THE PEOPLE BEHIND  

Rossana Vaccarino is the Owner and Founder of Vaccarino Associates. She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from University of Oregon and is a Registered Landscape Architect in Puerto Rico. Her work springs from her double background and research in the plant and soil sciences and in landscape art/design/theory.  Rossana was born in Italy where she obtained a university degree (Laurea) Summa Cum Laude in Agronomy and Specialization in Plant Genetics from the University of Milan, which provided a strong background in horticulture, botany, plant physiology, and soils.  She also obtained a Degree in Garden Architecture from the Istituto Superiore Architettura e Design in Milan before moving to the US to study landscape architecture, and has practiced since then in both the US and Italy with reputable firms.  

Rossana learned large-scale environmental planning in her first job at WRT in Philadelphia, following the method of Ian McHarg, which she has used in modified ways while teaching at Harvard University with Carl Steinitz and in her projects such as Sawyer Ranch, in New Mexico. The Planning and Urban Design scales are comfortable to work with for Rossana, as one of her strengths is to work simultaneously at many scales, addressing the regional context to make any project relevant and site specific regardless of its size.

Rossana has been recognized academically for teaching in universities in the U.S. and abroad, and in the seven years as a full-time tenure-track faculty in the Master’s Program at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, teaching design studio, Landscape Architecture Theory, research seminars, and other curriculum courses.  She lectured and published on many topics that include extensive documentation on the work of Roberto Burle Marx in Brazil. For her work in different countries and her cross-cultural experiences, Rossana can fluently speak in five languages.

The San Juan studio is kept intentionally small in scale to ensure Rossana’s leadership and deep involvement in all phases of the design process, and to control the quality of the design outcome while engaging our clients and their needs at a personal level. Associates, consultants and collaborators work with our studio on a project-by-project basis. Our staff includes drafters and CAD operators, 3D-model and rendering designers, and landscape architects. Rossana is also responsible for construction administration to guarantee the full potential of the design, and follows closely the decision-making process during the changes in the project implementation at site.