Chris Anderson
Associate and Landscape Architect Chris Anderson comes to Starr Whitehouse with several years of operations experience, gained working for the National Park Service and Gowanus Canal Conservancy. Building on this operational know-how, he has honed a versatile skill set geared towards construction, project management, and design team coordination. From overseeing the implementation of New Jersey’s first resilience park in Hoboken, NJ, to coordinating the re-design of 35-acre St. Mary’s Park in the Bronx, to managing the completion of six new gateway plazas across New York’s ambitious Empire State Trail system, Chris has become an invaluable member of Starr Whitehouse’s project management corps. Since relocating to the Upper Hudson Valley in 2020, Chris has been active in establishing Starr Whitehouse’s Hudson Studio, where he works with Director Gail Wittwer-Laird on projects for state, county, and local government in communities across the state. Recent work includes the DRI-funded reconstruction of historic Promenade Hill Park in Hudson, NY, the reconstruction of a community park and regional trout fishing hub for the New York Power Authority in Hamlin, NY, and over half a dozen projects for the State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.
Representative Projects:
Park Design
Bear Mountain State Park Restoration, Bear Mountain, NY
Manhattan Greenway Harlem River Waterfront Park Design, New York, NY
Scout Park, Hamlin, NY
Hamlin Beach State Park, Hamlin, NY
Battery Playscape, New York, NY
Hoboken Southwest Park, Hoboken, NJ
Thompson Park Master Plan, Watertown, NY
Promenade Hill Park Reconstruction & Plaza Redesign Hudson, NY
Bronson Park Vision, Hudson, NY
St. Mary’s Master Plan and Reconstruction, Bronx, NY
Streets, Public Realm, and Infrastructure
New Windsor Cantonment Accessibility Improvements New Windsor, NY
NYPA Reimagine the Canals Guidelines New York, NY
Harlem Greenway Link Study, New York, NY
NYS Parks Empire State Trail Gateways, Multiple Sites, New York State
Gowanus Greenscape Master Plan, Brooklyn, NY*
Fresh Creek Coastal Resiliency, Brooklyn, NY
NYPA Reimagine the Canals Guidelines New York, NY
Site Plans + Housing
Woodstock Residence, Woodstock, NY
Bedford Green House, Bronx, NY
Mill Brook Houses, Bronx, NY
Coney Island Affordable Housing Development, Brooklyn, NY
Covenant House Young Adult Shelter, New York, NY
Cunningham Park Garage, Queens, NY
Crossroads Development Plaza, Bronx, NY
StuyTown Fitness Playground, New York, NY
*Work completed prior to joining Starr Whitehouse
Perdy Biddlecombe, originally from Glasgow, Scotland, holds an undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology. Three years ago, she moved to New York to pursue a Master’s degree in Media, Culture, and Communication, at New York University. Passionate about communications, Perdy is particularly focused on how to market accessible sustainable design while serving diverse communities. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, embroidery, and playing wiffle ball.
Senior Associate Ryan Castro brings over a decade of experience shaping immersive landscapes across a broad range of project types—from urban playgrounds to state parks, greenways, and green roofs. At Starr Whitehouse, Ryan serves as the lead landscape architect for the Brooklyn Greenway, a waterfront project focused on enhancing accessibility, promoting health, and connecting communities with scenic views and recreational spaces along the waterfront. In addition, he played a key role in the design of the ambitious Lakeshore improvements at Bear Mountain State Park, working closely with the team to enhance the visitor experience while preserving the site’s historic and ecological character. Ryan approaches every project with a balance of creativity and technical rigor, crafting spaces that offer moments of calm, connection, and clarity within the urban fabric. His work is grounded in place making—weaving together narrative, site, and user experience to create landscapes that resonate deeply while meeting future needs and the challenges of diverse communities. He earned his Master of Landscape Architecture as a Presidential Scholar at the Rhode Island School of Design and holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the New York Institute of Technology.
