Announcements

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Date of lecture: April 16,2025

Abstract

For over 55 years, Design Workshop has been planning and designing places of timeless beauty, untold value, environmental benefit, and positive social impact. DW Legacy Design represents our commitment to critical thinking and delivering projects that contribute to a healthier, more verdant, and just world. The lecture will provide an overview of Design Workshop and its history, design culture, and performance based design and will highlight recent work in equity, resiliency, and economic development.

Bio

Jim is passionate about designing places that honor nature, people, and culture. His career has taken him across the globe, from North America, Asia, and the Middle East, and these professional experiences have sharpened his design capacity and his appreciation for working in diverse natural and urban environments.

He has broad expertise but is best known for his planning and design of thoughtful urban environments, including transit-oriented and mixed-use districts, commercial corridors and streetscapes, urban parks and plazas, workspaces, as well as sustainable new communities.

Jim received his Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture with honors from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, and a Master of Urban Design from the University of Colorado Denver, where he was recognized as the Outstanding Graduate Student in the College of Architecture and Planning.

He’s presented at national conferences and lectured at several universities including University of Colorado, Colorado State University, Iowa State University, Arizona State University, University of Calgary, and a few universities in China.

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Abstract

Despite the fundamental role soil plays in the making of the built environment, designers and engineers typically approach it as a technical object—a problem to solve. This lecture will share the design methodologies, representational strategies, and theoretical frameworks that have emerged from engaging creatively with soil dynamics in both research and practice.

An analysis of the mixing and circulation of manufactured substrates in the New York metropolitan area reveals how soil is shaped as much by design decisions, real estate trends, and commodity flows as by traditional processes of soil formation, or pedogenesis. Tracing these social and political relationships helps to denaturalize soil, opening space for alternative approaches that integrate community engagement and long-term management strategies.

The second part of the lecture will explore the intersection of design and pedogenesis through projects located marginal landscapes, ranging from a drought-stricken agricultural region in northeastern Spain to a former chemical manufacturing complex in Switzerland and oil extraction sites in the American Midwest. These projects approach soil as an active and evolving medium, serving to test the participatory design and maintenance strategies that could support these extensive and gradual interventions. Embracing the slow and unpredictable process of pedogenesis challenges conventional notions of authorship and control, encouraging designers to engage in longer-term, collaborative processes of landscape transformation.

Biography

Luke Harris is a registered landscape architect and doctoral candidate at the Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies at ETH Zurich. His research examines the metabolism of designed urban substrates in the New York metropolitan area. He is a founding member of the collective Office of Living Things, which develops community-based design strategies to foster dynamic living systems. Previously, he practiced at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, where he focused on planting design and landscape infrastructure projects. He is a committed and innovative educator, with experience teaching design studios and seminars at the ETH Zurich and Politecnico di Milano.

His work has been published in Landscape Research Journal and OASE Journal of Architecture, as well as in several edited volumes, including Researching Otherwise: Pluriversal Methodologies for Landscape and Urban Studies, which won the 2024 Deutsches Architekturmuseum Book Prize. He is a co-organizer of the 2025 NSL Colloquium at ETH Zurich, Beyond Maintenance: Responsive Practices for Changing Landscapes. He holds a BA in International Studies from Macalester College and an MLA from the University of Virginia, where he received the Stanley and Helen Abbott Award for excellence in landscape architecture and the Benjamin C. Howland Traveling Fellowship.

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Date of lecture: March 5th,2025

Abstract

This presentation introduces community design , which questions top-down decision-making
processes and empowers voiceless communities. We will learn about community design
concepts and methods through the virtual engagement case with a Black neighborhood in North
Carolina that has historically confronted displacement and gentrification.
The site is a 45-acre mall that recently changed hands and closed. The developer conducted
community participation and a survey about how to reuse the site, which resulted in a bubble
diagram. Wary of the developer’s intentions, the neighborhood initiated its own process, but the
realities of COVID-19 made it harder to gather community voices. Therefore, the neighborhoods
formed a seven-neighborhood council and sought a way to envision community objectives in
spatial.
The design team supported the community by leading engagement via publicly accessible
online tools and translating community visions into spatial alternatives. Engagement practices
included setting priorities, connecting goals with physical locations, simulating each member’s
vision using a design game, and synchronized sketch sessions. The alternatives, consolidated
by group decision-making, are being used in negotiations with the developer. These efforts last
for these days. In 2024, the City organized a Planning Committee to develop planning policy
guidance to support the neighborhoods.

