Ritika Narang
Urban Designer
Ritika is originally from Mumbai, India, and she completed her undergraduate education in architecture there. She developed a keen interest in understanding the social, political, and other implications of built forms while at school, which led her to pursue a master's degree in Urban Design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Something that excites her is working across densities and contexts.
As an Urban Designer, her role involves understanding the unique perspectives, values, and historical context of the site, and developing solutions rooted in the lived experiences of the community. She advocates for access to resources rather than ownership and prioritizes sustainable modes of transportation. Her objective is to design cities that reduce dependence on automobiles, focusing on the human dimension and emphasizing the mental and physical well-being of citizens.
Ritika is exploring Chattanooga’s unique history and culture, learning every day from Chattanoogans, and she is honored to be working with the Design Studio in designing spaces that put people first.
Sydney Smith
Urban Designer
Originally from south Louisiana, Sydney is excited about having recently relocated to Chattanooga. Sydney graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor’s of Architecture and a Minor in Business. Throughout her educational career, she was able to expand her skills by traveling and studying cities around the world. Her experiences have sparked a passion for creative spaces that invoke joy and encourage connectivity between all individuals.
After visiting Chattanooga over the years, Sydney has grown to love the intention and care that Chattanoogans have devoted to the public realm of their city. She is passionate about the work of the Design Studio and hopeful to apply her design knowledge to help shape the city. Sydney is excited to fully immerse herself in the community and become more familiar with the special places that Chattanooga has to offer.
Jack Wood
Urban Design Coordinator
A native of Chattanooga, Jack took great inspiration from witnessing the transformation that took place in the city throughout his upbringing. This inspiration and an innate passion for urbanism led him to earn his bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Tennessee. He then earned a master's degree in Urban Planning from the City College of New York, where he spent a semester collaborating with the Istanbul Metropolitan Planning and Urban Design Center in Turkey on the design of a new city on the region’s Black Sea coast.
Jack’s professional path for more than a decade has given him experience in many facets of the architecture and design field, including urban design; historic preservation; and retail design in the healthcare, foodservice, and retail industries in Chattanooga, Nashville, and around the United States.
Jack is driven by a love of history and how It shapes our built environment and consistently seeks to explore and understand how the historic and cultural strata of a city speaks to the community’s current needs as well as its path forward. He is honored to be home In Chattanooga with a chance to contribute to the city that has given him so much.
Ginger Birnbaum
Development and Outreach Director
Ginger was raised between the Mississippi Delta and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, both places that inspire a strong sense of identity in their communities. She recognizes the power of place and the way that public spaces can elevate our relationships with one another and our shared environment.
At a young age Ginger fell in love with the art of storytelling and the way that a story has the power to move a community. She continues to use stories to connect with people – and connect people to causes.
Ginger received a Bachelor of Arts in English and sociology with a special emphasis in gender studies from the University of Mississippi. It was here that she learned the importance of challenging the status quo and working toward the greater good.
A true advocate, for nearly 20 years Ginger has worked alongside local and national non-profits. Aspects of this work include partnerships in care and research, fundraising, strategic messaging, healthcare advocacy, and leadership development. She especially enjoys working with stakeholders at different levels and helping them find their own path to invest in a mission.
Eric Myers, AIA, NCARB, LEED® AP BD+C
Executive Director
Eric Myers was appointed as the Executive Director of the Chattanooga Design Studio in March 2017. In this role he oversees strategic development, fiscal performance, and is the Studio’s primary spokesperson to the media and the general public. Under his leadership, the Studio has begun to strengthen relationships with various outside organizations and has aligned the studio’s program focus to help the Board of Directors engage on specific mission related opportunities.
Eric is a LEED accredited registered architect and urban designer with a broad ranging background and breadth of experience in Chattanooga and the Southeast. For over 22 years Eric has practiced architecture and urban design in Chattanooga. Prior to joining the Chattanooga Design Studio, Eric founded a design firm and through his 10 years of leadership, the organization helped create urban housing, commercial retail and offices, healthcare facilities, historic preservation efforts, as well as urban design and neighborhood structure plans. Eric was also urban design coordinator at the community’s legacy studio which operated from 1980 until 2005. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Eric currently serves on the Board of Directors for La Paz Chattanooga. He has served on the Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise Board of Directors (2012-2020) and is past president of Cornerstones, Inc. and the Chattanooga Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Myers also served a 2014 to 2017 appointment to the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.
Board of Directors
Johanna Heywood
Chair
S+ME, Inc.
Rick Wood
Past Chair
Impact Parks
Heidi Hefferlin
Vice Chair
Hefferlin + Kronenberg Architects, PLLC
Mark McKnight
Secretary
Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center
Andrea Hardaway
First Property Management
Eric Myers
President
Chattanooga Design Studio
Jim Williamson
River City Company
Dr. Mina Sartipi
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Rob Taylor
CityScape Development Services
Macon Toledano
Advisory Committee
Lyndhurst Foundation
Jeff Pfitzer
Advisory Committee
Benwood Foundation
Lisa Pinckney
Advisory Committee
Footprint Foundation
In memoriam
Christian S. Rushing, LEED AP
Executive Director (2015-2017)
Christian Sinclair Rushing was a founder and the first executive director of The Chattanooga Design Studio. He died Wednesday, February 1, 2017, after a two-year struggle with gall bladder cancer. In many ways, The Chattanooga Design Studio will be a perpetual memorial to Christian’s leadership, his vision, and his unwavering courage. He will live forever within the influence of the lives that he touched and his efforts in urban design. Christian will always be remembered as a great leader who led with great charm.
Christian believed that good design is for everyone. He also believed in the power of collective will and collaborative visioning. He held a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico, and a master’s degree from Auburn University. Christian led and contributed heavily in several urban design visioning processes in Chattanooga and other cities in the US for two decades. He moderated River City Company’s Urban Design Challenge, created the Urban Design Studio Retrospective, and served as lead consultant for Chattanooga’s City Center Plan. Christian was Senior Planner in Chattanooga’s former Downtown Planning & Design Studio for five years and in 2005 he was a founding principal of the planning firm, Kennedy, Coulter, Rushing & Watson. He also designed and developed the LEED award-winning Madison Street homes in 2008.
Christian’s weekly writings instilled many faithful readers with hope and joy while providing an infusion of his opinions and a glimpse into his extraordinary character. But he was more than a talented writer, with a personality larger than the South, his river of life and love were filled by design, sports, cooking and above all his family. He was an enthusiastic chef often testing the genius of the likes of Escoffier and Henderson.
The Chattanooga Design Studio is forever indebted to Christian Rushing’s efforts and talents. It is with Christian’s memory that we recall the connection of life which binds us all and further reminds us to cherish the virtues of urban design that are rooted in human liberty and human happiness.
Christian’s self-written obituary may be read here.