Terragrams

This episode was originally broadcast in May 2009. Stefan Rotzler studied History of Art at the Zurich University before becoming a gardener. Following this hands-on experience, Rotzler opted to study landscape architecture at the ITR Technical School in Rapperswil, Switzerland where he graduated in one of the first classes of the newly-created professional program. After graduation, he worked with the town planning office of Zurich for a few years and then opened his own office. In 1989...

This episode was originally broadcast in June 2009. Claude Cormier grew up on a farm and went on to study in agronomy and plant sciences at the University of Guelph. However, in search for a different perspective on nature, he entered the University of Toronto to study landscape architecture. After practicing for some time in Toronto and Montreal, he returned to school in the early 90’s to obtain a Master's in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1995, he...

This episode was originally broadcast in April 2009. Marc Treib is a professor emeritus of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a landscape and architectural historian and critic and has published extensively. His books include: A Guide to the Gardens of Kyoto (1980), Modern Landscape Architecture: A Critical Review (1993), Regional Garden Design in the United States (Co-Editor, 1995), Space Calculated in Seconds: The Philips Pavilion, Le Corbusier, Edgard Varese...

This episode was originally broadcast in October 2008. Maria Goula is a landscape architect and has been either studying or practicing landscape architect in Barcelona since she arrived from Greece in 1992, during the eve of the Olympic Games. She received both her Master of Landscape Architecture as well as her PhD degree from the Escola Tecnica Superior d’Arquitectura in Barcelona, in Catalunya’s Politecnic University. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Urbanism and...

This episode was originally broadcast in September 2008. Gabriele Kiefer founded Büro Kiefer, a landscape architecture studio founded in Berlin in 1989. Ms. Kiefer studied landscape planning at Berlin Technical University before working as a research assistant and, in 2002, being appointed as a Professor. Her studio has made work all over Germany and throughout much of Europe. She was a finalist in Barcelona's 5th Biennal of landscape architecture for a project on the outskirts of...

This episode was originally broadcast in December 2009. Alexander Reford is a historian and the director of the Reford Gardens of Metis in Quebec and the co-founder of the International Garden Festival of Metis, a festival that has featured designers such as Claude Cormier, NIP Landscape, Paula Meijerink (TG 10) and Chris Reed of Stoss Landscape Urbanism (TG 15). Alexander is on the board of directors for the Canadian Tourism Commission as well as the president of the Quebec Gardens'...

This episode was originally broadcast in September 2009. Ken is the founder of the Ken Smith Workshop, based in Manhattan, New York, and Irvine, California. He graduated from Iowa State University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design and practiced with the Office of Peter Walker and later in collaboration with Martha Schwartz and David Meyer. Since 1992 he has been piloting his own studio while also teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the University of Pennsylvania, UVa,...

This episode was originally broadcast in August 2009. René Bihan is a registered landscape architect and the managing principal of the San Francisco office of the SWA Group. He grew up with a nursery in his backyard and has been at SWA for more than two decades. He is also a commissioner for the San Francisco Arts Commission and has designed and managed projects such as Beijing Finance Street, the City College of San Francisco Master Plan, the Hong Kong Cultural Harbour, and the Salt Lake...

This episode was originally broadcast in June 2009. John Beardsley is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He teaches courses in Landscape Architectural history, theory and writing. Concurrently, he serves as Director of Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC. John has authored numerous books including the well-recognized EarthWorks and Beyond: Contemporary Art in the Landscape. In addition to...

This episode was originally broadcast in September 2009. Michael van Gessel is a Dutch landscape architect with over 3 decades of experience that stretch back to the Agricultural College of Wageningen, where he earned a BA in Plant Disease, another BA in Landscape Architecture and then an MA in Landscape Architecture. His professional experience was gained with the Dutch office Bakkker en Bleeker (now B+B) where he practiced for more than 25 years and directed the studio from...

