KINGSTON, R.I.\u2014April 4, 2017\u2014The 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s annual Landscape Architecture Lecture Series concludes this month with a talk by a nationally renowned historic landscape preservationist.<\/p>\n
Charles A. Birnbaum, founder and president of The Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C., will give a lecture entitled \u201cWhy Not Cultural Systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
The talk, free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. April 20 in the Agnes B. Doody Auditorium at Swan Hall, 30 Upper College Road, on 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Kingston campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are excited to have Charles visit and share his passion with our students,\u201d says William A. Green, a professor in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Department of Landscape Architecture. \u201cHe is the leading voice for the protection of iconic cultural landscapes from around the nation. Through his vision and tireless efforts writing, lecturing and producing videos, exhibits and postings, he has made a significant contribution to the field of historic landscape preservation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cultural landscapes are landscapes that have been \u201caffected, influenced or shaped by human involvement,\u2019\u2019 according to the foundation\u2019s website. They can be everything from a grand estate and college campus to a cemetery and public park.<\/p>\n
Birnbaum specializes in protecting\u2014and writing about\u2014these landscapes, which are often threatened by development and neglect. In his \u201cHuffington Post\u201d articles, Birnbaum writes about protecting public parks in the country from development, unsuitable additions and a misplaced quest to renovate landscapes to make them more modern. His goal is to preserve the integrity\u2014and beauty\u2014of sites.<\/p>\n
Before creating the cultural foundation, Birnbaum spent 15 years as the coordinator of the National Park Service Historic Landscape Initiative and a decade in private practice in New York City, with a focus on landscape preservation and urban design.<\/p>\n
One of his major projects is a database of the country\u2019s designed landscape heritage called \u201cWhat\u2019s Out There.\u201d He has written and edited many publications, including \u201cDesign with Culture: Claiming America\u2019s Landscape Heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is the recipient of the 2005 California Preservation Award, the 2004 Rome Prize in Historic Preservation and Conservation, the 1992 Federal Design Achievement Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and numerous awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects.<\/p>\n
Birnbaum earned degrees from SUNY Farmingdale, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and Harvard University. He is a visiting professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation.<\/p>\n
Birnbaum\u2019s lecture is co-sponsored by Victor Stanley, a landscape furnishing company.<\/p>\n
The entire series is co-sponsored by The College of Arts and Sciences, The Gaetano and Pasqualina Faella Memorial Endowment, the Rhode Island chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and Bartlett Tree Experts.<\/p>\n