The Landscape Architecture Podcast

https://larchitect.org/ Student X We sit down with the 4th Year International Landscape Architecture student "STUDENT X" about the Trump administration jeopardizing students' F1 Visa status if universities offer only online status. "The order came down without notice—its cruelty surpassed only by its recklessness. It appears that it was designed purposefully to place pressure on colleges and universities to open their on-campus classrooms for in-person instruction this fall, without regard to concerns for the health and safety of students, instructors, and others," Harvard University President Larry Bacow said.

Professor of Landscape Architecture at NC State College of Design BLACK LANDSCAPE MATTER http://groundupjournal.org/blacklandscapesmatter This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Professor Boone focuses on the changing nature of communities, and developing tools for enhanced community engagement and design. Through scholarship, teaching, and extension service, Professor Boone works in the landscape context of environmental justice, and his research includes the use of new media as a means of increasing community input in design and planning processes. Professor Boone is the recipient of several awards including the Opal Mann Green Engagement Scholarship Award, the Department of Landscape Architecture Professor of the Year, and the Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher. Professor Boone developed the use of new media and digital tools to more effectively engage Environmental Justice communities. In addition to traditional workshop-based approaches, Professor Boone has extensive experience with a wide array of tools. For the Old Carver School Vision Plan, digital video shorts were developed to provide stakeholders with highly graphic introductions to the principles of defensible space and urban security. For Idlewild, Michigan, DVDs of narrated digital video summaries were distributed to community residents and a website was created to post videos and engage those unable to participate in design workshops. Additionally, an online survey was used to solicit feedback. For the South Park East Raleigh Neighborhood Preservation and History Program, a protocol for stakeholder self-authored digital videos was developed to allow residents to independently conduct asset-mapping using smartphones. The resultant digital videos were mapped, made available to the public using an online map, and used in support of designation of a cultural district. Professor Boone serves as co-director of the College of Design’s Ghana Study Abroad Program and taught 6 courses in West Africa. Most recently, he led anInternational Service Learning partnership with Women In Progress/Global Mamasto develop concepts for new facilities and product lines. The partnership featured direct engagement with Batik artists, and field documentation of Ghanaian craft villages. The coursework was featured in several venues including on the Huffington Post. Boone’s published articles appear in journals including Prism, Intensions and Journal of Tourism Analysis. His work is featured in the Journal of Planning Literature, and the recently published book, Becoming a Landscape Architect. Professor Boone is an active member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), serving as the past state liaison to the Historic American Landscape Survey (HALS). He served as a presenter at the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA), the Environmental Design and Research Association (EDRA) the American Society of Landscape Architecture National Meeting and Expo, and at numerous Colleges and Universities. Prior to joining the faculty at NC State University, Kofi was a studio leader at JJR (formerly Johnson, Johnson, and Roy) working on a wide range of interdisciplinary urban design and planning projects. He received his Master of Landscape Architecture and Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources from The University of Michigan. Focus Area – Urban design, design of public spaces, environmental justice, visual communication.

This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Wendy Miller, Landscape Architecture, PLLC is a design and planning firm based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Specializing in multi-modal planning, corridors studies, transportation aesthetics, and public involvement strategies, we develop transportation design solutions to meet your agency and organizational needs.

This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Interview by Rennie K Tang Thierry KANDJEE is a landscape architect, in charge of taktyk Brussels and Chair of Landscape in the Architecture Faculty La Cambre Horta. His practice based research investigated how to design landscape skeletons as a model of/for robust landscapes. Sébastien PENFORNIS is an architect and urban designer in charge of taktyk Paris office. He also teaches at the ENSAB, Rennes. His practice based research explored the notion of play and serendipity through the landscape design processes and transformations. Rennie Tang is a designer and educator based in Los Angeles. As a professor of landscape architecture at California Polytechnic State University Pomona her teaching methods emphasize one-to-one scale spatial construction, topographic manipulation and material exploration. She is recipient of the 2017 Excellence in Design Studio Teaching Award from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA). Her research interests include human mobility, health and well-being in urban landscapes and intergenerational play; this work has been presented and published locally and internationally at conferences as well as by invitation from museums and art festivals. Her collaborative project ‘Punt.Point’ with artist Sara Wookey was recently purchased by the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Notable designers she has worked with include landscape architect Walter Hood and artist Mary Miss. She has taught at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Woodbury University and University of Southern California and has practiced in Montreal, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Oakland and Vienna.

