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Posted 5-8-12
Fifth Years Showcase Thesis Projects in Downtown SLO June 1
Nineteen LA students finishing their two-quarter capstone experience during Spring term will display their senior design projects at 669 Higuera (Davidson's Furniture) in downtown San Luis Obispo Friday, June 1, 2012. The show will run from 3 pm to 8 pm, with an awards reception starting at 5 pm.
During the show, the Landscape Architecture faculty will announce several senior class recognition awards. Senior awards for best design process, design excellence, best senior project, and service to the department are based on faculty nominations and votes. Academic excellence is based on overall GPA.
The fifth year class will also award one of their peers the Golden Eagle award. This award is made to a graduating student who has demonstrated a professional competence and attitude, has been a stabilizing influence during times of great confusion, and is a person who is always able to give to others in their time of need.
These senior class recognition awards honor students who finished their capstone projects during Spring term.
Posted: 4.3.12
Richard Kane Receives 2012 Courtland Paul Scholarship from LAF
Third year student Richard Kane was awarded this year's Courtland Paul Scholarship offered through the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF). The $5,000 scholarship honors the memory of Courtland P. Paul, FASLA (1927-2003) and his lifelong commitment to the landscape architecture profession.
The LAF Scholarship Winners web page says: "Through his studies in landscape architecture at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Kane has developed a fascination with the beauty and function of nature, an obsession for design detail, and an enthusiasm for understanding how people react to outdoor spaces. His goal for the future is to design places that promote interaction between humans and the outdoors in a society that is growing increasingly disconnected from the natural world. Kane hopes to inspire people to explore and appreciate nature as well as use the technologies that are causing the disconnect in designed spaces to increase human interaction with outdoors."
Posted: 3.22.12
SLO Journal Features Alumni / Student Work and Faculty Research
SLO Journal 2011-12 (the department publication formerly known as SLO Landscape) is now available for reading on our Publications web page.
SLOJO has two new editors so you will see changed formatting and features, and new faculty are highlighted in their research. "We solicited alumni contributions, which we believe showcase the breadth of work in contemporary landscape architecture practice," SLOJO editors Christy Edstrom O'Hara and César Torres-Bustamante wrote in their introduction. "We intend to continue with this work and hope others will send us projects for the next journal."
SLOJO not only showcases distinguished alumni work and faculty scholarship but also outstanding student work, along with articles featuring Cal Poly's ASLA Student Chapter, a recent Extended Field Trip to Europe, and an update on the activities of the Landscape Architecture Department Advisory Council. SLOJO also recognizes contributors to the Walt Tryon Endowment and those who have supported the department financially since the last department journal was published in 2010.
Posted: 3.12.12
Six from Class of 2011-12 Receive ASLA Honor and Merit Awards
A jury from the ASLA Southern California Chapter selected six students from the class of 2011-12 for the 2012 ASLA Student Honor and Merit Awards.
Kelsey Christoffels, Nancy Schultz, and Jane Theobald were awarded ASLA Certificates of Honor. Certificates of Merit were awarded to Sarah Cawrse, Donovan Hall, and Cameron Turner.
Students considered for the awards were nominated by program faculty based on the following criteria: 1) minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA; 2) in their final two years of study; 3) considered truly outstanding as measured by the program's long-term standards of excellence; 4) demonstrating the highest level of academic scholarship and of accomplishments in skills related to the art and technology of landscape architecture; and 5) demonstrating personal qualities and skills of responsiveness and willingness to work with others, self-motivation and responsibility, and design abilities: exploration, discovery, synthesis and representation of landscape architecture design.
Gere Smith, Professor Emeritus and ASLA Fellow; Scott Dowlan, Landscape Architect with CalTrans, Bianca Koenig, Landscape Architect with the Wallace Group; and Marisa Markowitz Peltier, Landscape Architect with RRM Design Group, were the jury members.
Representatives from the Southern California Chapter of ASLA will present the awards to the students at the Spring Senior Show and Awards Ceremony on Friday, June 1.
