personal news

Excited to announce I am embarking on a new phase of my service at Rutgers as I have transitioned to chairing the Department of Landscape Architecture. I am humbled to follow in some auspicious footsteps and honored to be granted this opportunity to serve the school, my colleagues, our students, alumni, and communities. 

Urban patterns

Architect Abhinav Bhardwaj has posted some great images on Instagram that illustrate the differences between coarse and fine urban development patterns. While I might quibble with the accuracy of the labels (American vs. European), I think the illustrations are certainly useful in distinguishing between different eras and approaches.

Interestingly, the Streetlife Design Competition has been posted with opportunities that include students and young professionals. 

A highly ranked program

Rutgers is a Top 20 landscape architecture program. While it isn't a surprise, it is nice to see that College Factual agrees, as they list RULA as #16. It also says that the MLA program is Top 10 in the country. 

While their methods are not clear, it is easy to understand that the Rutgers Landscape Architecture program is exceptional, as it tackles big problems and produces innovative work and methods. At the undergraduate level, the LA program is intertwined with an Environmental Planning degree. Students in the BSLA and MLA programs are also integrated with the Environmental Geomatics program and have incredible opportunities to learn about GIS, geospatial technologies and drones at the Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis.

Rutgers Landscape Architecture is within the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS). This context provides easy access to other sciences - soils, ecology, environmental and social sciences - for both faculty and students. Not only is this a unique context and unparalleled source of expertise, but it also helps build multidisciplinary experience, which is an essential element in contemporary landscape architecture. 

Another reason that the program stands out is that the faculty include prolific researchers and scholars experienced designers. Multiple faculty have recently published important books while others demonstrate their impact through papers and funded research. These faculty often bring their scholarship into the studio, especially in the Praxis Studios. The department's community engagement makes it a leader within Rutgers and ASLA. The program's innovative faculty regularly publish research in urban forestry, spatial dimensions of human health, and landscapes of food. 

Located halfway between New York City and Philadelphia, the Rutgers Landscape Architecture program benefits from professional exposure, office visits, and easy travel to some of the most important new built-works in the country. Job placement is remarkably strong, with alumni being prominent in leading offices around the country. The program has also benefited from a grant supporting student placement in National Park offices, which has increased public sector opportunities for students and alumni. 

This is an exciting program increasingly known for swinging big and embracing innovation. No wonder it is featured in these rankings.

LAM in Hoboken

Landscape Architecture Magazine has a feature on the new OLIN park in Hoboken, Northwest ReslienCity Park. 

Ghostly aerials of an Iceland glacier

 After a fascinating Common Lecture today by Joyce Hsiang on glaciers and the cryosphere, I was surprised to see an amazing photo by Dani Guindo of an Icelandic glacier. The link can take you to a whole series of photos. 

Terracotta

Our department just had an enticing lecture by Haemee Han, whose recent design in South Korea featured a creative use of terracotta. 

The talk reminded me of an often overlooked source of terracotta here in Central NJ: the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company. It was based in Perth Amboy but continued much of its later production in Rocky Hill. You have seen their tiles and architectural ornamentation. They are on the Philly Art Museum and the Woolworth Building and the Flatiron Building. And many others.

This brief history of the local terracotta company is worth a peek.

Floating islands

A nice article is out about the Princeton Hydro floating islands on Woodcliff Lake. These are intended to be a living tool fighting algae in the reservoir water. 

 

Hudson Square public plaza

Matthews Nielsen Landscape Architects (MNLA) has released a design proposal for Hudson Square. The design includes interactive seating and a cool and shady area they list as a tree and umbrella bosque. If you ever visit the Film Forum, this is just a couple blocks over. See a movie, chill out in the park.

The Superblock of Sant Antoni by Leku Studio

 

The rising waters, the floating hot dog stand

The Washington Post published a fabulous Op Art today about Kristina Hill. It is called "The rising waters, the floating hot dog stand: How an urban climate-adaptation designer thinks about her job." It is a great peek at how landscape architecture can see the same problems through a different lens.

Spain with students

 

Parque Central

 As part of our Study Abroad studio, I got to visit Phase I of Valencia's Parque Central. Even with the water turned off it was pretty amazing. 

Parks Hike

I recently had the chance to lead some of our students on an urban transect hike in Barcelona. Here are maps and images.