Arterra Landscape Architects

Principals

Vera Gates

Principal / Landscape Architect

Vera grew up close to the land, on a farm in Northern Vermont. There she learned the essential qualities of the natural landscape and the symbiotic relationship of natural systems. She also learned how to draw and paint and ride horses - passions she continues to pursue to this day.

Now living and working in the urban environs of San Francisco, Vera brings an agrarian sensibility and an artistic vision to her design work. She believes in crafting landscapes In The Spirit of Place. Her designs are innovative and dramatic, with layers of purpose and meaning.

Vera teaches Environmental Design and Landscape Graphics at U.C. Berkeley Extension in San Francisco. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and a Certified Green Building Professional. She specializes in site grading, rainwater harvesting and the creation of human habitat. Believing in community involvement, Vera is helping renovate Sunnyside Conservatory, a San Francisco treasure.

After receiving a B.S. in Environmental Design from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1984, Vera worked as a water features engineer and landscape designer on international resort projects. Licensed in 1991, she opened her own practice in 1993. Arterra was founded in 2003, with partner Kate Stickley. Vera spends her free time painting, golfing and riding her bike. She also spends a ridiculous amount of time watching her son play baseball-and enjoying every minute of it!

Katherine B. Stickley

Principal / Landscape Architect

The beauty of simple lines and patterns in the natural landscape initially drew Kate to the field of landscape architecture. It became her life-long passion when she began translating these properties into the built environment, blending perennial design tenets with creative adaptations of materials and applications.

Walking the land, studying its meaning and connecting it to the people who will use it is central to Kate’s design philosophy.

After graduating from Michigan State University in 1984 with her bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture, Kate practiced large-scale resort design in Florida and the Caribbean. This was followed by a move to the South of France for four years, where she continued honing her landscape design skills. These experiences and knowledge allow Kate to integrate an advanced mastery of waterwise planting and passive solar design, as well as incorporate a first-hand expertise of temperate, subtropical and Mediterranean climates into her client’s California landscapes.

Kate’s community involvement includes participating in the redesign of the Coit Tower grounds, and creating educational elementary schoolyards throughout San Francisco. She is a Certified Green Building Professional and considers sustainability a design principle and not a buzzword.

Creating a sustainable landscape legacy