Summer ‘16 Profile (online)
Streetchat SFA: Summer ‘16 Profile (online)
Minding Nature Journal: January ‘16 Feature (online)
Archinect Feature: Working out of the Box (online)
J. Watson, ‘Brisbane River Expressways as Landscape Urbanism’ in KERB, (Issue 10, 2001)
Jobs
There are no current job openings available.
CURATED
NYC | Columbia University End of Year Show | Urban Design Studio Spring 2019
NYC | Columbia University End of Year Show | Urban Design Studio Spring 2018
NYC | Columbia University End of Year Show | Urban Design Studio Spring 2017
NYC | Columbia University End of Year Show | Architecture Studio Spring 2015
TROY | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Browns Fellow Exhbition | Bali World Heritage Fall 2013
TROY | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Open House Exhibition 2012
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CONTRIBUTED
NYC | COLLAPSE Climate, Cities and Culture, Global Design NYU, New York 2018
NYC | Columbia University End of Year Show | Urban Design Studio Spring 2017
NYC | Columbia University End of Year Show | Architecture Studio Spring 2015
NYC | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Browns Fellow Exhbition | Bali World Heritage Fall 2013
SINGAPORE | Nanyang Technical University (Art Design and Media) Summer 2013
TROY | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Open House Exhibition 2012
TROY | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Smart Geometries Exhibition 2012
NYC | By The City/For The City Competition Urban Design Week Launch Party Fall 2011
NYC | Gowanus Lowline Competition: Connections Selected Works Fall 2011
TROY | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Accreditation Exhibition 2010
BOSTON | Harvard Graduate School of Design Design Blindspots 2050 with Visionarc Spring 2010
BOSTON | Harvard Graduate School of Design Platform Graduating Students Exhibition 2008
BOSTON | Harvard Graduate School of Design, Studioworks Castilla-La Mancha 2007
BOSTON | Harvard Graduate School of Deign, Studioworks Pte Oyate Academy 2007
SINGAPORE | Design Blindspots 2050, Design 2050, 2009 ICSID World Design Congress Fall 2009
BRISBANE | Landscapes of the Sacred, Queensland University of Technology 2001