Every year, around the start of the spring, a lucky university who is a member of the Landscape Architecture Bash (LABash) organization, gets to host a mini conference for Landscape Architecture students. Started by the University of Guelph in Canada, in 1970, LABash’s mission is to travel to other universities in North America, collaborating with other landscape students who share similar philosophies on landscape, urban planning, and our own world. This year, I had the privilege of attending LABash, which was being hosted at The Ohio State University (tOSU or OSU) for the fourth time in the history of the conference. The conference theme was also quite fitting for the high winds we encountered throughout the conference: cross-pollination.
The conference started at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11. It was a simple day, really. Registration, a few lectures, and opening remarks led by the organizers of the conference, and American Society of Landscape Architects President, Bradley McCauley. After some introductions by the LABash team, McCauley then stepped-up to offer some words of wisdom and encouragement to the attending group of about 300 students. His words motivated us to not just give up during these politically challenging times, but to even fight back in our own way, putting our landscape marks on the world silently but strongly.
On the second day, we had many events and lectures scheduled, with a final lecture in the evening being done by keynote speaker Julia Watson, who spoke on the of Lo-TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) design that has been adopted worldwide as a way of adopting native landscapes into traditional urban design. We also had a small expo of manufacturers and employers who were there to offer their expertise for the products they make and for some to offer open internship positions. I even got to score an interview out of it. There were a variety of field sessions available, including the OSU campus tour, which took us all over campus, and giving us an insight into the landscape design of the university. From mirror lake to the Oval, we explored the significant and incredible landscapes of OSU, led by OSU students (shoutout to Korbin) and the university landscape architect. We also had one small session with a student from Germany who spoke about opportunities for landscape students in Europe (shoutout to Lukas), and the possible options American students have for careers in Europe.
The evening ended with a social hour at a local venue which offered arcade games, dancing to Pitbull songs, and free drinks, courtesy of the Green Theory company. We had a lot of fun socializing with industry leaders in a more relaxed setting, and I even got to meet a few other students from our mid-state neighbors at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
The third and final day of the conference started like the last, lectures and workshops. There was a larger emphasis on indigenous design and wisdom within landscape architecture. I got to attend a lecture and workshop on mapping, and how mapping our lives can show how much we really know about the places we grew up in, and how we can change that by simply walking around our neighborhoods, cities, or suburbs. My last lecture was with Sarah Swanseen from OLIN in Los Angeles, talking about the potential the Los Angeles Basin has for being a cultural landscape, and what can be done about de-channelizing certain areas of the LA river.
The day ended with a cocktail hour and the passing of the passing of the torch to the next host university. This cocktail hour was at a venue off of fourth street in Columbus offering a beautiful view of the skyline! I had an amazing time meeting some talented designers, amazing emerging professionals, and getting to experience a more traditional college setting for a few days. Thank you to my new colleagues Brayden, Korbin, Lukas, and my attending classmates who made this trip memorable!! Thank you to The Ohio State University for hosting 300 of us from around the world, and of course I look forward to Arizona State University next year!