Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 12 hours ago
Event Description:
“First we read, then we write.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
This richly illustrated talk by Laurie Olin will discuss the stages of influence and reflection that precede and may shape subsequent creative activity. After a brief survey of his own career and encounters with the body of landscape literature, he turns to the flood of books in recent years. After considering their diverse character and purpose, he asks, “Why would a person whose creative drive has been directed to another medium choose to make a book?” He speculates upon the body of landscape architecture literature, its long if unacknowledged traditions and utility, and the possible future(s) of landscape writing, theorizing, and books.
Speaker:
Laurie Olin is a distinguished teacher, author, and one of the most renowned landscape architects practicing today. From vision to realization, he has guided many of OLIN’s signature projects, which span the history of the studio, from the Washington Monument Grounds in Washington, DC, to Bryant Park in New York City. His recent projects include the AIA-award-winning Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and the Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland, Oregon.
Olin studied civil engineering at the University of Alaska and pursued architecture at the University of Washington, where Richard Haag encouraged him to focus on landscape. He is currently a practice professor of landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught for 40 years, and is the former chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and a recipient of the 1998 Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the recipient of the 2012 National Medal of Arts, the highest lifetime achievement award for artists and designers bestowed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the President of the United States. He also holds the 2011 American Society of Landscape Architects Medal, the society’s highest award for a landscape architect.
0:00 Welcome by Sarah Rafson
02:49 Introduction by Gary Hilderbrand
14:31 Lecture by Laurie Olin
01:12:08 Discussion and Q+A
Event Description:
“First we read, then we write.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
This richly illustrated talk by Laurie Olin will discuss the stages of influence and reflection that precede and may shape subsequent creative activity. After a brief survey of his own career and encounters with the body of landscape literature, he turns to the flood of books in recent years. After considering their diverse character and purpose, he asks, “Why would a person whose creative drive has been directed to another medium choose to make a book?” He speculates upon the body of landscape architecture literature, its long if unacknowledged traditions and utility, and the possible future(s) of landscape writing, theorizing, and books.
Speaker:
Laurie Olin is a distinguished teacher, author, and one of the most renowned landscape architects practicing today. From vision to realization, he has guided many of OLIN’s signature projects, which span the history of the studio, from the Washington Monument Grounds in Washington, DC, to Bryant Park in New York City. His recent projects include the AIA-award-winning Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and the Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland, Oregon.
Olin studied civil engineering at the University of Alaska and pursued architecture at the University of Washington, where Richard Haag encouraged him to focus on landscape. He is currently a practice professor of landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught for 40 years, and is the former chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and a recipient of the 1998 Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the recipient of the 2012 National Medal of Arts, the highest lifetime achievement award for artists and designers bestowed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the President of the United States. He also holds the 2011 American Society of Landscape Architects Medal, the society’s highest award for a landscape architect.
0:00 Welcome by Sarah Rafson
02:49 Introduction by Gary Hilderbrand
14:31 Lecture by Laurie Olin
01:12:08 Discussion and Q+A
