2012 Spring Hyde Chair - Gina Ford
Bio
Gina Ford is a Principal and landscape architect with Sasaki Associates, an award-winning international design and planning practice. Gina has degrees in Architecture from Wellesley College (dual program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She was the recipient of Wellesley’s Shaw Fellowship, the Janet Darling Webel Prize, and the Charles Eliot Travelling Fellowship.
Gina serves as the Chair of Sasaki’s Urban Studio – an energized and interdisciplinary group of practitioners solely dedicated to the improvement of quality of life in American cities through rigorous planning, exceptional design and strong community partnerships. Her work in this realm encompasses a wide range of scales and project types—from public parks and plazas to large scale landscape planning and waterfront projects. She brings to each project a passion for the process of making vibrant landscape spaces — from the conceptual design to the details of implementation— with a particular focus on the life and use of urban, public environments. Major project work in this arena includes the Chicago Riverwalk (State Street to Lake Street), the flood recovery planning and implementation in Cedar Rapids, the Council Bluffs Riverfront Park, and Ithaca Commons. Her work in Cedar Rapids has been recognized regionally and nationally by the American Association of Planning and the International Downtown Association.
Gina’s experience is additionally informed by extensive research, writing, travel, teaching and competitions. Recent competitions include the Beirut Waterfront, the Burnham Memorial Competition in Chicago, and Washington Canal Park. Her teaching includes guest critic and studio instructor roles at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, MIT and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Prof. Ford, the Hyde Chair of Excellence for Spring 2012, will lecture during the 2011-2012 Hyde Lecture Series: January 27, 2012 @ 4:30 p.m. at The Ross.
