top of page

MENU

Designer, activist, academic,
and author of Lo—TEK,
Design by Radical Indigenism.

A leading expert of Lo—TEK nature-based technologies for climate-resilience.
Her eponymously named studio brings creative and conceptual, interdisciplinary thinking to urban projects and corporate clients interested in systemic and sustainable change. Julia regularly teaches urban design at Harvard and Columbia University.

Awards

Wallpaper* Magazine

USA 400: meet the people shaping Creative America in 2024

Institute of Classical Architecture

2024 Arthur Ross Award for Excellence in the Classical Tradition: Education

The Architectural League NY

2022 Architecture + Design Independent Projects Grant awarded to 'Lo–TEK: Water'

Wallpaper* Magazine

USA 300: meet the people shaping Creative America in 2024

Center for Architecture

Arnold W. Brunner Grant awarded to Lo—TEK: Underwater and Intertidal nature-based technologies

Type Directors Club Certificate

Typographic Excellence judge’s choice for Lo—TEK

ADC 99Th Annual Awards

Winners in Publication Design Won a MERIT award in the Publication Design category «Design for Good» 2019

AIGA “50 Books | 50 Covers” Competition

Category: 50 Books Winner: Lo—TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism 2019

Press

Landscape architect Julia Watson: 'I can name twenty tribes that have been building climate-proof for centuries'

We need to build a world that we do believe in

Sowing seeds of sustainability

Tipping the Scales

DDW presents: beacon Julia Watson

Can indigenous technology change the way our cities are designed?

Sowing seeds of sustainability

What technology can learn from mythology

New PEM Exhibit Uses Immersive Art and Science To Explore Our Place in the World

Reinventing climate solutions through indigenous knowledge

Nine practices from Native American culture that could help the environment

Leading expert on Lo—TEK technologies Julia Watson is fighting for new ways to shape our world

Exploring Indigenous Wisdom: A Journey through Architecture Rooted in Tradition and Community

Care Pavilion at London Design Biennale

The Wallpaper* guide to creative America: 300 names to know now

Newspaper

15 ways to be a climate-friendly traveller

Lo-TEK / design by radical indigenism

Twelve interviews you should read this Earth Day

Originators by Matte Presents Julia Watson

Sabedoria ancestral para solucionar problemas contemporâneos

UAS and Sealaska Heritage partner to host Dr. Colbey Reid for Apr 18 presentation “Indigeneity and the ‘Domestic Posthuman’: Reevaluating the Scale, Pace, Texture, and Place of Technology"

Book Highlight: Julia Watson’s Lo—TEK, Indigenous Designs That Support Climate

Perspective Moving Up: Julia Watson and Sustainability Futures

2022 Architecture + Design Independent Projects Grant recipients

Press

Julia Watson wants architecture to be shaped by ancient cultural practices

A New Mythology of Technology: Interview with Julia Watson

The Merging of Technology and Spirituality

Meet 11 people who are changing the future of travel

Can indigenous knowledge help us design a more sustainable future?

Issue #37: The Futures Issue

Aim high, go Lo–TEK

Four women-led projects make up the 2022 Arnold W. Brunner Grant for Architectural Research winners

Fifty architects and designers you need to know on Earth Day

Regenerative design: meet the creatives taking a rooting interest in learning from nature

vice-og.jfif

Taschen's Huge Summer Sale Is Here, So Grab These Amazing Art Books

Designkind: How Can Design Elevate Nature and Mankind?

Natural Building Blog

Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism

Our Time on Earth exhibition provides "space for hope" in climate emergency, says Barbican curator

The Architectural League awards 18 New York State designers with 2022 Independent Project Grants

Matte Projects announces new 'Originators' platform

Indigenous-Owned Wines to Try During Native American Heritage Month

The ingenious living bridges of India

Resilient Places and Designing with Nature

Oman’s first solar energy power plant launches with $417 M USD investment

115-1152734_bbc-travel-png-graphics-transparent-png_edited.png

Are floating cities our future?

A new mythology of technology

Waste Age Catalogue

Of Give and Take: Consumption that Does Good

Cities of the Future: Julia Watson on Nature-based Technologies and Radical Materials

Future History: Lo-TEK’s Julia Watson on Sustainable Infrastructures, Multiple Permutations, and Symbiosis with the Planet

The pitfalls of the Indiana Jones movies are not just a fantasy. How indigenous communities protect their sacred places

Lo–TEK Design by Radical Indigenism

Magazine

Book Review: Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism

Interview

A new mythology of technology

Magazine

Taschen Magazine 2021

Magazine

World-Making in L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

Magazine

Another Tomorrow’s New Space on Bleecker is About Substance, Not Stuff

Magazine

Anatomy of a trend by Christine Boland: GREEN

Magazine

Meghalaya's living root bridges and Kerala's kuttanad show indigenous climate resilience

Magazine

Lo—TEK design: examples from aquatic communities across the globe

Magazine

Turner Works converts Cotswolds barn into creative retreat DUT18

Review

Julia Watson: Lo-TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism

Wisdom of the Ages

Indigenous innovations and environmental ethos inspire the future of engineering.

