Landscape Architecture Lecture Series continues March 3 at URI

Talk by Toby Wolf about role of nature in design

Elizabeth Rau

Pictured above: Bioswale at Cornell Plantations, Ithaca, N.Y.
Landscape design by Toby Wolf. Photo by Chris Kitchen.

KINGSTON, R.I. –The University of Rhode Island’s annual Landscape Architecture Lecture Series will continue next month with a talk by Toby Wolf, who will discuss design and nature.

His presentation, “Just Enough Wildness: Designing Places that Connect People with the Natural World,’’ will start Thursday, March 3 at 7 p.m. in Weaver Auditorium in the Coastal Institute building on URI’s Kingston campus. 

The event is free and open to the public.




Wolf, principal of Wolf Landscape Architecture, works with architects, planners, engineers, contractors and arborists to create places that are welcoming, sustainable and full of life. Building on 25 years of teaching and practice, he develops designs and master plans for parks, campuses, private homes and public gardens. 

He received an honor award for excellence in landscape architecture from the Society for College and University Planning in recognition of green infrastructure at the Nevin Welcome Center at Cornell Plantations, the acclaimed public garden at Cornell University.

He also received a merit award for landscape architecture design from the Boston Society of Landscape Architects in recognition of Science Park at the Montshire Museum of Science, a learning landscape that teaches science through interactive exhibits and play.

Wolf received his master’s degree in landscape architecture from Cornell University, and his bachelor’s degree in design of the environment from the University of Pennsylvania.

The other talks scheduled are:

• Chris Reed of STOSS Landscape Urbanism, on “Work-Life,’’ (March 31).

• Emily McCoy of Andropogon Associates on “Craft, Research and Practice: Performance-Based Design in Landscape Architecture,” (April 14).

• Catherine Seavitt, principal of the Catherine Seavitt Studio, on “Shifting Sands: Sedimentary cycles for Jamaica Bay,” (April 28).

All talks are free, open to the public and begin at 7 p.m. in Weaver Auditorium of the URI Coastal Institute in Kingston.

The URI Landscape Architecture series is co-sponsored by the Rhode Island chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Bartlett Tree Experts, the Gaetano and Pasqualine Faella Memorial Endowment and the URI College of Arts and Sciences. The Catherine Seavitt lecture is co-sponsored by Rhode Island Sea Grant. 

For more information about the series, contact the URI Department of Landscape Architecture at 401-874-2983 or Professor Green at wagre@uri.edu.