Gita Nandan

Ms. Nandan is an architect, designer, educator, and leader in community resilience planning and design. She is co-founder and co-principal of the interdisciplinary design firm, thread collective, and chair of the RETI Center. Ms. Nandan believes in resiliency as a holistic and supple approach, integrating social, cultural, and economic issues with design to create net-positive urban environments. Working in the field for over 15 years, Ms. Nandan has overseen design and construction on a wide range of project-types from passive houses to the first farms on New York City Housing Authority’s communities. As a community leader in the neighborhood of Red Hook in South Brooklyn, she is exploring how innovative community-wide projects such as micro-grids, shared solar, integrated flood protection systems and community investment funds can transform the physical landscape of a low-income waterfront neighborhood. In addition to her current work, Ms. Nandan has been involved in sustainable design policy and code creation in NYC serving as a member of the NY State CLCPA Land Use Sub-Committee, and Orange County Resilience Plan.

M.ARCH – University of California, Berkeley
BA, Architecture History – University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Courses

• Delta Cities Coastal Resilience Studio, 2013 – current.
  Meadowlands A Vision for 2100 [community partner: Hackensack Riverkeeper]
  Bronx River through the lens of HAT Study [community partner: Bronx River Alliance]
  Flushing 2100: A Vision for Flushing Creek [community partner: Guardians of Flushing Bay]
  The Resilient Water Hub: Adaptive Networks for a Just Transition [community partner: UPROSE]
  Resilient Rockaways: Water Rising 2100 [community partner: RISE, Edgemere]
• Green Infrastructure Design Studio, [co-faculty Elliott Maltby] 2010 – 2022
• Travel Excursion on Resilience, bi-annual to the Netherlands and Paris, 2014 – current.

Projects
The Action Lab Headquarters, Queens NY, 2025.
Big Woods Housing and Conservation, Greene County, NY, 2025.
Columbia Countywide Conservation Plan, 2025.
Quassaick Creek Greenway Feasibility Study, Newburgh NY, 2022 – 2023.
Citi Field, Reclaim the Meadows: Bridging Our Communities, Flushing Meadows Corona Park Queens, 2023.

Academic Efforts
On-the-Water Curriculum Framework, 2025.
Delta Cities Coastal Resilience 10-year Exhibit, 2025-2026.

Publications
Nature of Cities Roundtable. The Kinship Series: Kinship with Rivers: How Can We Cultivate Reciprocal Relationships with Rivers? July 2025.
Future Talks by Rethinking the Future. In Conversation with Gita Nandan. January 2024.
Rebuild by Design. An Anthology of Ideas after Hurricane Ida: 20 Experts Discuss, Creative, Innovative, and Transformative: Funding Frontline Communities. 2021.
Paving the Waves, RETI BlueCity Climate Lab, A Model of Climate Adaptation Education and Architecture, Oct 2020
Gita Nandan. The Field Guide to Fences. January 2, 2017.

Grants, Awards and Engagements
BlueBlocks Garden How-to Guide; SteamPlant Award; May 2025.
Architecture + Design Independent Projects Grant Awardee, Reef Garden. 2022
City Club, panel; The Future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal; Spring 2025.
Moderator; RETI Center Urban Ocean Stewardship Conference, Panel Discussion Kelp Cultivation in Urban Waters, Sept 2023
What is the Future of Red Hook? Community Mural Installation, Pioneer Works Brooklyn NY, 2023.
Moderator; Designing Urban Agriculture, Center for Architecture AIA NY, Oct 2021
Cooper Hewitt Design Education Talk, Creating a Brighter Tomorrow, panel discussion with Dean Harris, and WXY’s Claire Weisz, May 2020.
Pioneer Works, Ecologies of Transition with Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Columbia’s Center for Resilient Cities, Sept 2019.
National Endowment for the Arts, ArtWorks grant, Gowanus Field Stations 2012.

Leadership Roles
Marine Debris Field Kit [MDFK], founder, 2024 – present.
RETI Center, Founder and Board Chair, 2014 – present.
ADS Warehouse, Founder and Managing Director, 2018 – present.

Registered Architect, New York-2004, New Jersey-2010 and PA 2018.
LEED Accredited Professional, 2009.
WEDG Associate, 2024.
member, Urban Design Forum.