Landscape Architecture

Feb 19, 2025

Landscape Architects Form Task Force to Scale Up Solutions to the Climate and Biodiversity Crises

Led by leaders in the field of landscape architecture, ASLA is developing an updated, profession-wide Climate and Biodiversity Action Plan. The new plan will be an update to the ASLA Climate Action Plan, which was released in 2022, and offer new goals and actions for 2026-2030. The scope of the new plan has been expanded – the climate and biodiversity crises will be treated as equal priorities, and the focus will be on actions that tackle both crises in an equitable way. The ambitious plan seeks to transform the practice of landscape architecture by 2040 through actions taken by ASLA and its members focused on biodiversity and ecological restoration, climate mitigation and adaptation, equity, and economic development. Meg Calkins, FASLA, Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, NC State University, has been named Chair of the Task Force.

Feb 17, 2025

College of Design Signs MOU with National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) 

The College of Design at NC State University has signed an MOU with the Faculty of Architecture of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México (UNAM) to promote academic and research activities between the two institutions and further affirm the value of international collaboration. Collaborations with UNAM will allow the college to extend its involvement in global issues related to urbanization and the environment and translate that knowledge into teaching and practice through the lens of a global framework. 

Jan 7, 2025

NC State Creatives: Tatiana Veloso

To Tatiana Veloso, design has a powerful ability to connect individuals to each other and to the places they inhabit. A 2024 graduate of the Master of Landscape Architecture program, her work bridges the gap between art, science, and community engagement.

Oct 24, 2024

Work underway on Goldsboro flood mitigation and resilience project: three projects aim to protect property and increase flood resilience

A partnership between the state and City of Goldsboro has resulted in the completion of the Goldsboro Community Floodprint, and the initial implementation of the plan’s recommendations. The floodprint is a local plan that contains flood mitigation and resilience recommendations developed through public input and planning. Funded by the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) using the state’s HUD mitigation grant and led by the N.C. State University Coastal Dynamics Design Lab (CDDL), this is the second of ten CDDL/NCORR community floodprints to be completed.

Sep 17, 2024

Landscape Architecture Students Win National Awards for Fourth Year in a Row

The Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental planning is thrilled to share that student teams won national ASLA awards for the fourth year in a row. Since 2020, student teams in the Master of Landscape Architecture program have won 12 awards nationally.

Aug 20, 2024

Bringing New Life to Paper Streets 

The City of Durham has over 600 “paper streets” - narrow strips of land planned for use as a street, but never built. College of Design students partnered with the city’s Office of Performance and Innovation to bring new life to these previously underutilized spaces, envisioning micro-parks, art installations, educational outdoor spaces, and valuable pedestrian corridors.

Jun 18, 2024

College of Design Students and Faculty Win Awards at NCASLA

Students, faculty and alumni attended the NCASLA Conference in Asheville, receiving multiple awards and presenting to professionals from across the state. The Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning sponsored fourteen Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) students in the College of Design to attend the event.

Apr 30, 2024

Be Transported to the Wild and Wacky Dimensions of Art2Wear 2024

On a balmy spring evening, in a packed house at Stewart Theater, students from the College of Design and across the university paraded their collections as part of Art2Wear 2024, pulling the audience into another dimension.  With each collection, designers led us into their own worlds, from the depths of the ocean to wind-swept dunes, even traveling into outer space. The eight designers who showcased collections of four or more looks came from disciplines across the college, and their fields of study influenced their final looks.

Apr 11, 2024

Unity Through Design: Q&A with Melissa Manjarrez Dominguez

Raised in the heart of a community ravaged by cartel fighting, Melissa Manjarrez Dominguez witnessed firsthand the spread of violence and fear. Yet, amid the chaos, she also observed something remarkable – the power of certain spaces to bring people together, offering respite from the turmoil and fostering unity.

Apr 1, 2024

M. Elen Deming Honored for Exceptional Service to CELA and LAF

Educator and researcher M. Elen Deming was presented with the Forster Ndubisi Professional Service Award at the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Dinner on March 22, 2024.

