Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Fall Book Launch at the Harvard Graduate School of Design

Liat and I will be speaking and launching our book at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, Tuesday September 25th!

Formal announcement and details will follow.

About the Authors

Liat Margolis is the former Director of Material Research at Material ConneXion, an innovative multi-industry materials research and consulting company. Liat earned her BFA in Industrial Design from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and her Masters of Landscape Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of
Design (GSD). She currently manages GSD’s Materials Collection, a material research lab, and practices landscape architecture at Hargreaves Associates in Cambridge, MA.

Alexander Robinson studied fine arts and computer science at Swarthmore College and earned his Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Alexander led numerous urban landscape technology and planning research projects with Harvard’s Center for Technology and Environment. As former landscape architect with Mia Lehrer + Associates, he helped author the Los Angeles River and Compton Creek Master Plans. Alexander currently works for SWA Group in Los Angeles, CA.

About our Collaboration
Liat and Alexander began their collaboration while attending the Harvard Graduate School of Design Landscape Architecture program. They both were a part of a student group that received the ASLA honor award for a landscape-planning project titled Alternative Futures for Tepotzotlán, Mexico. They also led the GSD student collaborative, featured in the 2nd International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam: The Flood.

Liat and Alexander are the recipients of a grant from the Graham Foundation to assist in the research and development of this publication. They have plans to continue their collaboration and further expand and promote the topic of innovation in material technologies and ecology in landscape architecture. They can be contacted via the website www.livingsystemsLA.com.

Description of the Book

Living Systems surveys a wide array of innovative approaches to material technologies within the field of landscape architecture. The selected projects and materials exhibit a contemporary demand for technological landscapes and the collaboration between designers, engineers, scientists and ecologists. The book’s language proposes a synthesis between technology and theory, and redefines the conventional boundaries of landscape materiality by focusing on its dynamic attributes, such as: growth, flow, metabolism, climate, and atmospheric phenomena.

Projects and materials are cross-referenced within the authors’ new categorization system, which focuses on performance criteria, processes, and properties. Each of the 36 international projects and 23 material technologies is presented with drawing details and construction photographs. A description of key processes and adaptive qualities provides an analysis of the various complex systems featured, such as vertical growth structures, flood prevention, stormwater infiltration, erosion control, and the integration of digital media to communicate, monitor, and provide interactive environments.

Projects featured include works by West8, GROSS.MAX, Weiss-Manfredi Architects, Field Operations, BIG, StoSS, DIRT Studio, and Vogt Landschaftarchitekten.

Buy the Book!

Our book is now available in both German and English editions!