Upcoming events + activities
The BSLA Calendar
If you want to connect, learn, or grow, there are things here for you.
We’re continuously building this calendar to be a big, beautiful summary of all-things-landscape-architecture in our region.
What else do you want to see? Please send ideas or info our way! Email details to chapteroffice@bslanow.org. Thanks!
GDIRC Bi-Monthly Meeting
Online. Free. All welcome.
Join us for the Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children (GDIRC) bi-monthly meeting! This meeting is hosted via Zoom.
RSVP here to receive join information for this meeting. This information will be included in your confirmation email.
The Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children is led jointly by BSLA and BSA. To find out more, visit the GDIRC website here or visit the Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children Knowledge Community page on the BSA website here.
Monthly BSLA ExComm + Leaders Meeting
Online.
This is the monthly meeting of BSLA’s elected Executive Committee (“ExComm”), Section chairs, Student chapter leaders, and Committee leaders. All members from Maine and Massachuetts are welcome to attend.
This typically takes place on the third Thursday of the month.
The regular agenda includes brief updates, questions, and calls-to-action from each of the leaders and the work that they represent, along with longer discussions on special topics. If you have a topic to bring to an ExComm meeting, please email BSLA President, Luisa Oliveira.
It’s our essential moment to connect and coordinate our activities across Mass & Maine, AND our means to collaboratively discuss questions, issues, and other important things.
The 2024 Zoom link is here. Email Gretchen to be added to the calendar invite. Join us!
BSLA EP Plant Swap Social
In person. Outside of STIMSON’s Cambridge office: 288 Norfolk Street, Cambridge MA 02139
Calling all plant lovers! Back by popular demand + to celebrate the end of the academic year, the BSLA Emerging Professionals are hosting a spring plant swap.
Get your ticket here
Free for members, $10 non-members.
Bring plants, seeds, starters, tools, and/or knowledge that you'd like to share and swap. Join other EPs, new graduates, and current students and hang out over snacks and refreshments.
At 3pm, we will raffle off fun plants donated by special collaborators.
Not sure about swapping? Just come and hang out! If you're in the early stage of your career, a current student or recent graduate, this is for you. Landscape Architects, designers, planners and friends, members and non-members, all are welcome.
.
.
Co-hosted /sponsored by STIMSON and Landscape Forms. Organized by the BSLA Emerging Professionals committee.
A special THANK YOU to our raffle donors: Landscape Forms, Division 32, Van Berkum Nursery, Weston & Sampson, Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design, Dan Gordon.
We hope to see you all there!
LARE Study Group Kickoff (online)
Online. Free.
Please save the dates! Signup link coming soon.
BSLA Public Sector Landscape Architects Zoom Meetup
Online. Free.
This is a quarterly Zoom meet up for landscape architects (or those trained as landscape architects), currently working in the public or nonprofit sector. This includes landscape architects/designers/planners working in city or town, state, or federal parks agencies as well as in other government departments or nonprofits — not in “regular” practice. We know that many of you face similar issues in your work. Many of you are The Only one of you who does what you do, too.
Our intent is to create space for this professional community to come together.
The topic of these meetings will shift depending on what you want to discuss. You do not need to be a BSLA or ASLA member to participate.
To attend the June Zoom, click here.
To be added to the calendar invite, email Gretchen.
Pictured: Jessie Waisnor and Alexandra Vecchio, landscape architects with the Town of Brookline, lead a BSLA Inside/Out tour of new & historic Brookline public spaces, October 2023
LARE Study Session 1
Online. Free.
Are you studying for the LARE — or considering it?
Join other Emerging Professionals in a friendly, supportive study group. All online this year!
Our tentative schedule is:
June 12 - Session #1
June 26 - Session #2
July 10 - Session #3
July 24 - Session #4
plus
August 21 - LARE Celebration. In person + hosted by IllumiSite. 50 Broad St., 5th Floor, Boston
Members & non-members welcome. All that’s needed is an interest in the LARE.
Stay tuned for Signup + Zoom links!
SAVE THE DATE for Fieldday! New England's Conference on Landscape Architecture
It’s back! An in-person conference on landscape architecture in New England.
The Call for Presentations is open. Consider submitting
a workshop (in person)
a Climate Summit lighting talk (in person or virtual)
an Inside/Out site tour for Saturday, June 15 (in person — location up to you)
Deadline for Presentations: April 23. Conference tickets go on sale in May. For sponsorship opportunities, please email the chapteroffice@bslanow.org. See full event details at BSLAnow.org/fieldday.
We can’t wait to see you!
photos by Anthony Crisafulli
Monthly BSLA ExComm + Leaders Meeting
Online.
This is the monthly meeting of BSLA’s elected Executive Committee (“ExComm”), Section chairs, Student chapter leaders, and Committee leaders. All members from Maine and Massachuetts are welcome to attend.