Representative Projects:
Parks and Playground Design
Dinosaur Playground Restoration, Riverside Park, New York, NY
Bear Mountain State Park Restoration, Bear Mountain, NY
Clove Lakes Park Ballfield Reconstruction, Staten Island, NY
Bartlett Playground, Brooklyn, NY*
Maple Playground, Queens, NY*
Lower Highland East Playground and Comfort Station, Queens, NY*
FDNY-EMT Yadira Arroyo Playground, Bronx, NY*
Playground 134, Bronx, NY*
Longfellow Playground, Bronx, NY*
Lyon Square Playground, Bronx, NY*
Little Claremont Playground, Bronx, NY*
South Rochdale Playground, Queens, NY*
Streets, Public Realm, and Infrastructure
Destination Greenways! Leif Ericson Park to Verrazzano Bridge, Brooklyn, NY
Destination Greenways! Plan, Queens/Brooklyn, NY*
Site Plans + Housing
116th Police Precinct Station House Landscape, Queens, NY
Barnard College, Manhattan, NY*
NYU Langone Tisch Courtyard, Manhattan, NY*
*Work completed prior to joining Starr Whitehouse
Associate, Urban Designer and Assistant Studio Director Huanyu Chen plays a critical role in project visualization and production management at Starr Whitehouse. As Assistant Studio Director, Huanyu works closely with senior staff to improve project production and management workflows. Frequently called on to distill urban systems, client needs, and community desires into clear schematic designs, Huanyu brings deep expertise in graphic technologies and production management. He developed a digital model and GIS data to support the team’s resilience study and design of a new 7-acre waterfront park for Manhattan Greenway Harlem River; generated an updatable Lumion model to register real-time evolutions in the site design of Durst’s Queens Plaza Park Development; and developed rendered plans and perspectives to build consensus around an open-air market at the Luna Corporate Plaza in Sao Paulo. He also brings technical knowledge of NYC standards, including DOT’s Street Design Manual, NYC Parks Standard Details and DCP zoning. For Safe Routes to Transit – 86th Street, he coordinated inputs from the engineer, NYC DDC, and NYC DOT to design streetscape enhancement options. Huanyu completed his Master’s of Science in Architecture and Urban Design at Columbia University, where he focused on landscape infrastructure and reshaping the public realm, and Bachelor of Engineering in Urban Planning at Wuhan University, where he focused on spatial analysis.
Representative Projects:
Streets, Public Realm, and Infrastructure
Broadway Boulevard Plaza, New York, NY
New Rochelle Transit-Oriented Development, New Rochelle, NY
Empire State Trail Canalway, Tonawanda, NY
Union Square Streetscape and Lighting Plan, New York, NY
DUMBO and Vinegar Hill Mobility Study, Brooklyn, NY
Brooklyn Bridge Esplanade, New York, NY
Anderson Park, New Rochelle, NY
NYPA Reimagine the Canals Guidelines New York, NY
Intergate Manhattan, New York, NY
Lower Manhattan Mobility Analysis, New York, NY*
Erie Canal Infrastructure Transformation Study, New York State*
Park Design
Manhattan Greenway Harlem River Waterfront Park Design, New York, NY
Bear Mountain State Park Restoration, Bear Mountain, NY
Marsha P Johnson State Park Public Outreach and Park Design, Brooklyn, NY
Freshkills South Park, Staten Island, NY
Arverne East Nature Preserve, L+M Development Partners, Queens, New York
Jones Beach Energy and Nature Center, Jones Beach State Park, NY
New Windsor Cantonment Accessibility Improvements New Windsor, NY
Elmont Road Park, Long Island, NY
Carroll Park Community Vision Plan, Brooklyn, NY
Climate Resilience Planning
East Shore Shoreline Parks Resilience Plan, Staten Island, NY
Site Plans + Housing
Vine Street Waterfront Development, Philadelphia, PA
Queens Plaza Park Development, Queens, NY
Luna Corporate Park and Food Market, São Paulo, Brazil
Bedford Green House, New York, NY
StuyTown Fitness Park, New York, NY
375 Pearl Plaza, New York, NY
*Work done before joining Starr Whitehouse.
Aishwarya Dharmarajan is a landscape designer with a background in architecture and landscape architecture. Aishwarya brings this multidisciplinary lens to her current work on the LinC, providing design detailing and working on construction documents for a highway-to-park conversion project that will create an eight-acre oasis in downtown New Rochelle. For the design of Oakdale playground, a nature-based play area in Hudson, she is preparing client presentation materials and community meeting graphics while keeping up with the fast-moving project timeline. Before joining Starr Whitehouse, Aishwarya was a designer at Bjarke Ingels Group where she worked on design development, subconsultant coordination, and construction documentation for the North/West Battery Park City Resiliency Project — addressing the impacts of sea level rise and storm damage on a dense residential area in Lower Manhattan. Across all of her projects, Aishwarya brings her professional interest in creating inclusive, resilient and people-centered public spaces. She received her bachelor’s in architecture from KRVIA, University of Mumbai and her master’s of landscape architecture from University of California, Berkeley. She has received the ASLA NCC Student Merit Award, H. Leland Vaughan Memorial Scholarship, ASLA Certificate of Merit in Graduate Category, and AWAF – KFA Architecture Scholarship, and has been recognized as a 2024 LAF Olmsted Scholar.
