Group Projects is an interdisciplinary environmental design collaborative with projects spanning from installation art, architecture, graphics, landscape, and urban design. It represents the collaborative work of Brett Snyder and Claire Napawan, academics and environmental designers based in the San Francisco Bay Area and at the University of California Davis. Their interest in environmental design stems from a desire to improve resilience to urban communities and includes the integration of digital media and community participation into their design process.Their work represents award-winning proposals, commissioned by local municipalities, and/or exhibited at notable venues throughout the United States. More information: info@grouprojects.com.

Brett Snyder, AIA is a principal of Cheng+Snyder an experimental architecture studio based in Oakland, California and an Associate Professor of Design at the University of California, Davis. Snyder works at and researches the intersection of architecture, media, and graphics with a particular interest in developing vibrant urban spaces. Snyder’s award winning work has been exhibited internationally including the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale and SXSW. Snyder is a recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts award and a Van Alen New York Prize Fellowship. Recent projects include Smart Sidewalks, a winning entry to the NYC Reinvent Payphones competition, Museum of the Phantom City an architectural iPhone app to view visionary but un-built architecture, and S.Alt City an interactive building mural in Syracuse, New York. Snyder holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon and a Masters in Architecture from Columbia University. You can reach him at brett@grouprojects.com.

Claire Napawan is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture within the Department of Human Ecology at UC Davis. Her research focuses on urban public open spaces and their role within the evolving city. In light of economic, social, and environmental changes within urban environments, Napawan has an interest in investigating the roles in which landscapes might adapt to provide ever-increasing productive and infrastructural programs to the global city. This includes investigation of the emerging role of urban agriculture in American cities to address a range of contemporary urban issues. Prior to her faculty appointment, she taught at the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, and has practiced professionally with award-winning design firms, including the SWA Group in San Francisco and dlandstudio, llc. in Brooklyn. Her contributions include design and project management of Downtown Salt Lake City revitalization, Beijing Finance Street urban design, security upgrades for Police Headquarters in downtown Manhattan, and the Sponge Park master plan for the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. Her recent speculative design work includes landscape design for climate change adaptation, including the Hellman Fellowship funded design study of San Francisco’s Eastern Shore and the winning proposal for the 2013 NYC Reinventing Payphones competition, Smart Sidewalks. Napawan holds a Bachelors in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. You can reach her at claire@grouprojects.com.