Making and Meaning Today: How Offices Are Adapting and Reinventing Creative Process - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how we work, where we work, and how we communicate and collaborate. The very notion of the studio--the physical office--is in question. This panel will highlight methods and practices that we should and should not bring back to our physical workspaces.

Learning objectives:

Understand how to foster re-imagined, collaborative workplaces that promote excellence in design quality.
How to create an equitable, positive, creative work environment.
Understanding of how to build meaningful synergy in the creative process, especially with other landscape architects, designers and communities
New ability to implement 'co-creation' techniques into external projects and community engagement tactics.

David Fletcher, ASLA

Principal

Fletcher Studio, Inc.

David Fletcher is the founding principal of Fletcher Studio. He has practiced in landscape architecture for 30 years, and has worked on the planning, design, and construction of projects ranging in scale from regional watersheds to furniture design. David’s formative education in field biology and fine art created an eclectic foundation where urban ecology, pop culture, and the California landscape intermingle with the everyday. David serves as Design Director for the office’s projects, collaborating with community organizations and designers to help bring planning, multifamily housing, and open space projects to fruition.

Nathaniel Cormier, ASLA, LEED AP

Managing Studio Director

RIOS

Nate’s interest in landscape design as a form of storytelling drew him to Los Angeles seven years ago after two decades of practice in Seattle and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard. Today, Nate helps lead a team of over 60 landscape architects working across diverse typologies and regions. He is passionate about civic and cultural spaces as well as restorative environments for health and hospitality. Current work includes major commissions in Tulsa, Denver, Phoenix, and Miami. Nate’s north star is an immersive beauty founded on formal curiosity, local materials, and co-creation.

Gina Ford, FASLA

Principal and Co-Founder

Agency Landscape + Planning

Gina Ford is a landscape architect, co-founder and principal of Agency Landscape + Planning. Underpinning her twenty-five of practice are a commitment to the design and planning of public places and the perpetuation of the value of landscape architecture via thought leadership, teaching, writing and lecturing. Her work has received awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects, among others. She is on the board of directors for the City Parks Alliance and the stewardship council of The Cultural Landscape Foundation.