Representative Projects:
Streets, Public Realm, and Infrastructure
The LinC Highway-to-Park Conversion, New Rochelle, NY
Niagara Falls State Park Rainbow Bridge Study, Niagara Falls, NY
Climate Resilience Planning
North/West Battery Park Coastal Resiliency, New York, NY*
Park Design
Oakdale Park Playground, Hudson, NY
*Work completed prior to joining Starr Whitehouse
Annabel brings experience in stakeholder coordination, organizing community workshops, creating online public surveys, and further project coordination across various phases. On the East Village / Lower East Side Waterfront Access Study, she prepares materials for public workshops, focus groups, and other community engagement activities. For the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice’s Climate Strong Communities program, Annabel helps manage communications with over 35 community leaders across 6 neighborhoods, as well as developing the team’s materials for outreach, neighborhood walks, and public workshops. Annabel received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in environmental studies from The Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School in 2019.
Representative Projects:
Climate Resilience Planning
Climate Strong Communities, New York, NY
East Shore Shoreline Resilient Parks Plan, Staten Island, NY
Streets, Public Realm, and Infrastructure
DUMBO / Vinegar Hill Mobility Study, Brooklyn, NY
East Village / Lower East Side Waterfront Access Study, New York, NY
Lewisboro Comprehensive Plan, Lewisboro, NY
Park Design
Hart Island Master Plan, Bronx, NY
Nissequogue River State Park Master Plan, Kings Park, NY
Southwest Resiliency Park Expansion, Hoboken, NJ
Harriet Grimm is a registered landscape architect and certified arborist with three decades’ experience designing, guiding and implementing complex multi-discipline projects. Her work has primarily focused on projects in the public realm, including parks, schools, streetscapes, roadways and infrastructure. She has deep knowledge of New York City and State agency design requirements, including bidding and construction procedures. As both a landscape architect and certified arborist, Harriet works to preserve and protect trees and other natural site assets during construction. She brings to each project a valuable understanding of sustaining natural systems in an urban context. At Starr Whitehouse, Harriet supports the design team with constructability and quality assurance reviews.
Prior to joining Starr Whitehouse, Harriet was a Senior Associate and Landscape Studio Director at Saratoga Associates’ NYC Office, where she directed design and implementation of the award-winning Daylighting of the Saw Mill River in Yonkers, NY. She oversaw the preparation of the award-winning communications document for the Preliminary Re-design of Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx, and the design and implementation of 42 school play and outdoor educational facilities. Her work encompasses a full range of projects, including restoration of the Crown Hill Vista at the Olana State Historic Site, as well as design of a new parkway entrance to Niagara Falls State Park. Other public institutions, including the Queens Botanical Garden and the New York Botanical Garden, have entrusted her with reconstruction projects.
Previously, Harriet was an Associate Landscape Architect at Abel Bainnson Butz where her diverse portfolio included completion of projects for the NYS and NYC Departments of Transportation, NYC Department of Design and Construction; and NYC School Construction Authority. Notably, Harriet managed ABB’s Landscape Inspection Services team, which monitored reconstruction of 300 parks and playgrounds for the NYC Parks Department over a five-year period.
Representative Projects:
Park and Waterfront Design
Marsha P Johnson State Park, Brooklyn, NY
Bayard Cutting Arboretum, Great River, NY
Jones Beach State Park, West Games, Wantagh, NY
Freshkills South Park, Staten Island, NY
Niagara Falls Entrance, Robert Moses Parkway, Niagara Falls, NY*
Crown Hill Restoration, Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY*
Re-imaging Gardens on Parade, Queens Botanical Garden, NY*
Site Plans + Housing
Vine Street Waterfront Development, Philadelphia, PA
Queens Plaza Park Transit-Oriented Development, Queens, NY
Streets, Public Realm, and Infrastructure
Manhattan Greenway Harlem River Waterfront Park Design, New York, NY
Arverne East Nature Preserve, L+M Development Partners, Queens, NY
Empire State Trail Gateway Sites, Various Sites, NY
City of Hudson Landfill—North Bay Connector, Hudson, NY
Daylighting the Saw Mill River, Van der Donck Park, Yonkers, NY*
Mosholu Parkway, Preliminary Design Report, Bronx, NY*
*Work completed prior to Starr Whitehouse
With a background in architecture, landscape architecture and urban design, Senior Associate Ankita Gupta brings wide-ranging design and implementation experience to the Starr Whitehouse team. As a project manager, Ankita coordinates complex efforts with intersecting stakeholders and approvals. She currently manages the Starr Whitehouse-led consultant team on NYC Parks’ Freshkills South Park, the first phase of reclamation at what was once the world’s largest landfill. In the Bronx, she is working closely with an interdisciplinary team of engineers to lead landscape design for the daylighting of historic Tibbetts Brook from Van Cortlandt Park deep into the surrounding neighborhoods. Other experience includes landscape designs for affordable housing developments in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, as well as fitness parks, playgrounds, sports facilities, streetscapes, green infrastructure guidelines, climate resilience studies, hospitality landscapes, and master planning for mixed-use developments. Ankita received her Bachelor’s in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and her Master’s in Landscape Urbanism from the Architectural Association, London.
