Architecture

The spring's march newsletter by the head of the Department of Landscape Architecture, David L. Hays, updates alumni and friends on current activities within the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Landscape Architecture department. It covers the midterms, students' project work during spring break, and highlights recent events such as the 2024 All-Department Charrette focused on climate resilience. The newsletter also celebrates achievements and recognitions of department members, including alumni and faculty. Additionally, it announces upcoming events like the CELA 2024 Annual Conference in St. Louis.

Congratulations to PhD in Landscape Architecture candidate Nubras Samayeen, who successfully defended her dissertation, “Architecture of the Land”: Louis I. Kahn’s National Assembly Complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the Construction of a National Identity," at the end of last week. Nubras’s doctoral committee members include Prof. D. Fairchild Ruggles (Landscape Architecture), serving as chair, along with Prof. Pollyanna Rhee (Landscape Architecture), Prof. Cameron McCarthy (Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership), Prof. John Stallmeyer (Architecture), and Prof. Hasan-Uddin Kahn (Architecture and Historic Preservation, Roger Williams University).

As Founding Director of the practice Matéricos Periféricos, Ph.D. student Ana Valderrama (MLA, Illinois, 2009) and her collaborators have received a 2022 Inclusion Award from the New York City Architecture Biennial. Their project, "Industrial District," includes a series of practices and two buildings co-constructed with the communities they serve.

We are pleased to announce that alum Bruce Dvorak has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Three members of our department community—faculty member Kelley Lemon, current student Ana Valderrama, and alum Sonal Mithal—have been awarded prestigious grants from the Graham Foundation.