Fall 2021 PSLA Seminar Series
Date: Friday, October 29, 2021
Time: 12:15 -1:15 pm
Venue: Floriculture Room 101
Title: The Necessity for Dunes
Presenter: Prof. Rob Holmes, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Auburn University
Abstract: Sediment is the often-invisible substrate of many dynamic landscapes, including marshes, dunes, mudflats, and beaches. These landscapes are increasingly understood as natural infrastructure, which is to say that they perform a variety of roles that are valued by human society. As human societies, we can and must shift the way that we design coasts, in favor of facilitating, supporting, and incorporating dynamic, living sediment systems. In this talk, I discuss several projects, including Public Sediment and collaborations with the Engineering With Nature program, that are prototyping ways to do this. I conclude by discussing landscape solutionism, a tendency that unfortunately tempts designers away from effectively engaging with crucial tasks like designing coastal landscapes.
Biography: Rob Holmes is an associate professor of landscape architecture at Auburn University, where he largely teaches design studios and courses in the history and theory of landscape architecture. His research and creative work centers on infrastructure design and landscape change, with a particular focus on sediment as a link between infrastructure, people, and landscapes. He is also co-founder of the Dredge Research Collaborative, an independent nonprofit organization that seeks to improve sediment systems through design research, building public knowledge, and facilitating transdisciplinary conversation. Prior to joining Auburn, he practiced landscape architecture in Virginia, and taught in Florida, Virginia, Louisiana, and Ohio.
Upcoming Seminars:
5 Nov | A thorny question: tinkering to evolve a novel mode of plant stem cell arrest | Vivian Irish, Daniel C. Eaton Professor and Chair of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University Host: Huazhong Wang |
12 Nov | Urban vegetable production and green roofs | Leigh Whittinghill, Assistant Scientist II Department of Forestry and Horticulture The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Host: Huazhong Wang |
19 Nov (Virtual) | Landscape for Humanity: How Landscape Architects Tackle Homelessness | Yekang Ko, Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Oregon Host: Sohyun Park |
For more information, contact: Dr. Sohyun Park at sohyun.park@uconn.edu