Charleston “Dong-Jae” Yi, Ph.D.
Adjunct Faculty, NCSU
Dong-Jae Yi is an adjunct faculty of the Department of Landscape Architecture and
Environmental Planning at North Carolina State University. DJ worked as an architecture
designer in South Korea and moved to Raleigh for a higher degree. He focuses on community
participation and the meaning of space in his work. His designs integrate environmental
elements and community narratives through an equitable and creative participatory process to
create meaningful spaces that are both functional and empowering to communities.

Main Content

Date of lecture: February 26,2025

Abstract

This talk explores the integration of landscape planning and design with sustainable, community-driven action to address climate resilience and social equity. Focusing on participatory approaches, it highlights strategies that empower community leaders and residents to make informed decisions about their local landscapes. By examining the physical, social, and cultural dimensions of the landscape, the talk demonstrates how inclusive visioning can shape actionable goals and adaptive strategies that reflect community priorities. The outcome is a framework that supports long-term, incremental change, enabling communities to build resilient and meaningful landscapes as resources and opportunities emerge.

The talk also examines how individual adoption of specific practices can significantly contribute to broader watershed restoration goals. By analyzing barriers and motivations behind adoption, this research evaluates how program and intervention designs can be optimized to improve adoption rates and better quantify outcomes. Comparing programs with varying strategies to overcome adoption barriers, this work provides insights into designing more effective community-based sustainability initiatives.

Short Bio

Mahsa Adib is a Ph.D. candidate in Landscape Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University. She holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Iowa State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. As a member of Penn State’s Hamer Center for Community Design and Stormwater Living Lab, Mahsa collaborates with multidisciplinary researchers, municipalities, and community stakeholders to advance climate resilience through co-designed, nature-based solutions. Her research enhances environmental education and civic engagement in urban stormwater management, providing action-driven strategies for equitable green stormwater infrastructure adoption. Mahsa’s interdisciplinary work includes projects like the Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative, where she co-develops climate action plans for underserved Baltimore neighborhoods.

Through her teaching experiences at Penn State and Iowa State University, Mahsa has cultivated a dynamic, student-centered approach that prioritizes hands-on, collaborative learning and the integration of diverse perspectives. She is dedicated to empowering students to critically navigate complex challenges while equipping them with the skills to develop innovative, socially responsive design solutions. Her commitment to fostering an inclusive, engaging, and impactful learning environment has been recognized with Penn State’s Landscape Architecture Outstanding Teaching Award.

Recognized for her leadership in sustainability, Mahsa serves as the College of Arts and Architecture’s Sustainability Graduate Fellow. As a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fellow and Well-being Ambassador, she advances initiatives that promote inclusivity and equity within academia and beyond.

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Date of lecture: February 2, 2025

Abstract

This talk focuses on the growing demand for LCA tools that measure the embodied impacts of a building’s material components and systems. Participants will learn about architect’s can make better and faster design decisions in market-driven design workflows with LCA data driven tools. We will discuss the academy’s role in building capacity for metrics-based design professional practice.

Short Bio

John Cays is Professor of Practice in the New Jersey School of Architecture at NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design. John holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of the Arts and Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University. He is a recognized sustainable design professional and lectures internationally on the subject of Life Cycle Assessment in Architecture. John co-founded GRADE Architects, an architecture and interior design firm in NYC. Prior to that John was a project manager at Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

John has been active in various academic and professional associations, including serving as North East Regional Director for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture from 2014 – 2017 and as a Director on the National Architectural Accrediting Board from 2017 – 2020. He served as the Hillier College Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2005 to 2024. He currently serves on the SIGGRAPH Education Committee and is a current Board member of the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment. John was the 2021 recipient of the ACLCA Education LCA Leadership Award. He is the Author of An Environmental Life Cycle Approach to Design: LCA for Designers and the Design Market published by Springer Nature.

