
Upcoming Listening Event: Introducing BlackLAN Podcast
Monday, July 27, 2020 New date TBA
On July 27, ASLA will air the Everything but the Building podcast episode featuring the Black Landscape Architects Network (BlackLAN), interviewed by Stacey Brochtrup. Attendees will learn about the organization and then have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with Glenn LaRue Smith, ASLA, BlackLAN Founder and President and first black landscape architect awarded the Loeb Fellowship from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Everything but the Building is a podcast about the people, places, and history behind the profession of landscape architecture. It can be found on eight different platforms, including Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher.
BlackLAN was established in 2012 as an online communications network. The network was established by Glenn LaRue Smith, ASLA, as Manager and Kofi Boone, ASLA, as Co-Manager. BlackLAN is an organization for landscape architects of African heritage in the United States and internationally. The goal of the network is to foster mentorship, facilitate black diaspora conversations, disseminate news items, and provide resources and other information. In addition to the online network, the BlackLAN is currently moving to an open-source website platform to expand the work and mission of the network. To learn more about this vital community of landscape architecture professionals or sign up to receive the BlackLAN newsletter, contact BlackLAN.
Glenn LaRue Smith, ASLA, has built an urbanism career inspired by the intersection of landscape and architecture. He has over thirty-five years of private, public, and academic practice experience, focusing on the ‘City’ as a cultural and artistic medium for practice. As an application of this passion for urbanism, Glenn has worked on projects ranging from urban waterfronts and community redevelopment, to community playgrounds, and most recently, a memorial design. He has been a participant on urban design workshops in several major American cities and an invited juror on diverse design competitions.
What he has done over the course of his career is bring a respect for the intrinsic value and uniqueness of each project location to his work at PUSH Studio. This philosophy has yielded an approach that utilizes the interpretation of site imagery/symbols to develop appropriate place-specific sculptural landscape form. His leadership experience has been enriched by roles as Acting Deputy Director of the Prince George’s County, Maryland Redevelopment Authority, and academic landscape architecture Chairmanships at Florida A&M University and Morgan State University. He has also served as President of the New York Chapter of ASLA and is a member of Lambda Alpha International and the New York Urban Design Forum.
Read more about Glenn here:
- Landscape Architecture Foundation Perspectives with Glenn LaRue Smith
- Sculpting Communities: CALS Alumnus at Intersection of Urbanism and Art
For more information on ASLA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, please visit asla.org/dei. Would you like to get involved? Please contact Lisa J. Jennings, Manager, Career Discovery and Diversity at ASLA, at discover@asla.org.
For information on other upcoming webinars and links to past presentations, please visit asla.org/onlinelearning.