The Bull and Bear_logo.png

Opinion

To develop climate resilience, we need to look at indigenous communities

Why Waste is a Socio-political Issue

Making sense of the same storm, from very different boats

Lo-TEK: Design-Bewegung setzt auf indigene Technologien

Inidigene Technologien als Lösung für den Klimawandel - Im Gespräch mit der Autorin Julia Watson, über alternative Ideen in Symbiose mit der Natur

Architecture

Il faut réapprendre à construire en harmonie avec la nature

Top 10 Unforgettable Design Quotes of 2020

We May Already Have the Technology to Survive a Climate Crisis—We’ve Just Been Ignoring It

No Kill Magazin_logo.png

Our Guide To What To Read, Watch And Listen To This Week

Read: Lo—TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism by Julia Watson

Bes Books of 2020

Lo―TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism

A Necessary Book

Lo–TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism

Qiio Magazin_logo.png

Zum Magazin

LO-TEK: Wie wir von Indigenen lernen können, den Planeten zu retten

Gift Guide 2020

Sparks of Joy for Architects and Designers

Klimawandel

Wie indigene Architektur unser Überleben auf der Erde sichern kann

Publications

Learning from indigenous people

AIGA Eye on Design

5 Takeaways From EoD's Ecology + Design Panel Discussions: Support place-based solutions vs. universality

The Earth Issue 004

A Dream of Tomorrow

Volume 12

(Re)construction

Article: Lo-TEK

Diseño de Indigenismo Radical (Recuperando técnicas indígenas para trabajar junto a la naturaleza)

Article: Lo-TEK

Desenho de indigenismo radical (recuperando técnicas indígenas de trabalho com a natureza)

Climate Column

How Indigenous Architecture Can Change the Way We Live on Earth

December Art Issue

Glimpse Inside Superstar Artist Rashid Johnson's Enchanting Hamptons Oasis

September 7th, 2020

Closest to the revival of the botanical garden

August 28th, 2020

Julia Watson fills New York's Rockefeller Center plaza with native American meadow plants

Design Issue

Design for the Future When the Future Is Bleak

13th Anniversary Special

October 2020 Vol 14 Issue 1

Forces of Nature

October 15th

Building on Nature

September 5th, 2020

Build For Nature

Issue 111 - Water

Towards a New Vernacular

Special Issue: Anno 14, 2020 - One Earth: i deas for a world after Covid-19

A Lo—TEK Life after Covid-19

Reading Lists

Global Design Practice: Themes, Critiques, and Radical Alternatives

Issue 94 Earth

Lo—TEK, Living Root Bridges of the Khasis, India

May 2020

May 14, 2020

The Power of Lo—TEK

Book Review

Nine New & Notable Books

Italia, Numero 464, 2020

Come Natura Crea

Dezeen Virtual Design Festival

Four authors including Julia Watson and DJ Spooky discuss environmental design live on VDF today

March + April Issue 2020

Ancient Ingenuity

Book Review

Rooted In Place

Issue 94 Earth

Lo—TEK, Living Root Bridges of the Khasis, India

IGTV

Living bridges and supper from sewage: can ancient fixes save our crisis-torn world?

CTCN_logo

The Reformers Spring 2020

TEK Report

wtlf-logoACCRO

Third Issue

Lo-TEK

Observations

Lo—TEK: What Cities Can Learn From Indigenous Innovation

The Guardian: Art and Design

Living bridges and supper from sewage: can ancient fixes save our crisis-torn world?

The Reformers Spring 2020

TEK Report

Episode #35

Julia Watson on the Power of Indigenous Technologies to Transform Our Planet

Open Skies

Do Indigenous Communities Hold The Secrets To Modern Design?

The Plum: Juicy Women

Juicy Woman: Julia Watson

Episode #28

Julia Watson:

Lo-TEK Technologies &

Indigenous Knowledge

Design Section

These Books Move

Heaven and Earth

Culture

Ancient infrastructure, resilient future: Julia Watson’s ‘Lo-TEK’ vision for sustainable cities

Architectural Digest

7 Examples of Centuries-Old Design That Combat Climate Change

Artnet

Editors’ Picks: 19 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week

Dwell Online

May Already Have the Technology to Survive a Climate Crisis—We’ve Just Been Ignoring It

Bloom_logo_pink copy

UK Garden Magazine

Full Bloom Book Review

Dezeen

Indigenous technologies

"could change the way we design cities" says environmentalist Julia Watson

Design Week

Can designers bring tech and the natural world closer together?

Harvard GSD

First-ever compendium of indigenous technologies provides a powerful toolkit for climate-resilient design

The Age

When fire is a friend: Indigenous approaches

point the way

Library Journal

New Bestsellers

Politiken

How to Build Extremely Sustainably

Dezeen

Watch The World Around architecture conference in New York

Borneo Bulletin

Borneo Bulletin

For innovative and sustainable design solutions, look to indigenous history

The Guardian

The case for... making low-tech 'dumb' cities instead of 'smart' ones

ABC

Architecture without architects

The Washington Post

How can we live more sustainably? Indigenous groups have some ideas.

San Francisco Chronicle

Book World: For innovative and sustainable design solutions, look to indigenous history

The Independent

In photos: A global exploration of nature-based technology

Activist Post

Shouldn’t More Environmentalists Promote Natural Tech, Not Electrosmog and E-Waste Producing Smart Cities?

Curbed

The world’s oldest design techniques might be the most radical

Design Week

Ushering in the lo-TEK age: designers can learn from indigenous practice

Fast Company

What indigenous design could teach us about surviving climate change

Brisbane Times

The natural technologies that could hold keys to climate resilience

Sydney Morning Herald

The natural technologies that could hold keys to climate resilience

Metalocus

Book review

Design & Science

Returning to Roots

Design

The Masai and the Uros teach us how to build

CNN Style

How nature's ancient technologies can inform today's cities

Aperture

Bali’s stunning rice terraces offer clues to sustainable water use

Frankfurt General

Only The Best From Around The World

2019/20

Lo—TEK, On to ancient knowledge

Kerb 26 — Homelands

Lo—TEK, From the First to the Fourth World

Essay

The Power of Lo-TEK

Archinect

Working out of the Box series

Humans and Nature

On Designing Landscapes

PopTech

Poptech Social Innovation
Fellow and Speaker

UQ

Alumni Profile from University of Queensland in Australia

bottom of page