Becky Rupel
PLA, ASLA, SITES AP, WEDG
Associate Principal
Born and raised in Milwaukee County just a short bike ride from the Root River Parkway, much of Becky’s childhood was spent exploring the world-class network of public parks and trails around her. While she always looked forward to summer expeditions with her family to state parks and campgrounds further afield that offered “big nature” – vast Great Lakes beaches, shady pine forests, and copper-colored waterfalls – she also loved discovering hints of wildness in the suburban fields, forest, and wetlands closer to home. An early fascination with how our patterns of human development is woven together with the natural world inspired her career in landscape architecture, and as a professional she is committed to equitable distribution, multi-modal access, and ecological integrity of public natural spaces across the entire urban-to-rural transect, so that others might find inspiration outdoors in the same way she has.
As an Associate Principal at Living Habitats, Becky strives to build great places through the practice of landscape architecture, and to empower others as stewards and visionaries through engagement and mentorship. Though her career spans a wide range of geographies and project types, from neighborhood parks and playgrounds to regional-scale green infrastructure implementation, her work is consistently responsive to the nuances of the project site and context that pursue best outcomes for both people and the environment.
Within the studio, Becky takes pride in serving as a professional resource for her colleagues while also facilitating a collaborative process. She takes on a similar role with consultants, clients, and project partners on complex multidisciplinary projects, leveraging both technical and illustrative expertise to lead diverse teams to design solutions.
“Working on landscape ecology concepts for the Chicago Park District’s Morgan Shoal shoreline reconstruction project alongside our talented multidisciplinary team has been a privilege and an exciting design challenge. As a geological feature, the shoal is a fascinating “island” of biodiversity within Chicago’s urban lake environment, and the adjacent beach and park are beloved by the surrounding community. I’m excited for the opportunity this project brings to improve habitat connectivity along Chicago’s shoreline by adding a variety of native plant communities and other new and enhanced ecosystem functions to this great public space.”