Postponed
Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been postponed. We will reschedule it for Spring 2024 and look forward to seeing you then!
Description of event
Lauren Leighty (BLA Illinois 2001), PLA, is a Principal and Campus Studio Leader at SmithGroup. As a landscape architect and urban designer (MUD, University of Michigan), Leighty addresses the multilayered challenges faced by colleges and universities. “I began my career as a landscape architect focused on detailed design solutions for site-specific projects,” she explains. “Urban design allows me to combine my technical understanding of the physical environment with my desire to think at a higher altitude about problems affecting campuses and their surrounding communities.”
With considerable expertise in campus planning, Leighty is an integral member of the SmithGroup’s leadership team for higher education projects, and she is a trusted partner to many respected institutions. Notable clients include the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NC State University, and Boston University.
In this presentation, Leighty will discuss SmithGroup’s recent NC State Physical Campus Plan project. This was a 22-month effort in which the firm developed a 10-year vision for the university, but also developed more detailed implementation strategies for the transformation of campus open spaces and roadways into vibrant multi-modal corridors. The process included considerable campus and community outreach at each key milestone.