Landscape architects design and nurture built and natural environments – from residences and parks to campuses and streetscapes – with the goal of strengthening communities by improving human and environmental health. United by that common goal, the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture’s annual Landscape Architecture Days spring lecture series brings together industry leaders, designers and students to catalyze dialogue about the profession and responsible planning and design for future human activities.
Organized by the CSU Student Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the 29th annual LA Days program spans several weeks in March and April and offers both virtual and hybrid options. The 2022 series features five speakers representing the diversity of landscape architecture, with projects and expertise in areas such urban design for equity, resilience and climate solutions.
Landscape Architecture Professor, Kelly Curl states, “Our spring lecture series continually excites faculty, students and professionals from around the world. We are excited to soon commence another year of inspirational and educational lectures.”
Among the speakers featured is Lisa Switkin, who focuses on improving cities through the design of holistic and vibrant public spaces inspired by place, people and nature. Switkin is known for her effective leadership in complex, public realm design projects, including her work on New York City’s High Line, an urban corridor built on a historic, elevated rail line that creates more walkable, enjoyable ways to move through the city.
Location information and registration links are available on the LA Days lecture series webpage.
LA Days Speakers
Diana Fernandez Bibeau, Senior Associate and Landscape Architect, SASAKI
Thursday, March 3 at 5 p.m. MST, Virtual Only
Fernandez Bibeau leads and champions the design of equitable and sustainable places, bringing strong critical thinking, a willingness to engage in thoughtful debate, and a commitment to quality to each project. Her experience spans a broad range of work that includes writing and lecturing in the discourses of landscape architecture, urban design and equity.
Pamela Conrad, Principal, CMG Landscape Architecture
Wednesday, March 9 at 5 p.m. MST, Virtual Only
Conrad works on resiliency and climate change solutions with projects like Climate Positive Design and the award-winning Pathfinder landscape carbon calculator app. She focuses on transforming challenged urban areas into socially valued and ecologically performing public open spaces, with experience on two of the largest environmentally innovative projects in the San Francisco Bay Area – Treasure Island Parks and Open Space and the San Francisco Waterfront Resilience Program.
Maura Rockcastle, Principal and Co-founder, TENXTEN
Tuesday, April 5 at 5 p.m. MST, A103-Chemistry Building and Virtual
With a background in printmaking and sculpture, Rockcastle is focused on cultural, institutional and complex public realm projects. She has extensive experience working on large scale projects, including New York City’s Times Square Reconstruction, and managing and navigating multi-headed stakeholder groups and complex public processes.
Chip Sullivan, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley
Thursday, April 7 at 5 p.m. MST, Location TBD and Virtual
Sullivan devotes his career to promoting landscape architecture as an art form and has expounded on the meaning and perception of landscape through innovative forms of pedagogy, representational techniques and writing. He is the author of Cartooning the Landscape, a collection of comic strips that illustrate significant concepts and milestones in the creation of landscapes, which won the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize from the Foundation for Landscape Studies.
Lisa Switkin, Senior Principal, James Corner Field Operations
Tuesday, April 12 at 5 p.m. MST, Virtual Only
Switkin served as the 2019-2020 President of the Landscape Architecture Foundation and has an extensive background in urban planning and landscape architecture. She has been helping to reshape New York City’s public spaces for 20 years and has taught graduate level design studios and lectured at universities, symposiums, foundations and institutions around the world.
