Educator, landscape architect Warren Byrd to lecture at K-State

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Source: Dan Donelin, 785-532-5961, dandon@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Diane Potts, 785-532-1090, potts@k-state.edu

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

EDUCATOR, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT WARREN BYRD TO LECTURE AT K-STATE

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's College of Architecture, Planning and Design is sponsoring a lecture by educator and landscape architect Warren Byrd.

Byrd will present "Healing and Sustaining Landscapes: The Recent Work of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects" at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16, in the K-State Student Union's Little Theatre. The lecture is free and open to the public. It is supported by the K-State student fine arts fee.

Byrd received a bachelor's in horticulture with distinction from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and his master of landscape architecture from the University of Virginia. He has practiced and taught landscape architecture in Virginia since 1979. He was a founding member of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects in 1985. He has been on the faculty at the University of Virginia for more than 20 years, serving as chair of the department of landscape architecture for six years. He has received numerous awards for design, teaching and writing. Byrd's particular expertise, beyond site planning, drawing and teaching design, is his knowledge of natural systems and plant communities, especially as they might influence design ideas for particular sites and programs.

His firm's philosophy centers on design that honors and reveals the local history and natural context of a site through a process of observation, creative interpretation and construction. The diverse backgrounds of the firm's staff include studies in the fields of landscape architecture, anthropology, biology, economics, zoology, horticulture, architecture, art, art history and architectural history. This broad knowledge base contributes greatly to the firm's collective creativity and ability to respond to diverse client needs and expectations.

The firm recently won the commission competition for the design of the Sept. 11 memorial in Pennsylvania. Other recent awards and award-winning projects have included the Aspect Communications World Headquarters Expansion, which received the 2004 Virginia American Institute of Architects Award of Honor and the 2003 Washington chapter of the American Institute of Architects Award of Excellence/Presidential Citation for Sustainable Design; Automated Trading Desk, the 2005 Virginia American Society of Landscape Architects Award of Honor, 2004 South Carolina Society American Institute of Architects Award of Honor, 2004 Virginia Society American Institute of Architects Award of Honor, and the 2003 South Carolina American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award; Charlotte Residence in North Carolina, the 2004 National American Society of Landscape Architects Merit Award for Design, and the 2004 Virginia American Institute of Architects Award of Honor; and the Crozet Master Plan, the 2005 Congress for the New Urbanism Charter Award of Excellence, in collaboration with Renaissance Planning Group.

Design professionals can submit attendance at the lecture for continuing education credit by contacting Diane Potts at 785-532-1090 or at potts@k-state.edu.