2023 WASLA Conference Session Descriptions

Please see below for the current list of sessions to be presented at the WASLA Conference; a complete schedule will be released soon. Sessions are subject to change.

The below sessions have been approved for LA CES accreditation, with credits listed below. Our morning and lunch featured presentations will also be LA CES accredited at 1 hour each.

Please note the conference sessions will not be recorded this year. In order to receive continuing education credit, you must attend in person.

The Thursday walking tour requires separate registration and will take place on September 14th and will be followed by a reception, all other conference sessions will take place on Friday, September 15th.

Session Title: Totem Lake Park Walking Tour (Thursday, September 14th) Session Presenters: Mary Gardocki, Brian Baker & Berger Partnership LA CES Credits: 1
Totem Lake Park is a 17-acre park providing both recreation and escape as the centerpiece of a revitalized, energized, and growing neighborhood. Winner of a 2023 Award of Honor from WASLA, the design draws its character from the adjacent ecology, expanding the limits of Totem Lake by extending its ecological edges into the newly acquired and developed uplands. The design embraces built park elements as a juxtaposition to the natural landscape. Wonderfully bright playground structures and surfacing contrast with the adjacent tapestry of green wetlands. The accessible playground, the active heart of the park, is ringed by complementary active program and experiences, including a wetland overlook, custom restroom and support structure, and a unique 48-foot-long community table that fosters social interaction. An accessible wetland boardwalk enhanced with art connects to the Cross Kirkland Corridor, a multi-use regional trail that unifies Kirkland’s neighborhoods. The City opened Totem Lake Park as the ecological centerpiece of the Totem Lake Urban Center in July 2021.
FEATURED PRESENTATION Session Title: Who Are We and What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? Session Presenters: Ernie Wong LA CES Credits: 1
As Landscape Architects, the work that we engage in is important. We design outdoor spaces, public spaces, private spaces, places for playing, places for healing, spaces that capture the essence of who we are as human beings. The commonality of outdoor space helps us interact with each other, touch the natural world, and understand that we share these elements. Landscape Architects have a hand in changing the world, and as such, our work needs to reflect the changing society we live in. Through this keynote presentation, Principal and Founder of site design group, ltd. (site), Ernest Wong, will review his background, the history and evolution of the firm, a brief history of landscape architecture, and where he believes Landscape Architecture is headed.
FEATURED PRESENTATION Session Title: The River That Made Seattle Session Presenters: BJ Cummings LA CES Credits: 1
Once teeming with bountiful salmon and fertile plains, Seattle’s Duwamish River drew both Native peoples and settlers to its shores over centuries for trading, transport, and sustenance. Unfortunately, the very utility of the river was its undoing, as decades of dumping led to the river being declared a Superfund cleanup site. Much of Washington’s history has been told through the perspective of its colonizers, obscuring and mythologizing the changes to these lands that have long been occupied by Native peoples. Through the story of the river, author BJ Cummings explores previously unrecorded Native and immigrant histories, and exposes settler falsehoods about the founding of the state. Cummings will present on the human and natural history of the Duwamish watershed and how the current generation of river advocates are spurring efforts to revitalize the Duwamish River through community directed research and policy initiatives to advance environmental justice. The river’s story is a call to action to align future land use decisions with values of collaboration, respect, and justice.
FEATURED PRESENTATION Session Title: Centering Community Voices in Equitable Design Solutions: Restorative Justice on Portland’s I-5 Session Presenters: Kate Brooks LA CES Credits: 1
This session will review how historic racist housing policies led to systemic inequities, disinvestment, and displacement of minority communities. We will address Portland’s Lower Albina neighborhood, where the construction of I-5 displaced Portland’s Black community, and how community-centered engagement and landscape architecture can be a tool for restorative justice.
Session Title: Green Schoolyards - Making an Impact Session Presenters: Jane Tesner Kleiner, RLA LA CES Credits: 1
Let's build a brighter future for students, together! Join us at this hands-on session where we will work together to plan and design green schoolyards together. Learn many of the principles that support successful and sustainable projects that could apply to early childhood settings up to university level campuses. The work will focus on key priorities for safe and welcoming spaces, engaging and interesting features as well as the functional needs to make projects that will stand the test of time. Join us as we dive in to build Green Schoolyards.
Session Title: How Choosing the Right Water Management System Will Make Your Spray Park a Success Session Presenters: Michelle Lynn LA CES Credits: 1
