About Prof. Hays
Analog Media Lab, Rococo Armchair Retrofit, Concept drawing
Biography
My interest in landscape architecture first emerged through study of art history and was later transformed through study of design. In keeping with that path, my work addresses both historical and contemporary situations. My historical research focuses on the invention and reception of new landscape types in early modern Europe. How did innovative designs come into being, and how did people respond to them? My research about contemporary landscape, my teaching, and my creative work all extend that inquiry to the present. I am particularly intrigued by curiosities of design—forms and approaches not typically associated with landscape architecture, such as landscapes inside buildings. Much of my work has focused on interfaces between architecture and landscape architecture: for example, structures that move when the temperature changes. In keeping with my background, I also have strong interest in the uses of history in design education and practice. I approach landscape as a relationship between humans and nature, and I am interested in how that relationship gets negotiated through a wide range of media, of which landscape architecture is one part.
Analog Media Lab, Rococo Armchair Retrofit, Concept drawing
Education
Princeton University, School of Architecture, M.Arch. 2001. Thesis: “Sentient Architecture.” Advisor: Prof. Guy Nordenson.
Yale University, Department of History of Art, M.A. 1993; M.Phil. 1995; Ph.D. 2000. Dissertation: "The Irregular Garden in Late Eighteenth-Century France." Advisor: Prof. Judith Colton.
University of Cambridge, Department of History of Art, Visiting Scholar, Peterhouse, 1990-1991.
Harvard University, Joint A.B., summa cum laude: Fine Arts and Romance Languages and Literatures (French). Senior Thesis: "The History of the Jardin de Monceau, 1769-1779." Advisor: Prof. Miroslava Beneš.
Research and publications
Ongoing and upcoming research
Creative Research
2024-2025 Co-Curator, with Kathryn Holliday, Phillip Kalantzis-Cope; Jeffery S. Poss, and Jon L. Seydl, “Making Place for the Arts at Home: Performance and Midcentury Modern Architecture [Exhibition: January 30–July 12, 2025], Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
2023 Theatrical performance as Sea Ranger in Deke Weaver, Cetacean (The Whale), premiere, Urbana, IL (September 28-October 2, 2023)
2014-2022 Co-Curator, with Jonathan D. Solomon, Space p11 (55 E. Randolph Street, Pedway Level, Chicago, IL. https://space-p11.com
Selected publications
David L. Hays, “Naturalezas futuras: Abordando el diorama de habitat como medio de y para la arquitectura de paisajes,” A&P Continuidad [Arquitectura & Planeamiento Continuidad] (Argentina)] 21: Docencia en arquitectura y diseño: ¿Qué hay de nuevo? (December 2024).
David L. Hays, “Prototyping and the Critical Practice of Landscape Architecture,” in Prototyping Across the Disciplines: Designing Better Futures, eds. Milena Radzikowska, Jennifer Roberts-Smith, and Stanley Ruecker (Wilmington, NC, and Bristol, England: Intellect Press), 2021.
David L. Hays, “History by Design: The Aesthetics of Transformation in Carmontelle’s Jardin de Monceau,” in Carmontelle, Garden at Monceau, eds. Elizabeth Barlow Rogers and Joseph Disponzio (New York, NY: Foundation for Landscape Studies/Oak Spring Library/Yale University Press, 2020), 96–103.
David L. Hays, “Knowing and Not Knowing, Moving and Not Moving, in Alain Resnais’s L’Année dernière à Marienbad (1961),” Polysèmes 19: Photography and Trauma (2018).
David L. Hays, “Mapping and ‘Natural’ Garden Design in Late-Eighteenth-Century France: The Example of Georges-Louis Le Rouge,” Site/Lines 12.11 (Spring 2017): 6–9.
