Inspired by New York City’s Central Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, while she was traveling throughout the United States, Anahita Kianous decided to pursue her Master in Landscape Architecture (MLA) at The Boston Architectural College. Already having earned an undergraduate degree in architecture a few years earlier in her native Iran, Anahita graduated from the BAC with her MLA in 2015.

When thinking about her career and the life she has made for herself in the United States, Anahita reflects, “There are so many possibilities in America. So many people need help, and I think about how I can help people through my work. Through landscape architecture and design, I want to ask how we can make things better.”

While at the BAC, Anahita concentrated her studies on fighting the effects of climate change on coastal landscapes. For her thesis, Anahita created a way to mitigate the floods and sudden tides by designing an innovative science-based system for creating a Resilient Coastal Landscape along the Atlantic Ocean to transfer water from the ocean to the wetlands behind the coastal waterfront of Revere Beach, MA. Her thesis is original and exclusive in its use of science and geological technology as its fundamental approach to redesigning the landscape. When implemented, her project can make a significant change in terms of flood mitigation, human health, and waterfront societies’ safety. 

In 2015, Anahita presented her thesis project to Revere’s Director of Economic Development and the Committee of Development Department, who were impressed with her work and referred her to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), who were working on a similar project.

In 2016, Anahita was invited to visit the U.S. Army Hydraulic Lab in Vicksburg, MS, where she presented her thesis to a group from the USACE. They were so impressed by her work because it used the same scientific principles as their research, they invited her to consult on a project with the USACE to test if her thesis could also be applied to river basins.

Anahita continues to choose projects that excite her and that she thinks will have a positive impact on the land and people. After graduating from the BAC, Anahita started her own firm, Design with Nature & Coast. From her office in the Powerhouse building of Schrafft’s Design Center in Charlestown, MA, she is currently working on projects in Massachusetts, Texas, and California.