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Interface Studio LLC is an inventive and imaginative planning and urban design practice. 

We believe the process of urban planning is evolving, becoming increasingly graphic, grassroots-driven, and interactive.  With the growing presence of technology in our world comes near-constant visual stimulation, unprecedented access to information, and an empowered generation of do-it-yourself activists.  Planning is a form of advocacy – for a better future and for engaged, equitable communities.  Our practice and approach celebrates these shifts. 

Our mission is to help communities, large and small, think about where they are now, what they would like to become, and which steps are needed to get there. 

We strive to make planning and design accessible to all audiences with a style that is approachable, artistic, playful, and intended to welcome the public into the planning process.  We listen to people from all walks of life, we research, we draw, and we make many, many maps.  Our mutual exchange with residents and stakeholders is one of trust and respect, honest and real.  We actively listen and develop relationships with the people and places where we work. 

Every place has a story to tell. Planning and design, for us, is a means of storytelling.  

Our role is to mine for data and help uncover the trends that shape our cities.  We translate data into compelling graphics that enable residents and stakeholders to see their communities with fresh eyes.   

We help communities prioritize and take action. 

We believe that early actions and incremental steps are critical to build confidence and momentum.   We are as interested in what happens in the next 6 months as we are over the next 6 years and beyond.  Changing places for the better is a process that requires a unifying vision, partnerships and clear pathways to guide us from today towards our goals.

We work hard, but we laugh along the way. We care a lot about what we do – for our clients and their communities, for ourselves, and for the greater good.  Our team has a penchant for bright colors, fun fonts, birthday celebrations, cookies, and animated GIFS. We trust in one another and encourage every new employee to help broaden the ways in which we work.

We’re proud of what we do and have been recognized with state awards and nine national awards including the first ever National Excellence Award for an Emerging Planning Firm from the American Planning Association.   

Hi there! We are based in Philadelphia, and we work across the country. Interested in learning more? Feel free to contact us below.
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Ben Bryant, AICP, PP, Senior Associate

Ben is a planner and urban designer interested in how neighborhoods, cities, and regions can incentivize and best manage processes of revitalization and reinvention. Ben’s experience also includes a rich portfolio of tactical urbanism projects that seek to re-activate dormant civic spaces through creative interventions that capture the public imagination. Ben is a two-time winner of the Knight Cities Challenge and creator of the Pop-Up Pool Project and the Little Music Studio. Ben is currently working with the Knight and Kresge Foundations on research related to promoting economic integration in public space.

Stacey Chen, AICP, Principal

Stacey brings an international perspective, cultural competence, and dedication to social justice to her work. Before joining Interface Studio, she focused on community development and social programs for low-income and immigrant communities in New York City. Her interest in city planning and urban design developed after living in Asia for a number of years where she observed transformations in Asian urbanism and gained proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. After years in the Philadelphia office, she is now Brooklyn-based. She received a Master of City Planning degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago.

Ashley DiCaro, LEED AP, Senior Associate

Ashley joined Interface Studio in 2008, cultivating her interests in a multidisciplinary approach to ecological design and planning. Her passion for graphic representation can be seen across the Interface Studio portfolio, and many of our famed annual holiday cards. She has also been immersed in several extensive GIS data initiatives, and has developed a reputation for infographics, data manipulation and spatial analysis. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Rutgers University and a Master of Science in Sustainable Design from Philadelphia University. Ashley has been serving on the City of Philadelphia's Civic Design Review Board since 2017.

Chris DiStasi, Associate

Chris is our GIS star and has led work on park system planning, neighborhood planning, housing policy, and qualitative & quantitative research. Recently he has specialized in designing data-driven scoring methodologies to drive equitable citywide investment in parks and neighborhoods. His work designing citywide scoring to prioritize parks for investment in Pittsburgh, PA won a National Recreation and Parks Association Social Equity Award in 2020. He is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, where he assists with the first year city planning studio.

Maria Gabriela Gonzalez, Designer

Maria is a Venezuelan urban designer and architect specializing in public space activation, placemaking, neighborhood planning, and multilingual community engagement. Having lived and worked in Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, and various cities across the US, Maria brings a multicultural, people-first approach in the development of neighborhood revitalization strategies, public space design, and inclusive community engagement with(in) diverse communities. In addition to her Master’s Degree in Urban Placemaking and Management from Pratt Institute, Maria holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.

Jamie Granger, Senior Associate

Jamie is an urban planner and designer interested in the interrelationship between the built and natural environments and urban economics. With both creative and pragmatic mindsets, he brings a comprehensive approach to tackling urban issues. In addition to his work at Interface Studio, he has taught a graduate level City Planning studio at the University of Pennsylvania since 2016. Jamie holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Urban Studies and Economics from Brown University, and a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lisa Lobree, Office Manager

Lisa joined Interface in September 2014 as our Business Manager. Educated with a doctorate in engineering from U.C. Berkeley, she has shifted gears to help small companies run the business side of their organization. Lisa takes care of day to day financial processes including anything invoice, payroll, tax, and budget related as well as human resources. She lives in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia with her husband, 3 children, a cat, a dog, and a fish.

Scott Page, Principal

Scott brings more than 25 years of diverse experience ranging from large-scale planning to site-specific design and redevelopment strategies. Scott founded Interface Studio in 2004 to focus specifically on community-driven design with an emphasis on creative grass-roots engagement. Scott was fortunate to finish architecture school in Paris and intern for the government in Singapore which fueled his early interest in urban design and planning. Scott is a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design, where he leads studio-based classes focused on urban design, climate resiliency and site planning. Scott holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgia Tech.

Kylee Pierce, Urban Designer and Planner

Kylee is an urban designer and planner who is passionate about dynamic public spaces that have a meaningful impact on the communities around them. She uses her previous work experience in architecture and historic preservation to understand how the built environment has evolved over time and how the past can inform the future of design. She is particularly interested in the intersection of public space, transportation, equity, and access. She holds a Master of City Planning with a concentration in urban design from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Princeton University.

Mikaela Strech, Urban Designer and Planner

Mikaela is a planner and urban designer dedicated to strategizing meaningful urbanism projects that improve vibrancy, resiliency, and equity in communities. Her experience includes placemaking, real estate development advisory, community-economic development, transportation experience, downtown plans, coastal resiliency, and holistic citywide and community visions. Mikaela has a Master of City Planning and Certificate in Urban Design from MIT's School of Architecture and Planning and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

Tobin Stuff, Designer

Tobin incorporates design, community engagement, and photography into his work. Tobin is an integral team member on a variety of projects including downtown action plans, park equity plans, and commercial corridor and housing studies. His previous work experiences have allowed him to work with communities throughout the U.S. and in Japan, South Korea, and Kenya. Tobin is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania guiding first-year graduate students through the fundamentals of city and regional planning.

Mindy Watts, AICP, PP, Principal

Mindy has been with Interface since 2005. Much of her recent work focuses on larger-scale data-driven efforts to support the equitable and just allocation of public dollars, services, and other resources. Mindy’s work has been recognized with national excellence awards for grassroots efforts, public outreach, and graphic representation from the American Planning Association (APA) and for social equity from the National Parks and Recreation Association (NRPA). She currently serves on the board of The Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philadelphia, and as a novice but eager birder, she is experiencing cities and their natural spaces anew.

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