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This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Nina is a founding principal of Merritt Chase. Nina works as a landscape architect and urban designer, positioning outdoor public spaces as foundational building blocks for cities. Nina is a registered landscape architect and formerly the Senior Project Manager at Riverlife, a non-profit planning organization in Pittsburgh, PA, and an Associate at Sasaki in Boston, MA. A graduate of Harvard's Graduate School of Design and West Virginia University, Nina was named "Landscape Architect to Watch" by Green Building and Design Magazine and has received national recognition from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Landscape Architecture Foundation, and the American Institute of Architects. Nina's professional experience is additionally informed by a commitment to the design and planning community through teaching, writing and volunteering. Nina has lectured at MIT and RISD, and she has served as a design critic at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Toronto. Nina is currently an adjunct faculty member at Carnegie Mellon's School of Architecture and an emeritus board member of the Landscape Architecture Foundation. Falon Mihalic is a landscape architect, public artist, and founder of Falon Land Studio. Her work has won numerous public art and design awards including support from the Houston Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs, Kaboom Foundation, and Houston Arts Alliance. Her recent awards include the winning commission for the Central Avenue Public Art project in Baltimore and an Emerging Artist Award from the Houston Arts Alliance. A Florida native, Falon has a degree in Natural Sciences from New College of Florida and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is the recipient of the distinguished Dan Tuttle Endowed Scholarship Award for Design Excellence and the American Society of Landscape Architects Graduate Honor Award. Prior to founding Falon Land Studio, she practiced as a landscape architect at Sasaki Associates where she was the Lead Plant Designer for the Arlington National Cemetery Expansion Project, and a project designer for campuses, urban plazas, children's gardens, and an ecological resort. Falon is the Chair of Landscape Architecture Magazine's National Editorial Board, Vice Chair of the BikeHouston Board of Directors, and a member of the Rice Design Alliance's Publications Committee. Falon is a licensed landscape architect in Florida, Texas, and Illinois with a deep knowledge of plants and ecosystems of the Gulf Coast region.

This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Formally trained in both architecture and landscape architecture, Mark has long seen those two disciplines as inseparable. He founded Rios Associates in 1985 with a singular vision: to imagine, design, and build complete environments. Under his leadership, the firm quickly developed an international reputation for its groundbreaking multidisciplinary approach to its commissions. Mark’s eclectic interests, innate curiosity, and ability to see things from multiple perspectives propelled the firm beyond the borders of architecture and landscape architecture to incorporate interior design, graphic design, product design, branding, and urban planning. He created an environment where colleagues were free to draw from any number of design influences. The firm was renamed RIOS in 2003 to acknowledge its focus on collaboration across all of these disciplines. The firm’s client list is as diverse as the services it provides. It includes entertainment studios, commercial developers, cultural and educational institutions, city agencies, retail and restaurant establishments, and private individuals. Mark received his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from USC, and earned his Master of Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture degrees simultaneously from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He has been an AIA fellow since 1999 and an ASLA fellow since 2006. He was Chairman of USC’s Landscape Architecture Program from 2001-07, and served on the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture faculty from 1986-95. Every project that bears the firm’s stamp traces its lineage to Mark’s vision for a transdisciplinary practice. His fascination with the interrelationships among design disciplines is most prominently on display in projects such as Grand Park, The California Endowment, Temple Emanuel and Mark Taper Forum.

