Sept. 8, Kurt Culbertson, "Beyond Green: Toward Social Justice and Equity Through Design"

Kurt Culbertson is principal, shareholder and chairman of the board for Design Workshop Inc., a landscape architecture, land-planning and urban-design firm with offices in Aspen, Colo., and Asheville, N.C. The firm, which the ASLA named Landscape Architecture Firm of the Year for 2008, is renowned for using sustainable development and design strategies to reconcile economic needs with the preservation of scenic, cultural and community values. Culbertson took a lead role on two key projects for Design Workshop: the master planning process for Flathead County, Montana, a 3.8-million-acre community experiencing rapid growth, and the design of High Desert, a residential development in Albuquerque, N.M. that uses open space planning to preserve natural drainage systems and views. These and other projects are discussed in depth in the 2007 monograph on Design Workshop, Toward Legacy.

A native of Shreveport, La., Kurt Culbertson received his undergraduate degree in landscape architecture from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree in business administration in real estate from Southern Methodist University. He has won more than 20 regional and national awards for design work that ranges from secluded sanctuaries to national parks. In addition to design work, he has conducted extensive research on the contributions of German-American landscape designers to the profession of landscape architecture and authored an award-winning biography, The Life and Times of George Edward Kessler.

This fall, as the School of Architecture's John G. Williams Distinguished Professor, Culbertson will lead the fourth-year landscape architecture studio.

Photograph of stylized sculpture of Blue Grama Grass at High Desert

An entry monument to High Desert in Albuquerque, N.M., one of several stylized images of blue grama grass, a drought-resistant plant native to the area. Courtesy Design Workshop, Inc.