This typically takes place on the third Thursday of the month.
The regular agenda includes brief updates, questions, and calls-to-action from each of the leaders and the work that they represent, along with longer discussions on special topics. If you have a topic to bring to an ExComm meeting, please email BSLA President, Luisa Oliveira.
It’s our essential, regular moment to connect and coordinate our activities across Mass & Maine, AND our means to collaboratively discuss questions, issues, and other important things.
The 2024 Zoom link is here. Email Gretchen to be added to the calendar invite. Join us!
LARE Study Session 2
Online. Free.
Are you studying for the LARE — or considering it?
Join other Emerging Professionals in a friendly, supportive study group. All online this year!
Our tentative schedule is:
June 12 - Session #1
June 26 - Session #2
July 10 - Session #3
July 24 - Session #4
plus
August 21 - LARE Celebration. In person + hosted by IllumiSite. 50 Broad St., 5th Floor, Boston
Members & non-members welcome. All that’s needed is an interest in the LARE.
Stay tuned for Signup + Zoom links!
LARE Study Session 3
Online. Free.
Are you studying for the LARE — or considering it?
Join other Emerging Professionals in a friendly, supportive study group. All online this year!
Our tentative schedule is:
June 12 - Session #1
June 26 - Session #2
July 10 - Session #3
July 24 - Session #4
plus
August 21 - LARE Celebration. In person + hosted by IllumiSite. 50 Broad St., 5th Floor, Boston
Members & non-members welcome. All that’s needed is an interest in the LARE.
Stay tuned for Signup + Zoom links!
GDIRC Bi-Monthly Meeting
Online. Free. All welcome.
Join us for the Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children (GDIRC) bi-monthly meeting! This meeting is hosted via Zoom.
RSVP here to receive join information for this meeting. This information will be included in your confirmation email.
The Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children is led jointly by BSLA and BSA. To find out more, visit the GDIRC website here or visit the Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children Knowledge Community page on the BSA website here.
Monthly BSLA ExComm + Leaders Meeting
Online.
This is the monthly meeting of BSLA’s elected Executive Committee (“ExComm”), Section chairs, Student chapter leaders, and Committee leaders. All members from Maine and Massachuetts are welcome to attend.
This typically takes place on the third Thursday of the month.
The regular agenda includes brief updates, questions, and calls-to-action from each of the leaders and the work that they represent, along with longer discussions on special topics. If you have a topic to bring to an ExComm meeting, please email BSLA President, Luisa Oliveira.
It’s our regular, essential moment to connect and coordinate our activities across Mass & Maine, AND our means to collaboratively discuss questions, issues, and other important things.
The 2024 Zoom link is here. Email Gretchen to be added to the calendar invite. Join us!
LARE Study Session 4
Online. Free.
Are you studying for the LARE — or considering it?
Join other Emerging Professionals in a friendly, supportive study group. All online this year!
Our tentative schedule is:
June 12 - Session #1
June 26 - Session #2
July 10 - Session #3
July 24 - Session #4
plus
August 21 - LARE Celebration. In person + hosted by IllumiSite. 50 Broad St., 5th Floor, Boston
Members & non-members welcome. All that’s needed is an interest in the LARE.
Stay tuned for Signup + Zoom links!
Monthly BSLA ExComm + Leaders Meeting
Online.
This is the monthly meeting of BSLA’s elected Executive Committee (“ExComm”), Section chairs, Student chapter leaders, and Committee leaders. All members from Maine and Massachuetts are welcome to attend.
This typically takes place on the third Thursday of the month.
The regular agenda includes brief updates, questions, and calls-to-action from each of the leaders and the work that they represent, along with longer discussions on special topics. If you have a topic to bring to an ExComm meeting, please email BSLA President, Luisa Oliveira.
It’s our regular, essential moment to connect and coordinate our activities across Mass & Maine, AND our means to collaboratively discuss questions, issues, and other important things.
The 2024 Zoom link is here. Email Gretchen to be added to the calendar invite. Join us!
LARE Celebration (in person)
In person. Free.
Did you just take the LARE — or considering it?
Join other Emerging Professionals in a friendly celebration.
Hosted by IllumiSite. 50 Broad St., 5th Floor, Boston
Members & non-members welcome. All that’s needed is an interest in the LARE.
Stay tuned for Signup links!
BSLA Public Sector Landscape Architects Zoom Meetup
Online. Free.
This is a quarterly Zoom meet up for landscape architects (or those trained as landscape architects), currently working in the public or nonprofit sector. This includes landscape architects/designers/planners working in city or town, state, or federal parks agencies as well as in other government departments or nonprofits — not in “regular” practice. We know that many of you face similar issues in your work. Many of you are The Only one of you who does what you do, too.
Our intent is to create space for this professional community to come together.
The topic of these meetings will shift depending on what you want to discuss. You do not need to be a BSLA or ASLA member to participate.
