Start Date
05/16/2025
End Date
05/18/2025
Description
The symposium will include a series of events focused on the arc of landscape history that has shaped Middle Tennessee over thousands of years. At the heart of the passion for Classical Art and Architecture is the recognition of the continuum of design thinking over centuries. Rather than seeking and celebrating rupture, the best of classical art and architecture builds, layer by layer, on the past, toward a better future. When we turn our attention to the parallel conversation in Landscape Architecture and Garden Design, the complex interaction of humans and living collections in our cities, parks and residences, offers a similar opportunity to find the continuum of design thinking. During the ICAA Bunny Mellon Garden Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee, the participants will explore the arc of landscape history that has shaped Middle Tennessee over hundreds of years. Beginning with an understanding of the remarkable geologic formation of the Nashville Basin, Native American settlement and lifeways, colonial settlement and enslavement in the 18th century, expansion of industry in the 19th century, to the evolution of the modern City of Nashville, its parks and gardens. Guests will visit a number of historic and contemporary sites illustrating this remarkable continuum and stewardship of the landscape and garden history in Middle Tennessee.
The goal of the ICAA Garden Symposium seeks to provide participants with an in depth understanding of the relationship of Architecture and Landscape in the location where the Symposium is held. This symposium will explore the rich history of the Middle Tennessee landscape beginning with the prehistoric Mississippians that settled what is now known as Old Town around 1050 AD through the current pressures of Nashville and it’s surrounding area being consider the “It City”. The speakers will address the various ways that long time residents as well as newcomers honor this unique landscape through the lens of Stewardship of Place. Topics that will be explored include pressures from explosive population growth and climate change, land conservation and easements, and interpretation of land histories and cultural landscapes and the preservation of those landscapes.
Location
Nashville, TN
Distance Learning
No
Course Equivalency
No
Subjects
Sustainable Development & Design
Health, Safety and Welfare
Yes
Hours
4.0
Learning Outcomes
1) Understand the importance of landscape architecture and its role in reshaping public space to meet the challenges of ecological and social resilience.
2) Highlight case studies of successful projects that were able to engage sensitive sites, including those that hold the histories of enslaved peoples, indigenous peoples, and natural habitats into spaces that offer meaningful public experiences with the land.
3) Learn how research-based processes help professionals to understand the cultural and ecological histories of the land as they work to protect it from infrastructure expansion and large-scale neighborhood construction.
4) Understand how public and private partnerships can assist in the ecological, cultural, and historic preservation of the land as it is repurposed for public use in ways that honor the history of the land.
5) Explore the value and challenges of land development under the restrictions and guidance of conservation easements and overlays.
Instructors
Thomas Woltz, Braden Meadows, Emily Parish, Jamie Pfeffer
Course Codes
Provider
Institute of Classical Architecture & Art