Landscapes are shaped by continuous flows of materials driven by anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic forces. In the past century, the rate of material movement from construction and agriculture activities surpassed, by an order of ten, that of geological processes alone. Designers participate in this massive reorganization of materials around the earth, the majority of which is bound for varying periods of time as urban parks, farms, buildings, and highways. In landscape architecture, these materials range from abiotic to biotic composition, from simple to complex manufacturing processes, and from local to distance sources. While materials are selected for ecological, structural, and aesthetic performance characteristics desired for a particular designed site, their production is linked to a network of distant forests, quarries, and factories. Through specification, designers inadvertently transform remote landscapes, concealed and abstracted through the commodification of natural resources. Reciprocal Landscapes examines a set of paradigmatic construction materials installed in seminal, designed landscapes in New York City over the past century and a half. Each case explores the ecological, social, and political relationships between two sites tethered by the displacement of a material between them.

Jane Hutton is a landscape architect and Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she is Co-Director of the Energy, Environments, and Design research lab. Her research focuses on the expanded relations of common construction materials used in landscape architecture. Hutton is a founding editor of the journal Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy, and holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Toronto.

Daniels Sessions aims to explore new and alternative viewpoints on architectural practice and research. The series features speakers who present unconventional perspectives and work from both inside and outside of the discipline. Daniels Sessions aims to provoke thought and generate discussion in a less formal setting. Following the lecture, audience members are invited to continue the conversation with the speaker in the Graduate Student Lounge, located in the lower level of 230 College Street.