News release prepared by: Diane Potts, 785-532-1090, potts@k-state.edu

Friday, Oct. 1, 2010

ARCHITECTURAL THEORIST TO DELIVER FALL 2010 OSCAR EKDAHL MEMORIAL LECTURE

MANHATTAN -- The fall 2010 Oscar Ekdahl Memorial Lecture of the Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning and Design will be given by one of the leading landscape architectural theorists in the U.S.

Elizabeth K. Meyer will speak at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 6, in the Little Theatre in the K-State Student Union. The event is free and open to the public.

Meyer has lectured at universities on four continents and published widely on contemporary landscape design practice and theory. Her writings question conventional norms and assumptions. In "Sustaining Beauty, The Performance of Appearance," she calls for the insertion of aesthetic concerns into a sustainability agenda, arguing that without them sustainable design will have a limited impact on the environmental practices and ethics of the public. Her most recent publication, "Slow Landscapes: A New Erotics of Sustainability," is featured in the winter 2010 edition of Harvard Design Magazine.

Meyer, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, is an associate professor of landscape architecture in the University of Virginia School of Architecture. She is nationally recognized as an outstanding scholar, studio critic and lecturer with honors, grants and awards from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Meyer worked for EDAW and Hanna/Olin -- now Olin Studio -- before beginning her academic career. She also has consulted with several firms, including Michael Vergason and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, where she was part of a multidisciplinary team recently selected for the planning phase of The City+The Arch+The River 2015 International Design Competition.

Founded more than 35 years ago as a memorial honoring Topeka architect and K-State alumnus Oscar Ekdahl, the Ekdahl Lectures bring practitioners, teachers, critics, theorists and artists to the campus for interaction with students, faculty and alumni. A concern about issues affecting the quality of the physical environment and the leadership roles played by the speakers characterize the Ekdahl series. The purpose of the series is to inform and challenge as well as to reinforce and complement the educational programs of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design.

Design professionals can submit attendance at the lecture as continuing education credit by contacting Diane Potts. For more information, contact Stephanie Rolley at srolley@k-state.edu or 785-532-5961 or Diane Potts at potts@k-state.edu or 785-532-1090.