Young Building

Host: Sohyun Park Location: YNG 132 When: Friday January 24th 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM Webex Link:s.uconn.edu/psla_seminars (http://s.uconn.edu/psla_seminars) Stuck at my desk during the COVID lockdown, I turned to digital tools—GIS, remote sensing, and 3D modeling—to navigate sites I couldn't visit. What began as a practical necessity became an intellectual rabbit hole: how did digital media become so entangled in the ways we understand, represent, and intervene in the environment? This talk revisits the digitalization of landscape architecture from 1950–2000, not just as a technical evolution but as a transformation in ways of knowing. Drawing from media archaeology, I explore the overlooked contingencies, ruptures, and dead ends in this history—moments when digital media introduced new ways of seeing and thinking while also foreclosing others. By examining these shifts, this seminar questions prevailing narratives that frame digital media as instruments of optimization and control, opening space for alternative modes of practice and knowledge production. Tom Sterling excited to be joining the department as an Assistant Professor in Residence, Plant Science and Landscape Architecture. Tom's recent work and collaborations have been displayed by the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City; and the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland. Before joining the DDes program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Tom worked as an exhibition designer, curator, researcher, and designer in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New York, and Edinburgh. Tom holds a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA) with distinction from the University of Edinburgh, where he received the Helen A. Rose Prize. Prior to joining PSLA, Tom has taught architecture and landscape architecture courses at the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University, the Boston Architectural College, and The Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Conferences & Speakers