This Matters and the future depends on it

Transcription

1 This Matters and the future depends on it With ASLA making a national call for increasing diversity and access, this session will discuss diversity beyond gender and ethnicity and into the diversity of values. This moderated panel discussion with diverse young professionals is an opportunity to better understand the future of the profession as embodied by the emerging professional with hopes of better comprehending their potential within an established office. This Matters Learning outcomes: Learn how to utilize an integrated design process in your project for maximum benefit in engaging the emerging professional of your office. Identify the factors that influence emerging professionals beyond wages and benefits- what is the added value they are seeking in the office and from the profession. Learn to identify the emerging trends and current issues that interest emerging talent most and the ethical values that motivate them. Identify the technologies that emerging professionals engage and value and their notions of how to better leverage the media This Matters and the future depends on it Panel Discussion Outline This Matters > introduction a. The future depends on it Understanding the next generation of landscape architects is critical to the future of the profession. Over the next 60 minutes this panel will discuss skills, issues, values and aspirations for landscape architecture. We will discuss four main topics core to their generation: Technology + Transition Process + Practice Diversity + Values Real + Wanted Newly minted introductions (provide insight on 3 diverse backgrounds in landscape architecture) This panel consists of three emerging landscape architecture professionals with diverse backgrounds and experiences- in life and professionally. After graduation, students of all landscape architecture programs sojourn off in different directions. Going into firms of different scales, very different processes, with different foci, and widely varied approaches to design and yet the challenges and experiences about the reality of the profession (the so- called real world ) align. What Matters to the panel (9 images + 3 minutes each) To contextualize the experiences of these emerging professional they will each show what matters to them and how they came to landscape architecture: Nabyl Macias: SWA Natasha Harkison: SWA Bryan Chou: Mikyoung Kim Design

2 b. Technology + Transitions The transition from the academic environment into the professional environment often times is predicated on your mastery of technology- your transition is through technology. You also use technology to communicate, we all do, but the current generation for emerging professionals knows no other method. What is the role of technology in your daily professional experience? How has that interface molded your vision of the profession you have entered? Understand the embed nature of the technological interface; what opportunities do you see to better leverage the capabilities of the office youth? What interests you in technology? How do you see the role of technology in the design studios? Can it better facilitate the transition between worlds? c. Process + Practice Many offices make a point of having a clear design process. The process by which they work and operate is core to there success. Understanding the importance of timelines and budgets, very real practicalities, you were all also hired for your potential. How have you all been incorporated into the design process of practice? How might you propose to be more incorporated or more integrated into the moments of practice that got you into landscape architecture? What is it that you believe the emerging professional brings to the studio process? How young professionals be better integrated and more valued? What ideas do you all have to bridge the generational gap experienced employer and naïve young professional? Office politics, office culture, professional growth, understanding liability and general exposure to the practice of landscape architecture often takes years to learn. The first couple of years are a very steep learning curve. Can you please share a success and a struggle within your experience? Can you share how the office can help in these situations? d. Diversity + Values You all obviously come from diverse backgrounds. Beyond the obvious gender and ethnicity, your ages, life experiences and ethical values play, can play, a large role in office culture. Let s get the obvious out of the way- how would you each define diversity? What is its role in the office? What are the current issues that interest you; where do you see your values reflected in the design world? How strongly do your ethics motivate you, and by extension the emerging professional? How much of a role does compensation play? What is the added value, beyond compensation, that drives your interest in an office? What are you seeking from the profession? e. Real + Wanted You all clearly came to practice, into the real world, with expectations. What was the expectation among you and your peers as you all separated from school and moved into the workforce? What of those expectations have been met? What has yet to be met?