Teaching and advising
Classes taught
LA 101 / LA 590: Introduction to Landscape Architecture
LA 336 / LA 438 /LA 534 / LA 539: Design Workshop Studio
LA 387/587: Seminar: Historical Gardens and Contemporary Imagination
LA 387/587: Seminar: Landscape between Nature and You
LA 387/587: Seminar: Negotiating Landscape through Zines
LA 505: Methods in Architectural and Landscape Architectural History
Students advised
Ph.D. Dissertation Committee Membership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2022-present Wakabayashi, Taisuke, History and Theory Track, Landscape Architecture (Chair)
2021-present Valderrama, Ana, History and Theory Track, Landscape Architecture (Chair)
2020-2024 Wang, Yuefan, “Written Gardens Revisited: Gender and Women’s Garden Poetry in Late Imperial China," East Asian Languages and Cultures (Premodern Chinese Literature)
2020 Habibulah, Amir, “Modern Islamic Gardens and Cultural Identity: Three Case Studies from North America and Europe,” Landscape Architecture
2017-present Hartman, Ellen, History and Theory Track, Landscape Architecture (Chair)
2015-present Lee, Kyungkeun, “Re-framing the Confucian Landscape: A Case Study and Critique of Contemporary Discourse about the Byungsan Confucian Academy, Korea,” Landscape Architecture (Chair)
2015-2024 Champagne, Alexandre, “Mobilizing Landscape Architecture against Urban Precarity: Framing an Applied-Philosophy Approach through the Works of Henri Maldiney, Paul Ricœur, and Jacques Rancière,” Landscape Architecture (Chair)
2015-2018 Briggs, Molly, “Seeing through Chicago’s West Parks: Landscape Performance and the Panoramic Uncanny,” Landscape Architecture
2014-present Maitreemit, Lassamon, “Spirit Houses in the Archaeological Landscape of Vat Phou-Champasak: Reimagining Cultural Landscapes in Mainland Southeast Asia,” Landscape Architecture
2014-2016 Cruz, Cesar A., “Placemaking: A Historical Analysis of Henry Klumb’s Residential Architecture in Puerto Rico, 1947-1983,” Architecture
2012-2021 King, Michael A., “Measured Shadows of Thomas Jefferson: A Transit from Amateur Landscape Gardening to Professional Landscape Architecture,” Landscape Architecture (Chair)
2012-2015 Li, Zheng, “Managing Historic Mountain Landscape near Modern Cities: The Case of the Beijing Western Hills, 1912-2012,” Landscape Architecture
2011-2019 Thomas, Jennifer, “Landscape, Madness, and State: The Emerging Insane Asylum System of Nineteenth-Century New York State,” Landscape Architecture (Chair)
2010-2015 Mithal Modi, Sonal, “Embodied Knowledge of Landscape: Accommodating Ongoing Subjective Experience in the Presentation of Heritage Landscape,” Landscape Architecture (Chair)
2006-2014 Holland, Martin, “The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum,” Landscape Architecture (Chair)
2006-2009 Brody, Jason, “Constructing Professional Knowledge: The Neighborhood Unit Diagram in the Community Builders Handbook, 1947-1975,” Urban and Regional Planning
2006 Jung, Eun Young, "The Legacies of Marcel Duchamp and Vladimir Tatlin in Dan Flavin's Fluorescent Light Installation in the 1960s,” Art History
MLA Thesis Advising, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:
2023-present Murugesan, Visalakshi, “Urban Productive Landscapes: Design Strategies for Creating Self-Sustaining Communities”
2023-present Onkar, Rachitha, “Haptic Sound: Translating Natural Acoustic Phenomena into Tangible Experiences for the Deaf” (Chair)
2023-2024 Lemme, Stirling, “Wasted Space: Meanings and Typologies of Informal Trash Deposits in Landscapes of the Southwestern US” (Chair)
2022-present Baakliny, Johnny, "Landscape Management and Design for Snakes: The Impact of Snake Road on Value Orientations and Attitudes towards Snakes in Southern Illinois"
2020-2022 Zhang, Yuzhe, “Renegotiating the National Park Ideal at Point Reyes National Seashore”
2019-2022 Jiang, Lin, “Digital Emulation of Ecological Systems: Modeling a New Approach to Landscape Architecture” (Chair)
2019-2020 Myers, Kayla, “Regenerative Agriculture and Landscape Architecture: a Promising Partnership”
2018-present Zeng, Litong, “Black Box Landscape” (Co-Chair)
2016-2017 Chen, Yini, “Climate Change, Technology, and Toponymy in the Cultural Landscape of Nunavut” (Chair)
