LABash 2024 Conference at UC Davis Draws More than 400 Attendees
4/14/2024Leave a Comment
LABash, the landscape architecture conference for students, by students, was held March 28-30 at the University of California Davis in Davis, CA. After more than a year of planning, a team of 10 student leaders led by Mark Peñaran, Student ASLA, and Olive Tang, Student ASLA, hosted a successful conference with 440 attendees, made up of 250 students and 190 professionals.
49 speakers presented in 20 education sessions, four art workshops, and eight field sessions. The Expo had representatives from 48 companies, firms, universities, and non-profits engaging with the future of the landscape architecture profession.
Thanks to Haven Kiers, Assistant Professor of Landscape
Architecture + Environmental Design, students were welcomed to the campus by the UC Davis Sheepmowers, which
demonstrated how sheep can serve as a more sustainable lawn care
alternative. The exhibit also featured
sketching, watercolors, and needle felting with the sheep's wool.
Other highlights included the opening keynote “Designing Conscious Spaces” by Kimberly Garza, ASLA, Founder and Principal at Atlas Lab Inc. based in Sacramento, and the closing keynote “Adaptive Landscapes” by Gena Wirth, ASLA, Design Principal and Partner at SCAPE which has offices in New York City, New Orleans, and San Francisco.
Students also got to explore landscapes in Davis and Sacramento on field
sessions throughout the day on Friday. Trips to Village Homes, Jepson
Prairie, Downtown Sacramento, and Yolo Causeway allowed attendees to
explore beyond the campus. Others chose to stay local and
participate in an art workshop “Wisdom of Place” led by Chip Sullivan,
FASLA, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at
University of California Berkeley and Elizabeth Boults, ASLA, Lecturer
at UC Davis, or explore the UC Davis campus with Professor Kiers on a
nature walk.
Vectorworks Landmark also hosted a BIM workshop and there was a sketch crawl led by Dr. David de la Peña, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture + Environmental Design at UC Davis, and student leader Anne Miyadi, Student ASLA.
The final day provided students opportunities to attend education
sessions covering topics that fell under the conference tracks:
Sustainability, Pre-Professional, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
The
conference concluded during the Closing Ceremony, which took place at
the beautiful Ruhstaller Farm, with a fun-filled night of music,
dancing. The ceremony also included the traditional passing of the
Permaloc Cup to next year’s LABash host, the University of Guelph, which
is just outside of Toronto, Canada.
Fun fact, LABash started in 1970 at University of Guelph, so the students are excited to #BringLABashHome.