Inside the LA Studio—Spackman Mossop Michaels - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/non-HSW)

Wes Michaels is a Principal of Spackman Mossop Michaels landscape architects. His work is focused on building adaptive communities through green infrastructure, vacant land strategies, ecological restoration, and health-focused landscapes, with a primary focus on how the embedded cultural understanding of a landscape within a community can drive design and planning decisions. Wes is an Associate Professor at Tulane University and a Faculty Fellow at the Tulane Center on Climate and Urbanism. Wes has been awarded several ASLA National Awards, and his work has been exhibited at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum.

As a Principal at SMM, Emily Bullock directs the studio’s strategic vision and daily operations. She comes to the profession through her love of native plants and serves as the firm's lead planting designer. In addition to her work on many of the community-based design projects in the studio, Emily shares her expertise through board positions with The Water Collaborative and the Lafitte Greenway Partnership.

Tracey Armitage is the Studio Manager of SMM’s New Orleans office, joining the firm in 2020. With a background in small business operations and consulting, she excels in administration which has transferred to her role as a project manager for SMM’s EPA portfolio. Tracey specializes in helping client teams navigate compliance to ensure that resources benefit historically underserved communities and is passionate about building a future rooted in community leadership, equity, and strategic climate adaptation.

Liz Camuti is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Architecture at the Tulane University School of Architecture and a Senior Associate in SMM’s New Orleans office. She is a licensed Landscape Architect with nearly a decade of experience working on climate adaptation plans and ecologically-regenerative infrastructure projects across the US. Her expertise is in visual storytelling and geospatial representation aimed at effectively communicating complex ecological, economic, and social systems to public audiences as part of an engaged design process.

Elizabeth Mossop is a founding principal of Spackman Mossop Michaels landscape architects, based in Sydney and New Orleans. She is also Professor of Urban Resilience and former Dean of the Faculty of Design Architecture and Building at the University of Technology in Sydney. She has held leadership positions at Harvard GSD, the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University. Elizabeth is currently leading Adaptation Labs Australia and the Northern Rivers Living Lab.

Alexa is passionate about creating equitable and resilient cities. She is the Director of the Planning & Development Department for the City of Detroit, managing a team responsible for planning and implementing neighborhood and economic development citywide. She rejoined the department after three years working in philanthropy at the Kresge Foundation, funding public space, climate-focused, and equitable economic recovery projects in Detroit, having previously spent six years working at the city, helping restructure the department after Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy. Alexa is a licensed landscape architect and received her bachelor's degree from Harvard and her MLA from the University of Virginia.