Based in New York and California, Ktisma Studio works across North America and Europe designing buildings, landscapes, interiors, and objects. We approach each project as a partnership between client, site, and environment. Our collective work is linked by the ambition for a comprehensive and unified design experience.

Founding Principal, Jonathan Chesley, and Principal of Landscape Design, Alexandria Donati, graduated together from the University of Oregon’s Architecture and Allied Arts Department. Jonathan is a licensed architect in the state of New York with 12 years experience in high-end residential, commercial, civic and private-gallery projects. He began his career as a carpenter, framing houses in Eugene, Oregon, and Upstate New York. He later joined Selldorf Architects in New York City, where he worked for 6 years honing his skills on projects at varying scales, from private residences to commercial galleries. Alexandria Donati is a landscape designer with 10 years’ experience in high-end residential gardens. Her work ranges in scale from NYC townhouses to large acreage estates in New York, Connecticut, California, the Bahamas, and Europe. For 8 years, she was a member of Miranda Brooks Landscape Design (MBLD), and most recently acted as MBLD’s Studio Design Director. 

Ktisma Studio has worked with not-for-profits, municipalities, commercial and private clients. In all cases, our work seeks to enrich lived experience through the thoughtful composition of proportion, light, material, and color. We begin the design process by getting to know our client and project stakeholders needs and rhythms, asking how these rhythms can be supported by buildings, rooms, and the surrounding landscape. Together, we imagine how individuals and groups will use these spaces over time and how they can best evolve and grow together. In the end, we find an architecture and landscape that is memorable, meaningful, and joyous.