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WELCOME! SEAN MICHAEL, DEPARTMENT HEAD Ecotone is a concept familiar to landscape scholars and
program. That flavor is, in part, what distinguishes each of
practitioners alike. Lying at the verge of two generally
such program. For LAEP, our milieu has taken different forms
distinct biomes, these fertile strips rely upon a blend of
over the decades. Now, in 2019 (the 80th year since our
contrasting systems to produce a more diverse place. As
program’s founding), the flavor has resulted from a recipe
shapers of the land, we apply that same formula in creating
conceived and refined for over a decade. This autumn that
meaningful built environments, too. Outdoor living spaces
flavor again shifts as we’ve said farewell to our dear friend
blend garden with architecture. Street cafes are part
and colleague, Prof. Phil Waite (aka, Professor of Grace;
sidewalk, yet part restaurant.
Revelation 21:3-4), and as we welcome into our Logan family many new students and two remarkable faculty members,
Despite the enduring lessons these natural settings (and our
while also applauding the Classes of 2019, now our newest
biomimicry of them) testify of, I’m reminded that in society all
alumni.
such balance is tenuous. Without vigilance, imbalance tends to occur. Budgets are eaten up by architecture, with sites and
Ecotone also aptly describes the interstitial space that
site designers left footing the bill. Students prodded to incur
department heads operate in. Engaging continuously with
no debt will work jobs during school, even to the detriment
diverse and extraordinary colleagues, students, campus
of their academic raison d’etre. Curricula drift towards
leaders, and alumni, we are blessed by having the privilege
an abundance of design, with planning/construction/ horticulture/etc. wilting as a result. Or vice versa. Each such example testifies to our need to consciously choose wise balances, and to then guard them fastidiously. Entropy may be how we explain these tendencies toward failed systems of balance. Nature—as in ecology or human behavior—may explain it equally well. The balancing acts we design into our sites (and work places) are not self-sustaining. Unlike the ecotone between pond and meadow, human systems, whether gardens or other social constructs, require constant tending. Left untended, they quietly devolve. In a university environment this principle most certainly holds true. We develop and then oversee degrees, bodies of faculty, and facilities with an intentional recipe for our mission. A wonderful result of this resource-intensive process is the unique milieu found within each design
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