Learning

On-Demand LA CES™ Education Sessions

We are pleased to bring you these virtual learning opportunities in an on-demand format so you may join when it is most convenient for you. Most on-demand sessions are recorded from an originally live presentation.

 

NATURALISTIC DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT: HEEMPARKS OF THE NETHERLANDS PART II

Credits: 1.0 PDH – HSW
Speaker: Keenan Porter | Landscape Designer | Rhodeside & Harwell

 
Heemparks, public parks designed with native Dutch species to reflect local ecosystems, are a unique albeit understudied landscape typology developed in the Netherlands. With more than one-hundred established, most for more than fifty years, heemparks offer valuable precedents as to how naturalistic landscapes can be managed to sustain high levels of native vegetation richness for decades. Following up on part one – which discussed heempark management techniques and research into how varying levels of management intensity impacts species richness – part two will dive deeper into examples of successful and not-so successful examples of heemparks planning and executing their management regimes. Learning from these examples, theoretical designs will be explored to predict the outcomes of managing the same spaces at different management intensities. Integrating management into the design process will be emphasized, a crucial decision to ensure designs remain beautiful and species-rich long after installation, as so many heemparks have successfully achieved. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live Mar 14, 2024 webinar.

 

WOMEN WORK … Individual and Company Success Through Understanding

Credits: 1.0 PDH

 
Please join Idaho/Montana ASLA for a conversation on the unique challenges that women encounter in the design firm workplace and how we can achieve individual and company success through a greater level of understanding. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live Feb 22, 2024 webinar.

 

NATURALISTIC DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT: HEEMPARKS OF THE NETHERLANDS PART I

Credits: 1.0 PDH – HSW
Speaker: Keenan Porter | Landscape Designer | Rhodeside & Harwell

 
Heemparks, public parks designed with native Dutch species to reflect local ecosystems, are a unique albeit understudied landscape typology developed in the Netherlands. With more than one-hundred established, most for more than fifty years, heemparks offer valuable precedents as to how naturalistic landscapes can be managed to sustain high levels of native vegetation richness for decades. Drawing from three years of research, part one of this two-part lecture will discuss specific heempark management techniques and explain how varying levels of management intensity impacts species richness. Part two will posit how these landscape management lessons can be translated into the design process; a crucial step to ensure designs remain beautiful and species-rich long after installation, as so many heemparks have successfully achieved. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live Feb 20, 2024 webinar.

 

VIRTUAL OBERLANDER PRIZE FORUM

Credits: 1.0 PDH – HSW
Speakers: KONGJIAN YU, 2023 winner of the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize | ELIZABETH MOSSOP, Principal Spackman Mossop Michaels, Dean Design Architecture & Building University of Technology Sydney

 
The Chinese landscape architect Kongjian Yu, winner of the 2023 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, is a globally recognized champion of the “sponge cities” concept. The premise of the “sponge cities” concept is simple – to deal with climate change accelerated urban flooding, absorb the water with constructed wetlands rather than channeling it with concrete dams and other conventional engineering solutions. In an inspiring and insightful conversation with the landscape architect and Oberlander Prize Jury Chair, Elizabeth Mossop, Yu will discuss the evolution of this idea that he incubated while getting his doctorate at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (1992-95), to its adoption as national policy in China in 2013, and subsequent implementation in dozens of Chinese cities. Significantly, Yu’s design philosophy and concepts interweave nature and culture and are committed to design excellence. Setting aside land in and around cities for public space and water collection and infiltration, the “sponge cities” concept deploys natural processes such as green infrastructure, retaining water on-site in lakes, wetlands, and cisterns. These constructed ecosystems slow water flow and make wise use of nature’s free services to clean the water, restore habitats for greater biodiversity, and create productive and pleasant places for people. Raised in rural China, Yu was inspired by traditional adaptations to the monsoon climate, recognizing them as a model for local solutions that can be scaled up for climate change mitigation around the world. Yu and his firm Turenscape have tested the concept in more than 600 projects in more than 200 cities. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live January 24, 2024 webinar.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation® (TCLF), a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit established in 1998 with a mission to” connect people to places,” is home to the biennial Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize®, which includes a $100,000 (USD) award and two years of public engagement activities.

