BSLA Fieldbook BSLA 2015 Spring Fieldbook | Page 50

BSLA

/ MEMBER

CORTNEY KIRK, ASLA
COMBINE FILM WITH LANDSCAPE

L

andscape architecture came as a
surprise second career. After earning
an undergraduate degree in TV, Radio, and
Film Production from Syracuse University,
I moved to Boston and was introduced
to the profession while walking around
taking photographs. With each photo, my
enthusiasm grew and I developed a desire to
create the unique urban outdoor spaces I had
grown to appreciate. I chose to enroll in the
Landscape Architecture Master’s program
at the Rhode Island School of Design, due
to their immersive full-time, three-year
studio curriculum where Landscape and
Architecture students learned side by side.
The School also provides opportunities to
take cross disciplinary courses like digital
media, which allowed me to use my skills
as a filmmaker and combine them with
landscape design.
Since 2012, I have been a Project Manager
at Copley Wolff Design Group where I have
gained experience throughout all areas
of design from business development and
marketing to traditional landscape architect
roles. My work covers a wide variety of
design types and scales including projects
at the University of Massachusetts; three

charter schools in the Boston area; a large
two-level roof deck for a luxury apartment
building in downtown Boston; a temple in
Omaha, NE; and a number of significant
mixed-use development projects located
throughout Boston.
I have also been teaching at the Boston
Architectural College since 2008. In 2014,
as part of the BAC’s Gateway program,
I advised a team that completed Boston’s
first Grass-Roots Parklet—The Parkolation
Project. The project joined BAC graduate and
undergraduate students with high school
students at the Boston Green Academy to
conceptualize, design, and build a Parklet for
a restaurant located near Audubon Circle
The BAC has also allowed me the opportunity
to return to my cinematic roots by way of
receiving an Education Committee grant
in 2011 to purchase cameras and video
editing software to develop and teach a new
workshop—Film and Landscape. Supported
by the grant, I taught design through the lens
of a filmmaker, drawing upon storytelling,
cinematography, and mise en scene to
develop landscape designs that focus on the
storytelling, rather than technical drawings
such as plans and sections.

Started Out Columbus, OH
Education BS, Syracuse University (Television, Radio and Film Production ); MLA, Rhode Island School of Design
Now Copley Wolff Design Group

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