Updated 3-12-12
Fifth Years Showcase Thesis Projects in Simpson Strong-Tie March 9
Nineteen LA students finishing their two-quarter capstone experience during Winter term (pictured at left without their instructors, Profs. Omar Faruque and Margarita Hill) displayed their senior design projects in the Simpson Strong-Tie Demonstration Lab on the Cal Poly campus Friday, March 9, 2012.
During the show, the Landscape Architecture faculty announced several senior class recognition awards. Awards for best design process, design excellence, best senior project, and service to the department were based on faculty nominations and votes. Academic excellence was based on overall GPA.
Best Design Process - Ayla-Louise Ucok
Design Excellence - Kelsey Christoffels
Best Senior Project - Samantha Nason
Service to the Department - Donovan Hall
Academic Excellence/Achievement - Cameron Turner
The fifth year class awarded one of their peers the Golden Eagle award. This award is made to a graduating student who has demonstrated a professional competence and attitude, has been a stabilizing influence during times of great confusion, and is a person who is always able to give to others in their time of need.
Golden Eagle Award - Samantha Williams
These awards honored students who finished their capstone projects during Winter term.
Updated 3-12-12
Winter Studios Hold Final Reviews Week of March 5
Studio reviews provide an excellent opportunity to learn about Landscape Architecture and interact with faculty and students in the Department. During the week of March 5, 2012, the Department hosted the following reviews:
MONDAY, MARCH 05
"Housing Theory"
LA 402 Design Theory Studio with Professor Omar Faruque
Berg Gallery (Building 5, Room 105)
8:30am - 12noon
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 07
"Construction Techniques"
LA 405 Project Design Studio with Cameron Man
2nd Floor Gallery (Building 34, outside Rooms 247-249)
9:00am - 12noon
"Cal Poly 2025"
LA 203 Design Fundamentals Studio with Professor Omar Faruque
Berg Gallery (Building 5, Room 105)
1:00 - 5:00pm
FRIDAY, MARCH 09
"Piedras Blancas Light Station"
LA 403 Natural Environments Studio with Professor Walter Bremer
Lecture Area (Building 34, Room 252)
9:00 - 11:30am
"The Jones' Residence"
LA 203 Design Fundamentals Studio with Assistant Professor David Watts
Dexter Hall Courtyard (Building 34)
9:00am - 12noon
"Futuristic Design"
LA 402 Design Theory Studio with Astrid Reeves
Fireplace Room (Building 34, Room 210)
9:00am - 12noon
"Mid-Review Senior Project"
LA 461 First Quarter Senior Project Studio with Assistant Professor Cesar Torres-Bustamante
Engineering West Gallery (Building 21, Room 105)
12noon - 3:00pm
"Bicycle Hotel for Guadalupe"
LA 405 and ARCH 353 Interdisciplinary Landscape and Architecture Studios with Assistant Professor Christy O'Hara and Professor Laura Joines
Guadalupe City Hall, Guadalupe
Presentations begin at 1:30
"Senior Thesis Final Show"
LA 461 Senior Project Studio with Professors Omar Faruque and Margarita Hill
Simpson Strong Tie Building (Building 186)
3:00pm - 7:00pm - Awards Ceremony at 5:30pm
All reviews were free and open to the public.
Posted 2-13-12
Newsletter Features Third Year Students' Project for Capuchins
The Winter 2012 issue of "The Mendicant," a publication of the Capuchin Franciscans Western America Province, features a story about a project students in LA 404, Cultural Environments, undertook last spring for this "real world" client.
Led by faculty Christy O'Hara and Astrid Reeves, students teamed with Capuchin friars to create "universal markers" for each province location. The universal markers will celebrate the history of the Capuchin order and provide donor recognition opportunities. The markers will also provide for meditative and spiritual contemplation spaces.
As part of their project work, the students went on field trips to see some of the actual sites where the markers will be placed, allowing them to better tailor their designs to the spaces for which they are intended. The project culminated last June when the students showcased their designs for Capuchin order representatives.
To read the full article, click here.
