Anne Vernez Moudon was born in Yverdon-les-bains in Vaud, Switzerland on December 24, 1945 to Mauricette Lina (Duc) and Ernest Edouard Moudon. She was one of only three women to graduate from the school of architecture at the University of Lausanne, but this wasn’t enough for her. In 1966 Anne headed to the U.S. to pursue higher education at UC Berkeley in California, spending two years in Colombia in the early 1970s. After teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she moved to the University of Washington in 1981, where she spent the next several decades redefining urban design. She accomplished far too many things for us to list here: here's a link to her “brief bio” (9 pages of tiny font, the way she liked it). Anne retired from teaching at UW in 2015, but that only meant she had more time to engage with the people and places she adored. Her “retirement” consisted of traveling the world to give lectures, attend conferences, drink wine with her children, teach her grandsons about architecture and public transportation, and discover new parts of the globe (Cuba, Crete, and the Silk Road to name only a few). She continued to work with the Urban Form Lab, living between Seattle, Paris, and Saint Sulpice in Switzerland when she wasn’t on the move. 

Anne passed away in Paris, France - her favorite city in the world - on April 8, 2025 at the young age of 79. She is survived by her children, Louisa Moudon Seferis and Constantine Thomas Seferis, her favorite son-in-law Jeroen Bart Carrin, her favorite daughter-in-law Vivian Wei Tao, and her beloved grandsons Aleko Lieven Carrin and Calix Tao Seferis. Her professional legacy lives on in the work of her numerous students and the many publications across the world. A celebration of her life will take place in Seattle some time in the fall. To get in touch with her family or share memories, please write to annevmoudonmemorial@gmail.com or post publicly on this memorial page.

Celebration of Anne’s amazing life: https://youtu.be/YAcBGwzJQvM?feature=shared