3 We started talking about transitions and before we conclude a few more questions are critical. Opportunities are often present to the youngest and most naïve of office staff. And often the teaching in offices is assumed through the doing of practice. Often the provocative question in school is the most interesting and often in practice it is the first jettisoned; how do you manage the education in critical thinking with the practicality of practice? What opportunities in an office are considered challenging to a young professional? What is the value of the opportunities to you? As an emerging professional, what can be said about the connection (or not) between academia and the real world? What ways do you see for offices to effectively continue teaching the emerging professional in direct ways, beyond the opportunities and through the practice? Let s end this conversation with a couple questions about what emerging professionals want and see in landscape architecture. There are many practical concerns and issues but I want to end on what you are lookign for. What innovations do we see taking place in the future of the field- whether humble or wild? What really matters to you in landscape architecture? What keeps the emergent generation of landscape architecture focused and interested in the field? What is landscape architecture to you? And can you see yourself reflected in it? f. Question + Answers Let s hear what matter to the audience.

4 panel bios Nabyl Macias SWA Laguna Beach, CA Nabyl Macias recently joined SWA Group, Laguna Beach. She graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture and brings to the firm a strong multidisciplinary foundation that is translated into her design philosophy, aesthetic, and process. Nabyl is passionate about challenging the limits of innovation through the exploitation and exploration of unconventional urban planning, opportunities found in circumstantial clashes, and the utilization of models of resilient nature to address the built environment. Thus far, Nabyl has collaborated with SWA Laguna Beach, and Sausalito on projects throughout the United States, China, and Indonesia; dealing with specific plans, master planning, retail, and open space. Natasha Harkison SWA Laguna Beach, CA Natasha Harkison is currently a landscape designer at SWA Laguna Beach. Natasha previously worked for Marmol Radziner + Associates in Los Angeles, CA. She recently received her BSLA from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Natasha is interested in multiple facets of landscape architecture, from urban design and infrastructure to residential design and the process of designing in detail and constructing a landscape with respect to change. Currently, she is exploring methods to construct a concrete masonry wall that can house bats, an idea that stemmed from a recent ASLA honor award in general design titled 'Concrete Habitat Units'. Bryan Chou Mikyoung Kim Design, Bryan Chou is a Senior Associate and public art project manager at Mikyoung Kim Design. His work has focused on the assimilation of art and landscape in the public realm. Current projects include Boston Children s Hospital Entry Court, Chicago Botanic Garden Learning Center and public art installations in Charlotte and Miami. Prior to Mikyoung Kim Design, Bryan has worked as an urban planner and in the construction field. He holds a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design and B.A. in Community and Environmental Planning from the University of Washington. moderator bio Andrew O Wilcox, ASLA Associate Professor Landscape Architecture, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Andy Wilcox is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. At Cal Poly Pomona he is the undergraduate program coordinator and teaches design studios at all levels with an emphasis on interdisciplinary practice and urbanism. Andy has current interest in the found conditions of wilderness within the vast infrastructure of Los Angeles and recently completed an essay on a project about fly- fishing the LA River for the upcoming Los Angeles Atlas by Heyday Press. In addition to teaching and creative work, Andrew is active in the ASLA. Andy is a licensed Landscape Architect in California. He holds a BSLA from Cal Poly Pomona and a MLA from the University of Southern California.

5 Millennial Approved Resources On Thinking: It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be Paul Arden Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite Paul Arden On Drawing and Design: The Drawing Projects: An Exploration of the Language of Drawing Mick Maslen and Jack Southern Grounds and Envelopes: Reshaping Architecture and the Built Environment Michael Hensel and Jeffrey Turko Digital Drawing for Landscape Architecture: Contemporary Techniques and Tools for Digital Representation in Site Design Bradley Cantrell and Wes Michaels Drawing Architecture AD Neil Spiller On the Diagram: Architectural Diagrams Pyo Mi Young Architectural and Program Diagrams (Construction and Design Manual) Kim Seonwook Architectural and Program Diagrams 2 Kim Seonwook and Pyo Miyoung On Millennial Management: Managing the Millennials: Discover the Core Competencies for Managing Today's Workforce Chip Espinoza, Mick Ukleja and Craig Rusch Keeping The Millennials: Why Companies Are Losing Billions in Turnover to This Generation- and What to Do About It Joanne Sujansky and Jan Ferri- Reed The Reluctant Mentor: How Baby Boomers and Millennials Can Mentor Each Other in the Modern Workplace Lew Sauder and Jeff Porter

6 The generation Y defined on Vimeo