Drew Wensley, Dip.L.A., is the executive vp of the planners group at Moriyama & Teshima, Toronto.

The Hanifa Valley project in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a joint effort of Moriyama & Teshima Planners Limited, and Buro Happold, is reestablishing former landscapes in the desert tablelands. A series of natural stone weirs were built to increase oxygen into the water as it passes over and through them. This biorenewal effort is producing a 120-kilometer-long oasis with 42 kilometers of recreational trails, three lakes, six parks and nearly 40,000 trees.
Photo: Moriyama & Teshima

The University of Tennessee landscape architecture program, established in 2008, reports Drew Wensley, executive vp of the Canada-based planning and landscape architecture firm Moriyama & Teshima, has been appointed ???????(R)???AE?????(R)???AE?visiting professor of practice???????(R)???AE?????(R)???AE? in the UT College of Architecture and Design.

Gale Fulton, chair of the UT landscape architecture program, notes Wensley???????(R)???AE?????(R)???AE?s wide range of professional experience in planning large-scale projects around the world adds a new dimension to the program, allowing students in the design studios to benefit from detailed, hands-on education from a seasoned designer.

Drew Wensley, Dip.L.A., and the planners group at Moriyama & Teshima, are responsible for over 1.2 billion dollars of construction internationally, including the Wadi Hanifah development plan in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The project is a landscaping, conservation and natural environment development in Hanifa, an arid 4,000 square kilometer valley. The project has introduced recreational areas for the people of Riyadh, enhancing agricultural lands and creating a wastewater treatment facility. In 2014, Wensley was invited to present the plan to the Council for Sustainable Development and Delegates at the United Nations in New York.

In Canada, the firm???????(R)???AE?????(R)???AE?s planning group projects include Calgary???????(R)???AE?????(R)???AE?s East Village Riverwalk, campus plans at Lakehead University and Havergal College Campus and the Canadian War Museum.

Wensley is a graduate of Ryerson University in Canada. His design drawings are housed at the Ontario Archives in Toronto and were recently exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, Denmark. For more information about Wensley, click here to visit the faculty profile page of the UT Landscape Architecture program website.