 

NATURALISTIC PLANTING DESIGN

Credits: 1.0 PDH
Speaker: Aaron Fox | Landscape Architect

 
There has been a noticeable shift towards a more naturalistic approach to planting design that combines both horticultural and ecological concepts with the goal of creating plant communities that provide a balance of aesthetic value and ecological benefits. This webinar will introduce this style of planting design and explore some of the general, design and ecological concepts being used by its main proponents. It will also discuss some of its benefits, challenges, and limitations which in turn will give participants a starting point to explore this style further and determine its appropriateness for a project. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live October 17, 2023 webinar.

Learning objectives:
1. Develop an understanding of naturalistic planting design including its main characteristics, history, and proponents.
2. Recognize characteristics of naturally occurring plant communities that can be used in naturalistic planting design.
3. Understand how naturally occurring plant communities can be used as a reference for naturalistic planting design.
4. Identify the characteristics of a naturalistic plant community that may contribute to its stability and resilience.
5. Have an understanding of how to select appropriate plants for a naturalistic plant community.
6. Understand some of the design concepts that can play a part in naturalistic planting design.
7. Be familiar with some of the challenges and limitations of naturalistic planting design.
8. Be inspired to think a little differently about plants and planting design!

 

THE POWER OF SACRED PLACES: A Primer on Nature Sacred’s Community-Led Design Methodology for Healing Green Space

Credits: 1.0 PDH – HSW
Speakers: Erin Robertson | Chief Programs Officer @Nature Sacred
Neha Srinivasan | Sacred Place Project Manager @Nature Sacred

 
Nature Sacred exists to inspire, inform and guide communities in the creation of public green spaces—called Sacred Places—designed to improve mental health, unify communities and engender peace. Through a collaborative, community-led process and an evidence-based design model, each Sacred Place is bonded together by a common goal: to reconnect people with nature in ways that foster mindful reflection, restore mental health and strengthen communities. As each community imagines its own space, the design becomes a unique reflection of the community’s culture, story and place—making it inherently sacred to them.

This certification program is intended to give an introduction to the tools necessary to help guide community members through the various stages of this process and to design the Sacred Place. The program will discuss our model, our approach, and our network; we will show examples of past built projects to reinforce how Nature Sacred’s goals to engage community and create a reflective space were met in each project. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live May 30, 2023 webinar.

Learning objectives:
1. Become familiar with the research backing nature interventions and Sacred Place creation.
2. Develop an understanding of the 5 elements of a Sacred Place, including the importance of the experience on and around the Nature Sacred Bench.
3. Recognize the uniqueness of each site and each community, including maintenance regime and capability, in order to produce a culturally responsive Sacred Place design.
4. Understand the Design Advisor’s role in the different phases of the project, from initial site inspection, to the 2 charettes and steering committee actions and to the final design plans developed for the space.

 

The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s
RACE & SPACE CONVERSATIONS, PART III

Credits: 1.5 PDH

 
How do cultural landscapes shape our public memory, and how do design decisions affect that process of commemoration? When creating or conserving memorial landscapes, what aesthetic, historical, cultural, social, and political issues are artists, designers, activists, communities, and other stakeholders navigating?

In this Race & Space Conversation, moderator and journalist James Russell will speak with panelists Justin Garrett Moore, the inaugural program officer for the Humanities in Place program at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Peggy King Jorde, cultural projects consultant; and Jha D Amazi, director of the Public Memory and Memorials Lab at MASS Design Group, to engage with these questions. Past and present case studies will illuminate the motivations, design ethos, and community engagement processes behind several significant memorial landscapes. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live March 14, 2023 webinar.