Main Content

Date of lecture: January 29, 2025

Abstract

Hudson Yards: Bridging Design, Infrastructure, and Community Connectivity

New York Penn Station, the Hudson River and the High Line are a few of the landmarks that accentuate the $20 billion Hudson Yards East development on the west side of New York City, Sherwood was the civil engineer of record

for the 4.5 acre open space plaza on a deck above the LIRR rail yard. Our role was to carry concept design through construction administration for drainage, grading, development and analysis of a 3D model for the overbuild volume to ensure that appropriate separations and depths were provided for clearance to trains below the platform and accommodation of utilities and planting above.

The six towers that grace the first phase of this ambitious project, along with 4.5 acres of new public open space are nearing completion on one of the largest private development projects ever undertaken. Our work focused on the public open space, which sits on deck above the busiest section of MTA, NJT and Amtrak rail service in the country. Sherwood supported the landscape architecture team of NBW to provide a stormwater management, grading and water reuse plan that enhances the landscape vision for the space and achieves a water net positive landscape while carefully navigating the myriad constraints associated with building over an existing 60 plus track rail yard and ensuring that the stormwater system above does not impact the operations of the trains or the rail workers during and after construction. Our effort also included the coordination of a system of woonerf style or shared private streets that connect to the DOT street network. Using a series of slot drains and gravity fed drainage structures, we were able to support the vision of the landscape architect of a curbless environment to promote pedestrian movement.

Bio

Jason Loiselle
PE, LEED AP | Principal

Jason Loiselle has served as Principal for some of Sherwood’s most progressive projects including, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Hudson Yards, and Croton Water Treatment Plant Landscape. He oversees the development of project design from the initial stages of master planning through construction administration services. Jason is a Registered Professional Engineer in the States of New York and is a LEED Accredited Professional. He has worked in both the public and private sectors with planners, architects, and landscape architects as a civil engineer. Jason has served as a designer and manager for numerous projects that showcase progressive green building and low impact development design techniques. Jason’s project expertise includes urban public spaces, commercial and residential planned developments, roadway and infrastructure design, water resource analysis and remediation, stormwater management, and bicycle transportation planning.

Main Content

Date of lecture: January 22, 2025

Bio 

Memo Salazar Memo Salazar is a Mexican-born filmmaker, writer, and activist… and a longtime resident of Queens, New York. As a director, his work ranges from Public Enemy music videos to Elmo tackling homelessness on Sesame Street. He has collaborated with theoretical physicist Brian Greene on a Ted Talk, won 3 Emmy awards, and produced an animated series for Rohingya refugee children exiled from their home country of Burma. As an activist, he is a recipient of Arena’s Five Borough Future fellowship and the 2019 Queens Latinx leadership award for his community work. He has co-run the Sunnyside CSA since 2007 and is now the co-chair of the newly created Western Queens CLT, which aims to bring truly affordable housing and community-owned land ownership to New York City.

Main Content

Date of lecture: December 4th, 2024

Abstract

As urban density increases, the traditional single-family backyard is evolving into a shared, multi-family open space, particularly within these environments. This lecture explores the transformation of private backyards into communal, multifunctional spaces that cater to the needs of residents, most particularly in mid to high-rise settings. We will delve into the design opportunities and strategies used to create these spaces, focusing on how rooftop gardens, terraces, and recreational areas are being conceptualized and implemented in modern multi-family buildings. By examining the design process of these complex rooftop solutions and utilizing completed case studies, this session will highlight how these urban open spaces foster community interaction, enhance residents’ quality of life, and contribute to sustainable design.

Bio

Tom, a Principal at Melillo Bauer Carman, has been a key member of the firm since joining 30 years ago. He is a graduate of SUNY Cobleskill where his interest in horticulture led him to study and graduate from the Landscape Architecture program at Rutgers University.  Tom has had the pleasure of designing and overseeing the completion of many successful multi-family mixed use developments over the years. He, along with the team at MBC have been recipients of many Landscape Architecture design awards.

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Date of lecture: November 20th, 2024

Bio

Mark V. Mistretta, RLA, ASLA, has served as the Niagara Region Director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation since May 2018. The region encompasses all of Erie and Niagara Counties and consists of 18 parks, two historic sites, three marinas and one golf course.

