Principal
CurrentJesse Westad is the founder of WERK | urban design, a collaborative studio of passionate designers committed to creating artful, unique, site-specific, and exemplary spaces. WERK is a CVE certified Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business under NAICS code 541320.WERK is an urban design, landscape architecture, and planning practice. The design firm's goal is creating places for civic expression which reveal ecological and social phenomena, processes, and relationships. Many of our projects involve extensive public participation, including collaborations with community and neighborhood groups and public presentations. Whether small or large, our work is always tailored to the people who will use it. Our studio is composed of passionate designers committed to creating places that are artful, unique, articulate, site specific and well-crafted while remaining adaptive and open. Our firm’s practice is guided by a land ethic of stewardship, diversity, and sustainability. Our knowledge of native plants and natural systems is field-tested and thoughtfully employed to ensure that each design is appropriate to its place in the neighborhood, the city, and the region. Our commitment to art, ecology, heritage, and the exploration of landscape form is complemented by an extensive background in all levels of the design and construction process, from site analysis and master planning to design development, construction documents, bidding and on-site construction review. We provide creative, efficient, and highly personalized professional services in the art and practice of landscape architecture and urban design.
