The eco-friendly movement has gone from a niche trend to a necessary mindset in many careers, including landscape architecture.
New Orleans architect David Waggonner, whose firm has done collaborative coastal sustainability research with the University, said the next generation of architects will have to more actively look for change compared to previous generations.
Waggonner is behind the ambitious waterway change in New Orleans, which will invite excess stormwater into the city and store it in places like canals, rather than trying unsuccessfully to keep it out.
He said when he was in college, there were few people who understood what was happening to the oceans or the water, as his generation was not as aware of what was happening to the climate.
Architecture used to be about more than buildings; it used to consider the sky, rain, ground and life, in general, Waggonner said.
“Should your classmates be hopeful?” he said. “They should work hard. They should try to bend [the future]. They should try to be as aware as possible.”
Landscape architecture junior Anjelica Sifuentes said green building and sustainability are always discussed in her classes. The students are constantly reminded that, while the eco-friendly design movement is “trendy,” students have to consider more than the surface.
She said ecological and humanitarian conscientiousness is always considered in landscape architecture students’ curriculum and design, since it places a huge emphasis on helping people, even with something as simple as building a park.
For example, Sifuentes said she took a class last year in which every student had to complete an ecological project considering how river dynamics and levee systems affect the black bear in Morgan City, Louisiana.
After college, Sifuentes said she hopes to work in “smart growth” city planning, an urban movement popular in coastal cities featuring all-walkable areas and high-density condos to support healthier living communities.
Waggonner said architecture cannot just be about engineering; it must also be about holistic values. He said the problem with modern American society is that there is no universal consciousness.
“We’re living in a narrow band, with worsened climate, without much resonance beyond,” he said.
Waggonner also stressed the importance of pushing against tradition to implement necessary change, citing his own projects in the notoriously unbudging New Orleans.
“Reflection is a gift,” Waggonner said. “Sometimes, you don’t have the opportunity to do that.”
Architect Thom Smith has worked with Waggonner for about a year and said anyone working in design has to do more research.
Understanding history, Smith said, is the basis of progress and improvement. He said this element is now missing from design and architecture, and the next generation of designers need a broader knowledge base.
Landscape architecture junior Lu Rui said he chose the major because it integrates creativity with the chance to understand and help people with their issues.
One of the things landscape architects can do, he said, is grow toward nature. Rui said the “green revolution” of the past decade has prompted people to think differently about design, but, in the classroom, they do not focus on that aspect as much as he thinks they could.
He said the “green revolution” has affected his education and his perspective as a student.
Rui does not see himself staying in Louisiana as a landscape architect because the area is focused on reducing the effects of coastal erosion.
But he said he will have to think about these issues no matter what geographical environment he works in post-graduation. Pollution, green energy and integrating more nature into design, such as “green roofs,” are big concerns of his.