Adrian Tiafierro Keys grew up surrounded by Florida’s wild beauty — the mangroves, dunes, and waterways of Sarasota. His father was a landscape contractor, and his mother an art teacher. From them, he learned how to build with precision and see with creativity. As a teenager, he spent weekends on job sites and evenings sketching garden layouts at the kitchen table. Those early experiences planted the seeds for a career built on balance — between people and nature.
After graduating from Booker High School’s Visual and Performing Arts Program, Adrian studied landscape architecture at the University of Florida and earned a master’s in environmental design from Florida International University. His focus was coastal resilience — how design can protect what’s most fragile.
In 2014, he founded Keys Ecological Design, a Sarasota-based studio that creates sustainable, climate-adaptive landscapes. His projects, like the Bayfront Park Redevelopment and the Ringling College Courtyard, blend beauty with purpose. “Design should solve problems and tell stories,” he says.
Adrian also teaches at the University of South Florida and serves on the Florida ASLA board, helping shape how future designers think about ecology and community. Beyond work, he co-founded GulfGrow, a program that helps residents and schools replace lawns with native gardens.