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