Updated: 2-6-12
Peter Walker, FASLA, Gives Hearst Lecture re The 9/11 Memorial
Peter Walker, FASLA, founder and senior partner at PWP Landscape Architecture, spoke at Cal Poly February 3, 2012 as part of the CAED's Winter 2012 Hearst Lecture series. The lecture title was "The 9/11 Memorial and Its Precedents."
Walker has exerted a significant influence on the field of landscape architecture over a five-decade career, crystallizing what is known as the American corporate multidisciplinary office. Educated at the University of California at Berkeley, and at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Walker has taught, lectured, written, and served as advisor to numerous public agencies, while exerting personal control over the design of his own projects. The scope of his landscape inquiries is expansive as well as deep. Projects ranges from small gardens to new cities, from urban plazas to corporate headquarters and academic campuses. With a dedicated concern for urban and environmental issues, his designs shape the landscape in a variety of geographic and cultural contexts, from the United States to Japan, China, Australia, and Europe. Walker is also the founder of Spacemaker Press, and his work has been extensively published in Europe and Asia as well as the United States.
A Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Institute for Urban Design, Walker has been granted the Honor Award of the American Institute of Architects, Harvard's Centennial Medal, the University of Virginia's Thomas Jefferson Medal, the ASLA Medal, and the IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Gold Medal. He is co-designer with Michael Arad of the National September 11th Memorial.
Posted: 1-17-12
LA Faculty Participate in ESRI's 2012 GeoDesign Summit
Department Head Joseph Ragsdale, Professor Emeritus Walt Bremer (both pictured at left) , and Asst. Professor César Torres Bustamante participated in the GeoDesign Summit at the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) in Redlands, CA January 5-6, 2012. The conference presented professional and academic projects developed at the intersection between design and geographic space, or GeoDesign.
A broad interdisciplinary group of speakers gave presentations speculating about the future uses, implementation and educational scenarios which GeoDesign will impact. Over the two days of the conference, lightning talks and paper sessions focused on the consideration of comprehensive social and environmental information (geospatial information) in the design process, shifting from exploiting geography to conserving geography-using technology.
Posted: 1-6-12
LA Majors/Alum Are Key Contributors to Cal Poly's 2012 Rose Float
Fifth year LA student Sabrina Wise was Rose Float President for the 13-month effort that led to Cal Poly's entry in the 2012 Tournament of Roses parade. Fifth year LA student Kelsey Christoffels submitted the winning idea for the float. Her concept was selected from over 100 entries in the annual contest held by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona in which members of both universities' Rose Float organizations vote on submitted concept ideas. Department alum Brandon Schmiedeberg (2010) drew the official rendering, pictured at left.
The float, "To the Rescue," features a trio of superheroes saving a city from three disastrous situations. While one catches an out-of-control helicopter falling from the sky, another props up a collapsing building and the third prevents a runaway train from sliding off a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge. While the entry failed to bring home a judges' trophy this year, it did earn Los Angeles-area TV station KTLA's Viewer's Choice award.
Posted: 12.27.11
Fifth Year Fall 2011 Show and Recognition Awards
Fourteen LA students finishing their two-quarter capstone experience during Fall term showcased their senior projects in the Berg Gallery on the Cal Poly campus Friday, December 2, 2011. The students were guided in the development and execution of their designs by Prof. Omar Faruque.
During the show, the Landscape Architecture faculty announced several senior class recognition awards. Awards for best design process, design excellence, best senior project, and service to the department were based on faculty nominations and votes. Academic excellence was based on overall GPA.
Best Design Process - Jane Theobald
Design Excellence - Jane Theobald
Best Senior Project - Nancy Schultz and Brandon Taylor
Service to the Department - Nancy Schultz
Academic Excellence/Achievement - Nancy Schultz
An award was also made to a student who has demonstrated a professional competence and attitude, has been a stabilizing influence during times of great confusion, and is a person who is always able to give to others in their time of need. This award, the "Golden Eagle," was based on the votes of the fifth year class.
