At Asakura Robinson, we truly enjoy the fresh ideas, bright enthusiasm, and overall excitement that interns bring into the workplace. We are looking forward to making sure everyone feels welcome and well-integrated into firm life this year, and are excited to get to work with these four new faces and see all they accomplish this summer! You can read all about Clara Cheeves, Heather Corcoran, Sara Prybutok, and Abimbola Olorode below.
Clara is a graduate of the University of Washington with a Masters in Urban Design and Planning and a certificate in Urban Design. She is interested in equitable design and planning for community resilience, intergenerational living, and integrating green spaces into existing urban infrastructure.
Her thesis examined how planning and design can go beyond the traditional ideas of transit-oriented development by building community resilience into both the planning process and outcome. Inspired by historic African American residential alley communities, she re-imagined present-day alleyways to support human connection to place through affordable infill housing and green space in proximity to high-frequency transportation, envisioning new life in overlooked spaces.
She loves spending time in the garden, taking walks in the neighborhood with her daughters, and baking desserts and bread for anyone who will eat them.
Heather is a Master of Landscape Architecture candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. Her interests include the Design Justice movement; the regenerative, soil-building power of plants; and proactive landscape design strategies for climate change.
A graduate of New York University with degrees in Journalism and Art History, Heather’s path to landscape architecture stems from her work as a writer and editor for publications including Dwell, Architectural Record, and The New York Times—conversations through which she discovered the field’s potential to create beautiful, functional spaces that serve both people and ecological systems.
When not partaking in the UTSOA community through her work at the Center for American Architecture and Design, and roles in the school’s Student ASLA Chapter and CODE (Committee for Diversity + Equity), Heather can be found filling her sketchbook as she explores Texas’ natural beauty.
Sara is a first-year student in Texas A&M University’s Master of Urban Planning program with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from TAMU as well. She comes from Hunan, China until moving to Denton, Texas, where she has lived since. Her passion for the environment, fascination with human interaction, and love of art have directed her to pursue degrees in both landscape architecture and urban planning. She is interested in integrating planning into ecology, hazard mitigation, and sustainable designs. Sara enjoys traveling, baking, and hiking as well as experimenting with different art mediums and styles.
Abimbola is an aspiring landscape architect from Lagos, Nigeria. With multiple degrees in architecture, she realized the unfortunate gap between the built and natural environment. After spending three years in the industry as a Graduate architect and landscape designer, Abimbola moved to the states and is now a 3rd-year Landscape architecture graduate student at Texas A&M University, College Station. She desires to bridge that gap by developing healthy, livable, and culturally sensitive communities, especially for underserved neighborhoods.
In her spare time, you’ll find her singing, podcasting, and connecting with friends and family.