Nature is a word that landscape architects should own and unabashedly employ. As lateral thinkers, landscape architects understand the complexity of systems inherent in its practice, and it seems that nature may in fact be the concept and the construct that ultimately defines what it is that contemporary landscape architects do, which is design nature.

Alissa North is the Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture Program at the Daniels Faculty, where she is an Associate Professor. A Founding Partner of the Toronto landscape architecture practice North Design Office Inc., she is committed to designing urban environments to engender vibrant communities and ecologies.

The Building, Ecology, Science and Technology (B.E.S.T.) lecture series has been made possible since 2009 through the generous sponsorship of Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance.

Each B.E.S.T. lecture qualifies for 2 hours of Ontario Association of Architects Structured Learning Credits. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis.