The Cultural Landscape Foundation and Longwood Gardens Host Oberlander Forum V: “RE: SEARCH: Reclaiming and Redefining the Relationship Between Research and Design”
Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553 | M: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org
Daylong conference and two days of related events inspired by Oberlander Prize winner Mario Schjetnan and Longwood’s rehabilitation of the Roberto Burle Marx Cascade Garden.
Washington, D.C. (April 21, 2026)—The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), a Washington, D.C.-based education and advocacy organization, and Longwood Gardens, one of the world’s great gardens located near Philadelphia, PA, today announced that registration is now open for the conference titled “RE: SEARCH: Reclaiming and Redefining the Relationship Between Research and Design” and related events that will take place October 28–30, 2026. The daylong conference on October 29 is inspired by the depth of research and analysis that informs the design work of Mexico City-based landscape architect Mario Schjetnan and his firm Grupo de Diseño (GDU), the 2025 winner of the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, and Longwood’s rehabilitation of Roberto Burle Marx’s Cascade Garden (the world famous Brazilian landscape architect’s only U.S. commission). Registration is now available.
Schjetnan is part of a generation of landscape architects, architects, and urbanists who became aware of the environmental impact of urban development and its consequences on life, the planet, and its inhabitants. He created new theories and practices for the design of cities based on environmental knowledge, cultural memory, and consideration for the inhabitant's quality of life, well-being, and a new ethical and aesthetic relationship with the environment.
Schjetnan’s influences include Mexican Modernist architects, such as Luis Barragán, Max Cetto, and Mario Pani. In terms of landscape architecture, he cites Luis Barragán, Roberto Burle Marx, and Lawrence Halprin (the latter was his impetus for studying at University of California, Berkeley), along with artists such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and Juan O'Gorman, novelist Carlos Fuentes, poet Octavio Paz, and Mexico’s rich legacy of pre-Hispanic myths, architecture and culture.
At Longwood Gardens, the recent transformation and reconstruction of Roberto Burle Marx’s Cascade Garden by landscape architects Reed Hilderbrand and architects Weiss and Manfredi is an exemplar of a holistic research-driven design process that values both natural/ecological and historic/cultural systems. Surveying the work and measuring the success at Longwood—and elsewhere in North America—the focus of this symposium and related events provides the ideal opportunity to explore how today’s practitioners are building and sharing knowledge with the joint quest of revealing, honoring, and integrating cultural systems and lifeways in the face of inevitable change.
The daylong conference will be preceded by an evening reception and plenary keynote on Wednesday, October 28, and succeeded by mobile workshops at historically significant cultural landscapes in the region on Friday, October 30. Registration is now available.
Order of Events:
Wednesday, October 28: Evening Reception and Plenary Keynote
Paul B. Redman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Longwood Gardens
Claire Agre, ASLA, Principal, Unknown Studio, Baltimore, MD, and Jury Chair 2025 Oberlander Prize in Landscape Architecture
Mario Schjetnan, FASLA, Founder, Grupo de Diseño (GDU), Mexico City, Mexico, and 2025 Oberlander Prize Laureate
Thursday, October 29: RE: SEARCH Conference
Opening Keynote: Reclaiming and Redefining our Relationship Between Research and Design through a Cultural Systems Lens
Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR, Founding President + CEO, The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Panel I: RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE | Re: Discover, Re: Appraise, and Re: Acknowledge
Elizabeth K. Meyer, FASLA, Merrill D. Peterson Professor of Landscape Architecture at University of Virginia School of Architecture, Charlottesville, VA; moderator
Speakers:
• Kofi Boone, FASLA, Joseph D. Moore Distinguished Professor and University Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State, Raleigh, NC;
• Jenny Lauer, Project Designer and Cultural Landscape Historian, Nelson Byrd Woltz, Charlottesville, VA; and
• Lydia Gikas Cook, Senior Associate, Reed Hilderbrand, Cambridge, MA
Plenary Provocation I: Table Setting for DESIGN PROPOSITIONS
Anne Whiston Spirn, author, landscape architect, photographer, scholar. Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Plenary Provocation II: REALIZING THE WORK
Walter Hood, artist, designer, educator. Hood Design Studio and Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning and Urban Design at University of California, Berkeley
Panel II: GROUNDING RESEARCH | Re: Design, Re: New, and Re: Activate
Eric Kramer, FASLA, Principal, Reed Hilderbrand, Cambridge, MA; moderator.
Speakers:
• Nina Chase and Chris Merritt, Founding Principals, Merritt Chase, Pittsburgh, PA, and Indianapolis, IN;
• Ross Altheimer and Maura Rockcastle, Principals and Co-Founders, Ten x Ten, Minneapolis, MN; and
• Marc Hallé, Co-President and Partner, CCxA, Montreal, Canada
Closing Panel Discussion | REFRAMING THE NARRATIVE
Mario Schjetnan, Anne Whiston Spirn, and Walter Hood in conversation. Moderated by Charles A. Birnbaum
Friday, October 30: Mobile Workshops
Explore how a commitment to research, recordation, and holistic site analysis have impacted management and design decisions. Check back to see the complete Mobile Workshop schedule coming soon. Potential tours include: Longwood Gardens' Cascade Garden, Longwood at Granogue, Hagley, Nemours, Winterthur, Chanticleer, and Mt. Cuba.
“At Longwood Gardens, we believe the most meaningful landscapes are grounded in deep research—where ecology, culture, and history inform design in lasting ways,” said Longwood President and CEO Paul B. Redman. “Through the revitalization of Roberto Burle Marx’s Cascade Garden, we’ve seen firsthand how thoughtful, research-driven design can elevate both the integrity and impact of a place. We are proud to partner with The Cultural Landscape Foundation to advance a more thoughtful, culturally grounded, and environmentally responsive approach to design.”
“As the Oberlander Prize jury noted in 2025, Laureate Mario Schjetnan’s practice is ‘acclaimed for landscapes situated in their beloved and sacred historical contexts,’” said Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF’s Founding President & CEO. “It is Schjetnan’s holistic approach to research, analysis, and design balancing natural and cultural values that serves as both the inspiration and curatorial framework for RE: SEARCH – and there is no more appropriate venue than Longwood where the recent restoration of the Burle Marx Cascade Garden, like Schjetnan’s work, sets a high standard for managing change with culturally significant landscapes.”
About Longwood Gardens
In 1906 industrialist Pierre S. du Pont (1870–1954) purchased a small farm near Kennett Square, PA, to save a collection of historic trees from being sold for lumber. Today, Longwood Gardens is one of the world’s great horticultural displays, encompassing 1,100 acres of dazzling gardens, woodlands, meadows, fountains, a 10,010-pipe Aeolian organ, and grand conservatory. Expanding on its commitment to conservation, in 2024 Longwood Gardens acquired the 505-acre Longwood at Granogue, a cultural landscape in nearby Wilmington, Delaware. Longwood Gardens is the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont, bringing joy and inspiration to everyone through the beauty of nature, conservation, and learning. Open daily, Longwood is one of more than 30 gardens in the Philadelphia region, known as America’s Garden Capital. For more information, visit longwoodgardens.org.
About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), founded in 1998, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1998 to connect people to places. TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. Through its website, publishing, lectures and other events, TCLF broadens support and understanding for cultural landscapes. TCLF is also home to the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.
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