Representative Projects:
Streets, Public Realm, and Infrastructure
Tibbetts Brook Daylighting, Bronx, NY
FDR Promenade, Manhattan, NY
Site Plans + Housing
Flatlands Yards DOT Maintenance Facility Feasibility Study, Brooklyn, NY
Spring Creek 4C, Brooklyn, NY
Atlantic Chestnut Building 1-4 Affordable Housing, Brooklyn, NY
Compass Residences Affordable Housing, Bronx, NY
Greenpoint Hospital Redevelopment, Brooklyn, NY
Apex Place, Queens, NY
StuyTown Fitness Park, New York, NY
Story Avenue Apartments, Bronx, NY
NextGeneration Holmes Towers, New York, NY
Bellevue Hospital, New York, NY
NYCSCA 375Q Public School Playground, Queens, NY
Phipps Lambert Houses, Bronx, New York
Park Design
Freshkills South Park, Staten Island, NY
Governor’s Island, New York, NY
Landscape Designer Joanna Królak brings international experience in project visualization and production to the Starr Whitehouse team. A skilled renderer, Joanna has provided project visualizations and schematic designs for a new corporate plaza and open-air market in São Paulo, creating a strong design concept aligned with client’s placemaking goals. Her graphics and renderings for the daylighting of Tibbetts Brook in The Bronx were featured in Landscape Architecture Magazine. In project production, Joanna brings experience in schematic design development, presentation preparation, client coordination, and other phases. For a new riverfront park in the city of Roswell, GA, she worked on a children’s storm water garden from design development to construction drawings. For Manhattan Greenway Harlem River, a 7-acre linear park on the Harlem River Waterfront, she worked on schematic and technical studies, construction drawings, and construction administration. Joanna holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Cracow University of Technology in Poland.
Representative Projects:
Streets, Public Realm, and Infrastructure
Tibbetts Brook Daylighting, Bronx, NY
Brooklyn Greenways, Brooklyn, NY
Broadway Boulevard Plaza, New York, NY
Anderson Park, New Rochelle, NY
Spring Creek, New York, NY
Park Design
Roswell River Parks, Roswell, GA
Dinosaur Playground Restoration, Riverside Park, New York, NY
Thompson Park Master Plan, Watertown, NY
Bear Mountain State Park Restoration, Bear Mountain, NY
Manhattan Greenway Harlem River Waterfront Park Design, New York, NY
Stadshart Hoorn (City Beach), Hoorn, The Netherlands*
Site Plans + Housing
Halletts Point Waterfront Development, Queens, NY
Hybrid Industrial/ Commercial Development, Brooklyn, NY
Vine Street Development & Park, Philadelphia, PA
Greenpoint Hospital Redevelopment, Brooklyn, NY
Phipps Lambert Houses, Bronx, New York
Luna Plaza, Gardens, and Roofs, São Paulo, Brazil
Overhoeks Residential Development, Amsterdam, The Netherlands*
Facebook Data Centre, Clonee, Ireland*
Cherrywood Development – Parks and Residential, Dublin, Ireland*
Climate Resilience Planning
East Shore Shoreline Resilient Parks Plan, Staten Island, NY
Other
Green Heart – design research, The Netherlands*
* Work completed prior to joining Starr Whitehouse
Hazel discovered her passions for sustainability, urbanism, and building equitable green spaces in undergraduate classes at the University of Michigan where she majored in urban studies and political science. She has experience working in urban planning and small-scale real estate development. Outside of work you can find Hazel exploring the city on long runs, practicing yoga, and spending time in parks throughout the city!
Representative Projects:
Park Design
Hart Island Master Plan, Long Island Sound, NY
Southwest Resiliency Park Expansion, Hoboken, NJ
DUMBO and Vinegar Hill Mobility Study, Brooklyn, NY
Letchworth State Park Pool Study, Mount Morris, NY
Niagara State Park Pool Study, Niagara Falls, NY
Climate Strong Communities, Five Boroughs, New York, NY