About
Dagny Elise Carlsson is a dual M.Arch and MLA student at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dagny Elise is interested in what decolonial design could look like alongside the belief that architecture is public service. She designs for and with the Philly-region Indigenous communities in various capacities.
In the coming years, she hopes to complete her education and pursue licensure as both an architect and a landscape architect. Following this, Dagny Elise hopes to work with firms that serve Indigenous groups and developing communities across North America.
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Education
University of Pennsylvania | 2027
Master of Architecture
Master of Landscape Architecture
Stanford University | 2023
Bachelor of Engineering, Civil Engineering
Architectural Design
Art History Minor
Experience
September 2025 -
Freelance Design and Representation | decarlssonstudio
August 2025 -
Researcher | Indigenous Society of Architecture, Planning, and Design
May 2025 - August 2025
Extern | James Corner Field Operations
March 2025
Design Fellow | PennPraxis, Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan
December 2023 - August 2024
January 2023 - March 2023
Architectural Coordinator | SITIO architecture + urbanism
January 2024
Designer | Hyundai Future Mobility Design Workshop
March 2022 - June 2022
Mazda Team Lead | Palo Alto Racing Team
August 2022 - June 2023
Architecture Intern | Kirksey Architecture
June 2022 - August 2022
Teaching
January 2023 - March 2023
Teaching Assistant | ARCH 0110: Design, Race, and Climate Justice
August 2025 - December 2025
Teaching Assistant | LARP 7910: Landscape Operations
August 2025
Teaching Assistant | LARP 7390: Landform
August 2025
August 2025
Teaching Assistant | ARCH 2101, Concepts for Understanding Space in the Americas
January 2025 - May 2025
Teaching Assistant | CEE 130, Architectural Design: 3D Modeling, Methodology & Process
September 2022 - December 2022
Volunteering
June 2025 - current
Executive Committee | NAMLA @ Penn
January 2025 - current
Advisory Panelist | Bartram’s Garden Lenape Fellowship
January 2025 - current
December 2024 - current
Secretary, Legislative Committee | American Indian and Indigenous Working Group, City of Philadelphia
November 2024 - April 2025
Awards
Recipient of grant award to support continued research focused on the National Museum of the American Indian and revolutionary architectural process.
Susan Cromwell Coslett Fellow | Weitzman SoD | April 2025
The Coslett Fellowship is awarded to travel to any fine garden(s) in the world. This fellowship was awarded for my application, “None Without Us: Indigenous landscape critiques in conversation with Roberto Burle Marx,” which includes travel to Brazil for research.
Warren Powers Laird Award | Weitzman SoD | July 2024
Named for Warren Powers Laird (1861–1948), the first dean of the School of Fine Arts (now Weitzman School of Design). Awarded to students with the highest standing in all courses in the first year of the professional degree program in architecture.
Will M. Mehlhorn Scholarship | Weitzman SoD | July 2024
Established through a bequest by Will M. Mehlhorn (BFA’30) former architectural editor of House and Garden. Awarded to the students who have done the best work in the theory sequence.
The Payette Sho-Ping Chin Memorial Academic Scholarship is a $10,000 architecture scholarship supporting a woman studying architecture within a NAAB-accredited bachelor or master’s degree program. To help the scholarship recipient establish contacts within the profession, she is assigned a senior mentor from Payette for the scholarship year.
Director's Prize | Stanford University | May 2023
In recognition of exemplary creativity and architectural innovation. Awarded for Spring 2022 project "Fair Park Pavilion" completed in collaboration with Rima Makaryan.
Goodwin B. Steinberg Prize | Stanford University | May 2023
In recognition of exemplary leadership and innovation in architectural design.
Upcoming Events
Organizer | Designing For, By, and With: Indigenous Voices of the Land
Co-sponsored by Penn Landscape Architecture, Dumbarton Oaks, Penn Native American and Indigenous Studies, University of Pennsylvania Office of Social Equity &
Community, Cal Poly Pomona Landscape Architecture, and the National Association of Minority Landscape Architects (NAMLA)
January 28th, 2026 - Sovereignty in Design: Centering Indigenous Governance
February 25th, 2026 - Indigenizing Architecture: Designing for and from Community
March 18th, 2026 - Sacred Sites, Storytelling & Memory in Place
April 22nd, 2026 - Education, Institutions, and the Path Forward
Past Events
Moderator | Architectures and Ecologies of Amazonia
February 7th, 2025
News
CREW Philadelphia Scholarships 2025 - link
Architectures and Ecologies of Amazonia Symposium - link
Payette Sho-Ping Chin Scholarship - link
CREW Network Foundation Awards - link
Weitzman School Awards 2024 - link
Reach out to Dagny Elise at:
dagny[at]design[dot]upenn[dot]edu
dagny[at]design[dot]upenn[dot]edu