This year’s symposium highlights the benefits of effective collaboration between landscape architects and other disciplines. Join experts from over 15 different disciplines to discuss topics that affect our Northern California region, including climate policy and design implementation, urban infrastructure and neighborhood transformation, engagement with underrepresented communities, and more, in our chapter’s first symposium!

Registration includes education sessions throughout the day and one complimentary field session at Black Panther Party Museum, The Gardens at Lake Merritt, or Oakland Unified School District The Center. Lunch and snacks will be provided.

MAIN EVENT

Saturday, August 24, 2024

9am – 5pm

Venue: Oakstop at 2323 Broadway, Oakland, CA
(8-minute walk from 19th St Oakland BART Station)

Oakstop, 2323 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612

Tickets:
ASLA Member $125   /   Non-Member $175   /   Student $75

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Susannah C. Drake
Landscape Architect and Architect, Principal at Sasaki

Susannah is a Principal at Sasaki and founder of DLANDstudio and is one of only four people in the USA who is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. She lectures globally about resilient urban design, taught at top schools across the US including Harvard, IIT, and Syracuse among others. She is currently a professor at Cooper Union.

Susannah’s award-winning work is consistently at the forefront of innovation in urban ecological infrastructure. Through partnerships with communities on grants she enables green infrastructure, park creation, and environmental justice. Susannah’s project “From Redlining to Blue Zoning: Equity and Environmental Risk, Liberty City, Miami 2100,” detailing the relationship of historically marginalized black populations of Miami with sea level rise is currently on display at the 2023 Venice Biennale. Susannah was recognized as an Architectural League Emerging Voice and AIA Young Architect Award winner. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum.

In addition – her Gowanus Sponge Park won the inaugural Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Climate Action. She has published numerous book chapters and articles on climate adaptation and infrastructure and her book “Gowanus Sponge Park” will be published by Park Books in the Summer of 2024. She earned March and MLA degrees from the Harvard GSD and a BA from Dartmouth College.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

8:30am-9:00am | Reception and Refreshments

9:00am-10:15am | Education Session 1

10:30am-11:45am | Education Session 2

12:00pm-1:00pm | Lunch Break/Keynote Session by Susannah C. Drake

1:15pm-2:45pm | Field Session

3:00pm-4:15pm | Education Session 3

PRESENTERS

Mariana Ricker, Associate, SWA Group, Session Moderator

Presenting: “A Path to Climate Action: Sustainability Performance + Funding”

Mariana Ricker emphasizes the importance of site-specific, sustainable landscape design. She enjoys working in urban settings that engage diverse user groups and activate spaces essential to civic life. As a licensed landscape architect, Mariana seeks to create memorable experiences, connect people to the environment, and provide elegant solutions to accomplish the project vision. She is committed to climate action and advancing sustainability efforts within her project work and professionally.

Kristen DiStefano, Director, Atelier Ten

Presenting: “A Path to Climate Action: Sustainability Performance + Funding”

Kristen is a Director of Atelier Ten’s San Francisco office. She has lent her sustainability expertise to over 100 projects and has successfully led some of Atelier Ten’s most ambitious projects including the NVIDIA Headquarters in Santa Clara, CA, the San Francisco Giants’ Mission Rock Development, the UC Merced 2020 project, and the California College of Arts Unified Campus in San Francisco. Kristen is the director in charge of Atelier Ten’s Carbon Management practice and is an integral part of the firm’s Masterplanning and Daylight practices. She balances her expertise in detailed carbon reduction strategy with big picture guidance for large scale projects. Kristen holds a Master of Architecture degree from Cornell University and she has taught at Cornell University and the University of Oregon.

Cecilia Latapi, Manager of Government Relations, Momentum

Presenting: “A Path to Climate Action: Sustainability Performance + Funding”

Cecilia is the Manager of Government Relations at Momentum, supporting over 20 companies in funding and implementing clean technology projects across diverse industries including power generation, transportation, and real estate. At Momentum, she assists clients in navigating the public funding landscape and accessing incentives such as grants, loans, and tax credits to facilitate sustainable projects. Cecilia holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from ITESM and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jonathan Cordero PhD, Association of Ramaytush Ohlone

Presenting: “Indigeneity and Collaborations”

Jonathan is Ramaytush Ohlone, Bay Miwok, Chumash, Cochimi. Dr. Cordero is the Metush or Chair of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples and the Executive Director, Association of Ramaytush Ohlone. He has been a viisiting Scholar in the Spatial Sciences Institute at USC and serves on the steering Committee member, Regional Watershed Management Program. ​Dr. Cordero received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctorate from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has written several articles on California Indians during the Mission Period.  Dr. Cordero works as a consultant in both the public and private sectors, especially in the arts, and he serves as a leader, speaker, and activist in the broader Ohlone and Chumash communities.

