William R. Eubanks Distinguished Lecture Will Feature Landscape Architect Matthew Gordy on April 12

For release: March 26, 2012
For press information, contact Simone Notter Wilson (901) 678-4164

The University of Memphis will present its annual William R. Eubanks Distinguished Lecture at the Fogelman Executive Center on April 12 at 7 p.m. Featured speaker is Matthew Gordy, principal of On Land, a landscape and urban design practice that works on a range of projects including residential gardens, urban planning, and ecological infrastructure. He is also an assistant professor in the Landscape Architecture Department at Iowa State University's College of Design. The event is free and open to the public.

In his lecture, Gordy will focus on why “Landscape Form Matters.” His work and research address the production of material form and space across the multiple scales and processes of landscape with a dedication to the idea that great designed landscapes must be productive, useful, environmentally progressive, and aesthetically expressive. Given the often complex layers and ambiguous perceptions of landscape, his design process strives at all times for legibility and clarity in terms of formal, spatial, material and organizational qualities.

Gordy holds a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Harvard Design School, and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Colorado State University. He has taught landscape architecture and urban design at Harvard Design School, Northeastern University, and the Boston Architecture College. Prior to founding On Land he worked for Landworks Studio in Boston, and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts.