DEPARTMENT NEWS

LARP News Fall 2020

• The American Institute of Architecture's (AIA) Committee on theEnvironment (COTE) announced recently that the John W. OlverDesign Building is a winner this year of its highest honor, the COTETop Ten Awards. Projects "illustrate the solution architects haveprovided for the health and welfare of our communities and theplanet," the AIA citation says. The COTE jury wrote of the OlverBuilding, "The space is made possible by an innovative wood trusssystem showing us how to reach beyond the cross-laminatedtimber (CLT) systems to make larger spaces. Its courtyardguarantees views and access to campus to everyone within thebuilding and is well integrated into the larger campus."

• Congratulations to the Graduate Urban Design team's first placeentry into the Massinc. Transformational Transit Oriented DesignCompetition (TTOD)! The team consisted of Bryce Lloyd-Hahn, JiaqiGuo, and Christopher Ramage. They were supervised by ProfessorMichael DiPasquale and Professor Frank Sleegers. The team beatteams from Harvard GSD, MIT, and Northeastern.

• LARP team won the 2020 Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design AwardsStudent Competition Jury prize! The team, Tianyi Guan, ChrisRamage, Kinjal Desai, Keith Benoit, and Peter Wackernagel, was ledby Professor Frank Sleegers. The team was one of four winningteams out of 2500 registered teams from all over the world.

Background photo: Design Building Rooftop Garden by Ngoc Doan MLA ‘14

LARP News Fall 2019

David Hooper (BSLA ‘20) has been awarded the undergraduate 2020 National Olmsted Scholar with a $15,000 prize. With a 10-year career as a photojournalist in the U.S. Navy, David has seen the power of artistic expression and design to transcend boundaries, boost morale, and bring people together. He hopes to use the award to explore ecological gardening as practical therapy for veterans who have experienced trauma to provide them with lifelong tools to heal themselves and the earth.

Congratulations to Reif Larson for winning one of the 2020 Student Merit Awards from the Boston Society of Landscape Architects! Reif submitted his 2018 studio project called "Where the Emerald Necklace Meets the Sea - Boston Massachusetts." There were 99 submissions from 35 different firms and 3 different schools. "This project, examining an alternate approach to rethinking Moakley Park in Boston, was supported by a very clear presentation setting up context and analysis well before leading to the design solution. The design presented an exciting use of landform in this mostly flat site." said the jury.

STUDENT NEWS

STUDENT NEWS

K - 9 boarding and day school located in Historic Deerfield. She considered the benefits of nature - based play. "Our findings revealed a collective desire amongst the Bement School community to thoughtfully incorporate new play structures and features that maintain fluidity with the landscape while introducing a variety of new play challenges, materials, and experiences commonly seen in nature playscapes, " writes Fairweather in her design report. "After synthesizing the insights collected from [two] workshops, we developed a program, goals, and objectives to guide the nature playscape design," she added.

Allyson Fairweather won the Steven G. King Environments Scholarship.She won a $5,000 prize for a designproject she conducted during the fall2019 and winter 2019-20 sessions foran independent study. Allysonreimagined the Bement School, a

Congratulations to: Allyson Fairweather, Tor Gagnon, Tianyi Guan, James Mealey, Gwen Stoll and Peter Wackernagel for winning a 2020 BSLA Student Merit Award!

Their studio project called "Healthy Place-Making for the Medical District - Springfield, Massachusetts," incorporates well-being into urban design. According to the jury, a large amount of work went into this project to create healthy landscapes in Springfield, MA. The submission provided a nice range of analysis, planning, and detail, all grounded in research, and with graphics that get you into the place. The jury appreciated the good continuity in representation styles by multiple authors.

LARP News Fall 2019

STUDENT NEWS

FACULTY NEWS

a career, academic achievement, essay content and quality, the need for financial assistance, and an involvement in extracurricular citizenship and leadership activities.

