Designing Water

Two days, 22 scholars and practitioners, one great garden of the world

Join us for Designing Water, a major symposium on October 17–18, 2018 where international scholars and practitioners will convene at Longwood Gardens to share local perspectives and global interests and concerns surrounding the relationship of design and water across time, space, and scale. A collaboration between the American Academy in Rome and Longwood Gardens and led by chief curator Julia Czerniak, Designing Water is intended for professionals interested in and involved in the designing, planning, and managing of water systems in the landscape.

Designing Water brings together academic leaders and world-renowned design practitioners from Asia, Europe, and North America. Highlights of the 22 speakers include: Anita Berrizbeitia, ASLA, Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design (2006 Rome Prize Fellow); Adriaan Geuze, Prof., Ir., RLA, OALA, Founding Partner and Design Director, West 8; Christophe Girot, Head of the Institute of Landscape Architecture, Dean Elect at the Department of Architecture of the ETH in Zürich; Dorothée Imbert, Professor, Hubert C. Schmidt ’38 Chair in Landscape Architecture, The Ohio State University; and Kongjian Yu, FASLA, Changjiang Chair Professor of Design, Peking University College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, President and Principal Designer, Turenscape. Each presenter will bring their local perspectives to truly global interests and concerns—such as ecology, aesthetics, meaning, and public space—as they assemble at Longwood Gardens in the picturesque Brandywine Valley, 30 miles outside Philadelphia, PA.

Designing Water includes two days of discussions and presentations, as well as a tour of Longwood Gardens’ Main Fountain Garden, an Illuminated Fountain Show, and opportunities to connect with colleagues at the opening night dinner, or at breakfast and lunch the following day. Seating is limited, and advance registration is required. 199 USD (99 USD for students). Register now at designingwater.org.

“Today, we witness an ever-expanding field of possibilities for engaging the multiple challenges brought about by climate change through synthetic and pluralistic design that engages the imagination and expands the realm of what is possible. The Anthropocene is both a crisis and an opportunity.”–Anita Berrizbeitia, ASLA, Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design (2006 Rome Prize Fellow) 

“There is something to be said about our changing attitude toward water and withdrawal from the public realm. Whether, above ground or below ground, artificial or natural, water will always be the measure of mankind’s own vulnerability and finitude.”–Christophe Girot, Head of the Institute of Landscape Architecture, Dean Elect at the Department of Architecture of the ETH in Zürich