Learning objectives:
1. Identify physical conditions and historical contexts that can inform present-day planning and design solutions.
2. Learn ways that landscape architects can work with local communities to make visible and instill value in historic resources.
3. Understand the concept of ‘commemorative landscapes’ and the role that landscape architects can play in shaping public memory.
4. Determine tools to better define the integrity and significance of cultural landscapes that have been subjected to erasure.

 

WATER MANAGEMENT IN A CHANGING CLIMATE: HARVESTING

Credits: 1.0 PDH-HSW
Instructor: Shawn T. Kelly, PLA, FASLA

 
The first two talks in this series were to ground the work that follows today. This presentation builds on the concept of regenerative design within the framework of a changing climate. In terms of stormwater management this means water harvesting for reuses to be determined by the project, scope, and area. We will discuss options and mandates for sediment sequestration, amelioration of pollution in runoff, and various recharge, reuse, and adaptations for those destinations for the captured and improved water resource.
We will illustrate the mechanical and organic opportunities for accomplishing the improvement and reuse of water from storms. Phytoremediation is a topic that will range from general planting options to the creation of floating islands. Projects will be used to illustrate the mechanisms that work in my practice. The management of sediment loading is also done with plants and various manipulations of discontinuous surfaces within the treatment train of Best Management Practices.
The sequential management schemes of water harvesting are central to the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the systems you will design in this train of design thinking. We will cover some options for simple, yet effective uses of appropriate technology to achieve a better quality of runoff at the toe of your particular watershed. The scale and range of opportunities varies widely, and some time will be given to a series of systematic approaches to this strategy for a more sustainable water management system.
Reviewing the concepts of retention and detention with an eye to maintenance and only as part of the system. The idea of holding water in the lower one third of any watershed is likely to fail, and have catastrophic results. This was proven in the early 1960’s in the eastern United States. We seem to have forgotten that lesson, and this will be discussed in the topic. We must also consider, when was the last time you saw a retention or detention basin being excavated/cleaned of debris? Management is critical to the efficiency of any retention or detention device. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live Jan. 27, 2023 webinar.

Learning objectives:
1. Stormwater is best managed from the absolute top of the watershed in which your project exists. Given that the macro watershed is beyond your property, you must begin as soon as possible within your micro watershed for best return on the investment, efficiency, and benefit.
2. Stormwater management design is best done as both art and science. Much of what you will do is below grade, and that can be rewarding when the return is less damage and greater plant health.
3. For capture and reuse to be effective, water quality must be considered and addressed. Sediment accumulation causes the best of projects to fail if it is ignored.
4. You can do this work. The algorithms that many trust to do the work are all based on assumptions. Do you know what those assumptions cover, and their specific values?
5. This work is critical to our best use of the waning resource of potable water in our aquifers.

 

WATER MANAGEMENT IN A CHANGING CLIMATE: INFRASTRUCTURE

Credits: 1.0 PDH-HSW
Instructor: Shawn T. Kelly, PLA, FASLA

 
The session prior was focused on aquifers and the current and escalating condition of water insecurity. Given that as a beginning, this session will address one of the base principles of design: all design is dealing with opportunities and constraints. In regards to stormwater management as Landscape Architects we must consider how to turn the constraint of accelerating stormwater challenges into opportunities in design. This presentation is a distilled version on the stormwater course I teach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and as such, will connect some elements quickly which deserve greater time in class.
In city evolution we are seeing a “densification” in population. This is a trend identified by the UN at Habitat Three. We often speak of sustainable development. How can this apply to cities? Concentrations of humans in a small space equals accelerated use of the resources. In Ecology we learn the term “carrying capacity.” Cities have exceeded their carrying capacities by far. We hear about “food deserts” in cities. We must also consider where the water is coming from. These issues must be accounted for by city design. Infrastructure must include water and food production for a truly sustainable city design.
We will talk about the dual components of stormwater: quantity and quality. The quantity is quantifiable with some ease, while the quality is very specific to site considerations. The Rational Runoff formula is the basis for stormwater modeling. We will reconnect with that simple formula with new perspective in light of a changing climate. This will give a quick oversight into the quantity portion of the equation noted above. Again, we must remember that the rate of stormwater increase is logarithmic, and that, alone should give pause to anyone dealing with stormwater management.
Next we will examine the quality issue of stormwater. We will discuss sediment sequestration and why it is critical to any project, any scale, and any site. Next we will look (briefly) at acid rain (it is ubiquitous and never went away), and the implications that presents to our aquifers and aquacludes. We will note agricultural runoff and site specific responses via bio-activated swales, etc, to deal with some pollutants. We will also discuss the common sources of failure to planted depressions often called rain gardens. We will quickly discuss phyto-remediation techniques in the landscape, including floating islands.
We will briefly talk about the necessary consideration of alternate use of gray water for uses that are now being served by potable water. This will quickly cover flushing toilets, cooling building mechanicals, and geothermal considerations. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live Oct. 21, 2022 webinar.

