Laura Wagner joined FDA in December 2016 as a designer in the firm’s planning department. She was previously an associate at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners where she worked on competitions and designs for cultural institutions, as well as office towers. She has experience in lobby and curtain wall design in addition to project coordination. She is currently working on the renovation of David Geffen Hall, seating designs for the Park Avenue Armory, a performing arts center in Nashua NH, among other projects.

Laura received her Master of Architecture degree from the Yale School of Architecture in 2012. At Yale, she had the opportunity to participate in Frank Gehry’s studio to design a flexible theater — using retractable, bleacher-style seating to create different types and scales of performance space throughout the building — in Lucerne Switzerland. While in graduate school Laura also had the opportunity to work on the documentation of a unique modernist theater in Cambodia. The National Theater, designed by Vann Molyvann in the 1960s, was demolished in the early 2000s. The project was an effort to reproduce the original design documentation and models of this theater for inclusion in an exhibition at the French Cultural Center in Phnom Penh.

In her role at FDA Laura works closely with architects and theatre professionals. Her past projects include the renovation of the Seattle Rep PONCHO Forum, for which she designed a unique wooden screen to modulate views into the performance space. She also worked on the Rice University Music and Performing Arts Center, currently under construction, for which she used a BIM to help evaluate sightlines, materials and architectural details. Laura works closely with Agile Lens, FDA’s sister company, to help create Virtual Reality experiences that allow clients to understand and assess design decisions.

In the past, Laura also worked as an artist, having studied printmaking at Brown University. She has had work in various group shows and a solo show in Philadelphia. Laura currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband Aaron Keller, an actor, who keeps her well informed of his favorite performance spaces. She enjoys hand sketching; knitting; running in Prospect Park; and visiting the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on the weekends.

Other projects Laura has worked on include:

• David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center
• NYU Law School Tishman Auditorium
• Theaterworks, Hartford CT
• UBS Auditorium, Weehawken NJ
• Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
• Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
• Dr. Martin Luther King School Campus
• Gulfshore Playhouse
• Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland OR