This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Kate Orff, RLA, FASLA, is the Founding Principal of SCAPE. She focuses on retooling the practice of landscape architecture relative to the uncertainty of climate change and creating spaces to foster social life, which she has explored through publications, activism, research, and projects. She is known for leading complex, creative, and collaborative work processes that advance broad environmental and social prerogatives. In 2019, Kate was elevated to the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Council of Fellows—one of the highest honored bestowed on landscape architects practicing in the U.S. Kate was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2017, the first given in the field of landscape architecture. In 2019, she accepted a National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum, on behalf of SCAPE, and was named a Hero of the Harbor by the Waterfront Alliance. She was a 2012 United States Artist Fellow, dubbed an Elle Magazine “Planet Fixer,” and has been profiled and interviewed extensively for publications including The New York Times, The Economist, National Geographic, and more. Kate graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia with Distinction and earned a Master in Landscape Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. She is also the Director of the Urban Design Program, Co-Director of the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes (CRCL), and Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP).

This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Gerdo Aquino is an academic design critic, lecturer, and landscape architect whose research into innovative new materials and landscape technologies for public and/or private open spaces transforms post-industrial, urban waterfronts into viable places for people, commerce, and tourism and helps to shape the future growth of global cities. “With urban densities on the rise, cities are poised to exemplify greatness or self-destruction,” he says. “My projects in these cities seek to mediate the extremes and bring a sense of stability to the disparate communities and districts that make these cities livable. I see my practice as a dynamic mix of landscape architecture and urban design.” Gerdo’s work focuses on under-utilized or abandoned urban and suburban infill sites that nonetheless “have the potential to enhance their existing surroundings through creative programming and natural systems integration.” Clients enlist him to assemble innovative teams where specialization is both required and necessary given the complex issues facing contemporary landscape architecture projects around the world. His longstanding interest in Asia began at Harvard, where he co-founded the Graduate School of Design’s first Asian student organization, AsiaGSD. He also has extensive experience in the analysis and planning of multi-scaled ecological corridors and repurposed streets and plazas in urban areas of North America, Asia, Russia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Gerdo co-authored Landscape Infrastructure: Case Studies by SWA, encompassing much of his current thinking about landscape architecture, both professionally and academically. The book received an ASLA National Honor Award in Communications. He received a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida. Gerdo is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a member of the Central City Association of Los Angeles. He is an adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture in the Master of Landscape Architecture Degree Program at the University of Southern California.

This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Chris Reed is Founding Director of Stoss and is recognized internationally as a leading voice in the transformation of landscapes and cities. He works alternately as a researcher, strategist, teacher, designer, and advisor. A recipient of the 2012 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Landscape Architecture, Chris is a Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Allen Compton is the founder and principal of SALT Landscape Architects, a studio recognized for designing insightful landscape projects that respond to their context and connect people to the site. He is a licensed landscape architect in the states of California, Texas, and Michigan, and a member of ASLA. He was recently elected vice-chair of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation Pedestrian Advisory Committee. He is currently providing pro-bono consulting to the Take Back the Boulevard initiative, where he is helping community leaders shape a plan to bring Complete Street improvements to Colorado Boulevard, in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles. He is also a member of the Council District 14 Median Advisory Committee, where he is helping to develop a sustainable, low-water, and low-maintenance planting strategy for medians in the district. Allen is also the co-founder of Los Angeles Landscape Architects (LALA), a programming and networking group focused on landscape issues.

BLACK LANDSCAPE MATTER http://groundupjournal.org/blacklandscapesmatter This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/

Landscape Architecture Post COVID-19

This episode is sponsored by http://trajanphotography.com/ Meg Rushing Coffee is a licensed landscape architect in Los Angeles, CA. Most of her 15+ years of practice is in residential design with experience in commercial and public projects as well. Before starting her own practice in 2013, Meg was a landscape architect with Pamela Burton and Company, OLIN, Marmol Radziner and Associates, and The Office of James Burnett. She was fortunate to work on many published and award-winning projects. Meg offers full landscape architectural design services—schematic design through construction documents—as well as construction administration. Because she is her only employee, Meg has close relationships with her clients and projects. Her landscape designs tend to be thoughtful and organized; focusing on the site and client needs while balancing practicality with beauty. Although her strength is in hardscape design (outdoor rooms, dining terraces, entertaining areas, pools/spas, etc.) Meg also enjoys designing with plants. Some of her favorite plants are California natives and she incorporates them into her designs to create drought-tolerant, contemporary gardens. In addition to her design work, Meg is an instructor in the Landscape Architecture Program at UCLA Extension, a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and Vice President of the Association for Women Architects and Designers (AWA+D).

