Emma Mendel is a Chinese-Romanian landscape architect from Hong Kong. She is a Lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Weitzman School of Design. Her work explores the relationship between infrastructure, urban ecological networks, and local knowledge.
She was the 2023-24 Ian McHarg Fellow in the Department of Landscape Architecture at University of Pennsylvania, and a Visiting Assistant Professor in the College of Architecture and the Built Environment at Thomas Jefferson University. Previously, she was a lecturer of Landscape Architecture at UVA. Professionally, Mendel has practiced at HOK, Janet Rosenberg Studio, and Nelson Byrd Woltz.
Mendel's research explores the relationship between water infrastructure and local knowledge through the concept of cultural infrastructures. Using this lens, she has studied access to safe drinking water, food sovereignty, and the cultural landscapes of First Nations. And more recently, how cultural responses—such as oral stories, folklore, urban legends, and cautionary tales—emerge just as reliably as technical solutions in the aftermath of a disaster. This work has been supported by the Graham Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and presented at several academic conferences. She has exhibited at the Venice Biennale and at the Chicago Design Biennale.
Mendel holds an MDes from Harvard GSD, an MLA from University of Toronto and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.
