After weathering sixteen months of construction and then the pandemic, the National Building Museum (NBM) in Washington, D.C. is finally back open, with a great new visitor center that tells the story of landscape architecture, five exhibitions, and a new executive director. As part of World Landscape Architecture Month, the NBM has organized a series of online programs that explore historic and contemporary landscapes and equity:
The Landscapes of Frank Lloyd Wright
Monday, April 19
6:30–8 pm EDT
In a program sponsored by the Darwina L. Neal Cultural Landscape Fund, created by former ASLA President Darwina L. Neal, FASLA, we will learn about how famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright considered the “landscape as an integral element in his work.”
Speakers include:
- Mark Bayer, ASLA, founder and principal, Bayer Landscape Architecture, PLLC
- Stuart Graff, president and CEO, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
- Jennifer Gray, curator of Drawings and Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
- Justin W. Gunther, director, Fallingwater and VP, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
- Moderator Stephen Morris, chief of the Office of International Affairs, World Heritage Program Coordinator, National Park Service.
Speakers will discuss “how and why the work of Frank Lloyd Wright was sensitively integrated within their natural landscape settings and enhanced by their designed landscapes.” The discussion will explore many of the eight buildings and landscapes in the Frank Lloyd Wright World Heritage Site — which was announced in 2019 and became the first modern architecture designation in the United States — along with the recently restored landscape of the Martin House.
Spotlight on Design: DAVID RUBIN Land Collective
Tuesday, April 27
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
DAVID RUBIN Land Collective, a Philadelphia-based landscape architecture, urban design, and planning firm, states that “empathy for the public’s engagement with memorials and park spaces” informs their work.
Founding principal David A. Rubin, FASLA, will discuss the “joys and challenges of navigating Washington, D.C.’s complex federal and local public space environment, all while steadfastly emphasizing and advocating for the equity, access, and inclusion of every visitor.”
Rubin will cover Canal Park, Potomac Park Levee, the National World War I Memorial, and Franklin Park in Washington, D.C. Jennifer Reut, acting editor of Landscape Architecture Magazine, will moderate the program.
Equity in the Built Environment: Restorative Justice
Thursday, April 29
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EDT
In a program facilitated by landscape architect Maisie Hughes, ASLA, co-founder of The Urban Studio, Oakland-based non-profit Designing Justice+Designing Spaces will outline its efforts to “end mass incarceration by building infrastructure that addresses its root causes.”
Deanna Van Buren, co-founder, executive director, and design director, discusses her studio’s work countering the “traditional adversarial and punitive architecture of justice by creating spaces and buildings for restorative justice, community building, and housing for people coming out of incarceration.”
This program complements Building for a Decarceration Nation, a virtual exhibition offered by the University of California at Berkeley through May 15.
If in Washington, D.C. area, book timed entry tickets Friday through Sunday, 11AM-4PM for the time being. The NBM’s fantastic book store is also open.