Golden Eagle Award - Nancy Schultz
These awards honored students who finished their capstone projects during Fall term.
Posted: 11-18-11
Fifth Year Student Awarded Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship
LA major and Cal Poly women’s volleyball team member Sarah Cawrse was one of two students selected out of 72 clubs by the Rotary District 5240 Scholarship Committee to receive an Ambassadorial Scholarship grant of $27,000. Sarah’s candidacy for the scholarship was put forth by the Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo. This grant will allow Sarah to pursue graduate studies in Europe during 2012-2013.
The purpose of the Ambassadorial Scholarships program is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries and geographical areas. The program sponsors academic year scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for qualified professionals pursuing vocational studies. Selection is based upon an interview and application competition.
While abroad, scholars serve as goodwill ambassadors to the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups. Upon returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and others the experiences that led to a greater understanding of their host country.
Rotary District 5240 encompasses all of Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Kern Counties, as well as a small portion of Los Angeles County.
Posted: 11-7-11
Grant Union High School's GEO Academy Juniors Visit LA Program
The LA Department welcomed 14 juniors from Grant Union High School 's GEO Environmental Science and Design Academy, along with their landscape architecture teacher, Daniela Tavares, and program leader, Ker Cha, during their trip to Cal Poly November 3-4, 2011. The students traveled from Sacramento to San Luis Obispo to learn more about Cal Poly, our BLA program, and the landscape architecture profession. Asst. Professor Beverly Bass serves on the Academy's Advisory Committee.
During their visit, the group learned about Cal Poly's Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), shopped at El Corral, toured the CAED, visited the Dexter LA studios, listened to an Admissions presentation, and lunched with faculty, staff, and student reps.
The GEO Academy is one of the California Partnership Academies - a three-year program structured as a school-within-a-school. The program provides a specialized curriculum within the core high school curriculum that allows at-risk students to be exposed to career and educational options that are not typically part of the high school experience. The Academy has a Landscape Architecture focus.
Updated: 11.16.11
DesignIntelligence Ranks Cal Poly LA Program Third in the Nation
Cal Poly’s BLA program was ranked third in the nation by hiring firms, tied with Purdue University and Texas A&M University, in the 2012 DesignIntelligence survey, which ranks public and private degree programs. In the thirteen-state western region, Cal Poly ranked first.
Cal Poly has made the Top 15 list every year since 2005, when the DesignIntelligence survey first started ranking landscape architecture programs. Among college programs that hiring firms deem strongest in educating students for cross-disciplinary teamwork, Cal Poly also ranked first.
The DesignIntelligence rankings have become a tool for students choosing academic programs that will launch their design careers. DesignIntelligence is a bi-monthly journal published by the Design Futures Council, a Washington, D.C. think tank that explores trends and opportunities in design, architecture, engineering and building technology.
To read the Cal Poly press release, click here.
Updated: 11.8.11
LADAC Hosts Alumni Reception / Cal Poly Exhibits at ASLA Expo
The Landscape Architecture Department Advisory Council (LADAC) hosted a reception for LA Department alumni on Sunday, October 30, in San Diego, in conjunction with the ASLA 2011 Annual Meeting and Expo. Over 100 alumni, faculty, and sponsor representatives attended this sold-out event.
Special thanks to our Advisory Council, Acker-Stone, American Hydrotech, CXT, Netafim USA, Park West Landscape, Rain Bird, Restroom Facilities, The Toro Company, USA Shade and Fabric Structures, and ValleyCrest for making this reception such an outstanding success.
ASLA Annual Meeting attendees were invited to stop by the Cal Poly booth in the Expo, pictured at left. The booth showcased student work and offered visitors an opportunity to meet recent graduates and talk with the department head and current faculty. Creative and financial support for the booth was provided by LADAC members Christina Ahlers, René Bihan, Kevin Conger, Ann Cutner, Vicki Estrada, Pam Edmiston, Jeff Ferber, Paul Marcillac, and Frederika Moller.
