SEPT 26—OCT 4, 2026
Atlanta Design Festival is a platform to celebrate, convene, & connect creative industries. The festival invites the brightest creative leaders and organizations to host installations, exhibitions, design and architecture tours, film screenings, conference panels and more, to showcase Atlanta as a global powerhouse and innovator of ideas. Read More
Carla Swickerath of Studio Libeskind — Meaningful Urbanism
ADF Virtual Talks 2020 ‘Creating Equity and Opportunity in the City”
Overpopulation, climate change, and aging infrastructure are major challenges facing cities today. These issues are also design problems that need to be solved with creativity that supports the development of an inspired, innovative and diverse society for the future. Cities have to respond to the dynamic nature of urban living, with new patterns of planning that can adapt as freely and as quickly to the ever-changing world to be successful, desirable, and lasting.
In this talk Carla Swickerath, Partner, Studio Libeskind (New York) presented four major projects that offer innovative solutions to creating vibrant neighborhoods: the master plan for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center post 9/11 in New York City; a public housing development for seniors in Brooklyn; the landmarked Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco; and The Maggie’s cancer care center in London.
Carla Swickerath
Since joining Studio Libeskind in 1999, Carla Swickerath, has gained diverse experience in cultural, civic, retail, commercial, residential and planning projects around the world. She has lead many of the Studio’s successful project teams from concept design through to completion— including the Crystals retail complex at City Center in Las Vegas, the Hyundai Haeundae Udong I-Park residential development in Busan, Korea, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
Ms. Swickerath has also led the complex World Trade Center redevelopment process from the initial competition phase to the present. Today, her dual management and design skills come into play as she oversees all aspects of operations at Studio Libeskind. Ms. Swickerath leads many of the Studio’s projects, coordinating the design team and consultants, liaising with clients and client’s representatives and managing project budgets and schedules. She earned a Masters in Architecture from the University of Michigan, following undergraduate studies in English and Art History at the University of Florida. She has taught at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee in Berlin and the University of Michigan. Carla speaks publicly on architecture, design, and planning. Carla is a member of the Board of Trustees at the Van Alen Institute in New York.
Catch Carla Swickerath podcast talk at atlantadesignfestival.net/podcast