Serena Lousich, Urban Designer at Perkins&Will, Session Moderator

Presenting: “Indigeneity and Collaborations”

Serena is Ngāti Waewae Māori, Filipino and New Zealand European descent. Serena holds an MRED+D 2023′ and an MLA 2018 from UC Berkeley as well as a B.Arch Studies from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. During the MLA program at Berkeley, Serena completed a design thesis focusing on the bi-cultural design dichotomy between insider and outsider at the sacred land of Tuluwat Island, Wiyot tribal land, engaging with tribal relations to create an all-encompassing design that celebrated the environmental, cultural, historical and sacred importance of the island and its tangata whenua (people of the land) and allowing outsiders to interact in an intentional manner.

Sam Moss, Executive Director, Mission Housing Development Corportion

Presenting: “Designing for Affordable Housing and Equitable Landscapes”

Sam Moss is the Executive Director at Mission Housing Development Corporation. In his 12 years at the organization, Moss has led Mission Housing through the construction of 3 new affordable housing developments totaling more than 300 units in San Francisco. He has also led the refinancing and rehabilitation of more than a dozen of buildings in the Mission Housing portfolio to the tune of nearly 1,000 rehabilitated units.

Orrin Goldsby, AIA, LEED AP, BD+C, Associate, David Baker Architects

Presenting: “Designing for Affordable Housing and Equitable Landscapes”

Orrin Goldsby is an Associate at David Baker Architects, a nationally known, locally oriented architecture and urban design firm based in California and Alabama. Orrin grew up in the redwood forests of Northern California and brings his deep admiration of the complexity of the natural world to his design work to make resilient places for people. As a leader of DBA’s Site Ecology & Water working group, Orrin advocates for sustainable solutions in DBA’s architectural projects, enacting meaningful change at the nexus of affordable housing, climate, and community.

Wendy Mok, PLA, ASLA, Director, GLS Landscape | Architecture, Session Moderator

Presenting: “Designing for Affordable Housing and Equitable Landscapes”

Trained in both architecture and landscape architecture, Wendy has been a practicing landscape architect in San Francisco since 2003. She enjoys working closely with multidisciplinary teams of architects, engineers, and artists to create site-specific, sustainable designs for a variety of project types and scales. Wendy specializes in designing and managing large-scale planning projects with extensive outreach and entitlement processes through detailing and construction. Her neighborhood development projects include HOPE SF: Rebuild Potrero and the Balboa Reservoir Master Plan.

Sarah Kuehl, EinwillerKuehl Landscape Architecture, Session Moderator

Presenting: “Garden Wonderland & Black Sanctuary Gardens”

Sarah Kuehl is a founding partner at EinwillerKuehl Landscape Architecture. She is known for being an idealistic pragmatist who can translate financial goals, words, desired experiences, community empowerment, and ecological goals into three dimensional spatial ideas. A master storyteller, Sarah has been recognized for her urban design visions that create generational impact. She lectures frequently about her work and the work of Einwiller Kuehl and is committed to improving the questions asked about land.

Sarah was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome in 2004 and has twice served as a leader of the Xtreme LA Challenge. She graduated from Harvard with honors and wrote her senior thesis on the conflict between visual experience and 2D property rights through the lens of Hip Hop Graffiti Writers. She lives in Oakland, CA with her artist husband and their 3 children.

Leslie Bennett, Pine House Edible Gardens, Session Presenter

Presenting: “Garden Wonderland & Black Sanctuary Gardens”

Leslie Bennett is a landscape designer and writer based in Oakland, California, who creates gardens that help to nourish us and tell the story of who we are. She is the founder and owner of Pine House Edible Gardens (www.PineHouseEdibleGarden.com) an Oakland-based landscape design/build firm that creates culturally grounded gardens that provide as much visual inspiration as they do organic harvests of food, flowers and medicinal herbs.

