Kate Orff reflects on her development as a landscape architect and discusses her participation in Rebuild by Design, the design competition launched by the Obama administration's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force in 2013 as part of its long-term Hurricane Sandy recovery effort. Orff recounts the origins of her interests in the natural world and political activism, and outlines her approach to l andscape architecture practice, which involves the combination of community stewardship and advocacy with regenerative ecosystem interventions. Orff outlines the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the activities and perspectives of urban planners, landscape architects, politicians, and the government agencies and offices tasked with the management of New York's coastlines and waterways. She also narrates her experience of Rebuild by Design, providing details about the research, design, and implementation phases of the project; the development of her firm's Living Breakwaters proposal; the administrative and regulatory requirements associated with permitting, procurement, and construction in the New York harbor; the importance of alignment between local, state, and federal governments; and the shifting political contexts through which she guided Living Breakwaters to construction. Also discussed are the way that the federal government views and relates to the country's shorelines and coastal edges; the pace at which adaptation to the risks posed by anthropogenic climate change must occur; the long-term impact of Rebuild by Design on practice in landscape architecture; the growth of Orff's studio, SCAPE, and her participation in Rebuild by Design as the leader of a woman-owned small business; and Orff's receipt of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2017
Presidents--United States; Landscape architecture--Environmental aspects--United States; Hurricane Sandy; Climatic changes--United States; Environmental protection--United States; Orff, Kate, 1971-; Obama, Barack; Columbia University Faculty; United States. Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2022
Physical Description
48 pages
Note (Biographical)
Kate Orff is an American landscape architect and professor. She is the founding principal and partner at SCAPE, a landscape architecture and design studio with offices in Manhattan and New Orleans. SCAPE's submission to Rebuild by Design, the competit ion that the Obama administration launched as part of its long-term Hurricane Sandy recovery effort, received sixty million dollars of federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Orff is the recipient of numerous awards, and, in 2017, became the first landscape architect to be awarded the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. At the time of the interview, and in addition to her role at SCAPE, she is a professor in Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), and director of the Urban Design Program and the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes
Note
Interviewed by Coleman Sherry on March 25, 2022. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Kate Orff, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023