Over the last decade, there has been an important increase in the addition of aquatic solutions to municipal parks. These water attractions are highly beneficial for early childhood development, and for encouraging movement and socialization within communities with increasingly sedentary lifestyles. A well-chosen water management system is a crucial part of every aquatic solution, as it ensures water quality, community health, safety and sustainability. With this presentation, we explore the different types of water management systems and the important role they play in the health, safety and welfare of families and communities. We discuss the technical specifications and venue requirements of each system, to enable you to carefully choose the most adequate system for your client. To this end, we’ll delve into two tenets: 1. The importance of water management systems for the health, safety and welfare of families and communities. 2. The different types of systems, their benefits and technical consideration.
Session Title: Community Engagement for Our Dangerously Divided Times Session Presenters: Eric Higbee LA CES Credits: 1
Sweeping epidemics of polarization, loneliness, and social fragmentation have dramatically transformed the social context for public process. How can our engagement practices adapt to be more effective in this new social climate? More importantly, how can community engagement be a counterforce that helps reverse our troubling social trajectory and leave a lasting impact on the communities we serve? Part-lecture, part-participatory research, part-workshop, this interactive session will explore how to unleash the community engagement’s potential to cultivate shared identities, tolerance, and belonging in the places where we live. We will take an interdisciplinary traverse through the fertile fields of social psychology to unearth the secret sauce for how humans move from “Us vs. Them” to “We.” We will then explore the current practice of community engagement and what barriers/opportunities exist for change. You will leave with a research-based framework for evolving your engagement practices and practical tools matched to our dangerously divided times.
Session Title: A Plantsman's Journey Session Presenters: Charles Anderson LA CES Credits: 1
Exploring regional and local native landscapes is the foundational component of a comprehensive and resilient plant community. National and international projects will be featured ie (local)The Olympic Sculpture Park, The Trillium Projects, (national) Ivy Station,, TOD, International Peace Garden, Wellspring Park, Anchorage Museum Commons, and an undisclosed project. (International) JW Marriot, Vietnam, Ellinikon, Athens, Greece, Mod, Sadi Arabia, and a few more. An exciting part of this presentation will be stories of adventures into the surrounding landscapes. Sometimes dangerous but always exciting.
Session Title: Rainwater Harvesting Using Permeable Pavers Session Presenters: Paul C. Cureton, PE LA CES Credits: 1
Rainwater harvesting is a sustainable and economic solution to help ease some of the water scarcity and drought-related issues facing large swaths of the US. Utilizing permeable pavers to cleanse, capture, and convey stormwater to an underground storage system can provide harvested stormwater that can potentially be used for irrigation, laundry, toilets, car washing, and numerous non-potable water needs depending on what is allowed in local and State regulations. This presentation will provide real-world solutions to successfully capture, store, and reuse rainwater, while educating the audience on the key design considerations required to implement the harvesting system. Design considerations that will be discussed include soil conditions and modifications (if necessary), hydrologic design; structural design for the permeable paver system and vault system; pump and discharge pipe sizing, sizing the storage volume based on demand and precipitation; and overflow and bypass considerations.
Session Title: Designing Life in the Spring District Walking Tour Session Presenters: Tim Slazinik & David Marshall LA CES Credits: 1
The Spring District has quite literally sprung to life in Bellevue over the past 10 years, with multi-family residential, educational, and commercial projects. We will tour two of the pioneer multifamily projects and discuss the opportunities, challenges, and quirks we encountered in the design, permit and construction processes in this brand new neighborhood. From existing site challenges like dated utilities, extreme slopes, adjacent infrastructure projects, to changing city codes and approval processes, the Spring district has its own growing pains as a new neighborhood in the heart of Bellevue. Planning for future light rail, corporate Headquarters, and social hubs required flexibility and patience, along with ingenuity and innovation. Construction during the pandemic provided further challenges. We are excited to tour and talk about two neighboring projects and the contrasting experiences. From design inspiration, to value engineering, to ongoing required site monitoring, this will be a face to face tour and discussion with the designers and technical leads for each project.
Session Title: Fabrication Lab Session (There is an additional $15 fee for this workshop. Space is limited.) Session Presenters: Shaunta Butler & Michael Brown LA CES Credits: 1
The objective of this session is to show how digital fabrication tools and workflows can be integrated into our everyday practice. This will be a hands-on session in the Fabrication Lab so please wear closed-toe shoes for the session. We will be working with the Laser Cutter, 3D Printer, and CNC.
Session Title: Getting Practical with WA State Net Zero Landscape Architecture Session Presenters: Stefanie Loomis, Steve Austin. Evan Blondell LA CES Credits: 1
