Kelli Cunningham is a leader in Waggonner & Ball’s resilience practice, working across disciplines and scales to create holistic design strategies to anticipate and mitigate the effects of climate change on coastal urban environments.

Kelli joined Waggonner & Ball in 2016 after receiving Master Degrees in both Architecture and Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University. She works to build long-term client and collaborators relationships and is involved in the project definition phase, helping clients to identify their needs and set the course for Waggonner & Ball to deliver layered and particular design strategies and solutions.

Kelli is spearheading the firm’s efforts in Coastal Connecticut on the Resilient Bridgeport project comprised of the Rebuild by Design funded stormwater park and the National Disaster Resilience funded flood risk reduction program. The ongoing Resilient Bridgeport project improves the resilience of a historic coastal neighborhood through the integration coastal flood defense system into the historic, Olmsted designed Seaside Park. She has participated in many of the office’s CDBG-DR & CDBG-MIT funded projects. She served as landscape team lead for the BCIS Wangjing Campus and Banbidian Park in Beijing. Kelli has also directed local landscape projects and is currently stewarding Mirabeau Water Garden to implementation as part of the firm’s work in the Gentilly Resilience District.

While in school, Kelli worked as a research assistant for the LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio, focusing on community-driven coastal resiliency projects. She is currently serving on the National ASLA Climate Action Committee.