Nancy Takahashi
Education
University of Virginia, Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Architecture, B.S. in Landscape Architecture
Biography
Nancy Takahashi is Associate Professor Emerita, Landscape Architecture.
Research
Resilient Cities: Winneba Ghana researching the complex interwoven forces of sea level rise and rapid urbanization impacting coastal African cities, with a focus on preserving a community's cultural identity, embedded in sacred sites and landscapes that are often lost or destroyed by these forces of change. Takahashi is examining the historic fishing town of Winneba Ghana with a team of Architecture School students and colleagues from the University of Ghana Legon and University of Sheffield Hallam. Last summer, the team traveled to Ghana to meet town officials and gather climate change related site data: vegetation, coast line, historic sacred sites, and water systems. This summer the team will convene at the School of Architecture to document their findings, and explore the implications of sea level rise on this community in terms of its economic, tourist, environmental, and sacred cultural future.
Mount Jefferson at University of Virginia focusing on the history and resources of the western tract of the UVA Grounds called Mount Jefferson. This wooded hill, part of the original land purchase made by Jefferson to create his university, has been largely forgotten and mistreated. She and research students have discovered sites and histories of the hill that are leading her to new views of the hill’s sustaining role in the history of the university.
Design build initiatives Faculty Advisor for the student-run organization ‘AIAS Freedom By Design’. Last year, this group worked with AHIP to design and construct an innovative entry ramp and retaining wall for a wheelchair -bound downtown resident. Working with the UVa Office of the Architect, she advised students in developing a preliminary design for a permanent garden on the UVA Grounds for students to gather and commemorate the deaths of their fellow students who die while at UVA.