Learning objectives:
1. Better understand the quote from G. Box, “All models are wrong. Some are useful.”
2. You must consider the assumptions made in any modeling strategy, and account for the potential critical issues that those assumptions affect. In regard to stormwater, these can be disastrous.
3. Sequential treatment of both quantity and quality of stormwater runoff must be considered in any design.
4. A reminder that you, as a Landscape Architect, by the LAAB guidelines for accredited programs in the Profession, have more education in stormwater than Civil Engineers. There are also questions on the LARE about stormwater, which do not occur on the Civil Engineer’s licensing examinations. You are responsible for the health, safety, and welfare of your clients, and those who will be impacted by your work on any site.

 

ACTIVATED + INCLUSIVE: DYNAMIC MIXED-USE ENVIRONMENTS

Credits: 1.0 PDH
Speakers: Lisl Kotheimer | Associate, Landscape Architect @MKSK
Jeffrey Pongonis | Principal, Landscape Architect @MKSK

 
Today, communities are striving for enriching and authentic experiences. Across all geographies and demographics, the desire for shared community space and a magnetic center that supports daily life is in full swing.
MKSK has been involved in the evolution of two signature districts — Easton in Columbus, Ohio and Van Aken in Cleveland, OH. Both projects exemplify an earnest ambition to realize our shared cultural goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion in everyday life by tapping into local culture and expression. This was a goal of the planning and design process of both districts.
With real-world project and program examples focused on aspirational retail entrepreneurship and curated local art, we’ll demonstrate how new mixed-use environments can celebrate authenticity, utilize local fabricators and artists, and foster diverse entrepreneurship to activate place and embed local pride and connection into a community-centered space. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live June 28, 2022 webinar.

Learning objectives:
1. Understand how landscape architects are uniquely positioned to bring together a diverse team of artists, makers, and entrepreneurs to create authentic community spaces.
2. Learn about community-centered approaches to designing mixed-use districts. (not your typical community engagement sessions)
3. Understand how activations are a tool that landscape architects can use to create enduring public spaces that are inclusive and evolve with the community.

 

The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s

RACE & SPACE CONVERSATIONS, PART II

Credits: 1.5 PDH
Moderator: April De Simone | Principal, Trahan Architects

 
How do we create a spatial practice for a more equitable and just society? In this Race & Space Conversation, moderator and transdisciplinary designer April De Simone, principal at Trahan Architects, will speak with panelists including Director of Water’s Edge Museum Candance Henry of Oxford, MD, Judge Gary Jackson of Lincoln Hills, CO, and, Bronze Foundation President Darwin Dean of Minneapolis, MN, to engage with this question and explore case studies of two sites featured in the Landslide 2021: Race and Space report (Water’s Edge and Wink’s Panorama) along with a site recently enrolled in Landslide (Hiawatha Golf Club). Urbanist and kin-keeper Angela Kyle and National Building Museum Vice President Jacquelyn Sawyer will join the conversation to investigate how our surroundings construct and convey identity and culture and the systems that uplift or erase that constructed experience.

