2025 WASLA Field Day Indoor Session & Walking Tour Descriptions
Please see below for the current list of indoor sessions and walking tours to be presented at the 2025 WASLA Field Day. Schedule is subject to change.
The below sessions will be submitted for LA CES accreditation, with credits listed below. Our keynote speaker will also be LA CES accredited at 1 hour.*
*Pending Approval
Please note the sessions and tours will not be recorded this year. In order to receive continuing education credit, you must attend in person.
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INDOOR SESSION
Session Title: Maximizing Space for Urban and Compact Playgrounds
Session Presenters: Theresa LaForest, Berliner Play Equipment, BA in Mechanical Engineering and Debra Guenther, Mithun, Landscape Architect
LA CES Credits: 1
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As cities grow denser and public space becomes more limited, landscape architects are increasingly challenged to design innovative, meaningful play environments within compact and unconventional settings. This session will explore strategies for maximizing space while delivering high play value, promoting accessibility, and creating multi-generational impact. We’ll highlight creative solutions such as vertical play structures, modular systems, rooftop installations, and repurposed urban lots. The session includes a discussion of Seattle’s Westlake Park playground: a project originally intended as a temporary activation that proved so popular it has remained in place since 2013. Developed during the formation of the Downtown Resident Council, the project reflects how thoughtful design can meet emerging community needs and transform underutilized spaces into permanent, vibrant play destinations.
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WALKING TOUR
Walking Tour Title: Designing for Play: Custom Playgrounds, Coastal Challenges and Urban Integration
Walking Tour Presenters: Northwest Playground
LA CES Credits: 1
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This session is a walking tour of Seattle's Overlook Park and Pier 58 Playground and explores the intersection of custom playground design, engineering innovation, and urban planning through the lens of real-world projects in the Pacific Northwest. Participants will learn how storytelling can shape the identity of a playground, how coastal weather and site conditions influence material and safety choices, and how urban constraints can be transformed into creative opportunities. The presentation will also highlight the evolution of play and how modern playgrounds are adapting to meet the physical, social, and emotional needs of diverse communities.
This tour is sponsored by Northwest Playground.
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WALKING TOUR
Walking Tour Title: Elliot Bay Connections
Walking Tour Presenters: Lara Rose, Walker Macy
LA CES Credits: 1
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Description coming soon!
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INDOOR SESSION
Session Title: Resilience Afoot: Uncovering the Infrastructure Support of Seattle's Streetscape
Walking Tour Presenters: Ed Muñoz
LA CES Credits: 1
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| Led by Ed Muñoz, Seattle native and Business Development Manager at Citygreen, the session will draw from recent local projects that use Stratavault soil cell systems to increase soil volume, reduce runoff, and support healthy, resilient urban tree growth in constrained environments. One example includes the work at Climate Pledge Arena, where over 170 new trees were planted and integrated with passive stormwater capture systems to support canopy expansion and carbon performance at a net-zero certified venue. The session will explore lessons learned in balancing green infrastructure with complex stakeholder needs, including permitting, root protection of heritage trees, and coordination with civil and landscape design teams. Participants will walk away with practical insights into how innovative below-ground systems can help reclaim space for nature in hardscaped urban settings, and why these matters for both climate resilience and community wellbeing. |
WALKING TOUR
Walking Tour Title: At the Forefront of the Waterfront - Reflecting on Nearly 20 years at the Olympic Sculpture Park
Walking Tour Presenters: Michelle Arab, Parks Project Manager, City of Sammamish; Liz Brown, Objects Conservator, Seattle Art Museum; Bobby McCullough, Landscape and Facilities Manager, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Art Museum; Jason D. Toft; Principal Research Scientist, UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
LA CES Credits: 1 |
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When it opened in 2007, the Olympic Sculpture Park was a transformative project for Seattle’s downtown waterfront—redefining the relationship between urban public space, contemporary art, and restored ecological habitat. Designed by interdisciplinary teams of architects, landscape architects, and ecologists, the park was one of the first major developments to introduce a soft- edged shoreline, featuring the city’s first downtown pocket beach and intertidal habitat. Nearly two decades later, the park offers a case study in resilience, stewardship, and the evolving nature of waterfront landscapes.
This session will revisit the Olympic Sculpture Park through the lens of long-term landscape performance and interdisciplinary collaboration. Participants will hear from professionals who have been directly involved in the park’s maintenance, research, and conservation from its inception to the present day. Discussions will touch on habitat restoration, art conservation in an outdoor setting, adaptive landscape management, and the broader urban context of Seattle’s waterfront transformation.
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WALKING TOUR
Walking Tour Title: Victor Steinbreuck Park
Walking Tour Presenters: Shannon Glass and Lara Rose, Walker Macy
LA CES Credits: 1 |
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Description coming soon!
This tour is sponsored by Great Western Recreation.
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WALKING TOUR
Walking Tour Title: Exploring Seattle's New Front Porch
Walking Tour Presenters: Andrew tenBrink, Director at Field Operations
LA CES Credits: 1
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Join us for an immersive walking tour that examines the evolution of Seattle's waterfront through three critical design lenses. Over the course of our journey, we'll explore how planners and designers navigated the complex 15-year process of translating ambitious framework plans into tangible, functional spaces, revealing the compromises, adaptations, and creative solutions that emerged along the way. We'll investigate the thoughtful material palette chosen to create an authentic waterfront experience that honors both the site's industrial heritage and its contemporary urban context. Finally, we'll examine the comprehensive planting strategies employed throughout the area, discovering how landscape architects selected and arranged vegetation to reflect Seattle's unique Pacific Northwest identity while creating sustainable, resilient urban ecosystems that connect residents and visitors to the region's natural character.
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