The Michael Hough / Ontario Association of Landscape Architects Visiting Critic

To commemorate 40 years of Landscape Architecture at the University of Toronto (1965-2005), and named in honor of Michael Hough, founding program head in Landscape Architecture at the University of Toronto, this endowed position was established at Daniels by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects and professional communities to bring an international figure in contemporary urban landscape to the Faculty annually.

2010-11
Beth Meyer

Elizabeth K. Meyer is one of the leading landscape architectural theorists in the United States. She has lectured at universities on four continents, and published widely on topics concerning contemporary landscape design practice and theory, such as “Site Citations: Grounding the Modern Landscape” in Burns and Kahn’s Site Matters and “The Post-Earth Day Conundrum: Translating Environmental Values into Landscape Design” in Conan’s Environmentalism in Landscape Architecture. Her writings provocatively question conventional norms and assumptions. For instance, in “Uncertain Parks. Disturbed Sites, Citizens and a Risk Society,” Meyer explores the social implications and aesthetic conundrums inherent in the making of new parks on toxic industrial sites. In “Sustaining Beauty. The Performance of Appearance,” she calls for the insertion of aesthetic concerns into a sustainability agenda arguing that without them sustainable design will have a limited impact on the environmental practices and ethics of the public. Her most recent publication, “Slow Landscapes. A New Erotics of Sustainability” is featured in Harvard Design Magazine (Winter 2010). Meyer’s teaching and scholarly interests focus on three areas: the re-discovery and examination of modern landscape theory, the establishment of a robust contemporary practice of landscape criticism, and the idea of design as site interpretation (sites replete with cultural layers as well as natural processes). She is completing a book focused on these concerns, Groundwork. Practices of Modern Landscape Architecture, with support from the UVA School of Architecture Dean’s Office, the Graham Foundation and a Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship.

2009-10
Dirk Sijmons

Dirk Sijmons, landscape architect, senior consultant and former State Advisor on Landscape, studied architecture and planning at the Technical University of Delft. From 1977 to 1981 he was appointed to the staff of the Ministry CRM, Directorate of Nature Preservation and Recreation, Planning Department and from 1981 to 1984 he was a staff member of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries as head of the policy development task force and later as Head of Policy Development and Research coordination at the Ministry of Agriculture. From 1984 to 1990 he was head of the Landscape Architecture Department of the Netherlands Forestry Service. From 1990 to 1993 he was coordinator of the Study Programme of Landscape Architecture of the Academy for Architecture (Post-Graduate programme, faculty of the Amsterdam College for the Fine Arts).

2008-09
Kongjian Yu

Dr. Yu is the founder and dean of the Graduate School of Landscape Architecture at Peking University, and is the founder and President of Turenscape, which is an internationally awarded firm with more than 200 professionals and is one of the largest private firm in China that focuses on landscape architecture, urban design and architecture.

Dr. Yu was the winner of the National Gold Medal of Fine Arts (2004,the Cultural Ministry of Chinese Government), Winner of Human Habitat Model Award for his designed project (2002, the Construction Ministry of the Chinese government). In 2004, Dr. Yu was awarded as Oversea Chinese Pioneer Achievement Medal by the Chinese central government for his overall contribution to the nation.

2007-08
Michael Van Valkenburgh, OALA

Principal of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Landscape Architects, P.C. Through his creative leadership of the firm, Mr. Van Valkenburgh pursues a lifelong interest in landscape as a living design medium that deepens and enriches people’s lives—in cities, on campuses, in gardens, and elsewhere.  Mr. Van Valkenburgh oversees both the Cambridge and New York Offices, and is involved on some level with every project the firm undertakes.  Van Valkenburgh was awarded the 2003 National Design Award in Environmental Design by the Cooper-Hewitt national Design Museum. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and is the Charles Eliot Professor of Landscape Architecture and Professor in Practice at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where he has taught since 1982, serving as Chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture from 1991-1996.  He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University College of Agriculture in 1973, and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the College of Fine Arts at the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana in 1977.

2006-07
Adriaan Geuze

Adriaan Geuze is a founder of Rotterdam-based West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture. Awarded the prestigious Prix-de-Rome award in 1990, West 8 has established a strong reputation on an international level with their unique approach to planning and design of the public environment.

Geuze has taught and lectured at the Paris Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paysage de Versailles, France, the technical university of Delft, the Aarhus Arkitektskolen, Vienna Centre for Architecture, Austria and Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Geuze was the curator of the 2nd International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, held in 2005.

2005-06
Christophe Girot

Christophe Girot has been Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture at the ETH Zurich since 2001, and since 2002 has led the NSL (Network City and Landscape) at the D-Arch ETH. In January 2005 he founded the Institute for Landscape Architecture, conceived as an academic teaching and research resource.

Aside from his teaching responsibilities, Girot is a practicing landscape architect. He runs his office Atelier Girot in Zürich, prior to which he was a partner in VUES S.A. He held an office in Paris from 1990 to 2001. In 2001 he won the Fritz Schumacher Prize for the restoration and redesign of Invaliden Park in Berlin.

2004-05
James Corner

James Corner is a registered landscape architect and urban designer, and founder and director of Field Operations, where he oversees the projection of all design projects in the office. He is also chair and professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.

His work has been recognized with the New York City Arts Commission Award for Excellence in Design (2005); the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Academy Award in Architecture (2004); the Daimler-Chrysler Award for Design Innovation (2000); and the Architectural League of New York Design Award (2000).