From Soil to Soul: Firewise, Ecologically Grounded Design
studio pappaterra is a women-owned, multicultural landscape architecture and design studio founded in 2022 by Elisa Read Pappaterra, an award-winning licensed landscape architect with expertise in fire ecology and horticulture.
We focus on landscapes in the Wildland–Urban Interface, where ecological systems, wildfire behavior, and human habitation meet. Our work reduces fire risk, enhances biodiversity, supports soil and water health, and strengthens community resilience. Each project is botanically rich, habitat-sensitive, and artistically compelling, crafted to feel effortlessly natural while the science quietly fades into the background.
Our multidisciplinary team combines deep plant knowledge, Firewise design expertise, and construction experience, bridging science and art through a research-led, craft-driven approach. From concept through construction and long-term stewardship, we maintain ongoing relationships with our landscapes and collaborators, guiding each project from soil to soul.
Since 2020, Elisa Read Pappaterra has led Firewise research, education, and outreach, including work with RCDSMM and CAL FIRE, the creation of DefensibleSpace.org, and the Wind and Fire-Resilient Garden Guides for Los Angeles. studio pappaterra continues to provide consultations, technical guidance, and training, helping communities in fire-prone regions create resilient, habitat-forward landscapes.
Our Services
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A full-service, California-licensed landscape architecture and design studio. We guide projects from site analysis through design, permitting, construction, and long-term landscape stewardship.
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Southern California experts in fire ecology, Firewise design, and resilient landscapes. We provide research-informed consultation, planning, and implementation, leveraging our connections in environmental and wildfire fields.
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Renowned for deep plant knowledge and appreciation for rare and native species, we create botanically rich, ecologically sensitive gardens that thrive in their environment.
Our Team
We’re a passionate, multidisciplinary team whose strength comes from diverse backgrounds and expertise. Our designers, strategists, and visionaries create meaningful, immersive landscapes, collaborating closely with clients, architects, artists, builders, nurseries, and environmental advocates to foster habitat, community, and connection.
The studio is sustained by the extraordinary people who work within it. Graham Sandelski brings clarity and calm precision, guiding ideas from concept to construction with rigor and architectural insight. Ali Harwood brings fresh curiosity and artistic sensibility, enriching planting compositions and spatial choreography with expansive thinking.
Both are lifelong students, deeply observant and committed to craft. Their talent, rigor, and collaborative spirit anchor studio pappaterra, making it a place where vision becomes built reality and landscapes come alive.
Our expertise and approach
Practice and Process
Fire Ecology Research, Leadership & Outreach
Our multidisciplinary team combines licensed landscape architects and architect-trained professionals with deep expertise in botany, horticulture, fire ecology, Firewise design, and construction administration. Shaped by global perspectives and diverse cultural experiences, our practice is informed by living, learning, and working across varied regions, strengthening our research, design process, and site sensitivity. Rooted in horticulture and fire ecology, our work bridges science and art through a craft-driven, research-led approach, bringing depth of experience, care, and craft to every project.
studio pappaterra provides comprehensive landscape architecture services, including site analysis, design development, permitting, bidding, construction administration, and long-term landscape curation. The studio is widely recognized for deep plant knowledge, an appreciation for rare and native species, and a commitment to environmentally sensitive, Firewise, and habitat-forward design.
We remain engaged beyond installation, following landscapes as they grow and evolve, allowing us to steward each project with intention and care. Our holistic approach considers all layers of a site, from natural systems and construction realities to cultural context and long-term stewardship. Collaboration is personal and intentional: we value relationships, know our collaborators by name, and approach each project as partners, often becoming colleagues and friends. This human-centered approach is fundamental to the quality, integrity, and longevity of our work.
Since 2020, Elisa Read Pappaterra has focused on Firewise landscape research, education, and implementation. Through collaboration with the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM) and CAL FIRE, she contributed to DefensibleSpace.org, a public platform promoting sustainable wildfire resilience.
In 2022, studio pappaterra opened its doors with a vision to bridge science and craft, integrating fire ecology, habitat-forward design, and regenerative principles. The studio provides consultations, technical guidance, and training for homeowners, professionals, and communities in fire-prone regions, collaborating with organizations including LotusLand, PCBC, USGBC, ASLA, and AIA.
This combination of design excellence, scientific grounding, regional leadership, and community engagement led to the development of the Wind and Fire-Resilient Garden Guides for Los Angeles, created with RCDSMM and funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). The guides provide accessible tools to help residents create habitat-sensitive landscapes while strengthening wildfire resilience at the community scale.