Updated: 10.28.11
Christy O'Hara Presents Research at Nat'l Preservation Conference
Asst. Prof. Christy O'Hara presented her on-going research on October 22 at the 2011 National Preservation Conference in Buffalo, NY. The conference was sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
During the conference, the National Association for Olmsted Parks held a special session to highlight their current research and publications. One of these research projects, funded by the Washington State Transportation Enhancement Program, is a pilot program called Olmsted Online in which geo-referencing data will be linked to historic Olmsted plans in order to assess the remains of the Olmsted-designed parks, parkways, and boulevards in the Puget Sound area. Christy's research is focused on the Olmsted firms' work in California and the presentation demonstrated how her work will add to that in Washington to ultimately become a national database of Olmsted projects.
Christy has digitized firm project drawings from San Luis Obispo to San Diego (currently housed in The Olmsted Archives in Brookline, MA) and digitized correspondence for the same jobs (currently found on microfilm at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC), consolidating the data for the first time. Both projects' values include landscape education and preservation and will be useful to the public for advocacy, tourism to the sites, and public online access to information.
Updated: 10.10.11
SWA President, Gerdo Aquino, Speaks at Cal Poly
Gerdo P. Aquino, President, SWA Group, and Ying-Yu Hung, Managing Principal in SWA's Los Angeles office, spoke at Cal Poly October 7th as part of the CAED's Fall 2011 Hearst Lecture series.
In 2007, Aquino and Hung redefined the Los Angeles studio as the Infrastructure Research Initiative at SWA to explore and research the practical application of infrastructure as landscape. Through examples of landscape infrastructure from SWA's body of work and other notable infrastructure projects from around the world, Aquino and Hung outlined the concepts of the movement and examined how an infrastructure overlay reveals opportunities for greater connectivity, alternative transportation, recreation, and open space by enhancing existing single purpose/underused infrastructure corridors.
Aquino and Hung are two of the authors of the recently-released book, Landscape Infrastructure: Case Studies by SWA (Birkhauser).
Updated: 9.26.11
City Repair Founder Mark Lakeman Lectures in Berg
The Landscape Architecture Department sponsored a lecture by Make Lakeman and Marisha Auerbach September 23rd in the Berg Gallery, with refreshments hosted by the City and Regional Planning Department.
Lakeman is the founder of the City Repair Project, among other world-changing initiatives. Auerbach is a practitioner and lecturer on permaculture who has collaborated with the City Repair Project.
City Repair is an organization composed mostly of volunteers, whose mission is to educate and inspire people to "build community by creatively transforming public space into neighborhood gathering places."
The organization is best known for its community interventions, or "intersection repair" happenings, which are events that work to reclaim, for one day, residential street intersections as public plazas and gathering spaces. These efforts were born out of a desire to create stronger community ties in neighborhoods and highlight the lack of public spaces that are available within our physical environment. These events, which started with one intersection in Portland, Oregon, are now a nationwide and even international phenomenon.
For more information on City Repair, click here.
Posted: 7.26.11
Fourth Year Student Receives ASLA Council of Fellows Scholarship
Fourth year student Emmanuel Gomez has been awarded a 2011 ASLA Council of Fellows Scholarship. In addition to the $4,000 scholarship award, Gomez received a one-year student ASLA membership, general registration fees for the ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO in San Diego, CA, and a travel stipend to attend the meeting.
The scholarship was established by the ASLA Council of Fellows in 2004, and has as one of its purposes enriching the profession of landscape architecture by encouraging diversity among students and practitioners. To read about Gomez's future goal as a landscape architect, click here.
Posted: 7.8.11
Christy O'Hara Speaks on Moorish Lessons in Planting Design
Assistant Prof. Christine (Christy) Edstrom O'Hara was one of the speakers at "Gift of Persia: Exotic Gardens for California," presented by the Garden Conservancy and the Ruth Bancroft Garden.
This full-day horticultural and design history seminar took place Friday, July 15, at the Gardens at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek, CA. The seminar brought together a design writer, a historian, two landscape architects (including O'Hara), an interior/garden designer, and several horticulturists to discuss the Moorish, Mughal, and Mediterranean influence on California gardens.