http://aslaadapt.com/ Open Letter To: Shawn T. Kelly, President of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), President-Elect Wendy Miller, the ASLA Executive Committee, and the ASLA Board of Trustees We are living through a climate crisis. This crisis has grown out of a socio-economic system that depends on the intensive extraction of the Earth’s resources, ultimately driving our planet’s life-support systems to their limits. Furthermore, we recognize that ecological breakdown and global inequality are symptoms of the same process; environmental degradation greatly overburdens those with less money, power, and resources. Although we recognize that the threat of climate change and the damage it inflicts are certainly invoked within our profession, we are concerned with how these words are acted upon. As design students deeply invested in the future of the world’s landscapes and their ability to sustain life, we have come together from across the United States to call on the ASLA to strengthen its commitment to addressing the most serious challenge of our times. While we applaud the ASLA’s recent efforts to support climate change resiliency through the Blue Ribbon Panel, we believe that now is the time for the profession to do more: to take actionable measures that follow in the footsteps of the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s recent New Landscape Declaration as well as the ASLA’s own Code of Environmental Ethics, conference proceedings, publications, and internal communications. This is not a time to be apolitical or to bargain for minimal gains. This is a time to work toward a bold vision for the future of our planet. We ask that the ASLA: 1. Endorse and Help Define the Green New Deal We call on the ASLA to join the conversation around the Green New Deal and to advocate for the centrality of landscape architecture to its very definition. We cannot claim to take on resiliency and mitigation as a central mission without joining this key conversation. The Green New Deal offers an incredible opportunity for landscape architecture to express its values on a national legislative stage, and the legislation’s bold charges leave room for all professions to come to the table to help give it form and make it actionable. Together we should step up and call for the mobilization of public resources to transition from an economy built on exploitation to one built on dignified work and clean energy for all. The history of landscape architecture demonstrates the discipline’s long advocacy for robust public assets that ensure environmental justice, from Olmsted onward. We must reassert landscape’s ability to influence our understanding of nature’s relationship to society in this crucial political moment. 2. Assert Our Commitment to the Public Realm At a time when the public realm is suffering from considerable disinvestment, the ASLA must affirm the values of social justice and public dialogue. We must actively stand against development practices that further socioeconomic inequity, such as gentrification, greenwashing, and resource consumption. Building toward this future means making hard choices: it means collectively refusing work that goes against these principles as well as promoting work that is in line with this vision. Making these decisions requires an awareness of existing policy and the power of advocacy. In order to have a seat at the tables where these conversations are taking place, landscape architects require the ASLA to advocate and be actively engaged in policy change. 3. Advocate for Climate Science in Curricula and Licensure The ASLA is in a powerful position to influence how landscape architecture is taught and practiced. In order to maintain professional credibility, we need to be able to articulate how climate change affects the landscape; we must speak effectively to massive biodiversity loss as well as political and economic stresses on conservation, rehabilitation and restoration of lands, species displacement, and increasing social inequity. While this knowledge enters curricula in ad hoc ways, dedicated coursework on climate change taught by scientists and policy professionals is not yet an explicit requirement of academic programs. As licensed professionals, our mandate to create safe environments for the public demands an understanding of how climate change will alter our communities and how we must aim to do no further environmental harm. Armed with this knowledge, we can have a voice when making crucial decisions about the future of the built environment. By giving a strong voice to design’s role in the climate crisis, the ASLA can do more than stand for the future of landscape architecture; it can stand for the future of life in all its diversity. A publicly stated commitment to this issue, changes to core pedagogy and practice, and political advocacy are crucial first steps in this effort. This is just the beginning. Let us be strong partners in this fight. Signed in solidarity, A Collective of Landscape Architecture Students of the United States http://aslaadapt.com/