To attend the September Zoom, click here.
To be added to the calendar invite, email Gretchen.
Pictured: Jessie Waisnor and Alexandra Vecchio, landscape architects with the Town of Brookline, lead a BSLA Inside/Out tour of new & historic Brookline public spaces, October 2023
GDIRC Bi-Monthly Meeting
Online. Free. All welcome.
Join us for the Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children (GDIRC) bi-monthly meeting! This meeting is hosted via Zoom.
RSVP here to receive join information for this meeting. This information will be included in your confirmation email.
The Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children is led jointly by BSLA and BSA. To find out more, visit the GDIRC website here or visit the Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children Knowledge Community page on the BSA website here.
Monthly BSLA ExComm + Leaders Meeting
Online.
This is the monthly meeting of BSLA’s elected Executive Committee (“ExComm”), Section chairs, Student chapter leaders, and Committee leaders. All members from Maine and Massachuetts are welcome to attend.
This typically takes place on the third Thursday of the month.
The regular agenda includes brief updates, questions, and calls-to-action from each of the leaders and the work that they represent, along with longer discussions on special topics. If you have a topic to bring to an ExComm meeting, please email BSLA President, Luisa Oliveira.
It’s our regular, essential moment to connect and coordinate our activities across Mass & Maine, AND our means to collaboratively discuss questions, issues, and other important things.
The 2024 Zoom link is here. Email Gretchen to be added to the calendar invite. Join us!
Monthly BSLA ExComm + Leaders Meeting
Online.
This is the monthly meeting of BSLA’s elected Executive Committee (“ExComm”), Section chairs, Student chapter leaders, and Committee leaders. All members from Maine and Massachuetts are welcome to attend.
This typically takes place on the third Thursday of the month.
The regular agenda includes brief updates, questions, and calls-to-action from each of the leaders and the work that they represent, along with longer discussions on special topics. If you have a topic to bring to an ExComm meeting, please email BSLA President, Luisa Oliveira.
It’s our regular, essential moment to connect and coordinate our activities across Mass & Maine, AND our means to collaboratively discuss questions, issues, and other important things.
The 2024 Zoom link is here. Email Gretchen to be added to the calendar invite. Join us!
GDIRC Bi-Monthly Meeting
Online. Free. All welcome.
Join us for the Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children (GDIRC) bi-monthly meeting! This meeting is hosted via Zoom.
RSVP here to receive join information for this meeting. This information will be included in your confirmation email.
The Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children is led jointly by BSLA and BSA. To find out more, visit the GDIRC website here or visit the Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children Knowledge Community page on the BSA website here.
Monthly BSLA ExComm + Leaders Meeting
Online.
This is the monthly meeting of BSLA’s elected Executive Committee (“ExComm”), Section chairs, Student chapter leaders, and Committee leaders. All members from Maine and Massachuetts are welcome to attend.
This typically takes place on the third Thursday of the month.
The regular agenda includes brief updates, questions, and calls-to-action from each of the leaders and the work that they represent, along with longer discussions on special topics. If you have a topic to bring to an ExComm meeting, please email BSLA President, Luisa Oliveira.
It’s our regular, essential moment to connect and coordinate our activities across Mass & Maine, AND our means to collaboratively discuss questions, issues, and other important things.
The 2024 Zoom link is here. Email Gretchen to be added to the calendar invite. Join us!
BSLA Public Sector Landscape Architects Zoom Meetup
Online. Free.
This is a quarterly Zoom meet up for landscape architects (or those trained as landscape architects), currently working in the public or nonprofit sector. This includes landscape architects/designers/planners working in city or town, state, or federal parks agencies as well as in other government departments or nonprofits — not in “regular” practice. We know that many of you face similar issues in your work. Many of you are The Only one of you who does what you do, too.
Our intent is to create space for this professional community to come together.
The topic of these meetings will shift depending on what you want to discuss. You do not need to be a BSLA or ASLA member to participate.
To attend the December Zoom, click here.
If you’d like to be added to the calendar invite, email Gretchen.
Pictured: Jessie Waisnor and Alexandra Vecchio, landscape architects with the Town of Brookline, lead a BSLA Inside/Out tour of new & historic Brookline public spaces, October 2023
Monthly BSLA ExComm + Leaders Meeting
Online.
This is the monthly meeting of BSLA’s elected Executive Committee (“ExComm”), Section chairs, Student chapter leaders, and Committee leaders. All members from Maine and Massachuetts are welcome to attend.
This typically takes place on the third Thursday of the month.
The regular agenda includes brief updates, questions, and calls-to-action from each of the leaders and the work that they represent, along with longer discussions on special topics. If you have a topic to bring to an ExComm meeting, please email BSLA President, Luisa Oliveira.
It’s our regular, essential moment to connect and coordinate our activities across Mass & Maine, AND our means to collaboratively discuss questions, issues, and other important things.