Feb 28, 2024

A Groundbreaking Designer’s NC State Roots

Brandon Johnson has known what he wanted to do for a career since he spent a good part of his seventh-grade English class doodling golf course designs on his blue-lined notebook paper. When he came to NC State in the fall of 1992, he told advisor Art Rice his goal was to create golf courses, which…

Jan 31, 2024

LAF Fellowship Spotlight: Meg Calkins on a Material Shift

About 90% of a constructed site’s carbon footprint comes from the materials used to build it. If landscape architects really want to reduce the carbon footprint of their work, they need to radically rethink not just materials selection but also material assemblies and the types structures they design. This is Meg Calkins’ message to the discipline and the focus of her 2023-24 LAF Fellowship.

Jan 26, 2024

MLA Student Shabnam Mohammadzadeh Receives Dean’s Wings on Wings Award

As part of the fall 2023 commencement ceremony, Dean Mark Hoversten recognized an exceptional student for their performance in the classroom and service to the college with the Dean’s Award for Outstanding College Citizenship and Academic Excellence, known as the Wings on Wings award.

Nov 29, 2023

New Just Communities Lab Advocates for Environmental Justice

Kofi Boone, a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, has formed a new lab at NC State that uses design and planning as a tool to address environmental justice concerns.

Oct 10, 2023

Turning the Tide

What can be done to reduce the negative effects of disasters and to reduce the likelihood of future disasters occurring in the first place? Hazard mitigation involves taking actions to reduce the vulnerability of communities to the damaging effects of natural hazards and disasters. Gavin Smith, professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning, is assisting local jurisdictions, states, and national governments in addressing this vexing issue.

Sep 7, 2023

Landscape Architecture Students, Faculty Win National ASLA Awards

Students and faculty were recognized as winners of the national ASLA award competition, with four student projects and one faculty-led project receiving awards. In addition, two faculty were recognized: Chuck Flink won the LaGasse Medal and Emily McCoy was elevated to fellow.

Jul 12, 2023

Landscape Architecture: An Early History

The landscape architecture program saw many successes in the early years as part of the School of Design. The program, accredited in 1951, was one of the first two accredited programs in the American South. Landscape art and gardening have been taught at NC State since the 180s, but the formal program wasn't developed until 1911.

Jun 15, 2023

Chuck Flink Recognized as One of ASLA’s 2023 Awardees with LaGasse Medal

Charles A. “Chuck” Flink, FASLA is the 2023 recipient of the LaGasse Medal, named for Alfred B. LaGasse, past executive director of the American Institute of Park Executives and executive vice president of the National Recreation and Parks Association. This national honor recognizes notable contributions by individuals to the management and conservancy of natural resources and/or public landscapes.

Jun 6, 2023

Trees of Design

As the College of Design faces the social, environmental and economic challenges of the 21st century in its 75th anniversary, the Tree of Design stares out from the pages of this early bulletin to capture our imagination on what interdisciplinary thinking might look like in the 21st century.

May 20, 2023

The Class That Started It All

The students who graduated from the School of Design in the spring of 1953 were the first to complete the new school’s five-year course load. Their commitment set the pace for everything that came after.

May 10, 2023

College of Design Faculty win NC State Awards in Teaching and Research

Six College of Design faculty were recognized with awards from the Alumni Association, Graduate School, Libraries and Office of the Provost this spring.

Apr 26, 2023

Celebrating Alumni + Friends Weekend and the Designlife Gala

The College of Design celebrated Alumni + Friends Weekend and the Designlife Gala on April 21-22, 2023. The college was delighted to see so many friendly faces back on campus, touring our studios, and connecting with former classmates and colleagues at the reunions by the decade. The weekend's events culminated with the Designlife Gala at the JC Raulston Arboretum on Saturday night.

Apr 24, 2023

Coharie Tribe signs agreement for local resilience plan

The Coharie Tribe recently signed an agreement to participate in a community floodprint project, which is being funded by the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) and led by the N.C. State Coastal Dynamics Design Lab (CDDL). The tribe is the third community selected for the Eastern North Carolina Community Floodprints initiative. A total of five communities will collaborate with the CDDL for the development of a floodprint, which can then be used to bolster future community resilience.

Apr 17, 2023

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Selects María Bellalta as New Head of Department

After conducting a national search, the College of Design at North Carolina State University has selected María Bellalta to serve as the head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, effective July 1. María is currently dean and faculty at the Boston Architectural College (BAC) School of Landscape Architecture, where she directs both graduate and undergraduate programs and teaches design theory and practice as well as interdisciplinary studios on social urbanism.

Apr 11, 2023

Winners from the 2023 Graduate Research Symposium Announced

Three College of Design students were winners at the Graduate Student Research Symposium. Marybeth Campeau (Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning) won first place, with Daniel Garrett (Advanced Architectural Studies) and Keagan Vargo (Industrial Design) winning second and third place, respectively.

Feb 14, 2023

Meg Calkins selected for LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership

The Landscape Architecture Foundation chose Meg Calkins, professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning, as one of 6 fellows for 2023-2024.

Jan 18, 2023

75 Years of Leading by Design: College of Design Celebrates a Momentous Milestone

The College of Design celebrates its 75th anniversary throughout 2023 with a series of lectures, events, alumni weekends, and more.

Jan 6, 2023

Researchers study electric scooter rider behavior through partnership with Spin

Dr. Deepti Adlakha is working with NC State researchers and Spin, a leading service provider in micromobility, to study user behavior on NC State's campus.

Dec 15, 2022

College of Design and ITRE partner on $50,000 grant to design innovative approaches to encourage walkable development along decaying multilane suburban highways.

Associate Professor Celen Pasalar received the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s 2022 Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC) Stage 1 grant in support of the project "Catalyzing Walkable, Sustainable, and Equitable Urban Development Using Innovative Transportation Strategies."

Oct 10, 2022

For my sister, your sister, our sisters. 

Master of Industrial Design student Alan Yeh was approached by the NC State Iranian Student Association to spread awareness around the death of Mahsa Amini and the challenges Iranian women face.

Oct 3, 2022

NC State Creatives: Makayla Esposito

Makayla Esposito is a graduate student in the NC State College of Design’s Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning program and she is passionate about making the invisible, visible.

Oct 3, 2022

Students and Coastal Dynamics Design Lab Team Take Top Honors in ASLA National Awards

Students in the College of Design's Master of Landscape Architecture program received four of the 19 national student awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects this year. The Coastal Dynamics Design Lab won their third award in the last five years for their commitment to delivering world-class technical assistance at no direct cost to low-resource, historically underserved rural communities.

Sep 23, 2022

Latinx Voices of Design: Melissa Manjarrez Dominguez

Melissa Manjarrez Dominguez is a first-year graduate student in the college's Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning program. In her story, she recalls her youth in Sinaloa, Mexico, her experiences facing anti-immigration legislation in Alabama, and her desire to create landscapes that are enriching and available to everyone.

Aug 15, 2022

Gene Bressler steps in as interim department head of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

Eugene Bressler will serve as interim department head of landscape architecture and environmental planning following Meg Calkins’ retreat to the faculty at the beginning of July. Bressler returns to the college from retirement, where he served as head of the department from 2006 until his retirement in 2018. He will serve in the position until next spring.

Jun 27, 2022

2022 Designlife Magazine

Read about the people and activities featured in the 2022 issue of Designlife Magazine.

May 18, 2022

Celebrating Another Successful Day of Giving

The College of Design celebrated another successful Day of Giving on March 23, 2022 thanks to the generous gifts of donors, alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends, all of whom believe in the importance of design education. Thanks to your support, the college was able to raise $474,885 from 373 gifts, exceeding last year’s 309 gifts by 21%.

May 12, 2022

NLI Director Joins 80 Researchers Worldwide to Create Parameters for Healthy and Sustainable Cities

Director of the Natural Learning Initiative Dr. Deepti Adlakha’s latest research work was published as part of The Lancet Global Health Series on Urban Design, Transport and Health. Urban design and city planning influence how we can travel, the quality of the air we breathe, our access to essential facilities and services, our participation in social events, and our enjoyment of green spaces. All this is vital to our physical and mental health. In 2016, a series of papers in The Lancet highlighted the myriad links between cities and health and proposed a set of city planning indicators. In this follow-up series published in The Lancet Global Health, authors show how the indicators can benchmark and monitor progress to guide urban policy to achieve population health and sustainability targets. They provide tools that other cities can use to replicate the indicators and explore “where to next” to create healthy and sustainable cities, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

May 5, 2022

Congratulations, Class of 2022!