Leslie is also the founder of the Black Sanctuary Gardens project and is co-author of Garden Wonderland (Ten Speed Press, 2024) and The Beautiful Edible Garden (Ten Speed Press, 2013). She is included on the Elle Decor A-List for 2023 and the two years preceding, was named a Top 50 Black Trailblazer by Oprah in 2022, and is a recipient of the American Horticultural Society’s Landscape Design Award.  Raised in the Bay Area, Leslie holds degrees from Harvard University, Columbia Law School, and University College London in the fields of environmental justice, land use law, cultural property and preservation. She lives and gardens in Oakland with her two children.

David Fletcher, PLA, ASLA, Founding Principal, Fletcher Studio, Session Moderator

Presenting: “Art Masterplanning, Creative Placemaking and Public Art”

David 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 oversees the Studio’s project portfolio and serves as Design Director for the office’s projects.

Nataly Gattegno, Artist, Founding & Managing Partner of FUTUREFORMS

Presenting: “Art Masterplanning, Creative Placemaking and Public Art”

FUTUREFORMS is an award-winning art and design studio based in San Francisco, CA. Founders Jason Kelly Johnson and Nataly Gattegno have collaborated on a range of projects exploring the intersections of art and design with public space for over 20 years. Recent public art projects have included sculptural shade canopies, art pavilions, fine art objects, furniture, lighting, and large scale urban art installations.

Dorka Keehn, Principal, Keehn On Art

Presenting: “Art Masterplanning, Creative Placemaking and Public Art”

Keehn On Art is a firm positioned at the intersection of art and urban planning that specializes in public art, art master plans, and placemaking. Dorka works with developers, city planners, and architects to enhance development projects and foster community wellbeing. For over a decade, she served on the San Francisco Arts Commission where she chaired the Visual Arts Committee and its Civic Design Review Committee, which evaluates and has final purview over all construction and renovation of architecture, streets, and landscape design.

Chris Kent, ASLA, LEED AP, Principal at PGAdesign, Session Moderator

Presenting: “Unlocking Urban Street Transformation: Overcoming Challenges Associated with Changing Urban Infrastructure”

As the session moderator, Chris will guide panelists through exploring their experiences and insights into the intricate challenge of adapting urban streets to accommodate new modes of transportation. With 30 years of Bay Area practice, he leads diverse projects for public and private clients, excelling in conceptual design, community engagement, and transportation projects.

Laurence Lewis, Transportation Engineer for Kittleson & Associates

Presenting: “Unlocking Urban Street Transformation: Overcoming Challenges Associated with Changing Urban Infrastructure”

Laurence is a transportation engineer and planner known for his expertise in integrating land use with transportation infrastructure. With over two decades of experience, Laurence has spearheaded numerous national projects, specializing in multimodal corridor studies, Complete Streets planning, and local government mobility initiatives. As a registered Professional Engineer and a distinguished member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, he brings unique insight to transit planning, traffic engineering, and urban design. Laurence’s extensive portfolio spans the breadth of the United States, reflecting his commitment to creating inclusive and sustainable urban environments. Laurence will share his insights on rehabilitating urban streets to accommodate diverse modes of transportation, from widened sidewalks to cycle tracks, while enhancing comfort with green spaces and addressing complex utility needs.

Mark Wessels, ASLA, Arborist/ Landscape Architect

Presenting: “Unlocking Urban Street Transformation: Overcoming Challenges Associated with Changing Urban Infrastructure”

Mark is a visionary professional with expertise in sustainable urban development and street design. As an accomplished arborist and landscape architect, he specializes in revitalizing urban transportation corridors, and prioritizing pedestrian and cyclist accommodations. Mark navigates regulatory frameworks adeptly to deliver inclusive improvements, enriching urban forests and fostering vibrant, connected communities.