The 2024 Zoom link is here. Email Gretchen to be added to the calendar invite. Join us!
Firm Leaders+Owners Roundtable
Online.
This is an informal, monthly drop-in Zoom meeting of landscape architecture firm owners and leaders.
Our goal is to create a space where New England landscape architecture firm owners and leaders can connect, commiserate, compare notes, and hopefully laugh a little with your peers in this community.
There is no fixed agenda, but we will start with a few discussion prompts each time, and then you can take the conversation wherever you want to go.
Questions or topics to discuss? contact BSLA President-Elect & Crowley Cottrell firm owner, Michelle Crowley.
We're starting 2024 by alternating between first Friday mornings and first Wednesday evenings. We'll see how that works for folks and will modify as we go.
Do you want to receive the monthly calendar invite? email Gretchen.
This Zoom link is good for all of 2024.
RI ASLA Spring Event
RI ASLA Spring Event: Coastal Resiliency in the Ocean State
Join RI ASLA for an event dedicated to coastal resiliency work!
The night will feature talks from local experts including RI DEM, the Stormwater Innovation Center, and the environmental psychology community. We will hear about resiliency funding opportunities available through the DEM, the WEDG Certification process, and the upcoming SIC Expo.
Snacks & Refreshments Included
$20 RI ASLA Members
$30 Non-Members
FREE RI ASLA Student Member
$10 Student Non-Member
UMass Zube Lecture: “Speculation and Extraction in Contested Landscapes,” Zannah Matson
Free. In person in the John Olver Design Building, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The annual lecture series of the UMass Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning continues with a lecture by Zannah Matson, Assistant Professor of Environmental Design, University of Colorado Boulder: “Speculation and Extraction in Contested Landscapes.”
Inside/Out: Smith College
In person. Starting at the big Sycamore tree, on the grassy slope overlooking Paradise Pond, behind the Office of Admissions.
Join us outside!
Now in its fifth year, our "Inside/Out" series of landscape architecture site tours continues across our region. Prioritizing issues of climate and health, equity and resilience, each tour will discuss ideas and implementation as we explore these landscapes together.
Our 2024 series begins in Northampton, Massachusetts, on the campus of Smith College, near Paradise Pond.
This tour will be led by landscape architect Signe Nielsen, FASLA, whose firm, Mathews Nielsen, recently completed a master planning effort and its robust engagement process: a 20 year vision that guides this historic Olmsted landscape toward a more educational, inclusive, and climate resilient campus. She'll be joined by landscape architects from Berkshire Design Group, Dodson & Flinker, and Fuss & O'Neill -- all of whom are now designing -- or have just completed -- the first wave of implementation projects of this master plan.
We will explore.
Led by
Signe Nielsen, FASLA, Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects
with
Meaghan Tretheway, Berkshire Design Group
Doug Serrill, Berkshire Design Group
Nate Burgess, ASLA, Dodson & Flinker
Jeffrey Dawson, Affil. ASLA, Fuss & O'Neill
and
Reid Bertrone-Johnson, ASLA; Landscape Studies, Smith College.
.
.
.
This walk will end at approximately 12:30pm, followed by a picnic lunch. Rain or shine! Please come dressed for the weather, prepared to walk outside. LACES credits are pending.
All are welcome. Students are especially invited to attend.
Tickets are free, RSVP requested. Sign up today! We look forward to exploring with you.
The Stone Trust: “Landscape Architect/Designer 1-Day Introduction to Dry Stone Walling and Gathering”
In person at the Stone Trust Center, Scott Farm, Dummerston, Vermont
$375 for ASLA/BSLA members, $400 non members
BSLA is pleased to present this event by The Stone Trust in collaboration with the other New England ASLA chapters…
Many landscape architects take on projects that include dry stone construction. You take into account both the landscape design and the intersection of landscape with building architecture. Due to the nature of your work, however, you tend not to be builders. You may have limited experience with construction.
Brainchild of professional waller Dan Morales-Walsh and the New England chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects, this introductory workshop brings together Stone Trust waller-teachers and landscape architects and designers. Come for a hands-on learning experience about dry stone walling. You will learn the five basic principles of dry stone walling at the workshop, and afterwards gather to talk about what you learned and share your projects.
How does knowing the five basic principles of dry stone walling help landscape architects and designers? It will enable you:
To be able to evaluate the quality of stonework
To be able to communicate about stonework to clients and contractors
To provide specifications and quality expectations for the end result
To know how and where to source materials
To estimate pricing at the front end
The workshop portion of the day takes place from 9 to 5. During this time, you learn how to strip out, or take down, a dry stone wall and rebuild it. Stripping out a wall teaches you how a wall is constructed and why it is built that way. Building the wall helps you understand the amount of time and practice it takes to construct a functional, durable, and aesthetically pleasing dry stone wall. Come engage in a back and forth between experienced wallers and landscape professionals.
