Mariel Collard

Mariel Collard Arias is a Mexican designer and landscape educator. She has been part of the Master of Landscape Architecture program at Pratt Institute since its inaugural year in 2022.

Mariel’s work explores land-based traditions that challenge the spatial legacies of coloniality. Her current research centers on ancestral landscape practices, tools, and technologies that help us (re)orient ourselves on Earth—enabling us to read, navigate, and make future landscapes. In her teaching, she emphasizes methods that sharpen attention, encourage first-hand engagement with the land, and foreground material experience in the face of the climate crisis.

Mariel holds a Master in Landscape Architecture and a Master in Design Studies with a concentration in Risk & Resilience from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She earned her Professional Degree in Architecture from Universidad Iberoamericana and is a registered architect in Mexico. Mariel brings extensive professional experience, having collaborated with renowned firms and led her own independent practice. Prior to joining Pratt, she also served as a lecturer at McGill University.