Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
The 35th Annual Aggie Workshop, a three-day conference organized and hosted by the Texas A&M student chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, is slated for Feb. 11-13 at the Langford Architecture Center on the Texas A&M University campus. The annual event aims to bridge the gap between students and professionals in landscape architecture and urban planning.
The 2010 Workshop will feature luminary speakers, design charettes and roundtable discussions with industry professionals structured around the theme, "Enrichment," said event chair Elizabeth Chapman, a fourth-year Bachelor of Landscape Architecture student. Workshop participants will explore how landscape architects can provide an enriching experience through design work and the natural environment and, in turn, improve the quality of life in communities.
"In a continuously evolving world, people have placed a monetary value on the landscape," said Chapman. "As landscape architects, we have the opportunity to demonstrate that the environment is a critical asset and a beneficial resource."
Grant Jones, an ASLA Fellow and founding principal of the Seattle design and planning firm Jones and Jones, will deliver the 2010 Workshop's keynote address on Friday, Feb. 12. A landscape architect and poet, Jones has practiced and preached ecological design for more than three decades.
“I see and hear everything around me as a poetic structure, so I see the whole landscape of a place as the architecture of a poem," said Jones. "Every landscape seems to have its own code. If you fall in love with it and give it a voice, the poem you unearth from it will forever give you a place to stand.”
Jones received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Washington and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Harvard’s School of Design, where he won the Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship to research environmental design adaptations in South America and Western Europe.
He's is an affiliate professor of landscape architecture at the University of Washington and has also held academic positions at Texas A&M, the University of California-Berkeley, Harvard, the University of Oregon, the University of Virginia, Ohio State University, and has lectured at thirty university departments of landscape architecture.
Jones & Jones, which performs nature-centered, culture-based, community-driven design, has competed more than 650 projects in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Australia and Africa.
Some of the firm's many projects are the Paris Pike Historic Highway in Kentucky, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tuscon, Ariz., Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, the Mountains-to-Sound Greenway in Washington, the Commons Park in Denver and America’s first wildlife highway, U.S. Highway 93, through the Flathead Reservation in western Montana.
Other industry professionals scheduled to speak at Aggie Workshop 2010 are:
Workshop kicks off with a "meet and greet" Feb. 11 at the Corner Bar and Grille on 401 University Dr. in College Station.
Workshop's Feb. 11 agenda includes guest speakers and a half-day design charrette in which students will work side-by-side with design professionals. A semi-formal casino night will cap the day's events.
The Saturday, Feb. 13 agenda features more lectures, a graphic workshop, panel discussions, and wrap up with a reception at the Fox and the Hound Pub and Grille on 505 University Dr. in College Station.
For registration information, visit the Aggie Workshop website at http://www.aggieworkshop.com/default.html.
- Posted: Dec. 15, 2009-
