Lara K. Davis

Background

About Lara K. Davis

Lara Davis is an architect and mason with 25 years of experience in masonry design and construction – a specialist in earthen building and vaulted masonry. Her work has often crossed over the cultures of architectural and structural design, heritage preservation, historic and vernacular materials research, building craftsmanship, and integrated land management. She is the founding partner of Limaçon Design and a member of CRAterre (the International Center for Earthen Architecture in Grenoble, France), ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage, and the board of directors at Opus 40. She previously served for ten years as co-director of the Auroville Earth Institute, India and representative for the UNESCO Chair of Earthen Architecture. She holds a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics, School of Art & Design at Alfred University and an M.Arch from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lara has been recognized for her research at the Earth Institute, Block Research Group (ETH Zürich), Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (Universität Stuttgart), MIT Masonry Research Group and the Future Cities Laboratory (Singapore). She has taught structural theory of masonry at the ETH Zürich, led hands-on training programs on several continents, and is currently a lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture at RISD. Notable professional projects include the Martin Puryear sculpture ‘Lookout’ at Storm King Art Center, the Sharanam Center for Rural Development in Pondicherry, India, and the Kaza Eco-Community Center in Spiti Valley, India. Her work has been exhibited at the Modern Museum of Art, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Venice Biennale and MIT Museum.