Studio

Abby brings to our team her experience in planting and irrigation design, construction documentation and master-planning for public and private sectors in both the Pacific Northwest and California. As a landscape architect, Abby is focused on applying her passions for planting, landscape stewardship, urban environmental design and ecology and is a certified arborist.

Education: California State Polytechnic University, Master of Landscape Architecture; Ohio University, Bachelor of Science in Environmental Plant Biology

Favorite Tree: Asimina triloba / Pawpaw
Favorite Dessert: Tiramisu

Andrea has extensive experience in project design, site development, construction documentation and construction management. Her critical thinking and balanced approach to all aspects of a project enables Andrea to provide the highest level of professional design service, consultant collaboration and client coordination. Her enthusiasm for community engagement is revealed through her volunteer work, mentorship and her hobby as an avid social bicyclist.

Education: University of Washington, Master of Landscape Architecture; Humboldt University-Berlin, Master of Horticulture

Favorite Tree: Cornus angusta ‘Elsbry’ / Evergreen Empress of China Dogwood
Favorite Dessert: Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte

Principal and CEO Andy Rasmussen creates exceptional places for children, families, and communities to live, work and learn. Inspired by time spent in parks and natural spaces as a child, Andy’s personal practice is rooted in a love of the Pacific Northwest. He strives to connect kids to nature and create spaces where everyone feels comfortable outside.

With 30 years of experience under his belt, Andy designs with a confidently open mind; collaborating, facilitating, and understanding site issues, as well as the opportunities they create. Andy has extensive experience on K-12 educational projects.

Andy is a member of ASLA, A4LE, and a graduate of Washington State University. He enjoys spending time with family and friends: at the lake, skiing, golfing and relaxing in nature.

A gifted digital artist with a passion for sustainable design solutions, Callie’s creative energy brings a refreshing outlook to any team collaboration. Callie has managed mixed use, educational and parks projects throughout the Pacific Northwest and has special interest in graphic representation and community engagement.

Education: University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Master of Landscape Architecture; University of Wisconsin, Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science

Favorite Tree: Salix babylonica / Weeping Willow
Favorite Dessert: Cherry Ice Cream

Ciera keeps Fora running! Her decade of experience in administrative support has allowed her to effectively and efficiently manage Fora’s financial operations, and all with a laid back SoCal vibe. She enjoys yoga and quality time with her family.

Education: Citrus College, Associates Degree

Favorite Tree: Washingtonia filifera / California Fan Palm
Favorite Dessert: Brownies with Cafecito

With over 15 years of experience as a licensed landscape architect, Dan is a natural leader and continuously brings strong design and management skills to each project. Having completed projects for both mixed use and education sectors, Dan’s specialty in commercial projects across the nation is a great asset to Fora. Dan is remotely based out of Ohio and utilizes his “Midwest Nice” to the benefit of all of his design teams!

Education: The Ohio State University, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture.

Favorite Tree: Quercus virginiana / Southern Live Oak
Favorite Dessert: Brownie Sundae

With a background in environmental studies and extensive experience in landscape installation, Evan believes in the restorative potential of landscape architecture to create nature in the urban environment. Evan is an experienced designer, project manager and construction administrator in mixed use and educational design projects. His passion for planting design, social justice and environmental accountability are highly valued at Fora.

Education: University of Washington, Master of Landscape Architecture
Clark University, Master of Environmental Science & Policy; Clark University, Bachelor of Arts, Global Environmental Studies

Favorite Tree: Sequoiadendron giganteum / Giant Sequoia
Favorite Dessert: Chocolate Torte

Fan draws from her multicultural design training to create beautiful and unexpected landscape solutions for the Pacific Northwest. Her special interests revolve around the use of technology both as a communication tool within the landscape and as a mode of graphic visualization. Fan’s skill in graphic representation, modeling and project management are great assets to the firm!

