September 29, 2008
Where: Temple University Ambler, 580 Meetinghouse Road, Learning Center and Landscape Arboretum
When: Friday, October 3, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
 This week, the American Society of Landscape Architects’ (ASLA) annual convention — with the theme Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes + Communities — will bring about 7,000 landscape architects to the Philadelphia area.
Directly participating in the event, the Temple University Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture will host a special Ambler Arboretum and John Collins Retrospective Tour, led by Pauline Hurley-Kurtz, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture, and Rob Kuper Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture.
“We had submitted a proposal for the tour to the Pennsylvania-Delaware Chapter of the ASLA and it was, in turn, approved by the national chapter last fall. We are very pleased with the interest in our tour,” said Professor Hurley-Kurtz. “(Professor Kuper) planned out the route and (Arboretum Director) Jenny Carey, (Horticulture Technician Supervisor) Grace Chapman, and I will provide tours of the gardens.”
Professors Hurley-Kurtz and Kuper will accompany the tour group on a bus trip from the Pennsylvania Convention Center to the campus to introduce the tour themes, which, in addition to the garden tours, will include exhibits of student and faculty work, an overview of Ambler’s entry into the 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show and a brief glimpse into what’s in store for Flower Show 2009, and an exhibition of the work of John Collins, FASLA, who established the 4-year Landscape Architecture program at Ambler in 1988.
 During a reception on Friday, October 3, Temple University Ambler Dean Dr. James W. Hilty will welcome ASLA tour members to the campus; Senior Associate Dean Dr. Lolly Tai will discuss sustainability at Temple; Carey will share the history of the campus; and Dr. Mary Myers, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture will provide insight into degree programs.
“These gardens were designed and built by students and faculty in our unique ecologically based Landscape Architecture and Horticulture programs,” said Hurley-Kurtz. “Participants will be able to view a digital exhibit of student and faculty work in addition to seeing drawings by John Collins in a retrospective exhibit.”
The Collins retrospective examines his remarkable body of award-winning work as a landscape architect, planner, nurseryman and educator — the exhibit, located in the Learning Center, was first presented to the public in 2007.
Collins began his professional career at a time when the challenges of urban sprawl were radically affecting cities throughout the country. It was a time when planners, developers, and landscape architects moved away from “bigger, grander, more,” and began to embrace the idea of human-scale, walkable, and diverse communities.
“My interest in landscape architecture was pretty straightforward. I had a love of art — my mother was an art teacher and I always assumed I’d become an illustrator,” said Collins, a resident of Glenside who will be on hand for the October 3 Welcome Reception. “I had also cultivated a love of nature from a young age (he started a commercial nursery in his parents’ backyard at the age of 15) and throughout my life. I felt that anything that combined those two elements would be a great deal of fun — and it was.”
In 1988, Collins became the founding Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture at Temple University. Under his leadership, the department advanced in academic standards, achieving accreditation for the landscape architecture program; hired new faculty; and reached out to the community with urban design-build programs.
“I wanted students that would look at nature, not pave over it. The thing that really excited me was the potential  combination of horticulture and landscape architecture,” he said. “Nationally they had been growing further and further apart. I can’t separate the two. I don’t see them as isolated entities. If you are going to be involved with land planning, land development, or civil engineering, you should have appropriate knowledge of the plants you’re working with.”
In addition to the arboretum tour and John Collins retrospective, Hurley-Kurtz said, eight students from Ambler will be attending the 5-day conference with scholarships awarded by the ASLA Pennsylvania-Delaware chapter. Ambler students and faculty will also be volunteering at the host chapter’s booth, she added.
“This is a wonderful way for visitors in the field to see our beautiful campus and experience the broad range of research and work of our faculty and students,” she said. “They see gardens which our students over the years had a direct hands in creating — the Wetland Garden and Healing Garden, for example. It is the design-build aspect of our program that makes it particularly unique.”
For more information on the ASLA Conference and the Landscape Arboretum/John Collins tour, contact the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture at 267-468-8181. |