To read an article about this seminar, click here.
Posted: 6.13.11
LA Class of 2011 Honored at Spring Commencement
On June 11, 2011, the department and the campus said farewell to the landscape architecture Class of 2011. 58 new LA program graduates were recognized at Cal Poly's 70th Spring Commencement. Candidates awarded their BLA degree with honors included:
Magna Cum Laude - Christian Boehr.
Cum Laude - Katherine Blair, Ariel Carlson, Janessa Farr, Amanda Hui, Daniel Perlin.
Honors Program - Rebecca Vanni.
Several of those who graduated with honors were also recognized by the LA department faculty and students for other achievements. Christian Boehr was recognized at the 5th Year Spring Show for Academic Excellence, as was Ariel Carlson for Design Excellence. Katherine Blair was recognized at the 5th Year Winter Show for Academic Excellence, Service to the Department, and as her classmates' Golden Eagle. Daniel Perlin was recognized at the Winter Show both for Academic Excellence and Design Excellence.
Updated: 6.6.11
Fifth Year Spring 2011 Show and Recognition Awards
Twenty-one LA students finishing their two-quarter capstone experience during Spring term (pictured above without their instructor, Assoc. Prof. Joseph Ragsdale) showcased their senior design projects in the Simpson Strong-Tie Demonstration Lab on the Cal Poly campus Friday, June 3, 2011.
The show, "(_________) scape," included a range of projects, including death and memory, trekking across America, playing in the wild, urban dwelling, resort development, community engagement, building techniques, parking parks, bridging, learning, restoring, healing, and more.
During the show, the Landscape Architecture faculty announced several senior class recognition awards. Recognition for best design process, design excellence, best senior project, and service to the department was based on faculty nominations and votes. An Award was also made for academic excellence:
Best Design Process - Bryan Agbayani
Design Excellence - Ariel Carlson
Best Senior Project - Matthew Romero
Service to the Department - Michael Shadle
Academic Excellence/Achievement - Christian Boehr
The golden eagle award was based on the votes of the fifth year class. This award is made to a graduating student who has demonstrated a professional competence and attitude, has been a stabilizing influence during times of great confusion, and is a person who is always able to give to others in their time of need.
Golden Eagle Award - Michael Shadle
These awards honored students who finished their capstone projects during Spring term.
Posted: 5.23.11
BofA Low-Income Housing Contest Has LA Majors on Winning Team
The Cal Poly Housing Collaborative, including LA majors Andy Nowak and Yesenia Fernandez (pictured above: top row, 1st and 2nd from left), took first place in Bank of America's 2011 Low-Income Housing Challenge, beating out master's degree students from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine in the final round.
The team partnered with developer Madonna Enterprises to create "Entrada Ranch." The proposed site features a 135-unit affordable living community in San Luis Obispo, adjacent to services and transportation. The project design includes a community center, community garden, recreational and exercise facility, connection to local trails, bike paths, a variety of open spaces and a daycare center.
The project supports healthy living through site design and sustainable building, and programs that foster community, such as a cooperative garden that will grow organic produce and serve as a gathering place for residents.
The team was comprised of 10 undergraduate and two graduate students: six from city and regional planning, three from business and finance, two from landscape architecture, and one from construction management. The proposal included detailed plans, video and a web site. The team presented their project to San Luis Obispo's Planning Commission on May 25.
The BofA competition requires student teams to develop concepts, designs, community support and financing for housing projects that are affordable for low-income households. The proposals are evaluated on concept and design as well as financial feasibility. BofA sponsors the competition to encourage emerging leaders in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, business and city planning to pursue careers in affordable housing.
To read the Cal Poly press release, click here. To read a San Francisco Chronicle article about the competition, click here.