In his essay about transportation planning Henry writes: “I rode my first trolley at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine when I was three years old. It was pouring rain but that only made the ride more enchanting. It was the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway 4387. Aside from the ridiculously loud whistle, I loved everything about it. This was the start of my infatuation with trolleys, streetcars, and transit in general; I was hooked! …

Ever since that first ride, I habitually visit most of the trolley museums in New England on a yearly basis. I even volunteer for some of these museums online. As of January 21st, 2019, I am also now an Executive Assistant to the Executive Director at the Seashore Trolley Museum. I help the Director with research projects for the Museum. …

In my last semester at UMass, I hope to complete a feasibility study of building a light rail system in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts as part of my Master’s project. The Merrimack Valley is a growing region that includes the cities of Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill. The city of Lowell already has a streetcar system which they have wanted to expand for the last decade. I will use Lowell’s streetcar lines as the beginning for the lightrail system. …. I will conduct research with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering to ascertain if the main line could be built as a single-track line with passing sidings and still maintain a schedule of ten minutes between light rail trains. … It would be my hope that this project would help, and perhaps drive, transit planning in the Merrimack Valley into the future.

My passion for trolleys and streetcars has truly become part of my identity over the years. I intend to become an urban transit planner to help restore streetcars and light rail to America’s cities. My career focus has never wavered from my desire to improve public transportation in the United States.”

Henry Mulvey, a senior Sustainable Community Development major and prospective MRP/MS Civil Engineering dual-degree candidate, has been awarded the American Public Transportation Foundation (APTF) Dr. George M. Smerk Scholarship for 2020, given to an applicant dedicated to a career in public transit management.

The APTF Board of Directors selects the scholarship recipients. The selection criteria include a demonstrated interest in the public transportation industry as a

Jessica Schottanes, Dual Degree Master of Regional Planning and Master of Science in Geography candidate, has a profile in the summer 2020 edition of A.T. Comms, a newsletter of the Appalachian Trails Conservancy, related to her Master's Thesis research.

Professor Darrel Ramsey-Musolf has been named one of the eight 2020-2021 ADVANCE Faculty Fellow by UMass ADVANCE. They are part of the cohort of 39 selected faculty, each representing different departments; the faculty members will be partnering with the UMass ADVANCE leadership team to promote gener equity for faculty at UMass. Through a combination of research, programming, and interventions UMass ADVANCE seeks to understand and address systemic and intersectional inequalities to lay the groundwork for a fairer, more equitable, diverse, and inclusive campus. UMass ADVANCE's theme for the upcoming program year is "Inclusion and Equity Amid COVID-19."

Congratulations to Professor Ethan Carr for his appointment for a 4-year term to the National Landmarks Committee of the National Parks System Advisory Board. He will review nominations for the National Historic Landmarks and make recommendations to the Board.

FACULTY NEWS

Professor Elisabeth Hamin-Infield has been appointed as the co-chair of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ASCP) Task Force on Climate Action. The Task Force on Climate Action will examine the role for scholarly leadership from ACSP in climate change research and in its programs' curricula. This task force is charged with examining how ACSP should respond to the challenge of climate change in all the association's activities; including advice on

Wired Ivy's interview with Professor Elisabeth Hamin-Infield, was recorded on April 10, 2020 about 3 weeks into the transition from classroom to remote learning and with about 3 weeks of class remaining in the spring semester. You can listen to the podcast here: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wired-ivy/e/69750252

Elisabeth's experiences will likely sound all too familiar to many new-to-online faculty.

Now that many institutions have closed the book on their spring term, educators may finally have some time to catch their breath, reflect on the emergency remote instruction experience, and think about how to prepare for various teaching contingencies in the fall. What better time to talk with an experienced educator on the front line of the sudden switch from brick-and-mortar classroom to digital delivery necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic?