As director, Mistretta provides leadership over park capital improvements, operations, maintenance and rehabilitation, land acquisition, planning, development, human resource management, fiscal administration, environmental management and compliance, historic preservation, programs and community services, grants administration and public relations in the region.

Prior to his appointment, Mistretta briefly served as the Capital Facilities Manager for the Niagara and Allegany Regions of State Parks. In that role he was responsible for overseeing the execution of the NYS Parks 2020 state parks revitalization program.

For 32 years prior to his Parks’ service, Mistretta worked in the private sector at two full-service design firms where he was instrumental in the work of hundreds of public and private sector projects including master planning and phased improvements for large parks to a multitude of recreation facilities to waterfronts, shoreline restorations and sustainable landscapes to impactful regionwide initiatives and historic landscapes.

In addition, Mistretta was responsible for marketing and sales of the company’s services, strategic planning and visioning, development of business plans, various committee assignments and quality control.

Mistretta also brings with him experiences gained from founding roles in real estate and landscape contracting firms. Additionally, he was a founding Board Trustee, past Chairman and Trustee Emeritus of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy and currently serves on the Niagara Falls Illumination Board and as Ex-officio on the Artpark and Darwin Martin House Board of Trustees.

Among various recognitions, Mistretta most recently received the ASLA NY Upstate “Distinguished Practitioner Public Practice” Award.

A graduate of St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute in Buffalo, NY and Rutgers University (’79) in New Brunswick, NJ, Mistretta and his wife of 32 years, Barbara Piazza, reside in the Buffalo area.

Abstract

Shepherding America’s Oldest State Park, Niagara Falls

In this session you will learn about the dynamic forces that helped shape America’s Oldest State Park to where it is today—hosting over 9 million visitors per year while balancing the need to be stewards of this sensitive environment and accommodating the recreating masses.  You will hear about the challenges and design solutions that have positioned this flagship park well into this century.  The role of the landscape architect will be highlighted as you will see some examples of the $188+ million spent on projects to help restore the State Park’s image.  And finally you will learn about significant projects currently in construction or being planned for further transformation of Niagara Falls State Park.

Main Content

Date of lecture: November 13th, 2024

Abstract:

The lecture contains two main parts: 1) Cultural ecosystem services (CES) concept and PPGIS as a tool for landscape assessment and evaluation, 2) Research findings related to perception of CES in Central-Eastern Europe. The first part of the lecture includes a general introduction of ecosystem services, possible categorizations of them, as well as a wide overview of cultural ecosystem services. In addition, PPGIS will be presented as a suitable tool for analyzing CES perception and involvement of local citizens. The lecture reflects not only on the methodological aspects, but also on the possible applications of it.

The second part focuses on some research findings related to CES perception using PPGIS tool. These findings represent many regularities from landscape/regional to local/settlement scale related to CES perception in Central-Eastern European geographical and cultural context using a Hungarian study area from Budapest Metropolitan Region.

Bio:

István Valánszki, PhD, head of department, associate professor, landscape architect, teacher of engineering, landscape protection expert. He is working at the Department of Landscape Protection and Reclamation, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE). He is the program director of BSc in Landscape construction and Garden Design Engineering program of the university, which is among the biggest landscape architecture-related undergraduate programmes in Europe.  He has been involved into several national and international projects (e.g. the ecological network-focused ConnectGREEN Interreg project; international teaching (education) development-focused EUland21 and InnoLAND Erasmus+ projects; Democratic Landscape Transformation: Towards an Open Landscape Academy Erasmus+ project; Hungarian Ecosystem Services Mapping and Assessment project). He is author or co-author of more than 200 publications, mainly related to public participation (ppGIS), cultural ecosystem services and green infrastructure (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Istvan-Valanszki). He is teaching and supervising students in Hungarian and international programs of the University from BSc to PhD level. He has long-term international research experience in many countries (e.g. University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (Germany), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norway), The James Hutton Institute (UK), University of Massachusetts (USA)). In addition to national awards, in 2017 he received the “Outstanding doctoral student 2017” Award of the ECLAS (European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools).