This conversation is the second of 6 conversations. The series will stage conversations around the different areas of the Waterloo Architecture curriculum with one broad ambition: “Questioning the canon: In a world of unprecedented possibilities and unforeseen brutalities, what can architectural education do?”
This particular conversation will consider the following sub-question: "As our very notion of the urban rapidly transforms, how can landscape and urbanism support ecology, sociality and equality?”
This conversation features Teresa Galí-Izard and Neeraj Bhatia.
Teresa Galí-Izard is principal of Arquitectura agronomia, a landscape architecture firm located in Barcelona, and Associate Professor and former Chair at the Landscape Architecture Department of the University of Virginia. In the last 20 years she has been involved in some of the most important contemporary landscape architecture projects in Europe and abroad. She has just completed the Parque de los Primeros Pasos in Caracas, Venezuela. Her previous work includes the TMB Park, Coastal Park, and the new urbanization of Passeig de Sant Joan in Barcelona and the Sant Joan Landfill restoration, which won the European Urban Public Space award in 2004. She has been selected as a finalist in major landscape competitions in Spain such as Cañaveral Park in Madrid and Central Park in Valencia. Through her work, Teresa explores the translation of the genius loci of sites trough the understanding of geology and climate, seeking new inclusive languages and forms which integrates humans, living systems, soils, water and vegetation. She is interested in new contemporary forms of design involving dynamics and management. Teresa is the author of “The Same Landscapes. Ideas and interpretations”, published by Gustavo Gili in 2005 and co-editor with Daniella Collafranceschi of “Jacques Simon. Los otros paisajes. Ideas y reflexiones sobre el territorio”, published by Gustavo Gili in 2012. Teresa has previously taught at University of Navarra and Polytechnic University of Madrid in Spain and lectured in the School of Architecture of Oslo in Norway, The Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Wien, Austria, The Academy of Architecture of Mendrisio in Switzerland, School of Architecture of Grenoble University in France, and Oporto School of Architecture in Portugal.
Neeraj Bhatia is a licensed architect and urban designer from Toronto, Canada. His work resides at the intersection of politics, infrastructure and urbanism. He is an Assistant Professor at the California College of the Arts where he also co-directs the urbanism research lab, The Urban Works Agency. Prior to CCA, Bhatia held teaching positions at Cornell University, Rice University and the University of Toronto. Neeraj is also the founder of The Open Workshop, a transcalar design-research office examining the negotiation between architecture and its territorial environment. In 2016, The Open Workshop was awarded the Architectural League Young Architects Prize. Select other distinctions include the Emerging Leaders Award from Design Intelligence, Graham Foundation Grants, The Lawrence B. Anderson Award, Shell Center for Sustainability Grant, Odebrecht first-prize Award for Sustainability, ACSA Faculty Design Award and the Fullbright Fellowship. He is co-editor of books Bracket [Takes Action], The Petropolis of Tomorrow, Bracket [Goes Soft], Arium: Weather + Architecture, and co-author of Pamphlet Architecture 30: Coupling – Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism. Neeraj has a Master degree in Architecture and Urbanism from MIT and a Bachelor of Environmental Studies and Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Waterloo.
