Navigation
Posted: 11.20.09
2009 Edition of SLO Landscape: Cal Poly Landscape Architecture Journal Now Available
The 2009 edition of SLO Landscape, the landscape architecture department's journal, is now available. Edited by Prof. Omar Faruque, this year's issue includes articles written to inform professionals, academicians, and students of innovative design methods and techniques, case studies, and research not available in textbooks or published in other journals.
Department alum Rick Hume writes about designing the Orange County, California Great Park. Alum Paul Buchanan writes about designing and constructing the landscape of the Cleveland Clinic. Prof. Walt Bremer has an article about GIS at Cal Poly and beyond. CAED Dean Tom Jones writes about opportunities that lie ahead for landscape architects, Department Head Margarita Hill describes the recent accomplishments of our faculty and students, and the department's advisory council chair, Martin Flores, reflects on the future of the landscape architecture profession.
SLO Landscape also showcases student and alumni activities, including the extended field trip to Italy, Germany, and France, a service project in South Africa, alum Don Marquardt's one-man show devoted to Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Class of 1988's 30th reunion.
Didn't get your copy of SLO Landscape in the mail? Send an email, including your name and mailing address, to landscapearchitecture@calpoly.edu, and we'll mail a copy to you.
Posted: 11.06.09
Grant Union's Environmental Science Academy Students Visit Cal Poly
The Landscape Architecture Department enthusiastically welcomed 13 students from Grant Union High School 's GEO Environmental Science and Design Academy, along with their Landscape Architecture Teacher, Daniela Tavares, on Friday, November 6, 2009. The students traveled from Sacramento, CA to San Luis Obispo to visit the department and learn more about the Cal Poly BLA program and the landscape architecture profession. Asst. Professor Beverly Bass serves on the Academy's Advisory Committee.
After a campus tour, shopping at the El Corral bookstore, and a visit to the Dexter LA studios, the group lunched on pizza and soft drinks in the Dexter Fireplace Room and talked about their program at the Academy and the program at Cal Poly with LA majors Aaron Anderson, Katie Blair, Michael Shadle, and Tyler Rinehart and with faculty members Beverly Bass, Walt Bremer, Gary Clay, Astrid Reeves, and David Watts. The high schoolers were interested in how our students had chosen Landscape Architecture as a major, the projects they had worked on, the possibilities of transferring from community college, and how much it costs to attend Cal Poly.
The GEO Academy is one of the California Partnership Academies - a three-year program (grades ten-twelve) structured as a school-within-a-school. The purpose of the program is to provide a specialized curriculum within the core high school curriculum that allows at-risk students to be exposed to career and educational options that are not typically part of the high school experience. According to the California Department of Education web site, Partnership Academies represent a high school reform movement focused on smaller learning communities with a career theme. Components include rigorous academics and technical education, with a career focus, a committed team of teachers, and active business and post-secondary partnerships.
For more information about Grant's Environmental Science and Design Academy, check out their video, "Eat at the Garden."
Posted: 11.05.09
Lecturer Louise Schiller Speaks at Chico Sustainability Conference
Louise Schiller was one of the presenters at the fifth annual This Way to Sustainability Conference at CSU, Chico. On November 5, 2009, Louise and her co-presenter, Phil Evans (San Francisco State University), presented "a model for using the urban landscape as a resource for sustainability education, integrating best landscape practices and involving academic partners fully in a vibrant research and education program." To learn more about the Chico Sustainability Conference and Louise's presentation, "Not Just a Pretty Face - Making Urban Landscapes a Living Laboratory," go to Chico's Sustainability V Conference website.
Brandon Schmiedeberg Featured in KCOY Rosebowl Float Story
Local TV station KCOY's October 26, 2009 story about the unveiling of Cal Poly's 2010 Rose Bowl float includes comments by fourth year student Brandon Schmiedeberg, one of the student volunteers who've been working for months on the float's concept and design. To learn more about this year's "Jungle Cuts" theme, and read what Brandon has to say about the float's "fun animination" elements and over-height mechanisms, go to the KCOY website.
Asst. Prof. David Watts Featured in Cal Poly Report
The Cal Poly Report's October 7, 2009 issue features the Cal Poly Preschool Learning Lab's new sustainable play area designed by faculty member David Watts, and featuring natural components such as pea gravel and Fibar, an engineered wood surface.
The preschoolers' play area is on University Drive right across from the Kennedy Library. Read about the new play area and see the photo of Dave on the playground at the Cal Poly Report website.
