'Crystal Bridges' Landscape Architect to Lecture at U of A

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Peter Walker, landscape architect for the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City and the new Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, will launch the UA School of Architecture’s 2005-2006 lecture series this year. Walker will present a lecture titled "Before the Memorial," at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12, in Giffels Auditorium.

"We are pleased to bring in top-notch practitioners such as Peter Walker to the UA School of Architecture," said Fran Beatty, head of the landscape architecture department. "These lectures inform our students and inspire them to excel in the design professions."

For nearly 30 years Peter Walker has led the movement to link landscape and art. Like the minimalist sculptures and paintings he collects, Walker makes an impact with a few key moves. Boulders mark parking spaces, grass and gravel carve a garden into concentric bands, and an illuminated walkway defines and anchors a college campus. His Berkeley-based firm, Peter Walker and Partners, has taken on a broad range of projects, from private gardens to the 1,000-acre Millennium Parklands in Sydney, Australia. In exploring the relationship between art, culture and context, the firm has created award-winning projects that have been hailed as "some of the most beautiful and iconic works of landscape architecture in the world."

Walker is currently working with Boston-based architect Moshe Safdie to develop the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, which will house the collection of American art amassed by Alice Walton and the Walton Family Foundation. The 100-acre museum campus will feature terraced sculpture gardens, water features, and a network of trails that link the museum to downtown Bentonville and area neighborhoods.

The School of Architecture will host 15 lecturers in Fayetteville this year, with additional lectures planned for Little Rock. The series will continue at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14, with Houston architect Sanford Kwinter’s lecture "Beat Science" in Room 103 of Vol Walker Hall. At 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19, Swiss architect Marc Angélil will discuss "How to Imagine As Many As Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast" in Vol Walker 103. All lectures are free and open to the public.