Professor Carolina Aragon has been selected by CODAworx as one of its 25 "Creative Revolutionaries." CODAworx is a global online community that serves as a digital hub for commissioned artists worldwide."Carolina Aragon creates experiences embedded with environmental messages," according to CODAworx. "Her lightweight, ephemeral installations come to life in response to environmental stimuli, such as wind and light. Inspired by natural and environmental phenomena such as clouds, marshes, and flocks of birds, her work becomes dynamic compositions overlaid unto urban environments. The result is unexpected moments of wonder. "

Most recently, Aragón opened a new installation at the East Boston branch of the Boston Public Library called RisingEMOTIONS. A collaborative art project that pilots the integration of digital technologies and public art to create a highly local art piece that visualizes the public’s emotion related to flooding due to sea level rise, RisingEMOTIONS was completed with Narges Mahyar, assistant professor in the College of Computer and Information Sciences.

The Department welcomes Samantha Solano as anAssistant Professor in fall 2020. Samantha joins usfrom the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) where she was an assistant professor in landscape architecture. She has a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University, Graduate School of Design and a BLA from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In addition, Samantha has five years professional experience at landscape architecture firms and is currently the Principal of JUXTOPOS, a research and experimental design firm (juxtopos.com). Her innovative research and creative professional work centers on urban ecological design in arid landscapes through the lens of climate change resiliency and equitable design and practice in landscape architecture.

Samantha is an emerging voice in issues related to diversity and inclusion in the profession of landscape architecture and is the leader of the newly formed, Visualizing Equity in Landscape (VELA) project.

curriculum, association operations, the annual conference, administrators' conference, workshops, and research synergies.

FACULTY NEWS

For nine years, Jack was the LARP Department Head while also teaching his beloved “Plants in the Landscape” class. Any grad or undergrad landscape architecture or Stockbridge landscape contracting student experienced this class with the plant walks that Jack orchestrated around campus. Students diligently traversed the campus to see their weekly list of woody plant materials in every weather condition. To this day, many students can rattle off the botanical name of a plant just by being told what building it is near. Other indelible marks that he made with his teaching are Landscape Patterns and Process and his Green Urbanism Seminar. Jack’s most adventurous class was his Landscape Architecture Study Tour in which he took students for two weeks to observe and experience great works of landscape architecture in European cities. Over the years these tours included Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Lisbon, Barcelona, Duisburg, Hannover and Berlin. Jack brought his wife Linda along as an additional chaperone and she helped him tremendously with logistics and finding lost students.

After his stint as Department Head, Jack went on to serve as Vice Provost for International Programs for the UMass campus. He provided invaluable service to the profession, the university and his community. One constant with Jack is his care and support for students and their progress in the program and in the profession.

Jack’s professional and academic honors are numerous and well deserved. The most significant are when he was inducted as a Fellow by the American Society of Landscape Architects (FASLA) in 1996, inducted as a Fellow by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture in 2011 and received the Fabos Medal for International Landscape and Greenway Planning in 2018. Jack continues to be an incredibly productive scholar who is working on completing his seventh book. He has written numerous reports, journal articles, conference proceedings and monographs. His work has resulted in several national awards and he has been invited to give keynote addresses at international conferences in China, Taiwan, Japan, Hungary, Brazil, Finland, Spain and Portugal. One of his influential articles was “From fail-safe to safe-to-fail: Sustainability and resilience in the new urban world” (Landscape and Urban Planning 100(4):341-343 · April 2011). Using international examples, Jack provided a framework for people to understand the concept of resilience in a new light and students were inspired by the idea of safe-to-fail. Jack is a clear communicator of ideas through his writing and many talks - able to translate complex ideas into easily understandable language.

There are many Jack stories, but the one that stands out for me was at the GALA event at an ASLA Annual Meeting in the 90’s. Jack led a contingent of 10-15 UMass students in a conga line up onto the stage to join the band and began dancing away, entertaining the crowd. As they moved around the stage to the beat of the music, Jack moved towards the back of the stage but just one step too far. Fortunately, he was caught by a heavy stage curtain which guided him gently to the floor. You could count on there never being a dull moment in Jack’s company.

