Architect Helle Søholt to Present 'People First Design' Lecture on April 8

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Architect Helle Søholt will present a lecture April 8 in Vol Walker Hall, as part of the Fay Jones School of Architecture lecture series. She is a founding partner and chief executive officer of Gehl Architects, which she started in 2000 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with Jan Gehl.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Helle Søholt will present a lecture titled "People First Design" at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall, Room 250 of Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, as part of the Fay Jones School of Architecture lecture series.

Søholt is a founding partner and chief executive officer of Gehl Architects, which she started in 2000 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with Jan Gehl, a professor. The office has developed a knowledge base and experience respected internationally in the fields of urban design and development. The firm has garnered multiple prizes and recognitions for contributions to making cities more livable and sustainable.

Søholt was educated as an architect at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and at the University of Washington in Seattle. She has extensive international design experience at various levels of intervention and at a multitude of scales that include urban analysis, visioning, strategy and design development.

With that knowledge and experience, Søholt has served as a member of professional boards, juries and advisory committees since 2008. She was awarded member of the Danish Art Society in 2010, as well as the Danish Dreyer's Prize of Honor for architects in Denmark. In recent years, she has been advisor to the cities of Copenhagen; Vancouver, Canada; Mexico City; New York; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

She is a strong advocate for healthy, urban living and supports compact urban form, human scale and mobility for all. She often is a keynote speaker at a wide range of international conferences, focusing on the issue of urban quality and mobility, and she has served on design competition juries in Europe.

The team at Gehl Architects applies a methodology to policy, planning and design defined as a "people first" approach, with the goal of creating cities for people. Working as an evidence-based practice, research is embedded at the heart of the organization. Søholt will introduce the methodology of the practice, as well as illustrate how work is delivered through a collaborative and co-creative process between clients, stakeholders, designers and citizens. Both smaller and larger examples of the works of Gehl Architects, found in cities such as New York, Sao Paulo and Copenhagen, will be included in the lecture.

The public is invited to attend this lecture.

Admission is free, with limited seating. For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or architecture.uark.edu.