West 8 New York Creative Director Daniel Vasini to lecture to Illinois Chapter of ASLA in “Ignite!” Lecture Series

On Thursday March 16, Daniel Vasini, Creative Director of West 8 New York, will give a lecture entitled Resilient Landscapes in the Face of Climate Change: Lessons from the Dutch to the Illinois Chapter of ASLA. This will be part of the Chapter’s lecture series called Ignite!, a series intended to promote growth and gathering presented by Bartlett Tree Experts and Victor Stanley.

With creation of The Hills, the culmination of the redesign of New York’s Governors Island, the firm West 8 both pays homage to the lush, hilly landscapes of pre-colonial Manhattan and fortifies the island’s resiliency in the light of rising sea levels. Along with connecting the island with its past, the solution provides for art, play, nature, relaxation and breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline, while addressing the ongoing sea level rise and more frequent and violent storms expected to result from climate change. Daniel will discuss the office’s climate-resilient design for Governors Island, informed by climate change mitigation advances in The Netherlands. This is part of what West 8 calls a “Second Nature” approach: “Creating land and then painting it: in many ways, this is the soul of Dutch culture.”

The lecture will be held at Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago on March 16, 2017. Registration will begin at 5:45pm, and there will be a reception following until 9pm. The event is free but registration is required. Visit the Illinois ASLA website to read more and register online.