Jack is one of the most positive people I have had the privilege to know. His keen wit and great sense of humor puts anyone at ease when they’re with him. Jack is now spending much of his time out on Cape Cod with his wife Linda, enjoying time with his grandchildren and taking up sailing.

Jack will have an enduring legacy in the story of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. His influence will continue through his many successful students’ ongoing design and planning efforts. Congratulations to Jack on his retirement from UMass and may he continue to choose his own projects at his own pace. -Mark Lindhult, Professor Emeritus

Professor Jack Ahern, FASLA retired at the end of the Spring 2020 semester after 34 years in LARP at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Jack was the very model of a modern landscape architect, rooted in sustainable design with a passion for plants, landscape ecology, greenway planning, and ecosystem services. He had a positive influence on the thousands of students who took his classes and the ones whom he mentored. There are so many aspects of the landscape architecture program that bear his imprint that it’s impossible to innumerate them all in this short piece. After all, his resume is 32 pages long.

Before coming to UMass, Jack was a registered landscape architect who worked with John Rahenkamp & Associates and also Wallace, Roberts & Todd, both in Philadelphia, PA. I am proud to have been on the search committee that hired Jack back in 1986. Our major collaborative effort was developing the award winning master plan for the UMass Amherst Campus in 1993 along with Emeritus Professor John Mullin. The most significant result was a policy for the campus to focus on infill development in the campus core in order to create a more pedestrian friendly environment, reduce travel time, centralize infrastructure, define public spaces and preserve the rural context. Our proposed infill framework for the campus served as a blueprint for the campus today and helped guide the placement of over 20 new buildings over the past 27 years - including our own Design Building!

Charles Tooker ’53 Undergraduate Support Fund

• Corrina Rossetti (BSLA) Paul W. Ryan Scholarship Fund

• Joyia Smikle (BSLA)Paul Whitney Rhoades and Carolina Pree Rhoades Award

• Lauren Azuela (MLA)• Winfield Henry (MLA)• Patrick Burns (MLA)• Abriana Brown (BSLA)• Rachel Newman (BSLA)• Zachary Numan (BSLA)

Robert Livingston Craig Scholarship Fund• Matheus Gomes  (BSLA)

Thomas B. and Loraine K. LeNoir Scholarship Fund• Ella Cormier (BSLA)• Hailey McQuaid (SCD)• William Marcos Gonzalez (MLA)• Lee Halasz (MRP)

Robert P. McGorum Scholarship

• Megan S. Davey (BSLA)• Allyson N. Fairweather (MLA)

2020 Student Awards

STAY CONNECTED We hope to host alumni networking panels this coming year, so check our

Facebook or the website for announcements and join us.  Please consider a gift to support our students, the department, or the Design Building. Our Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram and our website give quick news updates and in-depth stories. When you have a job opening, send us the notice and we’ll be thrilled to share it with our students and alumni.  And send us your own news – we love to

hear how our alumni are doing, and would gladly post onto the department social media for you.

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Professor Patricia McGirr's Sustcomm 140 Visual Communication class researched the history of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The documentary focuses on UMass's agricultural roots transitioning to architectural design. "In the process of brainstorming the project for the honors seminar, they decided to focus on the campus and the changes over time in its visual

• John Carolan (MRP)2019 John R. Mullin Award

qualities - and heading toward sustainability," said McGirr. The students prepared themselves for pre-production by making trips to the W.E.B. Du Bois Library to explore archival material, select buildings to focus on and determine storyboards to set the narrative. You can view their documentary here: https://www.umass.edu/larp/sustcomm-students-document-agricultural-and-architectural-history-umass-amherst-video

LARP's Senior Studio spent their spring semester reimagining the future of South Boston's Moakley Park. Professors Ethan Carr and Theo Eisenman assigned students to look at various parks throughout the City of Boston and come up with ways to enhance connections throughout its park system, Students were encouraged to get creative with their designs, and create a place of cultural and environmental significance for the surrounding community. You can see some of their designs here: https://www.boston.gov/news/college-students-reimagine-new-future-south-bostons-moakley-park