Newsletter
EVENTSCAPE [AUTUMN
2006]
Kristina Hill – Seattle to Stockholm: Making sense
of urban ecological design. Some of the most ambitious
design efforts that seek to enhance urban sustainability have occurred
in Northern Europe and the Pacific Northwest over the last decade.
If we compare the forms, goals and approaches used in these different
places and projects, themes emerge that suggest a rich future for
urban design that is based in ecological ideas. But if cities can
fail, then making cities more sustainable requires us to set priorities.
Which designs are critical to our future, and which ones are desirable?
And how can we tell? Wednesday, November 15th. 7:00pm. Henry
Art Gallery Auditorium.
David Orr – Design on the Edge: Climate Change, Posterity, and the Design Professions. Best known for his pioneering work on environmental literacy in higher education and his recent work in ecological design, David Orr will speak on the revolution in the design professions and its relation to larger issues of climate change, law, and the rights of future generations. November 7th. 6:30pm. in Kane Hall room 120. UW Danz & Walker-Ames Lecture Series |
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| DEPARTMENT
NEWS Welcome Class of 2008! 40 new students join the Department’s two professional degree programs this year. The diverse group of new students includes international students from Estonia, India, Japan and Taiwan, as well as students from California, Florida, Idaho and Utah. The students recently visited the Cedar River Watershed Education Center during their orientation. Green Futures. Professor Nancy Rottle recently presented 100-year plans for Seattle's green infrastructure at the national AIA Livable Communities Conference. She and lecturer Brice Maryman co-authored a short piece about the Green Futures charrette published in the Fall issue of Arcade Magazine, and their more extensive article on the charrette results is forthcoming in the November issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine. Perhaps you saw their op-ed "Nature Calls" in the Seattle Times this summer. The design work of the Green Futures charrette teams is now available from the website. The work will continue as part of the emerging Green Futures Research and Design Lab, which Nancy is directing. |
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Guatemala Studio. This past summer the Guatemala Design/Build studio transformed a former dump site into a kid-friendly (and hummingbird!) habitat. The group included a dynamic mix of 13 UW and 3 non-UW students, as well as TAs Kari Stiles and Malcolm Dole, and Professor Daniel Winterbottom. With some help from the Guatemalan contractor team, the students created a lush entrance from the neighborhood and school into the giant grassy soccer field and community garden area via a small paved plaza. Not only did students learn a range of construction methods (from hand-mixing concrete to erecting an arbor), but they also served a greater need to the international community. For more photos and a day-by-day aerial snapshot of the site, check out the studio blog. Also stay tuned for a Fall quarter UWASLA Brown Bag Presentation and a Design/Build Fiesta Celebration in January!
Milestone
and Departure. David Streatfield has announced
that he intends to retire at the end of the 2006-2007 academic
year. David has been teaching in the Department since 1971.
He was the department Chair from 1992 to 1996. David will
continue to teach part-time in the department. Kristina Hill
accepted a faculty position at the University of Virginia
where she will head the Landscape Architecture program beginning
in January of 2007. With the departure of David and Kristina,
the Department will be hiring several new full-time faculty
members with specializations on landscape design, history,
ecology/GIS, and digital design/green construction. For more
information, please see forthcoming announcements on the
department website. |
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Summer in Hokkaido, Japan. MLA student Ashley Thorner spent her summer working with Takano Landscape Planning in Hokkaido, Japan. The renowned Japanese landscape architecture firm focuses on community, ecology, and artist interaction, with work spanning from small-scale to government-sponsored large park projects. During her stay, Ashley worked on a small part of their Millennium Forest Project in the nearby Tokachi region. Her work focused on a specific hillside and a large windswept panoramic viewpoint. She researched the concept of wind – wind play, sound, movement, and force – and searched for sound and wind artists that could collaborate on a site-specific project. For Ashley, the experience provided an excellent opportunity to not only work with a progressive and innovative design team, but to see the difference in approach, style, and influence of a Japanese firm. |
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FACULTY
NEWS Jeff Hou and Julie Johnson received the Johnston-Hastings Publication Support Award and the CAUP Faculty Achievement Award for Works in Progress for their Urban Community Gardens manuscript. They also co-organized a session called "Urban Community Gardens as Hybrid Public Space" at the CSLA/CELA (Canadian Society of Landscape Architects/Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture) 2006 Congress, joined by Daniel Winterbottom (UW) and Stanton Jones (University of Oregon). Jeff’s latest publication appears in a special issue of Open House International on design studio teaching practice. Titled “Differences and Dialogical Learning in a Collaborative Virtual Design Studio,” the article examines the pedagogical devices and learning outcomes from the second Global Classrooms Studio, collaboration with Prof. Min-Jay Kang of Tamkang University in Taiwan. This fall Jeff’s studio is collaborating with the WILD Youth Program (Wilderness Inner-city Leadership Development) to develop site installations for the proposed night market in the Chinatown-International District. The studio is funded with a grant from UW’s Office of Undergraduate Education and International Programs and Exchanges for internationalizing UW’s undergraduate curriculum. Lynne Manzo is currently writing a book with Prof Robert Mugerauer on ethics in the built environment professions. The book, entitled, "Negotiating Environmental Dilemmas: Ethical Decision Making." It will be published through Lexington Press and is due out at the end of 2007. Her book chapter, "Toward a Participatory Ethic," co-authored with MLA student Nathan Brightbill, will appear in "Connecting People, Participation and Place" to be published by Routledge Press later this year. Lynne is also wrapping up a 3-year HUD project which focused on affordable housing for Latino farmworkers and tribal members in the Yakima Valley. A collaborative effort with the UW Dept of Architecture, this project included the construction of two demonstration houses designed in close collaboration with community members. Iain Robertson was appointed to the Seattle Parks Foundation Board an organization devoted to improving and expanding Seattle's parks. He has also been pointed to the Arboretum and Botanical Garden Committee which advises the city and university on the management and development of Washington Park Arboretum. In September Iain was one of a team of three faculty invited to the School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan to advise on the integration of the MLA program with other SNRE programs. While at UM he met with UW MLA graduate Dirk Washer who is currently a Visiting Professor from the Netherlands where he works for the European Commission on landscape planning issues. Nancy Rottle and Julie Johnson authored a paper coming out this fall: "Youth Design Participation to Support Ecological Literacy: Reflections on Charrettes for an Outdoor Learning Laboratory." Special issue: Pushing the boundaries: Critical perspectives on child and youth participation, in Children, Youth and Environments 16(2). Nancy delivered a paper on the Open Space Seattle 2100 process, "Collaborative Visioning for the New Normal," at CELA/CSLA in Vancouver this summer. She is also giving a paper on design as research at the Design + Livable Communities Design Research Conference at WSU's Interdisciplinary Design Institute this fall. David Streatfield authored
the following invited essays during the summer: an introductory
essay to "100 Years of Landscape Architecture; Gender Roles," a
book of essays edited by Louise Mozingo and Linda Jewell to be
published by University of Virginia Press, and an introductory
essay to Chris Grammp's book" Yard and Garden, History of
the American Garden," to be published by the Center for American
Places. David also wrote an essay documenting the history of Sicilian
Court and Valencia Court at Scripps College, Claremont California
for a restoration study of these spaces, designed by the landscape
architect Edward Huntsman-Trout, that he is doing in association
with Ann Christoph for the College. |
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Miranda Maupin's (MLA 1999) work on the High Point housing development in West Seattle is featured in a new book, "Edens Lost and Found," which explores examples of sustainable design and grassroots activism from four US cities. A film version will be shown on PBS this fall. Miranda is also expecting a baby this winter, and will be leaving Seattle Public Utilities for a new position at the University of Virginia in December. |
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Edens
Lost and Found (Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2006) |
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Robey Willis (BLA 2004) was quoted in the Arizona Republic for the proposed Ocotillo project, an upscale development in Arizona that uses recycled water. Robey is currently working as a project manager for Belt Collins in Seattle after working for a year in Hawaii. The office specializes in community and resort master planning and design and has a variety of projects all around the world. Jamie Fleckenstein (BLA
2000) and Chad Wichers (BLA 1999)
of Studio 342 did an episode of Landscaper's Challenge last year
for Home and Garden Television (HGTV). They competed against
two other landscape design firms to come up with a design for
a residential backyard design for a family with three young
boys. Their design was selected as the winning design and
was built over a three month period last summer. Click here to
see Studio 342's first stab at reality television, aired on July
6th at 9:30pm. |
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Your
stories: The Graduate School wants to hear
about the accomplishments of our graduate students and graduate
alumni. We
are anxious to share success stories that will help us communicate
to our constituents the importance of a graduate education
and its benefits to society at large. Click here for
more information. |
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