Vanessa is a Mexican landscape architect with over two decades of international experience working in leading practices in Mexico City (GDU/ Mario Schjetnan), New York City (Hargreaves Jones), Washington D.C (Landscape Architecture Bureau (LAB)), and London (Adjaye Associates) before founding Claroscuro Studio in 2021.
Her broad range of project experience spans from master planning and concept design through to construction observation. Her work includes projects at a variety of scales—from high-profile international commissions such as the Acuario Xochimilco Masterplan in Mexico City (at Hargreaves Associates with TEN Arquitectos), and the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi (at Adjaye Associates) to smaller-scale interventions like the Ivor Place Courtyard and Brondesbury Villas Pocket Park in London (Claroscuro Studio).
Her recent work has focused on enhancing public green spaces for local communities in London. As a Public Practice Associate, she served as Landscape and Public Realm Project Manager at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. In this role, she led the development of a landscape vision and strategy for the Lancaster West Estate, supporting its ambition to become the UK’s largest eco-neighbourhood. The strategy addressed key priorities including flood risk mitigation, building climate resilience, enriching biodiversity, and improving resident’s quality of life.
Her practice encompasses experience with derelict sites and projects involving adaptive repurpose and reuse of materials, guided by a consistent emphasis on expressing the unique context of each site—its history, its connection to people, its natural environment. She has designed and delivered a diverse range of projects, from transforming a school car park into a lush courtyard to co-designing with local residents to regenerate a neglected green space into a vibrant, welcoming and accessible pocket park. Her work is driven by a commitment to improving urban environments through thoughtful, climate-positive design solutions that build and deepen the connection between people and nature.
Vanessa holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Architecture from Universidad Anahuac. She is an Associate member of the Landscape Institute (UK) and earned a Diploma in Garden Design with Distinction from the London College of Garden Design. Vanessa is also an alumna of the prestigious Public Practice Associate Programme.