Posted: 5.23.11
Torres-Bustamante Presents Research at Vancouver Conference
Asst. Professor César Torres-Bustamante presented a paper titled "Figural Regions: Representing Landscapes through Ambiguity" at the 2011 British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects "Re:Evolution" Conference. His paper proposes alternative methods for constructing - and visualization - of poché maps based on shifting from a literal outlining and delineation of landscape's surface phenomena into a constitution of ambiguous figures (and ground) that allows perception of multiple visual organizations.
The conference took place in North Vancouver, B.C. May 12-14, and focused on mapping out the foreseeable transformations that landscape architecture faces as a profession, the changes regarding how design is approached and how this will guide the management and development of the places that landscape architects create.
Posted: 5.19.11
Astrid Reeves and Louise Schiller Present Poster at NYC Symposium
Lecturers Astrid Reeves and Louise Schiller presented student work from a Spring 2010 joint studio on the topic of SLO City Farm at the 2nd Erasing Boundaries Symposium on April 30, 2011 in New York City. Their research was titled: “Snapshots from the Fields, Farms to Schools for Healthier Communities through Service Learning." The symposium gathered Landscape Architects, Planners and Urban Designers from around the country to discuss projects that brought students directly into local communities where they worked on “real world” issues with local citizens and other professionals to improve social conditions. Erasing Boundaries encourages progressive ideas for problem solving by design professionals.
Updated: 5.23.11
LA Faculty/MCRP Student Team Up to Win International Competition
A team formed by Asst. Professor César Torres-Bustamante, Lecturer Louise Schiller, and CRP graduate student Schani Siong won first place in the international competition "Design for Post-Earthquake Resilience of Cities."
Their proposal, "City Map," used Acapulco, Mexico as the site to test a low-budget, easily implemented strategy that focused on assigning new uses to existing transport infrastructure after an earthquake hits. The city transforms into a "map of itself," using streets as a canvas to connect nodes through painted paths, similar to the lines on hospital floors that guide patients to particular sections in a hospital. These paths indicate evacuation routes and locations of shelters, hospitals, food supplies and more.
The project assigns new uses to infrastructure: majors streets will be closed to vehicular traffic and will be used instead as landing strips for aircrafts that bring supplies; two-way streets will reduce to one-way streets to accommodate temporary housing, workshops, markets and schools; street parking will be removed on alternate blocks to provide space to grow food.
The competition, organized by the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering, sought proposals to increase the resiliency of cities and communities affected by earthquakes and tsunamis, with a focus on aiding recovery and social regeneration in affected areas. The competition was open to all design disciplines, including architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and associated engineering and sociological disciplines.
The first place award came with a cash prize of NZ$2,000.
To read the Cal Poly press release, click here. To view the competition entries, click here.
Posted: 4.7.11
Third Year Student's Project Showcased at Community Event
Third year student Rachael Haacke was invited to display her project and discuss her findings regarding water quality issues in Los Osos with community leaders and the general public on April 6, 2011, at the South Bay Community Center in Los Osos.
During Winter quarter 2011, Haacke and her classmates in the LA 403 focus studio led by Asst. Prof. Beverly Bass were asked by Dan Gilmore, General Manager of the Los Osos Community Services District (CSD), to take on the daunting challenge of addressing the community's water drainage, flooding, and stormwater runoff issues. After reviewing the projects, Gilmore selected Haacke to represent Cal Poly and her natural environments design studio at the event.
The workshop was sponsored by the SLO Green Build Appropriate Technology Coalition and hosted by San Luis Obispo County, the Natural Estuary Program, and the Los Osos CSD.
Updated: 8.25.11
LA Faculty Present Papers at 2011 CELA Conference
The following LA department faculty members presented research papers and posters at the 2011 Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) conference, which took place March 30 - April 2 in Los Angeles:
Asst. Prof. Beverly Bass: Creating a Walkable Town Center: A Grass Roots Movement to Implement Walkability and Walking into the Middle Ages: 3 Dutch Water Towns and Clues to a Walkable Future.
Prof. Gary Clay (co-presenter): Collaborative Teaching and Learning: Applying an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Model in Design Education.