We asked our spring graduates for some thoughts on their time in the College of Design. Below, hear from them in their own words.

May 4, 2022

A New Way To Measure: Bringing Drone Technology to Landscape Architecture

With the help of NC State’s Institute for Transportation, Research and Education (ITRE), Emily McCoy, associate professor of practice in landscape architecture and environmental planning, has been flying drones across campus for the past five years. But she’s capturing more than the beauty of the landscape. McCoy and the students in her landscape performance class have been using tools such as drones with thermal cameras to evaluate how different landscapes across campus perform from a sustainability standpoint.

Apr 22, 2022

Coastal Dynamics Project Awarded Part of $2 Million Grant for Environmental Justice

The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has named the NC State College of Design's Coastal Dynamics Design Lab as one of 15 climate-focused projects to receive an Environmental Justice for Climate grant. The CEC’s first $2 million EJ4Climate grant program is aimed at supporting efforts made toward environmental justice and climate resilience for communities across North America.

Apr 19, 2022

New state partnership to support local planning for community resilience

The N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) has committed funding to the NC State Coastal Dynamics Design Lab (CDDL) for the development of five North Carolina community floodprint reports over the next three years. A valuable tool for building future community resilience, a floodprint is a landscape planning approach developed by CDDL to address land and water relationships. The floodprint development process incorporates issues such as flooding, recovery and equity into the planning process.

Apr 12, 2022

Graduate Student Research Symposium Winners

Nearly 200 NC State graduate students presented their research projects this week at the 15th annual Graduate Student Research Symposium, and 27 were recognized as the best presenters in their disciplines.…

Mar 22, 2022

Meg Calkins Elevated to Fellow of CELA

Meg Calkins, department head of landscape architecture and environmental planning, was recently inducted into the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Academy of Fellows. CELA only has 70 fellows throughout North America, and the organization comprises over 120 institutions and 11 regions that cover North America, Australian, New Zealand, Europe and the Pacific Rim. 

Jan 20, 2022

Duda Visiting Designer Program asks students to explore North Carolina’s complex history through the lens of racial justice

Thanks to a generous gift from Linda and Turan Duda [BEDA ‘76], students from the College of Design are participating in an immersive, two-week visiting designer program. Partnering with MASS Design Group, students from Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning are grouped into teams of 5-6 students to look at one of three sites in NC.

Dec 15, 2021

First Year Experience Paper Project is featured in Walter Magazine

NC State first-year design students study form, function, and movement through inventive garments made of paper. Republished from Walter Magazine

Nov 29, 2021

Bringing New Voices to the College of Design

The importance of differing perspectives in design was a major consideration for both Rodney and his wife, Juanita Shearer-Swink, when they established their graduate award in 2016. To design effectively for communities, both felt it was important to bring a diverse set of professionals to the table. And that process begins with bringing diverse student perspectives to the College of Design.

Nov 22, 2021

The Path to Healing: Alumnus Chuck Flink and the 9/11 National Memorial Trail Act

Alumnus and landscape architect, Chuck Flink, recently accompanied President Biden and members of Congress for the signing of HR 2278, also known as The 9/11 National Memorial Trail Act, officially designating the trail as a part of the National Trails System. We spoke with Flink on how he became a leading advocate for greenway access and the role landscape architects can play in remembering historic events.

Oct 21, 2021

MLA Students Participate in Green New Deal Superstudio

Three projects from NC State students in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning were featured as part of the Green New Deal Superstudio. The Green New Deal Superstudio is a national conversation to translate the framework of the Green New Deal into actual projects by landscape architecture programs in higher education, as well as professional practices and individuals in those fields.

Sep 30, 2021

MLA Student Stephanie Kelly Chosen as a 2021-22 Global Change Fellow

The Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center recently welcomed its 10th cohort of Global Change Fellows, and among them is Stephanie Kelly, a graduate student in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

Aug 13, 2021

Design Appoints Kofi Boone as Joseph D. Moore Distinguished Professor

The College of Design has named Kofi Boone, FASLA, professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning, as the Joseph D. Moore Distinguished Professor. Boone has been at the College of Design since 2004. His work is in the overlap between landscape architecture and environmental justice with specializations in democratic design, digital media, and interpreting cultural landscapes.