After your training, take time to consolidate your learning by talking with colleagues in the design field. Join a gathering in the Scott Farm Apple Barn from 5-8pm. Share your projects and get feedback from experienced dry stone wallers. Refreshments will be provided with the generous support of Maine Stone Scapes.
PLEASE NOTE: This course is for landscape architects and landscape designers. If you’re not a professional designer, please consider a 1-Day Intro.
Sip & Sketch
In person at Bunker Brewing Co, 17 Westfield Street D, Portland, Maine
Now happening monthly!
This casual meetup is open to all landscape designers and friends. Come hang out with us while we chat, sip and sketch. We may even play our own version of exquisite corpse (a drawing game.) Feel free to bring you favorite drawing media and paper, or use ours.
We’ll cover the first round of drinks. See you there —
UMass Zube Lecture: “Water as a Guiding Principle for Spatial Planning in the Netherlands”, Corien Kuiper
Free. In person in the John Olver Design Building, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The annual lecture series of the UMass Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning continues with a lecture by urban planner Corien Kuiper, “Water as a Guiding Principle for Spatial Planning in the Netherlands.”
Architalx | Jeffrey Day
In Person at Aura, 121 Center Street, Portland
BSLA is proud to be a longtime sponsor of Architalx. This annual Portland, Maine-based April speaker series is dedicated to broadening the awareness and understanding of architecture, landscape architecture, and design.
Today’s speaker:
Barbara Bestor, FAIA is founding principal of Bestor Architecture. Since 1995, Bestor Architecture has actively redefined Los Angeles architecture with a practice that rigorously engages the city through design, art, and urbanism. Increasingly, the firm applies L.A.’s lessons to national undertakings. She explores the architectural form through experiments in spatial arrangements, graphics, and color, which is evident in her projects from custom residences to headquarters for international companies. Her varied and progressive body of work connects with people on many levels, often outside the boundaries traditionally delineated for architecture. She believes that good design creates an engaged urban life and embraces the ‘strange beauty’ that enhances everyday life experience.
Beats By Dre HQ
Barbara’s career is punctuated with inventive projects in a wide breadth of typologies. She has designed new ways of creating accessible urbanism in her “stealth density” Blackbirds housing, retail and restaurant flagships, dynamic workspaces for Beats By Dre and Snap, award-winning residences and pioneering arts projects that are deeply rooted in their communities and cultural context.
Blackbirds
She received her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, studied at the Architecture Association in London and received a MARCH at SCI-Arc. She is the author of Bohemian Modern, Living in Silver Lake.
Click here for more info & tickets for Architalx 2023!
Playground Safety Inspector Training
In person.
Our longtime partner John LaRue is inviting our landscape architecture community to participate in a Playground Safety Inspector Training, taking place in April in Rhode Island…
In Spring of 2024 the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), in partnership with the North Kingstown Recreation Department, will be hosting the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) to offer the industry-leading Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI) certification program. The CPSI certification program provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date training on playground safety issues including hazard identification, equipment specifications, surfacing requirements, and risk management methods.
WHEN: April 22nd and 23rd from 8am-5pm (Course Only) and April 24th from 9am-11am (Exam Only)
Click here for more details, pricing, and registration link.
NOTE: Sign up by March 1 for regular registration. Late fees start March 2.
GSD | Mayors Imagining the Just City: Volume 4
Hybrid: Online and In person at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Free.
Description
Concluding the fourth annual Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) Just City Mayoral Fellowship–a collaboration between MICD and Harvard GSD’s Just City Lab–the Fellows discuss strategies for using planning and design interventions to address racial, social, and environmental injustice in each of their cities.
UMass Zube Lecture: “Repairing Waste Relations: Landscape Livecycles + Participatory Action; Research at the Margins”
Free. In person in the John Olver Design Building, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The annual lecture series of the UMass Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning continues with a lecture by University of Washington assistant professor Catherine De Almeida, “Repairing Waste Relations: Landscape Lifecycles + Participatory Action; Research at the Margins.”
Monthly BSLA ExComm + Leaders Meeting
Online.
This is the monthly meeting of BSLA’s elected Executive Committee (“ExComm”), Section chairs, Student chapter leaders, and Committee leaders. All members from Maine and Massachuetts are welcome to attend.
This typically takes place on the third Thursday of the month.
The regular agenda includes brief updates, questions, and calls-to-action from each of the leaders and the work that they represent, along with longer discussions on special topics. If you have a topic to bring to an ExComm meeting, please email BSLA President, Luisa Oliveira.
It’s our essential moment to connect and coordinate our activities across Mass & Maine, AND our means to collaboratively discuss questions, issues, and other important things.
The 2024 Zoom link is here. Email Gretchen to be added to the calendar invite. Join us!
GSD | Garnette Cadogan, “‘The Ground is All Memoranda’: Walking as Register, Responsibility, and Reenchantment”
Hybrid: Online and In person at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Free.
Architalx | Hillary Sample
In Person at Aura, 121 Center Street, Portland
BSLA is proud to be a longtime sponsor of Architalx. This annual Portland, Maine-based April speaker series is dedicated to broadening the awareness and understanding of architecture, landscape architecture, and design.
Today’s speaker:
Barbara Bestor, FAIA is founding principal of Bestor Architecture. Since 1995, Bestor Architecture has actively redefined Los Angeles architecture with a practice that rigorously engages the city through design, art, and urbanism. Increasingly, the firm applies L.A.’s lessons to national undertakings. She explores the architectural form through experiments in spatial arrangements, graphics, and color, which is evident in her projects from custom residences to headquarters for international companies. Her varied and progressive body of work connects with people on many levels, often outside the boundaries traditionally delineated for architecture. She believes that good design creates an engaged urban life and embraces the ‘strange beauty’ that enhances everyday life experience.
Beats By Dre HQ
Barbara’s career is punctuated with inventive projects in a wide breadth of typologies. She has designed new ways of creating accessible urbanism in her “stealth density” Blackbirds housing, retail and restaurant flagships, dynamic workspaces for Beats By Dre and Snap, award-winning residences and pioneering arts projects that are deeply rooted in their communities and cultural context.
Blackbirds
She received her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, studied at the Architecture Association in London and received a MARCH at SCI-Arc. She is the author of Bohemian Modern, Living in Silver Lake.
Click here for more info & tickets for Architalx 2023!
UMass Zube Lecture: “Landscapes of Retreat,” Rosetta S. Elkin
Free. In person in the John Olver Design Building, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The annual lecture series of the UMass Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning continues with a lecture by Pratt Institute professor Rosetta S. Elkin, “Landscapes of Retreat.”
BSLA at Boston Green Academy’s Earth Day
In person at Boston Green Academy. Brighton (Boston), MA
Please join us to celebrate World Landscape Architecture Month at Boston Green Academy’s "Earth Day” school-wide event.
8am — set up
9am - 11am — planting activity with students — round one
11am - 12pm — clean up
Whether you can stop by for an hour or the whole morning, you are needed and welcome.
Please Sign Up Here. THANK YOU!
GSD | Dan Stubbergaard, “City as a Resource – Cobe’s Current Works on the City”
Hybrid: Online and In person at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Free.
Speaker
Dan Stubbergaard, who is trained as an architect from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, in Copenhagen, founded Cobe in 2006. Inspired by the transformation of Copenhagen from an industrial port city to a beacon for livability and sustainability, he is the leading figure in Cobe’s work to create surroundings that actively contribute to extraordinary everyday life. Stubbergaard believes architects have a profound responsibility to create resilient, long-term solutions that improve life–cities, buildings, and landscapes that are made to outlast our generation.
His research focuses on investigating solutions, tools, and methodologies across several topics or themes of interest, including resilient urban development, green mobility, transformation and reuse, new ways of building, social responsibility, urban nature, and longevity. Having received national and international acclaim for his work, including the C.F. Hansen Royal Medal from the Danish Academy Council in 2020, Nykredit’s Architecture Award in 2012, and the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2006, he has designed and completed award-winning projects globally. Two projects of significant note are the Nordhaven project (Copenhagen, DK) from 2009 onwards that effectively converted a former industrial shipyard into an arguably more sustainable urban district with pedestrian and bike-friendly infrastructure, and the Paper Island project of 2016 to 2023 (Copenhagen, DK), the conversion of a former industrial site into a vibrant inner-city neighborhood, and with skillful handling of different building scales and elements of the public realm. What is particularly impressive in his projects is the consistency with which he deals with integrating the potential of landscape as an organizing instrument, creating humane environments, privileging reuse and repair as a strategy and developing compelling narratives through systemic thinking.
Architalx | Martha Schwartz
In Person at Aura, 121 Center Street, Portland
BSLA is proud to be a longtime sponsor of Architalx. This annual Portland, Maine-based April speaker series is dedicated to broadening the awareness and understanding of architecture, landscape architecture, and design.
Today’s speaker:
Barbara Bestor, FAIA is founding principal of Bestor Architecture. Since 1995, Bestor Architecture has actively redefined Los Angeles architecture with a practice that rigorously engages the city through design, art, and urbanism. Increasingly, the firm applies L.A.’s lessons to national undertakings. She explores the architectural form through experiments in spatial arrangements, graphics, and color, which is evident in her projects from custom residences to headquarters for international companies. Her varied and progressive body of work connects with people on many levels, often outside the boundaries traditionally delineated for architecture. She believes that good design creates an engaged urban life and embraces the ‘strange beauty’ that enhances everyday life experience.
Beats By Dre HQ
Barbara’s career is punctuated with inventive projects in a wide breadth of typologies. She has designed new ways of creating accessible urbanism in her “stealth density” Blackbirds housing, retail and restaurant flagships, dynamic workspaces for Beats By Dre and Snap, award-winning residences and pioneering arts projects that are deeply rooted in their communities and cultural context.
Blackbirds
She received her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, studied at the Architecture Association in London and received a MARCH at SCI-Arc. She is the author of Bohemian Modern, Living in Silver Lake.
Click here for more info & tickets for Architalx 2023!
Firm Leaders+Owners Roundtable
Online.
This is an informal, monthly drop-in Zoom meeting of landscape architecture firm owners and leaders.
Our goal is to create a space where New England landscape architecture firm owners and leaders can connect, commiserate, compare notes, and hopefully laugh a little with your peers in this community.
There is no fixed agenda, but we will start with a few discussion prompts each time, and then you can take the conversation wherever you want to go.
Questions or topics to discuss? contact BSLA President-Elect & Crowley Cottrell firm owner, Michelle Crowley.
We're starting 2024 by alternating between first Friday mornings and first Wednesday evenings. We'll see how that works for folks and will modify as we go.
Do you want to receive the monthly calendar invite? email Gretchen.
This Zoom link is good for all of 2024.
UMass Zube Lecture: “A Role for All Seasons”, John Taylor
Free. In person in the John Olver Design Building, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The annual lecture series of the UMass Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning continues with a lecture by John Taylor of the Kota Kita Foundation, “A Role for All Seasons.”
Emerging Professionals Spring Social
In person.
Celebrate spring with fellow Emerging Professionals at the BSLA EP Spring Social!
Come join us Tuesday, April 2 at 6pm for an evening of arcade games, food, drink, and fun company at Roxy’s Arcade in Central Square, Cambridge.
Get tickets here.
This event is FREE for BSLA members and students, only $10 for non-members. All ticket holders will receive game tokens, two drinks + snacks. Please note that Roxy’s Arcade is 21+. Thank you Landscape Forms for sponsoring.
If you're in the early stage of your career, a current student or recent graduate, this is for you. Landscape Architects, designers, planners and friends, all are welcome.
Spots are limited; Sign up today.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Architalx | William O’Brien, Jr. ,WOJR
In Person at Aura, 121 Center Street, Portland
BSLA is proud to be a longtime sponsor of Architalx. This annual Portland, Maine-based April speaker series is dedicated to broadening the awareness and understanding of architecture, landscape architecture, and design.
Today’s speaker:
Barbara Bestor, FAIA is founding principal of Bestor Architecture. Since 1995, Bestor Architecture has actively redefined Los Angeles architecture with a practice that rigorously engages the city through design, art, and urbanism. Increasingly, the firm applies L.A.’s lessons to national undertakings. She explores the architectural form through experiments in spatial arrangements, graphics, and color, which is evident in her projects from custom residences to headquarters for international companies. Her varied and progressive body of work connects with people on many levels, often outside the boundaries traditionally delineated for architecture. She believes that good design creates an engaged urban life and embraces the ‘strange beauty’ that enhances everyday life experience.
Beats By Dre HQ
Barbara’s career is punctuated with inventive projects in a wide breadth of typologies. She has designed new ways of creating accessible urbanism in her “stealth density” Blackbirds housing, retail and restaurant flagships, dynamic workspaces for Beats By Dre and Snap, award-winning residences and pioneering arts projects that are deeply rooted in their communities and cultural context.
Blackbirds
She received her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, studied at the Architecture Association in London and received a MARCH at SCI-Arc. She is the author of Bohemian Modern, Living in Silver Lake.
Click here for more info & tickets for Architalx 2023!
TODAY’s the LAST DAY to enter 2024 BSLA Design Awards
We are pleased to share the 2024 BSLA Design Awards Call for Entries!
Download the Call and find the link to Submit, as well as FAQ and other details.
Entries are accepted on a rolling basis from now through Friday, March 29, 2024. Enjoy early bird rates through Friday, March 15.
Thanks for helping to celebrate design excellence in our region.
GSD | John Hejduk Soundings Lecture: Mario Carpo, “Generative AI, Imitation, Style, and the Eternal Return of Precedent”
Hybrid: Online and In person at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Free.
Description
Generative AI does not create new images out of thin air; it generates images that have a “certain something” in common with a selection of images we have fed into it. This selection, often called a “dataset,” can be generic or custom-made; either way, Generative AI automates the imitation and replication of some of its common visual features, often known in the past as styles. Imitation was for centuries the backbone of the classical tradition in European art, and it was de facto banned by 20th-century modernism for many good reasons. As the rise of Generative AI is bringing the practice of imitation back to our design schools and to the design professions, we urgently need to learn again what imitation is, how it works, what it does, and how we can deal with it today, in critical and creative terms. Every dataset is a canon, but every reference to precedent is based on preference, and we know all too well that preference is often a proxy for prejudice.
UMass Zube Lecture: “A Nation of Walls,” Chat Travieso
Free. In person in the John Olver Design Building, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The annual lecture series of the UMass Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning continues with a lecture by artist and designer Chat Travieso, “A Nation of Walls.”
GSD | Pedro Gadanho, “Priorities Reversed: From Climate Agnosticism to Ecological Activism”
Hybrid: Online and In person at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Free.
Description
Rather than slowly immersing in the subject of the ecological emergency, if one suddenly dives into its depths, the experience can be irreversibly transformative. Based on a personal trajectory of exhibitions, books and projects, this talk dwells on how such a radical reversal can alter not only one’s worldview, but also what kind of action and practice one accepts to pursue after their priorities have undergone a radical change.
Speaker
Pedro Gadanho is an architect, curator and author. A 2020 Loeb Fellow from Harvard University, Gadanho holds an MA in art and architecture, and is a PhD in architecture and mass media. From 2012 to 2016, he was the curator of contemporary architecture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, where he coordinated the Young Architects Program and curated exhibitions such as 9+1 Ways of Being Political, Uneven Growth, and A Japanese Constellation. Between 2015 and 2019, he was the founding Director of MAAT, the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, in Lisbon, where he initiated more than 50 exhibition projects, including shows and publications such as Utopia/Dystopia, Tension & Conflict, and Eco-Visionaries. During 2020-21, he led a bid for European Capital of Culture 2027 by a coalition of 17 cities in Portugal’s interior, and became a Guest Professor at the University of Beira Interior. He has edited the BEYOND bookazine, the ShrapnelContemporary blog, and contributes regularly to international publications. He wrote Arquitetura em Público, a recipient of the FAD Prize for Thought and Criticism in 2012. In 2022, he launched Climax Change! How Architecture Must Transform in the Age of Ecological Emergency (ACTAR Publishers: New York/Barcelona).
Maine BSLA Section Meeting
Online.
Maine landscape architects, designers, coworkers and collaborators: there's a lot happening in our state, landscape architecture-wise! From our second year of the summer design program to statewide climate action; from advocacy next steps to potential sites to visit to whatever might be on your mind, join us in a Zoom meeting to discuss events, activities, and what we want to do this year.
Email Maine BSLA co-chairs Johanna Cairns or Steven Mansfield for the calendar invite and Zoom.
GSD | Lauret Savoy, “Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape”
Hybrid: Online and In person at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Free.
Description
Sand and stone are Earth’s fragmented memory. Each of us is also a landscape inscribed by memory and loss. Lauret Savoy’s Trace interweaves journeys and historical inquiry across a continent and time to explore how this country’s still unfolding history has marked the land, this society, and her. From twisted terrain within the San Andreas Fault zone to a South Carolina plantation, from national parks to burial grounds to names on the land, from “Indian Territory” and the U.S.-Mexico Border to the U.S. capital, Trace grapples with a searing national history to reveal the often-unvoiced presence of the past. Lauret will offer elements from this book and introduce her current project on the Chesapeake region. The new work braids histories of the land and of “race” using as a lens her search for ancestors, lives entwined by converging diasporas from Africa, Indigenous America, and the Indian Ocean basin with immigrants from Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Their stories are entangled with the rise and fall of tobacco agriculture and the origin and growth of the capital city along the Potomac River. Lauret delves through fragmented histories—geological, personal, cultural—to find shadowy outlines of other stories of place in America. She asks, what is your relationship with history, told and untold, on this land?
ONE MORE WEEK to enter 2024 BSLA Design Awards
We are pleased to share the 2024 BSLA Design Awards Call for Entries!
Download the Call and find the link to Submit, as well as FAQ and other details.
Entries are accepted on a rolling basis from now through Friday, March 29, 2024. Enjoy early bird rates through Friday, March 15.
Thanks for helping to celebrate design excellence in our region.
GSD | John T. Dunlop Lecture: Margot Kushel, “The Toxic Problem of Poverty + Housing Costs: Lessons from New Landmark Research About Homelessness”
Hybrid: Online and In person at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Free.
Description
For over three decades, Dr. Margot Kushel has both cared for people who experience homelessness and studied the causes, consequences, and solutions to homelessness, particularly in California, which is home to 30 percent of the people experiencing homelessness in the US. Kushel, who recently led the largest representative study of homelessness in the United States since the mid-1990s, will discuss insights that have emerged from her work as a physician and researcher. Her research has shown that California’s homelessness crisis is primarily due to the lack of housing that low-income households can afford. Moreover, contrary to popular beliefs, the majority of people experiencing homelessness in the state were born in California. She will draw on the findings to discuss policies, programs, and practices that would help people experiencing homelessness and those who are at risk of becoming homeless.