Astrid Reeves

Position	Lecturer Emeritus
Email	areeves@calpoly.edu

Faculty Biography

Astrid Reeves is a teacher at heart who has always held an affinity for the human, artistic and historical aspect of environments. Originally having graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Landscape Architecture, Astrid later returned to receive a Masters in Education, with an emphasis on teaching and learning in the design studio. Before becoming a lecturer, Reeves worked as a licensed landscape architect on a variety of community service projects as well as with private practice firms in California.

Much of Astrid’s interests have successfully provided a focus for her work at Cal Poly. Reeves regularly taught fundamentals of design and landscape history because she enjoyed the opportunity to help students understand the "culture, place and history of things." According to Astrid, there is a reason "why we keep going back to certain place settings, designers, theories...and why we find particular things intriguing to us." Understanding the aspects of the cultural environment, the connection between history and contemporary design and looking at "why we do the things we do" can, in turn, help make better designers. "It is not art for the sake of art," but rather that somewhere underneath there is always a significant cultural or human expression being portrayed.

Astrid has worked with students on a variety of projects around the community, including the United Methodist Children’s Center and the development of a healing garden at French Hospital. Beyond her traditional duties as a lecturer, Astrid has accompanied fourth year students on the extended field trip to Europe and served as an academic advisor. She is also active as a volunteer with the South County Historical Society and recently worked with them on converting older houses into public spaces.