Living in a Reclaimed Material World: Benefits, Friction, and Landscape Project Precedents - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/HSW) / 1.0 GBCI SITES-Specific CE

Recorded On: 10/10/2025

Using reclaimed and recyclable materials can be appealing but presents barriers favoring the status quo, often leaving potential benefits achievable. Landscape architects have the power to have to align with SITES v2 principles and employ materiality in ways that decrease carbon footprints, minimize waste, promote collaborative community building, generate local economies, deepen place-based connections, and inspire future generations.

Learning objectives:

Reshape thinking about the status quo systems that our field relies on, and discover new ways of implementing change.
Gain awareness of the opportunities and constraints of proposing and implementing reclaimed materials on projects of various scales, aligning with SITES v2 credits such as “Use Recycled Content Materials” and “Support Sustainable Practices in Materials Manufacturing.”
Learn how designing landscapes with reclaimed materials helps foster a deeper connection with local communities and the environment, reflecting SITES v2 emphasis on fostering social equity and community health.
Explore ways to drive change toward circular economies and design approaches that minimize waste.

The GBCI course ID for this course is 920032549, providing SITES-specific CE hours required to maintain SITES AP credentials. Participants will need to pass the exam at the end of the presentation in order to receive a certificate of completion. Participants will need to self-report CE hours through their credentials account on https://sitesonline.usgbc.org.

Alyssa Olson, ASLA, PLA

Senior Associate

Mithun

Alyssa Olson, PLA, ASLA, has over 10 years of experience in both landscape architecture and designing and building custom furniture with reclaimed wood. Her built design work prioritizes an integrated design approach and spans the realms of affordable multi-family housing, university housing and campuses, childcare open space, parks, urban plazas, site infrastructure, streetscapes, coastal adaptation resilience and nature-based solutions, creative tech workplaces and custom site furnishings from concept through construction. She interweaves her background knowledge of fabrication and growing experience with reclaimed wood to create one-of-a-kind furnishings and art pieces for both exterior and interior environments.

Nadia Al-Quaddoomi, ASLA

Senior Designer

Terremoto, Inc.

Nadia is a landscape designer with 15 years of hard-hitting, scale-ranging, various-landscape-use experience. Before moving into Landscape Architecture, Nadia studied studio art with a focus on drawing and painting, and ceramics. Her landscape design ethos embraces curiosity, artfulness, spontaneity and layered experiences for humans, wildlife, and the ecosystem at large.