2022 Landscape Architecture Short Course Breaks New Ground

The College of Environment and Design hosted the annual Landscape Architecture Short Course February 1st and 2nd at the Classic Center in downtown Athens, Georgia. After a year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was allowed to occur again with health precautions in place. Professor Donnie Longenecker spearheaded the event once again with the help of student assistants Sallie Smith and Kayla Joiner, and Tom Jones as technical support.

The event was sponsored by Georgia Water Tanks, Select Trees, Whitacre Greer, Hartstone, The Outdoor Lights, Coldspring, Arcosa Lightweight, Belgard, Forms and Surfaces, Buck Jones Nursery and the College of Environment and Design.

Professionals from around the southeast gathered and listened to lectures from distinguished professionals in the field earning continuing education credits to maintain their licensure. Lectures included Todd Hill discussing DTJ’s design for the historic pool area at the Grand Hotel, Chris Hite lecturing on the OUTSIDE collaborative, and Allie Kelly reviewing the efforts that The Ray has made to utilize roadside right of ways for solar power.

This year, participants also had the option to enroll in a SketchUp and Graphics workshop hosted by Cameron Berglund of UGA CED and Mansoor Ma of LANDinc. The graphics workshop highlighted a workflow that incorporates traditional hand graphics with computer modeling. This was the first year that a two-track short course was offered, allowing participants to combine sessions as they wished. A virtual attendance option was another first of this year, providing participants with a distance-learning option.

The entire event was an extreme success and facilitated lots of interaction among peers. It was great to see our community sticking together long after days spent here on campus as students. Furthermore, it was nice to return to a sense of normalcy for the event while also adapting to new norms with a virtual option.