February 10, 2025 – David Malda ASLA, LEED AP is a speaker for this year’s University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design Lecture Series in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this coming Thursday, March 20.

David is presenting Making Landscapes: A Relational Practice, which will explore the potential of landscape to connect people to the land and to each other through the land. By focusing on building relationships among the people and places that already exist (and have often been damaged), David will explain how our work as landscape architects can support broader initiatives for belonging to a place, rather than simply adding another new thing.

This year’s Spring Lecture Series will begin with a talk from Kazuyo Sejima, co-founder of the Tokyo-based architectural firm SANAA. Other speakers include Jonathan Thompson, Senior Ecologies and Research Director at Harvard Forest; Junya Ishigami, Founding Architect at junya.ishigami+associates; Andrew Lee, Author of the novel Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War; Billie Tsien, Founding Partner at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects; and Leslie Thornton, Abstract Artist.

The Weitzman Lecture Series invites architects, artists, preservationists, and planners to share their unique insights and experiences with eager students. This lecture series will focus on a variety of topics that focus on tackling generational challenges and opportunities, ranging from the planning that went into the design makeover of The Art Institute of Chicago to the lessons that can be learned about climate action coexistence from studying the Amazon.

Admission is free and open to the public; advance registration is required for some events. Unless noted otherwise, lectures take place at Meyerson Hall, 210 South 34th Street, Philadelphia.

Learn more about the Weitzman School of Design Lecture Series

February 10 – David Malda, ASLA, LEED AP, is presenting at this year’s Building Museums Symposium in St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday, March 7.

The session title is Designing to a Place: Architecture and Exhibit Design for the New Milwaukee Public Museum. This presentation will discuss the design process for the Milwaukee Public Museum and how it has been meticulously tuned to engage the rich heritage of Milwaukee and Wisconsin at large.

Co-presenters include Chris Ludwig, AIA, Associate Principal and Senior Designer at Kahler Slater; Katie Sanders, Chief Planning Officer at the Milwaukee Public Museum; Helen Divjak, Senior Curator at Thinc Design; and Jarrett Pelletier, AIA, Design Principal at Ennead Architects.

The 2025 Building Museums Symposium is a 3-day national event that focuses on the process, promise, and pitfalls of planning and managing museum building projects. It is an opportunity for architects, museum leaders, project managers, and all professionals who plan or implement new construction, renovation, preservation, or expansion projects for museums.

Learn more on the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums Website.

February 10, 2025 – Shannon Nichol, FASLA, PLA, LEED AP, is giving a lecture at Ball State University’s Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning in Muncie, Indiana, as a guest speaker on Wednesday, March 19.

Shannon’s lecture Seeing and Drawing is geared toward students and designers early in their careers in landscape architecture or related fields. One of the frequent questions from young professionals is how the traditional, first steps of objective site analysis and listening can translate into design that is not only truly contextually responsive and technically sound but also personally creative and intuitive. Deformalizing the boundary between the existing place and one’s design concepts, as well as the boundary between one’s personal interest and work, can help enrich every task as well. Referring to GGN’s 25 years of work – as well as some off-piste personal studies in plant propagation and ecology – Shannon will share examples of design-driven efforts to visualize the real ground of each pace. Over time, these efforts have become increasingly hands-on and intuitive.

Other professionals speaking at Ball State University this year include Mark Roseland, Professor of Sustainable Community Solutions at Arizona State University and Author of the novel Towards Sustainable Communities; Josh Vermillion, Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator at the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Architecture; and Ronald Fry, PhD, Co-Creator of the Appreciative Inquiry theory and method.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Learn more on Ball State University’s website.