Matthew Lewis joined Mahan Rykiel after earning his MLA from Morgan State University. Matthew is a 2024-25 Olmsted Scholar and recipient of the 2025 MDASLA Student Award of Merit. After earning a BA in history from Grinnell College, he worked for eight years in television production in Los Angeles and New York. As he began to take seriously a career change to landscape architecture, he became a member of a team that installs and maintains ecologically sensitive landscapes and edible gardens for homeowners, businesses, and schools. At MSU, Matt’s capstone project proposed a framework for the recognition, reclassification, and reintegration of Baltimore’s vanished burial grounds, displaying his interest in helping its citizens connect with healthy ecosystems, biodiversity, and the story of Baltimore’s history. Matt, his wife Maggie, and daughter Ruth love living in Baltimore and are committed to helping the city thrive.
Growing up between the mountains of Pennsylvania and the Rhode Island coast, Grace was drawn to landscape architecture through an early interest in understanding how humans interact with the environment around them. Grace earned a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and a Minor in Art History from The Pennsylvania State University, where she was the recipient of an ASLA Honor Award from the PA/DE ASLA Chapter and the 2023 Design Excellence Award.
While at Penn State, Grace was able to study abroad in both Spain and Germany, which helped to grow her appreciation for public parks and green spaces and integrated mixed-use design. She is excited to apply her knowledge to help in the design of spaces that are beneficial for both the people that occupy them and the natural elements that shape them.
In her free time, she enjoys gardening, flyfishing, visiting museums, and spending time in Baltimore’s public parks.
Eric Zhang joined Mahan Rykiel Associates in 2025 after earning Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture from Temple University. At Temple, he received the John Collins Drawing Award and an ASLA Student Honor-Merit Award. His experience spans high-end residential work, parks and trails, and campus projects. Growing up in Philadelphia shaped his interest in how built and natural environments influence communities. His capstone investigated post-industrial waterfront sites, such as piers, as opportunities for innovative housing solutions addressing homelessness. This work reflects Eric’s commitment to leveraging landscape architecture as a tool for tackling pressing urban challenges, including things such as social equity and historical remembrance.
With 12 years of professional experience, Chris Maurer is a landscape architect who designs places that express local identity and enrich everyday life. His work is guided by thoughtful, artful, and bold ideas that balance strong design vision with technical rigor.
Since earning his degree from Penn State, Chris has worked across a wide range of project scales and settings, contributing to projects from early analysis and concept development through documentation and construction. He brings particular strength in campus environments, placemaking, and visual communication, with an ability to translate complex ideas into clear, buildable solutions.
While much of Chris’s experience centers on academic and institutional campuses, his work also spans technology, residential, and large-scale planning projects across the United States. Notable projects include campus and public realm work at Amherst College, the University of Washington, Georgia Tech, and Johns Hopkins University.
