Lauren Doran, PLA, Conservation Programs Manager
Lauren works with communities, local governments, state agencies and land trusts to help them locate and assess their natural resources, as well as assist in creating plans to enhance and conserve them.
She is a landscape architect and prior to GIC worked at landscape architecture firms in North Carolina and Virginia where she has done master planning, commercial design, residential and garden design, as well as design for public art projects. Lauren has created and presented conceptual designs to clients, government officials and community groups. She has researched design sites, conducted site analysis, led community engagement workshops for public art projects, created sets of construction documents and managed projects through to construction. In graduate school, she investigated the intersection of culture, art, and landscape, as well as ways to engage communities in placemaking. She studied abroad for a summer in Tanzania learning about Tanzanian architecture and culture alongside local architecture students. In school and after graduating she worked with the Community Design Assistance Center at Virginia Tech, engaging with and providing design services to community groups in Virginia.
Lauren has a BA degree in Anthropology from the University of Delaware and a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture from Virginia Tech. In addition, she is a photographer and artist with a love for research and writing. She is excited to bring all of her skills to bear at GIC.
In her free time, Lauren enjoys the beauty of Central Virginia with her husband and children: paddling the rivers, hiking the mountains or running up and down the hills of Charlottesville.
Contact Lauren to learn more about how GIC can assist your community.