The climate crisis continues to accelerate and intensify. In response, ASLA has created a Climate Action Plan and issued a challenge for practitioners to get their work to “net zero” by 2040. In Washington, climate laws require net zero by 2050. To help practitioners navigate these new realities, WASLA created a Climate Action Committee to provide resources and education. Net zero landscape architecture simply means that all greenhouse gas emissions related to a project including materials, construction, and maintenance are offset by tree planting on the project site. Fortunately, there is a process to help practitioners understand how to do this: Climate Positive Design. Climate Positive Design hosts the digital Pathfinder tool that allows designers to understand the emissions implications of design decisions on projects. This session will provide a climate crisis update, brief overviews of the ASLA Climate Action Plan and Washington climate laws, while primarily focusing on details of Climate Positive Design, including up-to-date practical experience working with it. We will also provide examples of how allied design fields are addressing these challenges.
Session Title: BelRed: Connected, Coordinated & Complimentary Walking Tour Session Presenters: Graham Golbuff, Matt Gurrard, Brian Magee, Steve Costa LA CES Credits: 1
This tour will explore the radically reshaped arterials & collectors that form the perimeter of and provide access through the BelRed neighborhood. In what is likely the City of Bellevue's most comprehensive Complete Streets effort to date, we will hear from both the client and the integrated design team on how the 120th Ave NE, NE Spring Blvd and 124th Ave NE improvement projects compliment and enhance adjacent development, such as housing, office and transit stations, as well as restored natural areas. Attendees can observe thoughtful design detailing across the network from a unique "kit of parts" that incorporates municipal branding elements as both wayfinding and placemaking features. Additionally, attendees will be able to experiences portions of the projects still under construction, and learn about the unique project phasing and construction sequencing measures employed to deliver a robust transportation network to the greater BelRed neighborhood.
Session Title: Growing Tree Canopy in Seattle Session Presenters: Katey Bean & Joe Markovich LA CES Credits: 1
Seattle's recent Tree Canopy Assessment Report shows we are losing tree canopy due to climate change, development pressure, and pathogens. SDOT Urban Forestry will share their experiences preserving mature trees, selecting the right tree for the right place, and navigating conflicts with utilities, sidewalks, or other types of development. This session will also cover how the One Seattle Tree Plan and the new tree ordinance, which outline policy changes intended to address equity issues and increase tree canopy to lower temperatures in urban heat island neighborhoods.
Session Title: The Spring District Transformation: From Industrial Warehouses to Community Hub Walking Tour Session Presenters: David Malda & Chihiro Shinohara LA CES Credits: 1
This tour will explore two intertwined themes: 1. Anchoring a large mixed-use development on a central public space, which was largely designed and partially constructed prior to the surrounding phased buildings. This public realm worked to advance the overall narrative of the place by connecting this new development with the largely erased histories of the site. 2. Working with the necessary flexibility of a developer-driven process to support the continuity of big ideas even when there were substantial shifts in the development along the way. In 2014, GGN began working with NBBJ and Wright Runstad & Company on the Spring District public realm vision plan, establishing a framework of four parks and multiple projects developed in phases with a range of client types. As the design process for each of the independent projects has progressed, sometimes in a rapidly changing context, landscape has remained key to creating a unified neighborhood. GGN will share highlights of lessons learned in this decade long journey.
Session Title: The After Party: The Legacy and Opportunity of Transitioning Mega-Event Sites to Parks Session Presenters: Guy Michaelsen & Maren McBride LA CES Credits: 1
Mega events, notably World Expositions and Olympics have profoundly shaped Urban landscapes for over a century, leaving us some of our most treasured parks, open spaces and civic icons. Yet in many instances, these spaces also struggle to maintain relevance and continue to serve their communities, burdened by their past instead of empowered by it! This presentation is a high-level presentation of legacy projects we know and treasure every day and a deeper-dive into three very different evolutions of three world’s Fair landscapes (If paired with noted co-speakers): Guy Michaelsen discusses Spokane’s Riverfront Park (Expo’74, 2022 ASLA Honor Award Winner), Maren McBride discusses Vancouver’s False Creek (Expo ’86, 2010 Olympics), and a TBD rep for GGN discussing past and future plans for Seattle Center (1962 Word’s Fair). This session looks backwards at the parks legacy of mega-events that we might not otherwise see, and looks forward to how these spaces can and should continue to evolve to serve the challenges of today and welcome an ever-broader cross-section of our communities and growing civic culture!
Session Title: "What Revolution Do You Want To Lead?" And Other Essential Startup Questions Session Presenters: Ashley Ludwig & Brice Maryman
Starting a new practice is daunting. During this session you will hear from new business owners who will share both the practical and philosophical considerations that go into stepping away from traditional firm practice to forge a new direction for yourself and the profession.
Session Title: Session Presenters: Felix Lowery
Presentation of senior thesis completed at the University of Kentucky examining the therapeutic benefits of landscape and how they may be applied to a campus residential setting. Beginning with an overview of the literature and a review of case studies, this project culminated in the creation of a set of design guidelines and a plan for a residential courtyard that centers cognitive restoration and creating an ecologically sound site.

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