2016-2017 Vogel, Elizabeth, “Affording Landscape”
2016-2017 Wang, Tsu-En, “Butterfly Urbanism” (Chair)
2015-2016 Bao, Jie, “Understanding the Impact of Urban Waste Spaces on the City of Chicago”
2015-2016 Blondell, Evan, “Grounding Technê” (Chair)
2015-2016 Shi, Xiaofei, “Airport Landscape as Open-Ended Heritage” (Chair)
2015-2016 Shui, Meng, “Framing Spacetime in the Mapping of Aerotory” (Chair)
2015-2016 Yi, Linna, “The Sense of Chengdu: Embodied Heritage in Tastescape”
2015-2016 Zeng, Hao, “Traditional Landscape and Contemporary Landscape Architecture in China” (Chair)
2015-2016 Zhao, Qingyi, “Underground Urbanism” (Chair)
2014-2015 Kang, Min, “Weaponry/Landscape” (Chair)
2014-2015 Gajjar, Heena, “Reclaiming Krishna Consciousness: Journeys in the Cultural Landscapes of Okhamandal, Gujarat, India”
2014-2015 Li, Qianyu, “A View from the Green Line ‘El,’ Chicago, Illinois”
2014-2015 Sui, Xinyue, “Disaster Prevention Design in Waterfront Landscape Architecture”
2014-2015 Whalen, John, "Urban Design for Fluid Landscapes: The Case of Chouteau's Pond"
2014 Carl, Chris, “Landscape Architecture as a Site for an Expanded Art Practice: Exploring Boundary” (Chair)
2013-2014 Burke, Phil, “Camouflage”
2013-2014 Castillo-Pilcol, José, “Landscape as Indigenous Space: Sovereignty and Indigeneity in Urban Environments” (Chair)
2013-2014 Maitreemit, Lassamon, “Landscape and Food in Contemporary Thailand: Gathering as Cultural Practice” (Chair)
2012-2013 Hochhalter, Anna, “Waterfront Spectacular” (Chair)
2012-2013 Ren, Xinran, “Framing the Scenes: Abandoned Highways in Urban Areas”
2012-2013 Roberts, Jessica, “Transparent Animism in Material Form”
2012-2013 Sanes, Shawn, “Giving New Meaning to “Mound City”: Landfills as an Historical Narrative of St. Louis, Missouri”
2012-2013 Tabibian, Negar, “Resettlement of Middle-Eastern Refugees at American Sites: Proposals and Design Strategies for Site Development”
2012-2013 Valderrama, Ana, “Formless Accident: a Happening Toward the Fall” (Chair)
2012-2013 Wang, Huijun, “Ecological Minimalism”
2010-2011 Blecha, Joe, “Expanding the Field: A New Prototype for Stadium Design”
2010-2011 Day, Miran Jung, “Design(ing) Strategies for a Sustainable and Resilient Coastal Beachfront Community” (Chair)
2010-2011 Peng, Lu, “Sustainable Urbanism, Rising Sea Level, and Green Infrastructure: New Strategies for Central London” (Chair)
2010-2011 Stewart, Kevin, “Temperature and Dynamic Form in Contemporary Hardscape Environments” (Chair)
2010-2011 Wu, Shuangshuang, “Peace/Time Landscape: Proposals for the Israeli/Palestinian Border” (Chair)
2009-2011 Castillo, Rhonda, “Claiborne Avenue in the Treme: Reclaiming a Neutral Ground” (Chair)
2009-2011 Gao, Qian, “The Heping District, Tianjin, China: Conservation of a Cultural Landscape” (Chair)
2009-2011 Wallace, Anna C., “The Ottawa Heritage Trail: Remnant Pioneer Cemetery Prairies from Danville to Paxton, Illinois” (Chair)
2009-2010 Lu, Shanshan, “The Past, Contemporary, and Future Utility of Beijing Courtyards”
2008-2009 Harre, Bethany, “The Pedestrian Experience in Residential Communities: Learning from Woonerfs”
2008-2009 Jiang, Mengfei, “Green Infrastructure in Post-Olympics Beijing”
2007-2009 Hartman, Ellen, “Savior City” (Chair)
2007-2009 Merritt, Ann, “Museum Sculpture Gardens: Responding to the Expanding Field of Site-Specific Art”
2006-2009 Shaney Peña Gomez, “Landscapes of Indeterminacy: Remapping Bahía de las Aguilas” (Chair)
2006-2009 Julie Sajtar, “The Bloomingdale Line: Emptiness and the Slow Horizon” (Chair)
2005-2008 Andrew Weiss, “Garden Space in Vague Terrain” (Chair)
2002-2007 Decker, Mark, "Equimon: Process, Form and Change in Environmental Design"
2002-2005 Chang, Wan-Lian, “Relating Event to Context: An Earthquake Park for the Capital Plaza, Taipei, Taiwan” (Chair)
2002-2004 Lee, Sungkyung, "Healing Gardens" (Chair)
2002-2004 Zhang, Lifan, "Garden Identity in an Era of Globalization”
2002-2003 Raghunathan, Aparna, "A Design Proposal for the Fort Area of Tiruchirapalli, India"
2001-2002 Dancuart, Eileen, "The Weaving Garden: a Site Specific Museum for the Nasca Lines"
2001-2002 Yu, Qiaojue, "Gossip Garden: a New People's Square for Shanghai, China" (Chair)