Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--An internationally known landscape architect and Mississippi State alumnus will discuss the latest in ecological planning and design during a public program Thursday [Nov. 20] at the university.
Edward L. Blake Jr., a 1970 MSU graduate and founder of The Landscape Studio in Hattiesburg, speaks at 7 p.m. in the Bettersworth Auditorium of Giles Hall. His presentation will focus on "green" or environmentally sustainable designs.
A reception and exhibit of his photographs and projects will follow at the location.
"Ed will show that he has been practicing these concepts long before they have become the catch-all phrases in everyday life," said Sadik C. Artunc, landscape architecture department head. "He will demonstrate with examples that it is possible to create successful environmentally sensitive, economically feasible and socially acceptable functional projects."
Blake's creations are featured primarily throughout the Southeast and Midwest. In Mississippi, his work includes, among others, Hattiesburg's Lake Terrace Convention Center and the Crosby Arboretum in Picayune, winner of the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts and Centennial Medallion Award of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
A native of Bryn Mawr, Pa., Blake also has been recognized with the ASLA's Alfred B. LaGasse Medal for contributions to natural resource and public land management. Additionally, he was honored by MSU's landscape architecture department in 1990 during its 25th anniversary observance.
His creations are featured in numerous professional publications and he has served as a visiting design critic at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and the European Landscape Education Exchange in France, among other institutions.
For more information, contact Artunc at 662-325-7894 or sartunc@lalc.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.