Fernandez Selected for 2019-2020 LAF Fellowship
Sasaki's Diana Fernandez will pursue her project "Heterogeneous Futures: A Framework for Ecologically & Culturally Diverse Landscapes"
Fernandez Presents at BSLA Conference
In late May, Sasaki associate Diana Fernandez, ASLA, PLA, presented at the 2019 BSLA Conference alongside Tiffany Cogell of Aamodt/Plumb and Courtney D. Sharpe from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture for the City of Boston. Their presentation was one of several at the one-day conference held at Northeastern University.
The session, titled “Spatial Multiplicity: Weaving Complex and Diverse Narratives in the Public Realm,” celebrated the diversity of place, exploring how design strategies can account for a space’s simultaneous narratives and histories.
Through case studies and discussion, Fernandez and her co-presenters considered the interconnected relationship of a place’s physical setting, its activities and events, and the meanings associated with it. Understanding these relationships, they say, allows architects, planners, and activists to better interact with complex sites and work to create places of depth and inclusion.
Presenters from left to right: Diana Fernandez, Tiffany Cogell, and Courtney D. Sharpe
Fernandez has worked closely with ASLA and BSLA to advocate for diversity and inclusion in the design and planning industries, taking part in the ASLA Diversity Summit in 2015 and giving a keynote talk at the ASLA Annual Meeting and Expo in 2016.
She was most recently selected for the 2019-2020 cohort of the Landscape Architecture Foundation Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership, through which she will pursue her project “Heterogeneous Futures: A Framework for Ecologically & Culturally Diverse Landscapes.” The project will work to enable social, cultural, and linguistic knowledge as an integral part of the design process in order to promote truly resilient landscapes that represent all potential users.
Read more about the talk and the 2019 BSLA Conference on their website.