This episode was originally broadcast in January 2009. Liat Margolis is the co-author of Living Systems, Innovative Materials & Technologies for Landscape Architecture. Liat received an BFA in Industrial Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Masters of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She was the Materials director for Material ConneXion, a materials research and consulting company in New York City. She has also recently worked at the...

This episode was originally broadcast in May 2008. Gary Hilderbrand, landscape architect, is one of the founding principals of Reed Hilderbrand and is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. Gary joins Terragrams to discuss his partnership with Douglas Reed, professional practice, multiple career paths, and his role in the 5th European Biennal of Landscape Architecture in Barcelona. He is also responsible for the monographs "Making a Landscape of Continuity: the Practice of Innocenti &...

This episode was originally broadcast in May 2008. Chris Reed is a registered landscape architect and the principal and founder of the Boston-based practice Stoss Landscape Urbanism. Stoss operates within and between the fields of urban design, landscape architecture and planning. It recognizes the urban context alongside the multiple scales and functions of ecological systems as basic tenets of its practice. The Architecture League of New York has named Chris Reed an 2008 Emerging Voice...

This episode was originally broadcast in September 2008. Kristine Jensen is a Danish landscape architect with her Studio AKJT in Aarhus. At the Aarhus School of Architecture, she received her PhD and Masters of Architecture in Landscape Architecture. She is the recent winner of the 5th Rosa Barba European Landscape Prize for the Nicolai Kulturcenter project. In this Dispatch, Kristine discusses her Rosa Barba Prize winning project, the difference between a circle and an oval, modernism in...

This episode was originally broadcast in May 2008. In this dispatch we are in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and are joined by Richard Forman. Richard is Harvard University’s Professor of Advanced Environmental Studies in the Field of Landscape Ecology. He teaches ecological courses in the Graduate School of Design as well as in the Harvard College. Here he talks to us about his latest book entitled Urban Regions: Ecology and Planning Beyond the City. Additionally, Richard discusses the hurdles...

This episode was originally broadcast in May 2008. Reuben Rainey returns to Terragrams and discusses his latest work on Garden Story: Inspiring Spaces, Healing Places, a 10-part series of half-hour programs for Public Television on how gardens improve our lives and our communities. He also gives us more insight on his nearly 3 decades of teaching at UVA and on the career of Robert Royston. Reuben is the William Stone Weedon Professor Emeritus in the Department of Architecture and Landscape...

This episode was originally broadcast in March 2008. In this dispatch, Reuben Rainey talks to Robert Royston (1918-2008), a pioneer of modernism in landscape architecture. Royston was born in San Francisco and grew up on a farm before studying landscape architecture at the University of California in Berkeley and beginning practice in the office of Thomas Church. After volunteering to fight in World War II, he established a rich collaboration with Garret Eckbo and Edward Williams. During...

This episode was originally broadcast in April 2007. In the 10th delivery of Terragrams, Paula Meijerink talks about juggling her work as a young practitioner and an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design while raising 2 daughters. With her studio, Wanted, Meijerink has built 2 gardens for the International Garden Festival of Metis in Quebec and is presently working on a roof deck for a 700 unit tower in Miami as well as a masterplan for a development near Shanghai. At...

This episode was originally broadcast in March 2007. Elizabeth Meyer is an Associate Professor and has twice acted as the Director of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia. Here, she discusses her latest book project entitled 'Groundwork', past and present landscape architectural theory, creativity, site interpretation, the ASLA Student Awards, women in the practice, and the MOMA Groundswell Exhibition. Some of her published writings include "Uncertain Parks. Disturbed...

This episode was originally broadcast in December 2006. Niall Kirkwood is a Professor of Landscape Architecture and the Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design from 2003 to 2009. In this dispatch, Mr. Kirkwood recalls his introduction to the world of landscape architecture, describes the role of the super absorbent polymer in his Sponge City project in Rotterdam, discusses some of the research that he has yet to publish, and runs through...