2014 Landscape Performance Education Grant Recipients Announced
In today’s increasingly evidence-based marketplace, landscape architecture students need to be able to convey the environmental, economic, and social value of excellent design. Incorporating landscape performance into the curriculum will give students the awareness and skills they need to design for, evaluate, and communicate the impact of their projects.
LAF’s Landscape Performance Education Grants allow select faculty to develop and test models for integrating landscape performance into standard landscape architecture course offerings. For 2014, five $2,500 grants have been awarded to the following faculty for their proposed classes:
- Aidan Ackerman, Boston Architectural College
Ecological Analysis & Conceptual Frameworks (MLA Studio) - Gary Austin, PLA, University of Idaho
Water Conservation Technologies (BSLA Lecture) - Kenneth Brooks, FASLA, FCELA, PLA, Arizona State University
Advanced Landscape Architecture Studio IV (MLA Studio) and Special Topic: Design Performance (MLA Seminar) - Chuo Li, Ph.D., Mississippi State University
Landscape Architecture Graduate Studio II: Health (MLA Studio) - Mary Myers, Ph.D., FASLA, FCELA, Temple University
Seminar on Landscape Performance: Focus on Temple University Main Campus Landscape (MLA/BSLASeminar)
The selection process for the 2014 grants was competitive, with applications received from faculty at universities across the U.S. The teaching proposals include studio, lecture, and seminar courses for both BLA and MLA curricula.
Students will learn about landscape performance from a variety of angles, such as stormwater management, public health, energy conservation, and social cohesion. Many of the courses integrate performance metrics directly into the design process, with students setting objectives and developing metrics to evaluate the projected performance of their studio projects. In other cases, students will apply various tools and methods to measure benefits to inform design scenarios for external “real world” projects.
Grant recipients will work with LAF throughout the duration of the classes and use formal course evaluations to determine the success and replicability of the teaching models used. Course materials developed through the Landscape Performance Education Grants will form the basis of a new “Resources for Educators” section on the LAF website, which will offer teaching tools like syllabi, reading lists, and assignments for faculty members interested in teaching landscape performance to the next generation of design professionals.
The Landscape Performance Education Grants are made possible with support from the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute’s Foundation for Education & Research. Five additional $2,500 awards will be made for the 2014-2015 academic year, with proposals accepted starting next fall.