Asst. Prof. Christy O'Hara: From Rose Gardens to Watersheds: A Survey of Ecological Designs by the Olmsted Brothers in Southern California.
Assoc. Prof. Joseph Ragsdale: Tectonics in the Modern Landscape: Sigurd Lewerentz and the Landscape Medium of Topography, Planted Form and Built Form.
Asst. Prof. César Torres Bustamante: Recycling Maps: Innovations in Visualizing Landscape Processes and Actualizing Landscapes through Representation Theories (poster).
Asst. Prof. David Watts: Exploring Attitudes towards the Contributing Role of Nature in Children's Play Environments.
For more information about faculty research interests, click here.
Posted: 4.6.11
Christy O'Hara Has Article about Olmsted Brothers Published in JSAH
Asst. Prof. Christine (Christy) Edstrom O'Hara has had her article, The Panama-California Exposition, San Diego, 1915: The Olmsted Brothers' Ecological Park Typology, published in the March 2011 issue of the quarterly Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH). The Journal is published by the University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural Historians.
O'Hara's article is summarized in JSAH as follows: "During the last weeks of his practice, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., wrote that the future of his firm depended on developing an appropriate landscape style for the arid West. [O'Hara] tells how his sons' firm, Olmsted Brothers, set out to reach that goal in their unbuilt proposal for the 1915 San Diego Panama-California Exposition, in what is now Balboa Park. [O'Hara's article] is the story of their innovative embrace of regionalist aesthetics and a respect for local ecology, topography, and weather. The ideals of their design, however, were not taken up by their clients. The Olmsted firm was fired, and the fairgrounds that welcomed visitors to San Diego in 1915 had architecture that was more appropriate to large cities and a landscape better suited to a wet climate."
To read the full article, click here.
Updated: 4.5.11
Fourth Year Student Receives Leadership in Landscape and Study Abroad Scholarships
Hekili Lani, a 4th year student spending Winter and Spring terms studying at Lincoln University in New Zealand, has been awarded the 2011 Hawaii Chapter/David T. Woolsey Scholarship from the Landscape Architecture Foundation. This $2,000 scholarship was established in memory of David T. Woolsey, former principal in the firm of Woolsey, Miyabara and Associates. Eligible students are those whose permanent residence is in Hawaii.
Hekili was also awarded two $500 scholarships to help defray her study abroad expenses. Lani was selected to receive both the California State University - Affiliate Student Scholarship and the Lincoln University Sponsored Scholarship. Both scholarships are offered through AustraLearn, an educational program of GlobaLinks Learning Abroad.
For more information about Landscape Architecture Foundation Leadership in Landscape scholarship opportunities, click here. For more information about AustraLearn study abroad scholarship opportunities, click here.
Updated: 2.7.11
Acclaimed Landscape Architect Mia Lehrer Speaks at Cal Poly
At the invitation of Assoc. Prof. Joseph Ragsdale, Mia Lehrer, FASLA, founding principal of Mia Lehrer + Associates, Landscape Architecture, spoke at Cal Poly on February 4, 2011, as part of the Winter 2011 CAED Hearst Lecture Series. It was "standing room only" in the Business Building Rotunda - more than 230 students and faculty members attended her presentation.
Born in San Salvador, El Salvador, Ms. Lehrer earned her Masters of Landscape Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Today, she is internationally recognized for her progressive landscape designs, working with such natural landmarks as parks, lakes, and rivers, coupled with her advocacy for ecology and people-friendly public space.
Mia Lehrer + Associates is known for its design and development of a wide spectrum of award-winning public and private projects that include urban revitalization developments, large urban parks, and complex commercial projects.
With great appreciation for community input, Ms. Lehrer prides herself and her firm on reaching out to stakeholders for their thoughts and ideas about projects with affect their neighborhoods and their lives. She is committed to protecting our environment and designing projects that will heal our earth. She believes that great landscape design coupled with sustainability has the power to enhance the livability and quality of life in our cities, and in doing so improve by great measure the quality of our environment.
Click here to read a profile of Mia Lehrer published in Landscape Online.