NEW ORLEANS – The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is coming to New Orleans for their Annual Meeting and EXPO, Friday, October 21, through Monday, October 24, 2016. More than 5,000 attendees are expected to gather this year at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (MCCNO), Halls D-G.
ASLA’s Annual Meeting and EXPO is the largest gathering of landscape architecture professionals and students in the world. The educational experience at this year’s meeting will feature 120 educational sessions, 15 field sessions, four workshops and two general sessions. The EXPO will be one of a kind as the largest trade show in the industry, with 450 exhibitors showing off hundreds of new products, services, technology applications and design solutions.
The American Society of Landscape Architects, a 501(c)(6) organization, is the national professional association for landscape architects, representing more than 15,000 members in 49 professional chapters and 72 student chapters. Landscape architects lead the stewardship, planning and design of built and natural environments.
This is the first time ASLA’s Annual Meeting and EXPO will be hosted in New Orleans. This year’s event is projected to generate $5.9 million in economic impact for the city.
MAJOR EVENTS
• Saturday, October 22 and Sunday, October 23: 9 a.m.-6 p.m., MCCNO, Hall E-F; premiere of ASLA’s first virtual reality film will take place in ASLA Central on the EXPO floor. Immerse yourself in Toronto’s Underpass Park, which won the ASLA 2016 Professional Award of Excellence. Take an exciting journey through this unique park found under a highway underpass, guided by landscape architect Greg Smallenberg, ASLA, principal at PFS Studio.
• Sunday, October 23: 8-9 a.m., MCCNO, Hall D; Designing for Diversity/Diversity in Design. Our world is changing dramatically. Half of the global population live in urban areas, and the demographic makeup of cities is rapidly changing. Traditional models of city development have not accounted for the needs of all residents. Ron Sims, Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2009-2011, Diana Fernandez, ASLA, Kona Gray, ASLA, Mark Rios, FASLA, and Lucinda Sanders, FASLA, will discuss the importance.
• Monday, October 24: Donation to ASLA/ACE Mentor Program Legacy project; many EXPO exhibitors will donate products and plants to a downtown New Orleans park being designed by the Louisiana Chapter of the ASLA, in partnership with the ACE Mentor Program, Downtown Development District of New Orleans, Orleans Parish School Board, Recovery School District – International High School, McDonough 35 and De La Salle High School. The park will be located on the school grounds of the International High School, 727 Carondelet St., New Orleans, LA 70130. The park will teach the community how it’s possible to reclaim open spaces in downtown New Orleans and will be open to the public.
• Monday, October 24: 7-8:30 a.m.; Women in Landscape Architecture Walk; a walk along the Mississippi River to visit and discuss existing and proposed riverfront projects designed to bring the City of New Orleans back to the River. The walk will start at the Louisiana Host-Chapter booth at the Convention Center, through the Riverwalk, Spanish Plaza and the future Four Seasons Hotel, Audubon Aquarium’s riverfront plaza, to Woldenberg Park and on to the cruise ship dock and the Moonwalk in front of the French Quarter.