For generations, our cultural landscapes have served as the setting for the origins, arrival, movement, and settlement of people in this country and the brutal consequences of the baseless assertion that one race is more entitled to space than others. Now, we find ourselves in a pivotal moment of reckoning with spatial inequities and reimagining our built and natural environment. This conversation will dig deep into these three Landslide sites to explore topics – or throughlines – that include spatial nostalgia, erasure, and the need to amplify community voices in the design process and redefine the concept of “integrity” in historic preservation work. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live June 17, 2022 webinar.

 

WATER MANAGEMENT IN A CHANGING CLIMATE: INSECURITY

Credits: 1.0 PDH-HSW
Instructor: Shawn T. Kelly, PLA, FASLA

 
The world is running out of potable water. Our planet is faced with unprecedented changes that are drastically affecting our potable water supplies while inundating the surface of the earth with severe runoff, flooding, and damage from storm events.
We will examine the three stormwater cycle diagrams that describe the water cycle. The first diagram illustrates the least impacted natural cycle of rainfall and recharge. The second diagram shows the acceleration and changes to the water cycle from typical human occupation and the built environment. The final diagram examines the middle diagram with the impacts of greater stormwater episodes, occurring with greater frequency, and disastrous results.
The discussion will then proceed into small and large aquifers and the impacts of the altered water cycle on our available potable water supplies. The Oglala aquifer is going dry and the implications of that event will be discussed through different lenses. First the GNP and food “security” will be noted, followed by the reality of climate refugees in America, and some hints of what that portends. Then we will note some small aquifer implications I face in my practice in Wisconsin. The lack of information will also be a topic to cover briefly.
General discussion about the opportunities for water harvesting and reuse on any given project will provide opportunities for later discussion.
The model for any concept is flawed. You, as designer and operator of the modeling system must always ask what assumptions were made in producing the model of choice. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live May 12, 2022 webinar.

Learning objectives:
1. Our aquifers are the source of potable water, and these are all in a challenged state by the effects of a changing climate.
2. This issue is not political.
3. The practical solution to water insecurity includes harvesting and improving stormwater quality to accommodate alternate uses.
4. We have climate refugees in America now. This issue is not going away.
5. Our profession is at a critical point for making a significant improvement in our prospects for survival on this planet.
6. Question the assumptions of any modeling system.

 

The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s

RACE & SPACE CONVERSATIONS, PART I

Credits: 1.5 PDH
Moderator: April De Simone | Principal, Trahan Architects

 
How do we create a spatial practice for a more equitable and just society? In this Race & Space Conversation, moderator and transdisciplinary designer April De Simone, principal at Trahan Architects, and a panel of historians, kin-keepers, activists, landscape architects, designers, and thought leaders will engage with this question to investigate how our surroundings construct and convey identity and culture and the systems that uplift or erase that constructed experience.

For generations, our cultural landscapes have served as the setting for the origins, arrival, movement, and settlement of people in this country and the brutal consequences of the baseless assertion that one race is more entitled to space than others. Now, we find ourselves in a pivotal moment of reckoning with, redefining, and reimagining the social and spatial inequities of our built and natural environment. This inaugural conversation will dig deep into three sites featured in TCLF’s Landslide 2021: Race and Space program to explore topics – or throughlines– that include spatial nostalgia, erasure, and the need to amplify community voices in the design process and redefine the concept of “integrity” in historic preservation work.

Panelists include historian and author Linda Tarrant-Reid of New Rochelle, N.Y.; Partners for Environmental Justice board member Amin Davis of Raleigh, N.C.; and urbanist and kin-keeper Angela Kyle of Pensacola, FL. Each will provide a case study of a site featured in Landslide 2021: Race and Space and engage with landscape architects Walter Hood, creative director of Hood Design Studio and professor of landscape architecture & environmental planning and urban design at U.C. Berkeley, and Kofi Boone, Joseph D. Moore Distinguished Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at North Carolina State University, in a thought-provoking, wide-ranging conversation moderated by Ms. De Simone. Register above for on-demand viewing of the live April 6, 2022 webinar.

 

 

The logo and word marks “LA CES” and “Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System” are a collaboration of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards, Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board, and the Landscape Architecture Foundation.

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