Landscape Architecture

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 14, 2022

An Update on the Allred Gallery Floor

The floor of the Allred Gallery in Kamphoefner Hall was inspired by the work of well-known architect Le Corbusier. As we learn more about the history of this designer from contemporary research, we are learning more about his unfortunate ties to groups that excluded and persecuted others. The values held by Le Corbusier, particularly those of homophobia, misogyny, and fascism, are not held by the College of Design. Our mission is to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for any individual who enters our space to work and learn.  

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. Posters are judged by faculty, and students receive recognition for top posters. The goals are to showcase the outstanding quality and diversity of graduate-level research… 

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. 

Jun 17, 2021

Navigating an Unfamiliar Landscape

College of Design faculty faced uncharted terrain - and persevered - when COVID-19 forced them to convert their landscape architecture studio to a hybrid model. A change of scenery was in order when Gene Bressler and Carla Delcambre embarked on their fifth year of teaching an introductory graduate landscape architecture design studio. 

Jun 8, 2021

Landscape Architecture Professor Lewis Clarke Passes Away at 94

Lewis Clarke, FASLA, passed away on Sunday, June 6, 2021. He catalyzed the evolution of American landscape architecture for over sixty-five years as a professor at the North Carolina State University School (now College) of Design and as a visiting lecturer at numerous universities. 

Mar 30, 2021

LAEP Professor Robin Moore Receives Holladay Medal

LAEP Professor and Director of the Natural Learning Initiative, Robin Moore, has received NC State's highest honor for a faculty member. 

Feb 24, 2021

SCPN Spotlight: Kofi Boone

Kofi Boone was recently featured by the State Climate Policy Network on the Importance of Community-Led Design in Creating Just and Livable Cities. All across the country, members of the State Climate Policy Network (SCPN) are fighting to make an impact on climate change in their communities. 

Feb 1, 2021

Design Identities: Breeze Outlaw

Breeze is a landscape designer interested in addressing the perceptual and physical interpretations of equitable and just access to public spaces. In zir work, zie explores frameworks of resilient sociocultural equity through futurism, cultural expressions, and natural systems. 

Dec 23, 2020

Landscape Architecture Program Recognized for Excellence in Assessment

The Master of Landscape Architecture program has been selected as an inaugural honoree for NC State's Excellence in Assessment awards, given by the NC State Graduate School. 

Dec 3, 2020

Congratulations, Graduates!

For our 2020 graduates, this year's commencement ceremony was like no other. It began with a video of Dean Hoversten searching the campus for our students. Then, the department heads shared words of encouragement with the students, commending them for their outstanding work this year. 

Nov 21, 2020

Coastal Dynamics Design Lab Continues Community Flood Work with Two New Grants

The Coastal Dynamics Design Lab continues its work throughout the State of North Carolina with two new grants received. 

Sep 22, 2020

New Name, Continued Direction: Landscape Architecture’s Name Change Reflects Continued Work with Communities

“This change better aligns our department with both our curriculum offerings and the work our faculty have been doing, both researched-based and in the community, over the last several years” said Meg Calkins, department head of landscape architecture and environmental planning. 

Sep 4, 2020

Exploring Coastal Conservation: Students and Faculty Win ASLA Awards to Preserve NC

Three submissions were selected for Honor Awards as part of the 2020 American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Professional and Student Awards. 

Aug 12, 2020

College of Design Develops New Graduate Certificate in Disaster Resilient Policy, Engineering and Design

The certificate will educate the next generation of practitioners and scholars to reduce the rise in disaster losses and assist communities to adapt to a changing climate. 

Jul 17, 2020

From Architecture to Augmented Reality

A lack of access to information, language barriers, excessive time costs and a poor implementation of two-way communication methods are just a few of the reasons why residents across the country don’t speak up during public municipal government hearings. These reasons not only affect how communities develop and are granted resources, but they also have a direct correlation to the health and well-being of certain neighborhoods.