The Dirt, a publication of the American Society of Landscape Architects, on Tuesday published a long-form interview with Kristina Hill, who chairs the landscape architecture department at U.Va.’s School of Architecture, on her ideas about managing the effects of climate change. It’s an interesting read.
Hill notes that Americans — and by extension, their political leaders — seem to be less concerned about the effects of climate change than Canadians and Europeans, and suggest that preparations to mitigate those effects may be lacking.
Earth Day is April 22. The deadline for high school seniors to make their college choice is May 1.
Here’s something that links the two: WiseChoice, an online company that seeks to advise students about how to choose the best college for them, has named U.Va. one of the top 10 schools in the country for students seeking “green-collar” careers. The press release announcing the list notes that “Students majoring in Urban & Environmental Planning focus on the environmental impact of community development, to prepare for public, private and non-profit sector professions.”
The other top 10 schools: University of Kentucky, Arizona State University, University of Florida, University of California-Berkeley, Middlebury (Vt.) College, Aquinas (Mich.) College, Oregon Institute of Technology, Defiance (Ohio) College and Washington State University.
First-year graduate landscape architecture students Joey Hays, Alexa Bush, Jen Lynch and Seth Porcello decided to welcome their future peers during Friday’s Architecture SchoolSpring Open House for Admitted Graduate Students with a rather unique piece of art. The pink things are little plastic piggy-bank busts of Thomas Jefferson; the sod recalls the Lawn; and do not worry — it’s fog, not smoke.
Check out the "Meet the Farmer TV" episode profiling the U.Va. Student Garden. The show airs on Charlottesville local TV station 10 at 7 p.m. each night this week. Or, you can view it on the Web . The student-motivated project, located across the street from Observatory Hill Dining Hall, builds on Jefferson’s agrarian traditions. The model project promotes organic gardening and sustainability. The film features three Urban and Environmental Planning folks: Ben Chrisinger, a fourth-year student: Dana Smith, a second-year graduate student; and professor Tim Beatley.
You may also have come across his work in Washington, D.C., where he designed the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, located near the Jefferson Memorial on the banks of the Tidal Basin; and in San Francisco, where he designed Ghirardelli Square.
The Times report quotes Randolph Hester, professor of landscape architecture, environmental planning and urban design at the University of California at Berkeley, as calling Halprin “one of a handful of the most important landscape architects of the modern era.”
Lucia Phinney, who has lectured at the U.Va. School of Architecture since 1981 on the interplay between development and natural resources, has created a Web site called “Project Albemarle” that should be of great local interest.
It is mostly focused on the interplay between the various natural and man-made factors that influence the water quality in Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville. The various elements can be overlaid upon a topographical map, toggled on and off as desired.
The site may provide a very valuable resource for the current debate over the community’s long-term water plan.
Here at UVA Today headuqarters, we like to give a boost to other blogs around Grounds. In that spirit, here’s a shout-out to the pretty active ecoMOD4 blog, which is documenting (mostly via slideshows) the latest effort to build environmentally responsible, modular housing. The project is a joint effort of the schools of Architecture and Engineering.
The “Learning Barge,” a project of the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture that has been years in planning, design and construction, was launched Tuesday into the Elizabeth River.
The barge is intended to be a floating ecological classroom, allowing schoolchildren to get a firsthand view of the Elizabeth, one of the most polluted waterways in America. Designed by architecture professor Phoebe Crisman and constructed largely by U.Va. students, it will be operated by The Elizabeth River Project.
There are lots of fun time-lapse construction videos at UVAbarge’s Channel on YouTube.
Got word from the Architecture School this morning that one of its May grads, Larry Galante, was closing in on the finish of a cross-country “Bike and Build” tour. “Bike and Build” helps raise funds for Habitat for Humanity and other affordable housing groups, and the bikers themselves pitch in on some building projects along the way.
Galante biked from Boston to Santa Barbara, Calif., working on seven projects along the way and raising more than $4,000 (and counting, if you’d like to add to the total). He reportedly plans to move to Americus, Ga. to work for Habitat now that his ride is over.
Kulukundis and approximately 70 other participants from 21 countries have spent the past five weeks tackling a problem in small teams that produce innovative, affordable, scalable technologies to assist the 2.6 billion people in the world earning less than $2-a-day.
“With Good Reason,” a public radio show produced at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities that tells stories from Virginia’s public colleges and universities, is featuring U.Va.’s “Learning Barge” project and architecture professor Phoebe Crisman in this week’s show. Locally, the show will air at 7:30 on WVTF (90.1, 88.5 and 89.1 FM, depending on where you’re listening). There is also a podcast here; the Learning Barge segment begins at 15:14.
Earth Day is April 22. The deadline for high school seniors to make their college choice is May 1.
The Contra Costa (Calif.) Times is reporting the death of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin
Got word from the Architecture School this morning that one of its May grads, Larry Galante, was closing in on the finish of a cross-country “