Elijah Enis | Analyst, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA)

Presenting: “Reimagining Our Streets: Slow Street Initiatives in San Francisco”

Thea Yang, ASLA, Assistant Project Manager, San Francisco Parks Alliance, Session Moderator

Presenting: “Reimagining Our Streets: Slow Street Initiatives in San Francisco”

Justin Richardson, PLA, ASLA, LEED GA, GLS Landscape | Architecture

Presenting: “The Gardens at Lake Merritt – A Public-private Collaboration”

John Tsutakawa, Rock Garden planner and organizer

Presenting: “The Gardens at Lake Merritt – A Public-private Collaboration”

Jenifer Azulay, Friends of the Gardens at Lake Merritt

Presenting: “The Gardens at Lake Merritt – A Public-private Collaboration”

Jennifer Ivanovich, Studio Director, BASE Landscape Architecture, Session Moderator

Presenting: “OUSD The Center: Seeding Urban Resilience through Collaborative Design”

Jennifer is a licensed landscape architect who has practiced in the Bay Area for over 20 years. She came into the profession of landscape architecture with a desire to integrate art and ecology in the urban environment. She has worked on a wide range of scales and project types from large master plans to small private residences. She is not afraid to try new things and challenge herself. As studio director, Jennifer reviews BASE’s projects.

Martha Clifford, Associate Project Manager, BASE Landscape Architecture

Presenting: “OUSD The Center: Seeding Urban Resilience through Collaborative Design”

For over 10 years, Martha has practiced landscape design in New York City, London and the Bay Area, engaging with significant parks, gardens, and educational campuses in the public realm.  Her background in fine art and public space management informs her work from concept design through construction. She believes strongly in the power of thinking through drawing. Martha is the project manager for the OUSD-The Center concept design.

Lisa Howard, Founding Principal of Bay Tree Design

Presenting: “OUSD The Center: Seeding Urban Resilience through Collaborative Design”

Lisa Howard is the Principal and co-Founder of Bay Tree Design (BTD), a design and research-oriented practice with a reputation for advancing climate ready and child-centered landscapes. Lisa’s passion for spaces that foster healthy communities and environments is the driving force behind her leadership at the firm. She focuses her energy on the design of projects that restore ecological systems, give children places to blossom, capture the community’s vision, and create a memorable and beautiful place. From planning level work to site design projects, she enjoys collaborating with the community, other professionals, and working closely with her team at BTD. She speaks regularly at conferences, webinars, college courses, and schools and community groups. She is active with International School Grounds Alliance and the ASLA Children’s Outdoor Environment PPN and has taught at UC Berkeley. Lisa was the Principal and head of the studio for the design and construction for Phase 1 at the Foster Center which started in 2013 and was completed in 2020.

Kira Maritano, Senior Program Manager, Trust for Public Land

Presenting: “OUSD The Center: Seeding Urban Resilience through Collaborative Design”

Kira Maritano is a Sr. Program Manager for the Bay Area Park Development Team at The Trust for Public Land (TPL), where she works to create quality parks and living schoolyards in neighborhoods critically lacking green space. She has been an integral part of TPL’s pilot program with Oakland Unified School District, which transformed 4 asphalt covered schoolyards into vibrant, park-like settings. Kira’s background is in Environmental Education and Landscape Architecture.

Kat Romo, M.S., School Gardens and Living Schoolyards Program Manager, The Center Education and Community Programming Team

Presenting: “OUSD The Center: Seeding Urban Resilience through Collaborative Design”

Working for OUSD for over 20 years, Kat has held many positions including teacher, instructional coach, and principal in early ed. As a young teacher she was particularly interested in bringing education outdoors for students. She spearheaded a movement to build a garden at her school at a time when school gardens were rare. This passion has been a throughline in her career. She is deeply committed to live her passion on a daily basis through her work coordinating school gardens and living schoolyards on a District level. In her work she initiates programs, partnerships, and systems so that all schools have access to the benefits of living schoolyards and green spaces.

Black Panther Party Museum

Guided Tour: “Black Panther Party Museum”

The Black Panther Party Museum was established in January 2024 by the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that has preserved and promoted the legacy of the Black Panther Party since 1995. They execute their mission by developing exhibitions, public programming, public art, and educational tools. They hold the largest archival collection on the Black Panther Party, housed at Stanford University Libraries, and continue to acquire artifacts and distribute information that tells the true story of the Black Panther Party. (https://hueypnewtonfoundation.org/black-panther-party-museum)

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS