Member Profiles 2012: International Practice



Search the LAND Archives (2000-March 2010)

This article is the fifth in a series profiling members of ASLA’s Professional Practice Networks (PPNs), based on responses to the 2012 Annual PPN Member Survey. Members of this PPN work on projects ranging from high-end developments to improvements in rural areas. Here are some highlights of their work.

		Email



		Print

Steven Rogers, ASLA, is a principal at SRLA Studio International in Scottsdale, Arizona. He described a particularly rewarding project for a village in Croatia. He began the project by visiting the village to survey the region and the existing landscape, evaluate local building methodologies, and gain a sense of the country's heritage. He was able to stay with local residents and experience a rare insight into their lifestyle, heritage, and sources of pride. Upon completing his research, he facilitated a three-day community immersion and design charrette for the residents to build an 11-hectare community park. He then developed drawings and color renderings of the strongest concept for the park that he also presented to the village. He returned to the United States to refine the draft concept plan, which the municipality accepted. His firm completed the construction documents this past October.

Rogers found the project to be particularly meaningful because it allowed him to gain an insight into the culture of a foreign community and design a park that responded directly to their needs, visions, and goals. Had they simply asked his firm to design the park without benefit of the community involvement (a process he persuaded the municipality to reject), the plan would have been entirely different.

Stan Clauson, ASLA, is a principal at Stan Clauson Associates Inc., a land planning and resort design firm in Aspen, Colorado. The firm recently received two major approvals for projects in Aspen. The first is a mixed-use project that incorporated new commercial development and two postwar buildings that are important to Aspen's heritage. The other is a 26-unit condominium joint-venture project with the Aspen Housing Authority that includes affordable housing and very high-quality, market-rate condos. The firm also designs alternative transportation projects—the most recent includes a pedestrian underpass with trail system links to provide a safe crossing of a major arterial. Clauson volunteers at the Colorado Chapter of the American Planning Association and is working to establish a local U.S. Green Building Council interest group in the area.

He recently traveled to Spain and afterward wrote an article on bicycle accommodations for tourism and transportation in Spain. The article will be published in an upcoming issue of the Institute of Transportation Engineers newsletter.

Antonio Leung, ASLA, is a principal at LEUNG planning + design in Decatur, Georgia. His primary focus is community master planning, site planning, and design based on new urban principles for developing social housing in Latin America.

Kevin G. Mangan, ASLA, is a principal at Stantec in Naples, Florida. He is particularly interested in the continued growth of emerging markets outside of the United States, the need for quality living environments in all sections of the population, the rise of economic and life quality issues across the classes, integration and exchange of cultures, and their expectations for quality of life.

Aris W. Stalis, ASLA, is a principal at Aris Land Studio in Bridgeport, Connecticut. While he is just starting his own firm, his longer-term focus is on international activities.

Simon Bussiere, ASLA, is an assistant professor of landscape architecture at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and owner of Native Spaces, a laboratory for a range of design/build projects. Previously he was a landscape architect in AECOM's Australian offices. In addition to teaching, he is focusing research at the intersection of informality and representation on two ongoing projects. The first is in La Prusia, Nicaragua, where residents in informal settlements are at risk of displacement. Bussiere is collaborating with a number of people to develop practical designs that can evolve over time as conditions improve. The second project is in Nigeria, within a 4,000-acre site called Anam City. There the effort is to work within an ecological framework to curb rural migration from nearby villages toward urban centers such as Abuja and Lagos.

David J. Smith, ASLA, is a director at Down South Design Ltd. and is currently in Trinidad in the West Indies establishing a land planning and landscape architecture business for the firm. This is a difficult environment for this type of business, and he believes that landscape architects must be careful in undertaking new projects here.

Jordan Clough, Associate ASLA, is a project designer at AST Cowen Design Group in Arlington, Virginia. He is involved in ongoing work on Overseas Building Operations projects throughout Africa. Clough has also submitted an entry to an art competition regarding the reuse of military infrastructure as a diplomatic tool.

Samantha Spitale, Associate ASLA, is an assistant project coordinator at Outside Landscape Group, a residential design firm in Alpharetta, Georgia. She recently worked on photo shoots of clients' homes and landscapes. She then was able to create before-and-after profiles for the firm’s monthly newsletter, as well as for Home Improvement Magazine. The story of the landscapes through pictures never ceases to amaze her: The transformation from a sketch on trace to an actual product that makes dreams come to life is incredible every time, she says. Currently, the firm is entering a few of the photos in design competitions.

Dennis K. Selinger, International ASLA, is the managing director at St. Legere Design International in Hong Kong. He has worked outside of the United States since 1980 and has lived and worked in Hong Kong since 1994.

He notes that he is an associate member of the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) of the Hong Kong Chapter, which is quite active with about 300 members. He adds that the Hong Kong Chapter and other AIA international chapters raise awareness of the profession and educate clients about the expertise required to be an AIA member. Selinger hopes that ASLA will develop a similar international presence and focus to promote the profession as a whole and demonstrate the more stringent standards under which ASLA members practice. In this regard, the term "International ASLA Member" may need to be reconsidered, especially if an "International Chapter" is organized.

Donald Irving, International ASLA, is the director at Donald Irving Landscape Architecture in Daisy Hill, Queensland, Australia. He notes that he has stayed afloat with a number of reliable and astute private clients and a regular semi-government client. He is also getting some interesting and challenging commissions. Most important, he feels privileged to work with great people, and the rapport they share greatly outweighs frustrations with local bureaucrats.

Danielle Denlinger, Student ASLA, is a landscape architecture student at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. At the 2011 ASLA Annual Meeting, she found particularly meaningful the educational session titled, "Lessons from Abroad: The Profession Beyond North America." She had recently returned from Ecuador, where she was volunteering and designing parks as an intern for the municipal office of her city of residence. The speaker, Consuelo Bravo, described the profession in Latin America in a way that confirmed many of her personal observations and impression of landscape architecture there. Denlinger’s classmate and friend had completed an internship in Beijing during the same period, and the session echoed many of the same themes. Denlinger hopes there will be more of these types of presentations at future annual meetings.

Dustin Felix, Student ASLA, is a student at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. While working for USAID in Haiti, he helped implement a grant to install 700,000 Jatropha curcas trees near the city of Saint-Marc. These trees could impede soil erosion, provide feed for livestock and fish (they are near an aquaculture project), provide biofuel, and help create jobs. Unfortunately, it will take two to three years before he knows whether the project succeeds or fails. He is staying in contact with representatives of the non-governmental organization that USAID has supported throughout the project.

Marjorie Woodbury, Student ASLA, attends Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. She was able to travel to Montevideo, Uruguay, with her professor in December. From that visit, she chose as her thesis project the design of a plaza in Montevideo.

Nobuko Ogawa, Student ASLA, is currently a student at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. She is interested in educational landscapes where children can interact with nature and hopes one day to become an expert in that field. She is also very interested in landscape architecture in Isfahan, Italy, and urban planning in Nairobi, Kenya. After graduation, she would like to work for a firm with a multinational focus.

Visit the International Practice PPN webpage for more information about this group. To learn more about ASLA's other PPNs, go to the PPN homepage ,or contact Dena Kennett, ASLA's manager of Professional Practice, dkennett@asla.org.

Comments