Sean Burkholder designs dynamic coastal landscapes by treating sediment as a central agent in the design process. His work brings environmental monitoring, computational modeling, and field experimentation to large infrastructure projects. Moving beyond purely rational science his practice considers natural processes and develops collaborations with ecologists and public agencies to analyze and shape shifting shorelines.
Burkholder is the Andrew Gordon Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design, where he codirects the Environmental Modeling Lab. He cofounded the design office Proof Projects and is a member of the Dredge Research Collaborative. He was the lead primary investigator for the Great Lakes Protection Fund–supported Healthy Port Futures Project, co-coordinated Dredgefest Great Lakes, and conducted long-term research with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering with Nature Program.