IMPORTANT: Use the code "Partner" when registering for the event.
View Part I
The “sponge cities” concept for addressing climate change accelerated urban flooding championed by the Beijing-based landscape architect Kongjian Yu, the most recent winner of the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, is the inspiration for Soak It Up, a global summit about combatting climate change with landscape architecture – organized by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) and with generous support from PlayCore. This is part of an on-going, broader program of both in-person and virtual Oberlander Prize Forums to raise the visibility of the honoree’s work and landscape architecture more broadly.
The Virtual Event
TCLF has created a suite of five richly produced, skillfully edited videotaped interviews with landscape architects working at the intersection of water management and design, which when taken together provide a global cross-cultural picture of climate adaptive strategies. Their shared ambitions transcend distant geographies and distinct political, regulatory, and economic circumstances.
The five pre-recorded 40-minute presentations are organized around the following five common topics:
1. The origin stories of the speakers, specifically how they found their way to landscape architecture and when they realized this profession would be their life’s work;
2. How the practitioner got involved in water management issues, how their work developed over time, current water management challenges in their region, and unique geographic and cultural considerations;
3. The general approach to uniting design with water management and the aspects of water management with which they’ve been involved (e.g. rivers, coastal erosion, sea level rise, etc.);
4. A description of two to three specific projects that illustrate the speaker’s approach and design philosophy, and reflections on how they measure success in these projects; and,
5. Closing thoughts where the practitioner addresses the import of landscape architecture in addressing contemporary environmental and social challenges and why landscape architects should lead this charge.
The five presentations, and the closing panel discussion, will require pre-registration. This is a free event and a total of 5.0 LA CES credits will be offered.
Registration now to get access to the first three videos went live on March 17. The remaining two videos will be released on April 14.
The second video launch will feature:
Herbert Dreiseitl, with the German firm Dreiseitl Consulting, is a landscape architect, urban designer, water artist, interdisciplinary planner, and visiting professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), NUS Cities, and other universities. Dreiseitl is also a Harvard University Graduate School of Design Loeb Fellow and a Fellow of the Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore. He lectures worldwide and has authored many publications including three editions of Recent Waterscapes, Planning, Building, and Designing with Water. Dreiseitl is an internationally respected expert in creating livable cities around the world with a special focus on the inspiring and innovative use of water to tackle the climate crisis and other urban environmental challenges, connecting technology with aesthetics, and encouraging people to take care and develop a sense of ownership for places. He has realized ground-breaking contemporary projects in the fields of urban design, urban hydrology, water art, stormwater management, planning, and landscape architecture such as Berlin Potsdamer Platz with Renzo Piano, Tanner Springs Park, Portland, OR, McLaren Technology Centre, London, alongside Norman Foster, Queens Botanical Garden, N.Y., and Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park in Singapore.
Kotchakorn Voraakhom, CEO and Founder of Landprocess and Porous City Network, is a Thai landscape architect who works on productive public spaces, tackling climate change in dense urban areas. She created the first critical green infrastructure for Bangkok, Chulalongkorn Centenary Park. Her works also include, Thammasat Urban Farm Rooftop, the largest urban farming green roof in Asia, and the first bridge park across the river in any world capital, Chao Phraya Sky Park. The United Nations named Voraakhom winner of the UN Global Climate Action Awards, Women for Results. She was featured in the 2019 TIME 100 Next, a list from TIME Magazine that spotlights 100 rising stars shaping the world's future, as well as CNN Design, and New York Times. Voraakhom was named BBC100 Women, the Green 30 for 2020 by Bloomberg, and was a keynote opening speaker for 2019 Movin' On Summit. She is now teaching at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Voraakhom is a Chairwoman of the Climate Change Working Group of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA World), TED Fellow, Echoing Green Climate Fellow, Atlantic Fellow, and Futurity Fellow from BMW Foundation in exploring landscape architecture-based solutions to working with the water-based city she calls home. She also was a member of the jury that selected the winner of the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize (2023).
Free registration to Soak It Up and 5.0 LA CES credits made possible by generous support from PlayCore, “a purpose-driven company that develops leading research and a complete portfolio of innovative products, programs, and services to build healthy communities through play, recreation, and outdoor spaces.”
IMPORTANT: Use the code "Partner" when registering for the event.