LA 404 Piedras Blancas Project Featured in Cal Poly Magazine
Cal Poly Magazine's Fall 2009 edition has as its cover story a project that lecturer Astrid Reeves' LA 404 Cultural Environments studio worked on during Spring 2009 -- the Piedras Blancas lighthouse. Landscape architecture, engineering, and journalism students, along with faculty and staff, are playing a major role in the effort to restore this historic, century-old light station, located on Highway 1 north of Hearst Castle.
To read the full article, "Beacon of Light," and to view the photos of the lighthouse taken by Astrid Reeves and fifth year student Floralba Pucci-Figueras, go to the Cal Poly Magazine's website.
LA Majors Help Cal Poly Team Win Bank of America's
2009 Low-Income Housing Challenge
Two Landscape Architecture majors were on the Cal Poly interdisciplinary team that won the Bank of America 2009 Low-Income Housing Challenge. The 2009 competition also included teams from Stanford and UC Berkeley. The Cal Poly team partnered with People's Self Help Housing to create a physical and financial proposal for an 80-unit farm worker housing development in the unincorporated area of Santa Barbara County near Santa Maria, CA. In addition to housing, the team's concept included a community and family education center, the renovation of the historic Alan Hancock house, an onsite wastewater treatment facility, and an organic community farm all designed to meet the particular needs of the farm worker population. The development qualifies for LEED Silver certification.
Twelve students from six different campus departments made up this unusual interdisciplinary team, including LA majors Jennifer Webster and Wade Sherman (class of 2009). The other team members included seven students working toward bachelor degrees in architecture, business, city and regional planning, and construction management, as well as three masters students in city and regional planning and industrial technology.
Names and major (left to right): Anthony Adams (MCRP), Peter Kim (CRP), Christian Medin (Bus), Renee Brown (Bus), Josh Hoffman (CM), Julia Metz, (Arch), Kim Hoving (MCRP), Alexis Austin (Arch), Cece Reyes (M IndTech), Jennifer Webster (LA), Stephan Jackson (CRP), Wade Sherman (LA).
The full proposal and a short video introducing the project are available for download at www.polyhousingcollaborative.com web site.
Students Develop UCSB Mall Designs
During Winter 2009 Landscape Architecture students under the leadership of Professor Omar Faruque were engaged in developing design solutions for the University of California, Santa Barbara, Tower Mall. The Tower Mall is part of the Campus Plan whose central goal is to provide a coherent system of open space appropriate for a respected University that facilitates communication and access among all parts of the campus.
The Plan recommends the early implementation of four key spaces which establish the framework for developing the campus. One of these key spaces is the Tower Mall: a grand entry space leading from Mesa Road to Storke Plaza.
The plan above was designed by David Dubois. To see all 13 student design solutions, go to the UCSB Campus Design and Facilities Tower Mall web page.
Alumna work featured on cover of Landscape Architecture Magazine
Vera Gates (1984) is co-owner of Arterra, a San Francisco-based landscape firm, whose work was featured the cover of the January 2009 edition of Landscape Architecture Magazine. Go to the Arterra Landscape Architects "In The Press" web page to see the full article.
Landscape Architecture Student Awarded National Scholarship
Landscape Architecture student Yessenia Alvarez-Lopez was awarded a scholarship by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Council of Fellows.
Rodney Swink, chairman of the Council of Fellows, noted that the 2008 pool of applicants was particularly outstanding. Alvarez-Lopez was "quickly singled out for her strong academic record, her many community initiatives and efforts beyond the college setting, and her unique financial challenges."
The scholarship was established in 2004 to aid outstanding students who would not otherwise have an opportunity to continue a professional degree program due to unmet financial need. Alvarez-Lopez was one of two students to receive the $4,000 Council of Fellows Scholarship.
The scholarship was awarded through the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) whose mission is to support the preservation, improvement and enhancement of the environment. In 2008 the LAF awarded 24 scholarships and fellowship grants totaling $96,500. The winning students were selected from a pool of 144 applicants.
Landscape Architecture Foundation web site.
Landscape Architecture Celebrates 35 Years
In May of 2008, we celebrated 35 years of Landscape Architecture at Cal Poly. The Alumni Dinner and Silent Auction, which closed the weekend celebration, was held at the Vina Robles winery in Paso Robles. All who joined in the celebration had a truly memorable weekend.