Note:  this lecture was cancelled at the last minute; the organizers hope to reschedule it in the future.

Elizabeth Meyer

(Professor University of Virginia)

Topographic Stories: Rewriting the History of the Modern Landscape

From the University of Virginia website:

Elizabeth Meyer has taught courses on modern landscape architecture since 1989, first at Harvard and now at the University of Virginia where she is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture. Her research has been published in numerous articles and essays on 19th and 20th century designed landscapes. She is currently working on a book entitled The Margins of Modernity, supported by both a Graham Foundation and a UVA School of Architecture faculty research grant. In addition to her teaching and scholarship, Meyer has practiced landscape architecture with EDAW Alexandria, Hanna/Olin and Michael Vergason and is currently consulting with Michael Van Valkenburgh on the Wellesley College Master Plan. Four of the projects she worked on in private practice have received design awards from ASLA and Progressive Architecture. Meyer has served on many design juries, most recently for the American Academy in Rome. She is currently on the advisory boards for the National Association of Olmsted Parks and the Albemarle County Growth Management study. This summer, she completes her tenure as Chair of the Department. During her upcoming Sesquicentennial leave, she intends to complete her book while spending the spring of 1999 as a Fellow in Landscape Architecture at Dumbarton Oaks.

Ms. Meyer has graduate degrees in both landscape architecture and in historic preservation. Her practice and teaching have focused on the intersection of design practices and historical inquiry. She teaches design studios and courses on theories of modern landscape architecture, and advises landscape architecture and architecture independent studio (thesis) projects. In collaboration with faculty in Architecture and Architectural History, she has taught interdisciplinary urbanism and preservation studios. Ms. Meyer has lectured and published widely on topics such as landscape architecture and the avant garde, the modern public park and parkway, the relationship between design theory and practice, gender and the landscape, landscape representation, and the temporal aspects of postmodern landscapes. Prior to joining the Virginia faculty, Ms. Meyer worked for EDAW Alexandria, Hanna/Olin, and Michael Vergason on several projects that received awards from the ASLA as well as Progressive Architecture. She taught previously at Cornell and Harvard where she received the 1992 CELA Award of Distinction for her teaching. Ms. Meyer is completing a book entitled The Margins of Modernity. Theories and Practices of Modern Landscape Architecture supported by the Graham Foundation and a Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship. She is a frequent critic on national design juries, is on the Advisory Board of the National Association of Olmsted Parks, and is the ASLA representative on the Albemarle County growth management initiatives steering committee.

PUBLICATIONS

BOOK

In the Architecture Library see Martha Schwartz's Transfiguration of the Commonplace essay by Elizabeth K. Meyer

MAGAZINE ARTICLES

— Record 1 —

Title: Alongshore [by] John R. Stilgoe [book review] / Elizabeth K. Meyer. Physical Details: ports., photos.

In: GSD news / Harvard University, Graduate School of Design 1994 Fall, p.50-52, ISSN 0746-3677.

Notes: Review of the 1994 monograph that focuses on the coastal area of Cape Cod, Mass.

Other Authors: Meyer, Elizabeth K.

Other Entries: Stilgoe, John R., 1949- Alongshore.

Subjects: Coastlines--United States--Cape Cod (Massachusetts). Landscape--United States--Cape Cod (Massachusetts).

— Record 2 —

Title: Inquiry into the picturesque [by] Sidney K. Robinson [book review] / Elizabeth K. Meyer.

In: Landscape journal 1993 Spring, v.12, n.1, p.77-79, ISSN 0277-2426.

Other Authors: Meyer, Elizabeth K.

Other Entries: Robinson, Sidney K. Inquiry into the picturesque.

Subjects: Picturesque.

Aesthetics--18th century--Great Britain.

— Record 3 —

Title: Landscape architecture and critical inquiry.

In: Landscape journal 1991 Fall, v.10, no.2, p.155-172, ISSN 0277-2426.

Notes: Forum based on plenary panel held at the annual conference of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, Oct.4, 1990, at the University of Colorado, Denver. Intro.: Margaret McAvin. Papers: Elizabeth K. Meyer, James Corner, Hamid Shirvani, Kenneth Helphand. Responses: Robert B. Riley, Robert Scarto.

Other Authors: McAvin, Margaret J. Meyer, Elizabeth K. Corner, James. Shirvani, Hamid. Helphand, Kenneth. Riley, Robert B. Scarfo, Robert.

Subjects: Landscape architecture--Criticism.

Landscape architecture--Study and teaching.

— Record 4 —

Title: The public park as avant-garde (landscape) architecture: a comparative interpretation of two Parisian parks, Parc de la Villette (1983-1990) and Parc des Buttes-Chaumont (1864-1867) / Elizabeth K. Meyer.

Physical Details: ill., dwgs., maps, plans, site plans, engrs., biblio., refs.

In: Landscape journal 1991, v.10, no.1, p.16-26, ISSN 0277-2426.

Notes: Architect for Parc de la Villette: Bernard Tschumi. Landscape architect for Parc des Buttes-Chaumont: J.C. Adolphe Alphand. Includes bibliographical references.

Other Authors: Meyer, Elizabeth K.

Subjects: Park districts--France--Paris--Parc de la Villette. Parks--19th century--France--Paris--Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. Tschumi, Bernard, 1944- Alphand, Jean-Charles Adolphe, 1817-1891. Avant-garde.