Motivated by a belief that landscape design has the power to alter perception, and ultimately initiate a deeper respect for the environment, Andrea Cochran designs spaces that offer opportunities for users to forge new relationships with their surroundings. In this talk, one of the United States’ most innovative designers will discuss the process of creating landscapes that make visible the ephemeral and transitory elements of our natural world.

Drawing inspiration from early modernist architects and minimalist artists, Cochran composes powerful relationships by using ordered architectural form together with the permeable, mutable materials of landscape. This juxtaposition draws attention to important moments in nature, highlighting change over time. Through careful consideration of sequence, movement, and scale, Cochran suggests space by choreographing experience. To achieve a seamless integration of art, architecture, and landscape, an emphasis on the craft of building, detailing, and thoughtful response to site conditions have been foundational elements of the work. Enabled by the favorable climate and cultural freedom of Northern California, Cochran experiments with innovative materials and layered spatial structures that blur the boundary between architecture and landscape. Through considering these elements in their totality, Cochran’s designs cultivate a deeper connection to one’s surroundings and ultimately nature itself.

Cochran is the Mercedes T. Bass Landscape Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome in the fall 2015. She is the founder and principal of San Francisco–based firm Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture.

The event will be held in English. You can watch it live at https://livestream.com/aarome.