Documenting Design History: The Role of Professional Archives

Join us for a moderated discussion with Ken Smith NA, landscape architect and newly elected National Academician, and Thaïsa Way, PhD, Director of Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Focusing on the changing role of archives in an age of digital abundance, Smith and Way discuss how the shaping of archives can ensure their ongoing role as both generative and commemorative tools. With the capacity to capture the designer, the location, and its communities, archives can act as a resource for future thinking and design. As Smith archives his practice in landscape architecture, the conversation will explore what archives reveal about individuals, projects, and the cultural moments in which they are made. The discussion invites a deeper consideration of archival work as a way to interpret legacy, challenge assumptions, and imagine new directions for design.

This program is organized in conjunction with the exhibition , on view through September 13.

RESERVATIONS: Admission is free but reservations are required.

ACCESSIBILITY: This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs. To request free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service, email your request at least three weeks in advance of the event to [email protected].

About the Speakers

Ken Smith NA is trained as a landscape architect and is the principal of Ken Smith Workshop, an award-winning design firm with experience in a wide variety and scale of projects. His work explores the relationship between art, contemporary culture, and the environment. Notable recent projects include Rockefeller University Campus Master Plan, New York (2022), Powerhouse Arts, Brooklyn (2021), and East River Waterfront Pier 35, New York (2019), He holds degrees from Iowa State University and the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. Smith has served as an adjunct professor at City College of New York and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. He is widely published in both popular and academic press. He is a board member of the Architectural League of New York and the Landscape Architecture CEO Roundtable and a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Numerous awards include eight national ASLA awards, two Municipal Arts Society MASterworks Awards, Urban Land Institute Global Award for Excellence, and awards from the American Institute of Architects, American Planning Association, and National Parks Service. Smith was elected to the National Academy of Design in 2024.

Thaisa Way FASLA, FAAR, RAAR, PhD is the Director for Garden & Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, a Harvard University research institution located in Washington DC. She is the Principal Investigator for a Mellon Humanities in Place Initiative, “Democracy and Landscape: Race, Identity, and Difference”. She teaches at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, and is Professor Emerita in Landscape Architecture, in the College of Built Environments, University of Washington, where she taught history, design, and theory for 15 years. Dr.Way was awarded the Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture at the American Academy in Rome (AAR) in 2016 and served as the Mercedes Bass Scholar at the AAR in 2023. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects and serves on the CEO Roundtable, the Society of Architectural Historians Board of Directors, and as the leader of the Built Environment Deans Advancing Change Initiative that engages 46 design schools to mentor early career faculty. Dr. Way served as the founding Director of Urban@UW, an initiative of the University of Washington. Her publications foreground questions of history, gender, and shaping the landscape. She is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, the volume co-edited with Eric Avila, Segregation and Resistance in the Urban Landscape (Dumbarton Oaks, 2023).

Host or Publisher National Academy of Design