Presentations from the 2019 LAF Innovation + Leadership Symposium
On June 13, 2019, the 2018-2019 cohort from the year-long LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership presented their projects at our sold-out symposium. This unique fellowship program provides a $25,000 award that supports working professionals as they develop and test new ideas to bring about impactful change to the environment and humanity and increase the visibility and leadership role of landscape architecture.
Between Neighbors
Karl Krause, Senior Landscape Architect, OLIN, Minneapolis, MN
Across the US, public housing communities are being rebuilt as revitalized, mixed-income developments. Through interviews with residents, designers, developers, community leaders, and housing authority administrators, Karl's work examines the effects of public housing transformation on existing and new mixed-income communities and the valuable role landscape plays in providing common ground for new neighbors.
What the Flood: Rethinking Frameworks for Urban Coastal Resilience
Sanjukta Sen, Senior Associate, James Corner Field Operations, New York, NY
The last decade has seen major disasters and storm events, followed by a wide array of creative design-led solutions and proposals. But the regulatory frameworks to enable these solutions have remained somewhat tentative and toothless, especially in the context of American cities. Sanjukta asks the urgent question: Do these frameworks that govern urban waterfront development need a major rethink?
Rethinking Wastescapes: Coal Ash Ponds in America
Lauren Delbridge, Landscape Designer, LandDesign, Charlotte, NC
2017 LAF National Olmsted Scholar (Undergraduate)
Coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal, has historically been stored in unlined pits and allowed to seep pollutants into the surrounding environment. Lauren advocates that, as coal ash ponds are forced to close nationally, these wastescapes should be transformed, re-envisioned, and given back to the communities they have damaged for decades.
The Aesthetic of Proof: Immersive Technology and Landscape Architecture
Andrew Sargeant, Landscape Designer / Visualization Specialist, Lionheart Places, Austin, TX
2016 LAF Olmsted Scholar
Communication of landscape design through immersive media embraces the fluidity and openness of the living world as it related to one's physical self. Andrew examines how these new tools of visualization will give landscape architects a new competitive edge in project communication and realization.
Community-based Storytelling: Los Angeles' Neighborhood Design
Daví de la Cruz, Project Manager, Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, Los Angeles, CA
2017 LAF National Olmsted Scholar (Graduate)
In Pueblo del Río, a housing project in LA, 1,275 youth (nearly 1/3 of residents) are under the age of 14. These youth hold neighborhood stories which shape the program Davíd developed to center neighborhood design and facilitate peer-to-peer mentorship opportunities, promoting an ethic of just sustainability.
Belonging: Identity and Landscape Narrative
Maisie Hughes, Owner, Design Virtue, Washington, DC
Maisie's project demonstrates how a variety of people interpret the same landscapes to provide new insights into the design and programming for nature in the city by exploring sublime landscapes in five distinct DC neighborhoods. Through her presentation, Maisie also announced the launch of The Urban Studio, a nonprofit focused on empowering communities to design their own neighborhoods.
Climate Positive Design: Going Beyond Neutral
Pamela Conrad, Principal, CMG Landscape Architecture, San Francisco, CA
Pamela's research rethinks our climate impact as landscape architects. She is working to build alliances within the profession to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing in tackling climate change. With a challenge and a tool, she illuminates a way forward for the profession of landscape architecture to have the greatest impact together in a changing world.
