The Landscapes of Dieter Kienast by Anette Freytag

On the occasion of Archtober, New York City's Architecture and Design Month, the Department of Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University, the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York and the NJ and NY Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects cordially invite you to the book launch of The Landscapes of Dieter Kienast (Zurich: gta Verlag, 2021). The book was awarded with a John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize 2022 by the Center for Cultural Landscapes, UVA, and the Foundation for Landscape Studies, New York.

Dieter Kienast (1945–1998) is a key Swiss figure in European landscape architecture. Amidst a striking change in the relationship between society and nature in the 1970s, he sought a synthesis between design and ecology. As a designer, planner, researcher, and professor, Kienast dedicated his life to create open spaces to enhance the wellbeing of both human beings and plants. Critiques of urban planning, processes of participation, and the significance of spontaneous urban vegetation played just as prominent a role in these discussions as did art, architecture, and literature. In the context of our current existential crisis his ideas are gaining a new momentum.

Speakers:
Anette Freytag, Professor, History and Theory of Landscape Architecture, Rutgers University
Richard Alomar, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture, Rutgers University
Aita Pult, Head of Culture and Education, Consulate General of Switzerland in New York
Moritz Gleich, Director of Publishing, gta Verlag, ETH Zurich
M. Elen Deming, Professor and Director of the Doctor of Design Program, NC State University
S.E. Eisterer, Assistant Professor, History and Theory of Architecture, Princeton University

This event is offered in person and virtually; COVID-19 vaccinations and face masks are strongly encouraged for all visitors. Read our full Health and Safety Protocol here.