Danielle Choi

Abstract

Plant vitality is a powerful yet often invisible force in shaping human behavior. Ornamental plants compel humans to design, build, and maintain new and frequently fragile life-support systems—from synthetic soils to artificial lighting to specialized transport containers. Climate-controlled interior landscapes are extreme examples of nature engineered for human delight. Although they may seem ubiquitous and aesthetically uniform in the present day, these were once landscapes where designers had to confront novel environments of human origin and imagination that frustrated illusions of human control. This lecture will explore several examples of interior landscapes from the twentieth century that represent small but significant turning points in the relationships between the public and domesticated plants.

Biography

Danielle N. Choi is an associate professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Her research and writing examine science, technology, and infrastructure in the practices of landscape design. Choi has worked professionally with Topotek in Berlin and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates in New York City, where she led the strategy and design of projects ranging in scale from gardens to urban framework plans. Choi draws upon this experience to uncover the knowledge, social relations, and labor embedded in living landscapes. Choi received her Bachelor of Arts in art history from the University of Chicago and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the GSD.