News

Practice title Plum Island date 2023-09 venue Parker River
Plum Island, Massachusetts

The Plum Island pilot project is open to the public. The related habitat management plan and environmental assessment for the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge is open for public comment through October 2023. Please share your input.

Workshop title Tijuana River date 2023-06 venue AA Visiting School
Tijuana River Estuary

Helen presents on the urbanism of the Tijuana River Valley for the AA Visiting School. The workshop explores the cartographic and scenographic methods through which we may grasp the complexity of transborder landscapes in a limited encounter.

Workshop title Design With Data date 2023-05 venue Cooper Hewitt

This year, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum's national design competition invited students to design with data for thier communities. Three finalist teams convened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a two-day workshop exploring climate equity among other themes. We were delighted to serve as mentors.

Symposium title On Sustainability date 2023-03 venue Massachusetts Institute of Technology
San Francisco Bay Estuary

Helen presents recent research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) joint research program for design at the nexus of sustainability and digital technologies.

Symposium title On Sustainability date 2020-01 venue Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
San Francisco, California

Helen presents at the 16th International Summit on Sustainability in Santiago, Chile, January 2020. The panel focuses on urbanization and geologic vulnerability in Northern California as a comparative case study. Also contributing are California Geological Survey scientists who analyze geologic hazards. The event is hosted by UC Chile Architecture, Urban Design, and Urban Studies.

Studio title Climate Pilots date 2020-01 venue University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California

Helen teaches an advanced topics studio at the University of California, Los Angeles, as a visiting professor in Winter/Spring 2020.

The studio, co-taught with architect Christina Tung (Grimshaw), examines adaptive strategies for climate equity in the City of Los Angeles with attention to the public realm, landscape, and urban form. The studio inverts the scientific paradigm of climate adaptation as a practice of systemic adjustment within socio-ecological systems to consider ground-up approaches to mitigate urban heat events through adaptations of form and material within the built environment. Thus, it clearly locates adaptative practice in the realm of architecture and urban design. The course is offered by the School of Architecture and Design and open to MArch and MURP students by lottery enrollment.

Lecture title Climate by Design date 2019-06 venue American Institute of Architects
Colorado River Delta, Baja California

Helen lectures at the American Institute of Architects annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 2019. The panel explores the evolving role of architecture, design, and engineering within the increasingly transdisciplinary fields of knowledge and inquiry centered on the climate crisis.

Lecture title Practices of Adaptation date 2018-10 venue American Society of Landscape Architects
Napa Valley, California

Helen lectures at the American Society of Landscape Architects annual meeting in Philadelphia, October 2018. The talk considers evolving approaches to natural and cultural resource management in the context of a changing climate and their influence on the design disciplines and professions.

Practice title Teaching Landscape Architecture date 2017-09 venue Rhode Island School of Design
Providence, Rhode Island

Helen is appointed Assistant Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design where, since 2017, she teaches graduate-level design studios, research seminars, and methods courses in the Master of Landscape Architecture degree program.

Seminar title Data, Design, Decision date 2017-04 venue Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University convenes an exploratory seminar, Data, Design, Decision. This event invites practitioners to share early-stage research on the relationships between spatial analytics and decision-making in contemporary design practice among other topics.