Pryor Center to Host Carl Smith and Stephen Luoni in Upcoming Lectures

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A rendering by Cada Fischer, a landscape architecture student in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.

The Pryor Center Presents lecture series continues at 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 30, with Carl Smith, professor of landscape architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, as he presents "A Hortus Botanicus for Green Recovery." At 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 4, Stephen Luoni, Distinguished Professor of Architecture in the Fay Jones School, will present "City in the Woods: John Cooper, Sr., Cherokee Village, Arkansas, and the Founding of the American Retirement Community." These lectures are hosted by the David and Barbara Pryor Center of Arkansas Oral and Visual History in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. 

The Pryor Center is located on the Fayetteville Square at 1 East Center St. The events are free and open to the public, and seating is limited. Masks are required for attendees, and vaccination is strongly encouraged. 

Smith will discuss work created by his students during their spring 2021 studio, Green New Deal Superstudio, which he led. This studio was the group's contribution to the nationwide Green New Deal Superstudio, which encourages landscape architecture students both in the United States and overseas, as well as collaborating practitioners and stakeholders, to speculate on the tangible manifestation of the Green New Deal, and its formulation of an economic stimulus and mobilization framework for decarbonization and social equity.

In Smith's studio, students reframed the meaning of a botanical garden for the 21st century. Working with the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, they identified some key design dilemmas and possibilities, specified issues to be resolved for the ongoing success of the garden and speculated on future trajectories. The project built upon the typological themes of harvest, reflection, education and joy established by the Hortus Botanicus of the 16th century, and speculated on how this could be reframed for the 21st century. 

The design work by Smith's students will be displayed in a public exhibition from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 30 on the Town Center Plaza on the Fayetteville Square during the Fayetteville Farmers Market.

Following Smith's lecture at the Pryor Center, students will be available to speak with guests about their design work in the Pryor Center atrium. In case of inclement weather, the entire exhibition will take place in the Pryor Center atrium.

Smith is a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute in the United Kingdom, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In addition to his position at the U of A, Smith holds the title of Visiting Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom (2020-2024).

Luoni will discuss the retirement community industry focusing on Cherokee Village, Arkansas — the first planned retirement-based recreational community, which was developed by John Cooper in 1954.

Luoni will show how Cooper triangulated influences from the 19th century American camp meeting movement, the new land sales industry and regional modernism in creating a sense of place integral to the Ozark foothills landscape. Cooper was drawn to the summer camp and resort tradition long established in Sharp County with its emphasis on social pluralism and family. While all three progenitor planned communities were marketed around the trope of the "vacation," only Cherokee Village embraced complexity, aspiring toward intergenerational living and association with local settler pioneer, scouting and Native American heritages.

Luoni is director of the U of A Community Design Center (UACDC) where he is the Steven L. Anderson Chair in Architecture and Urban Studies. Under his direction since 2003, UACDC's design and research have won more than 170 awards, all for urban design, research and education. Luoni was appointed a 2012 United States Artists Ford Fellow. He has a BS in Architecture from Ohio State University and a Master of Architecture from Yale University.

Upcoming Pryor Center Presents

Dec. 2 — Pryor Center Presents "Psychological Distress During the COVID-19 Epidemic: The Effects by Race, Ethnicity, and Class" — Presented by Brittany N. Hearne, assistant professor in the sociology and criminology department at the U of A — 6 p.m.