Education: Iowa State University, Master of Landscape Architecture; Xian University of Architecture & Technology, Bachelor of Engineering, Landscape Architecture

Favorite Tree: Gingko biloba / Maidenhair Tree
Favorite Dessert: Taro Snowball Mochi

For Gar- Yun, Landscape Architecture offers a way to connect communities, providing people with opportunities to gather, play, explore, cultivate a sense of joy and wonder, and to be restored in nature. Though her early interests in Landscape Architecture were sparked by a fascination with art and a love for biology (she also holds a degree in Environmental Science and Resource Management), Gar-Yun Gar credits her upbringing and early immersion in the world of Ikebana that taught her how to find meaning, beauty, and potential in the world around her.

She sees her work as a balancing act: to design beautiful, functional spaces that tell the stories of the communities and people they serve, while also creating ecologically resilient places that are alive and will evolve and adapt over time. Predominantly focused on the urban realm, Gar-Yun works in compact and complex spaces to deliver meaningful design solutions that honor and respect all communities.

With over 10 years of professional experience in Landscape Architecture, drawing, and painting, Gar-Yun is an exceptional visual communicator. She can iterate and pivot during the creative process without losing sight of a project’s original vision. As a minority woman of color in the AEC, Gar-Yun is passionate about encouraging other women and people of color to join the table.

Gar-Yun loves hiking, and traveling, not-too-sweet desserts, freshly foraged mushrooms cooked in butter over a campfire stove, night markets, searching for four-leaf clovers, and the beautiful chaos of being a toddler mom. She is a graduate of University of Washington, member of the UW LA Professional Advisory Council, and a registered LA, ASLA member.

As our newest team member, Isa brings fresh perspective to our firm and we are happy to have her! She is a talented graphic artist and designer with interest in historic preservation, and is helping to lead our firm’s climate assessment efforts. A true Pacific Northwesterner, Isa is often found sketching on drizzly winter hikes.

Education: University of Washington, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture

Favorite Tree: Thuja plicata / Western Red Cedar
Favorite Dessert: Flan

Kaylin has experience in award-winning urban projects in New York City that focused on outdoor living and entertainment areas, interior and exterior greenwalls, and native / adaptive planting design and implementation. With a background in fine arts and photography, Kaylin has applied her perceptive eye to detail and composition to many of our educational facility and multi-family projects.

Education: Columbia University, Master of Science in Landscape Design; Gonzaga University, Bachelor of Art in Studio Art

Favorite Tree: Acer saccharum / Sugar Maple
Favorite Dessert: Caramel Brownies

As a Southern California transplant, KC always brings a little Point Break energy to the design table – always looking for opportunities to infuse the quirk and character that makes a place unique. KC is driven by sustainability, equity and universal design principles and has worked on dozens of projects in the Greater Seattle area from mixed-use, transit-oriented developments to campus plans and high-rise towers.

Education: University of Washington, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture

Favorite Tree: Washingtonia filifera / California Fan Palm
Favorite Dessert: Key Lime Pie

From his first day at University, Leo knew Landscape Architecture was the profession for him. Drawn to the outdoors and design from a young age, Leo works to create meaningful spaces for people and kids that provide access to and celebrate nature, history and community.

A project manager with a knack for complexity and ingenuity, Leo is the social engine of Fora, keeping people motivated and forging strong relationships with clients and design partners. He brings 15 years of practice, a positive attitude and a community-oriented approach to projects which serve people of all genders, races, orientations.

Hailing from Quebec, Canada, Leo is a graduate of the University of Montreal, an ASLA and CSLA member. He has contributed to world-class projects such as the Vancouver WA waterfront and worked in the highly regarded studio of Claude Cormier, in Montreal. When he isn’t working on a great landscape project, you can find him in the mountains biking or snowboarding.

Raised in rural Willamette Valley, OR, Nick Hagan found his calling as a Landscape Architect — a career that blends his love of art and the outdoors. 30 years later, from intern to owner, Nick focuses on commercial housing and public schools, shaping complex design projects from the blank canvas to delightful built environments. Nick is energized by the early stages of any project — when ideas first come together — and orients his practice toward the exploration of solutions that serve the needs of clients while bettering the planet.

Nick is a forward thinker, motivated by the belief that there is always room to do better. He takes a flexible approach to problem solving; rethinking, evolving, and seeking new ways in order to achieve the best possible outcome. Ultimately, Nick’s goal as a designer is simple: do good work, connect with people, and make the world a better place.

In practice since 1994, Nick is a member of WASLA and ASLA. His extensive work in K-12 school campus design has led to numerous awards and accolades and recognition as a leader in the field. Outside of the studio, Nick enjoys gardening, amateur birding, Samish Island living, thrifting, record shopping, art and architecture (naturally), and making a fine martini.

In a literal sense, Peter built his career from the ground up. From a fascination with plants—their colors, textures and functions— to jobs in nurseries and landscape construction, he gained knowledge of materials and the realities of working with them. When he discovered Landscape Architecture, he’d found his calling: working with nature to positively impact whole neighborhoods, campuses, and communities. 

As one of Fora’s principals and owners, Peter focuses on the high-level view of a project, making broad gestures or establishing the “big idea”.  Specifically, he loves creating cohesive designs that are well integrated into the natural context of a site, drawing out its inherent beauty and then translating that into a design and project narrative. 

Philosophically, Peter’s work and practice is rooted in rigor and optimism. He sets a high bar, whether that be in the thoughtfulness of a design concept, in communication with the client, or in the finished built environment. He is proud to be doing work that contributes positively to climate change by greening our cities, adding tree canopy, and improving green infrastructure. 

Ultimately, he believes the success of that vision is carried by many voices, working in unison. Peter loves connecting people, nurturing creativity, and inhabiting the ‘middle space’ between the client, the site, and the design team. 

A young principal with deep passion, Peter has dedicated much of his life to the “landscape.” A WASLA award-winning designer and Seattle native, he enjoys: spending time with his family, camping on the Oregon Coast, coffee (and coffee shops), making homemade ice cream, working in his garden, PNW summers (and winters for snowboarding). And landscape architecture, of course.

A love of the natural environment inspired Taber Caton’s interest in Landscape Architecture from a young age. Now, as a Principal Landscape Architect with a focus on public design, Taber’s work seeks to improve people’s connection to nature, highlighting the dynamic quality of environments and their processes. Driving her work is a belief that a greater understanding and appreciation of the natural world brings both physical and mental health benefits to individuals and communities.

Taber is a passionate problem solver. With over 20 years experience in multi-disciplinary project management, construction administration, nonprofit and public design, she is adept at working through conflicting priorities, challenging sites and difficult budgets to design resilient spaces for and informed by the communities they serve.

Drawn to the Pacific Northwest from the East Coast, Taber enjoys gardening, hiking in the Cascades with her family and black lab and skiing and ice skating in the winter. She is a member of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board and also a co-chair of the Seattle AIA Women in Design Committee.

High quality public spaces and beautiful natural ecosystems profoundly shaped Todd’s development in a positive way, which is why he was driven to pursue Landscape Architecture as a way to help others experience the developmental benefits that a high-quality built environment provides.

Todd holds a deep appreciation for the value of exceptional craftsmanship and thoughtful design and takes great pleasure in ensuring that Fora’s clients receive the best finished product possible, whether that’s a conceptual master plan or the construction of an addition to an existing facility. Todd works on a wide variety of project types but enjoys a particular focus on the development of large campuses in the Public Education sector, especially those with significant athletic facilities. As one of Fora’s leaders in the development of athletic fields, Todd strives to ensure that the projects we work on allow end users to realize the full physical, mental, and social benefits that these facilities can offer.

He has a unique ability to recognize what people are looking for when it may not be explicitly stated; listening and applying intuition to better comprehend all the stakeholders in a project, including clients, team members and individuals in the community. He uses this strength to create “win-win” solutions that serve multiple goals.

Along with over a decade of professional experience in Landscape Architecture, Todd brings over 5 years experience designing, building, and installing cabinetry, furniture, and finish work, as well as years managing large teams at various retailers.

A northwest native and University of Washington graduate, Todd is a member of the ASLA, and a SITES AP accredited professional. Though his focus is on educational design, he has also served as project manager on multiple A4LE award-winning projects.

When he’s not busy with work at the office or the many activities that accompany 16 and 4 year-old sons, he enjoys woodworking, hiking up mountain streams to go fly fishing, and a nice glass of whiskey around the campfire.