Spring Semester 2008

During his semester-long residency at Design Workshop, Les Smith was based in our Tahoe office, infusing his art-based approach into many projects and mentoring staff. In addition, Les had the opportunity to engage with staff across the firm by traveling to each office as part of Spring 2008 Legacy Design Days with an extra day in each location for work sessions with project teams and office sketching tours. He hosted a series of five Lunch and Learns conducted via Web conference that were a draw for many staff seeking a short break to participate in lively discussions about the role of art in our practice and hand sketching as a discovery process for design.

Les is a Professor of Landscape Architecture and Graduate Program Coordinator at Ball State College of Architecture and Planning, where he has been a member of faculty community since 1982. Prior to beginning his teaching career and becoming registered as a Landscape Architect, he was educated in areas of fine arts and practiced in a landscape design-build capacity. He maintains a small yet active professional practice, with a particular expertise in equestrian facility planning and design. Les has designed numerous equestrian venues throughout the USA, and most notably, he assisted in the design for the cross country course and equestrian venue facilities for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Les is recognized by his dedication to landscape architecture students through his enthusiasm for his course subjects. As the role model for the design-build program, Les integrates students into this aspect of the profession by helping them design, engineer, and construct community service projects. As a designer, Les is noted for his experimental design processes that emphasize the art aspects in landscape architecture—artful thinking resulting in artful design outcomes. He promotes the use of metaphor and figurative expressions in design to enrich the functional needs and outcomes in project work.