URI Landscape Architecture lectures kick
off Oct. 5
Twenty-five years ago, the
University of Rhode Island launched a lecture series featuring landscape
architects from the region.
Back then, speakers talked mostly
about community design projects. The profession has evolved over the years, and
so have the lectures.
Themes today involve issues with
global reach—climate change, urbanism, environmental degradation, habitat loss
and sustainability. And speakers live and work throughout the world.
“The role of landscape architects
has changed dramatically,” says William Green, creator of the series and a
professor in URI’s Landscape Architecture Department. “Landscape architects are
solving the world’s problems. They understand engineering, architecture and
planning, and are skilled at working with social scientists. Now their projects
are big and complex.”
The annual series will continue next
month with a lecture Oct. 5 by Jared Sell, a 2012 URI graduate who will discuss
how he helps design Walt Disney theme parks, including Avatar World and Star
Wars.
Free and open to the public, “Walt
Disney Imagineering: Bringing Designs to Life” will start at 7 p.m. in the
Richard E. Beaupre Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences Center, 140
Flagg Road on URI’s Kingston campus.
“The lecture series was a staple of
my time at URI,” says Sell. “It has always been on the cutting edge, bringing
in industry leaders and innovators. The series exposed me to the endless
opportunities of landscape architecture. Having the chance now to be a part of
the series allows alumni, such as myself, to show our pride and gratitude for
URI.”
Inspired by lectures he attended at
Harvard when he was living in Cambridge, Mass., Green says he started the URI
series to expose students to creative ideas from renowned landscape architects
and alumni who’ve made a mark in their profession.
“It’s critical,” says Green, “for
students to see what is being planned and built by designers at the top of
their field.”
In the beginning, speakers focused
on topics like how to create a Japanese garden or what to plant along highways.
As worries mounted about climate change, the environment and a population shift
to cities, the topics took on greater urgency, focusing instead on the revival
of urban landscapes, connecting people to nature and preserving historic
landscapes.
Green says his list of speakers is a
“who’s-who” of landscape architects.
Speakers, some from as far away as
Mexico and South Africa, have included Charles Birnbaum, president of the
Cultural Landscape Foundation; Brad McKee, editor of “Landscape Architecture Magazine;”
Patricia O’Donnell, an expert in landscape preservation and founder and
principal of Heritage Landscapes; Laurie Olin, whose Philadelphia firm designed
the landscape at the Washington Monument; Julius Fabos, professor emeritus of
the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Massachusetts; and
the late Ian McHarg, a world-famous landscape architect from Scotland.
URI alumni have given talks, and
speakers from colleges—Cornell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
Harvard, among others—have also shared their expertise.
Speakers have enlightened audience
members about everything from green urbanism and rooftop gardens to storm water
control and landscape designs in hospitals that promote healing.
One speaker talked about the aesthetics
of wind farms; another about how to manage and preserve cultural landscapes
like public parks, farms, historic sites and cemeteries.
Controlling water quality during
construction, designing landscapes for athletic facilities, helping small towns
with sustainable design and smart growth, and preserving iconic cultural
landscapes, like cemeteries, have also been popular.
Attendance has been excellent, says
Green. Anywhere from 50 to 100 people—students, faculty and community
members—have attended each session. Students and the speaker often meet for
dinner before the talk, giving students a chance to share their ideas and
projects.
“This has been a 25-year labor of
love for me,” says Green. “The series has evolved to address the important
issues of our time. Landscape architecture has become an environmental
profession that is about protecting and visualizing the future, here and
throughout the world.”
Other speakers in this year’s
lecture series will be:
Oct. 26, John Amodeo, principal
CRJA-IBI Group, Boston, Mass., on “The Christian Science Plaza: Bringing an
Iconic Mid-Century Urban Plaza into the Present.”
Nov. 9, Eric Kramer, principal, Reed
Hilderbrand, Watertown, Mass., on “Innovation and Tradition in an Increasingly
Complex World.”
Nov. 30, Barbara Wilks, principal, W
Architecture, New York, N.Y.
Dec. 7, Stephen Stimson, principal,
Stimson Associates, Boston, Mass., on “Wildness.”
March 8, Peter Trowbridge,
principal, TWM, Ithaca, N.Y.
April 5, Signe Nielsen, principal,
Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, on “Waterproofing New York.”
April 19, Mario Schjetnan,
principal, Grupo Urbano, Mexico City, on “World Trends and Landscape
Architecture.”
April 26, Jamie Maslyn Larson,
principal, Wagner Hodgson, Burlington, N.Y.
The series is co-sponsored by Bartlett
Tree Experts, the Rhode Island chapter of the American Society of Landscape
Architects, the Gaetano and Pasqualina Faella Endowment, URI College of
Business Administration, and URI’s Department of Textiles, Fashion
Merchandising and Design.
Sell’s lecture is co-sponsored by URI’s Harrington
School of Communication and Media, and Eric Kramer’s talk is co-sponsored by
Victor Stanley, a landscape furnishing company.
For more information about the
series, contact the URI Department of Landscape Architecture at 401-874-2983 or
Professor Green at wagre@uri.edu.
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