Chris Anderson

Senior Associate and Project Manager Chris Anderson has been part of the Starr Whitehouse team for nearly ten years, leading dozens of projects from detailed pocket parks to state-wide planning and construction efforts. He has honed a versatile skill set in construction administration, project management, design team coordination, and client communication. From overseeing the implementation of New Jersey’s first resilience park in Hoboken, NJ, to managing the completion of six new gateway plazas across New York State’s ambitious Empire State Trail system, Chris has become an invaluable member of Starr Whitehouse’s project management corps. Chris has been active in establishing Starr Whitehouse’s Studio in Hudson, NY, where he manages projects for state, county, and local governments across New York State. Recent work includes the DRI-funded reconstruction of historic Promenade Hill Park in Hudson, NY, the creation of statewide design guidelines for the New York Power Authority and Canal Corporation, shoreline stabilization and habitat restoration for Hamlin Beach State Park on Lake Ontario, and the ambitious renovation of historic Bear Mountain State Park in Tomkins Cove, NY.

Perdy Biddlecombe, originally from Glasgow, Scotland, holds an undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology. Five 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.

Caroline is a designer and planner working at the intersection of climate risk, infrastructure, and public space. She is passionate about understanding the role of environmental history, policy, and law in shaping climate adaptation responses that foreground ecological processes and community wellbeing. Prior to joining Starr Whitehouse, Caroline worked in landscape architecture and resilience planning across the eastern United States and in architectural practices in London and Paris. Caroline holds a Master of Landscape Architecture and Master of Urban Planning, both with distinction, from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She was awarded the Charles Eliot Travelling Fellowship for her research on coastal adaptation in the Great Lakes and has had her academic work recognized by an ASLA and two BSLA awards. She also earned a Bachelor of Architectural Studies with Dean’s List distinction from the University of Waterloo in Canada.

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.

With a dual background in architecture and landscape design, Associate Aishwarya Dharmarajan is a multidisciplinary systems thinker who manages consultant teams and leads documentation on some of Starr Whitehouse’s most ambitious urban design and streetscape projects. As project manager for NYC DOT’s Park Avenue Vision Plan, she oversees graphic production, leads stakeholder engagement, and coordinates the Starr Whitehouse consultant team to transform eleven blocks of Park Avenue above a reconstructed MTA train shed roof. For the Linc in New Rochelle, Aishwarya provides design detailing and construction documentation to convert a highway overpass into an eleven-acre park. Before joining Starr Whitehouse, she contributed design development, subconsultant coordination, and construction documentation for the North/West Battery Park City Resiliency Project. Aishwarya is a recipient of the ASLA NCC Student Merit Award, H. Leland Vaughan Memorial Scholarship, ASLA Certificate of Merit in Graduate Category, and AWAF–KFA Architecture Scholarship. She has been recognized as a 2024 LAF Olmsted Scholar.

Manal Dar is a landscape designer with a background in architecture. Having lived across multiple geographies around the world, she brings a deeply rooted curiosity about how ecological processes and cultural memory shape a sense of place. Prior to joining Starr Whitehouse, Manal worked in sustainable design research and historic preservation in Pakistan and later earned her Master of Landscape Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she graduated with distinction. She is the recipient of the EDSA Diversity Scholarship and the American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award. She was also awarded the Maharam Fellowship, through which she continued her research on urban soil remediation with the Newtown Creek Alliance.

Managing a broad portfolio of urban planning and design projects in some of the New York Metro area’s most environmentally challenged neighborhoods, Associate Annabel Finkel brings extensive experience engaging communities, building stakeholder consensus, and developing award-winning project communications. Trusted by agencies to represent the City to stakeholders, Annabel has a reputation for translating complex information about climate threats and design solutions into intuitive graphic narratives and sensory tools. As engagement lead for the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice’s Climate Strong Communities program, Annabel manages partnerships with over 65 community organizations across 10 neighborhoods — developing materials and strategy for stakeholder interviews, neighborhood walks, and public workshops. She currently serves as the Starr Whitehouse project manager for NYC DOT’s North Brooklyn Plazas initiative and Citywide Greenways Expansion plan. In 2026, Annabel won funding to explore pathways to expand equitable access to drinking water on New York City streets and sidewalks as part of The Trust for Public Land’s Water: Designing an Equitable Water Future for NYC initiative.

Alice Foppiani, a Marketing Coordinator at Starr Whitehouse, believes in design as a tool for collective well-being. Growing up in Brooklyn instilled in her a dedicated care for the built environment and a commitment to more sustainable living. Previously, she supported the marketing efforts of an architecture studio where she developed her skills in constructing projects’ visual and written narratives. Alice holds a degree in Studio Art from Washington University in St. Louis.

Larisa loves bringing order to the beautiful chaos behind creative work.  With more than 15 years of experience in finance and operations, she enjoys building the processes that keep projects moving and teams supported.  Her background spans real estate, healthcare, nonprofit organizations, and higher education, giving her a practical, adaptable approach to every challenge. Whether she’s fine-tuning financial reports, improving workflows, or helping solve an operational puzzle, she believes that strong operations create space for creativity to flourish. When she’s not working, you’ll usually find her exploring the city, or planning her next adventure.

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.