The Knowlton School’s landscape architecture section hosted two Trott Distinguished Visiting Professors during the 2013-14 academic year. Rob Holmes was the Trott Professor during the Autumn 2013 semester, while Gina Crandell was in residence at Knowlton as the Spring 2014 Trott Professor.

Rob Holmes is a landscape architect with Michael Vergason Landscape Architects in Alexandria, Virginia, and recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architect’s Potomac Chapter Student Honor Award. He is co-founder of Mammoth, a research and design collaborative, which investigates the interface of infrastructures, logistics, landscape, and architectural possibilities in contemporary cities, a founding member of the ExEx, and a member of the Dredge Research Collaborative. His writing, research, and design work have been published in various magazines, journals, and books including Bracket, Urban Design Review, Landscape, Landscape Architecture, Making the Geologic Now, GOOD, Quaderns, MONU, La Tempestad, and Crit. His most recent public appearances were at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City and MediaLab Prado in Madrid, Spain.

As Trott Professor, Holmes taught graduate design studio focusing on landscape detail and disturbed landscapes and a research seminar on the evolution of large-scale territories undergoing anthropogenic landscape change and shifting conceptions of wilderness in North America. Before coming to Knowlton, Holmes held the 2013 Marie M. Bickham Chair at LSU’s Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture.  He is also an adjunct member of the faculty at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design

Gina Crandell is the author of Tree Gardens: Architecture and the Forest (Princeton Architectural Press, 2013). A Brookline, Massachusetts-based landscape architect and professor, Crandell was the Farrand Visiting Professor in Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley in 2007, after teaching for many years at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Iowa State University.

At Knowlton, Crandell taught a research seminar and graduate studio. Her studio examined the dynamics of change through the lens of the proposed Science and Technology Campus at OSU, including the proposed demolition of the St. John Arena and the Olentangy River restoration plan. Her research seminar employed select readings, from outside and within the profession, which addressed issues of importance to the research and practice of landscape architecture.

The Trott Distinguished Visiting Professorship Program brings internationally acclaimed architects, landscape architects, and planners to the Knowlton School each year. Trott Professors teach design studios, conduct seminars and lecture courses, and interact with faculty and students. Previous Trott Professors have included Michael Hays, Robert Somol, Jane Wolff, Dan Wood, and Amale Andraos.