Naomi Cottrell

Principal

PLA, ASLA, LEED AP, CPSI

Naomi Cottrell brings energy, optimism, and boundless curiosity to every project. Known for her engaging personality and collaborative style, she thrives on helping clients and communities imagine what a place could become. Whether leading a public workshop, working with an institutional client, or sketching ideas around a conference table, Naomi has a knack for making the design process both engaging and inspiring.

Over more than three decades of practice, Naomi has designed nationally recognized landscapes ranging from award-winning private estates early in her career to parks, playgrounds, schools, and civic spaces throughout New England. She consults on all of Crowley Cottrell's playground work, becoming a Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI) to deepen her technical expertise and continue advancing environments where people of all ages and abilities can play, gather, and connect. She believes exceptional design should not be reserved for extraordinary budgets, but achieved through creativity, thoughtful material choices, and a clear understanding of what matters most to each community.

An educator throughout her career, Naomi's research at the Harvard Graduate School of Design focused on design education in underserved communities, earning her the GSD Teaching Fellowship. She later taught design to students with special needs at Madison Park High School in Roxbury, experiences that reinforced a belief she still carries today: great landscapes have the greatest impact when they are designed for everyone.