Rod Barnett, PhD, is the author of
Emergence in Landscape Architecture (Routledge, 2013).
Photo: Auburn University

Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) reports Rod Barnett, PhD, chair of the graduate program in landscape architecture at Auburn University in Alabama, will be the new chair of the MLA program in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts beginning Aug. 1, 2014.

Barnett, a native of New Zealand, is a scholar, author and practitioner. In 2012, DesignIntelligence named him one of its 25 most admired educators. His private practice focuses on gardens, and has designed landscapes in New Zealand, Australia, China, the Pacific Islands and the U.S.

Dr. Barnett is considered one of the most original thinkers in landscape architecture today, and an innovative educator, writing extensively on "nonlinear landscape architecture."

Carmon Colangelo, dean of the Sam Fox School, believes Barnett will strengthen the recruitment and program development of the landscape architecture program.

In New Zealand, Barnett taught at the Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, and directed the Unitec Landscape Unit, the department of landscape architecture's research wing.

Barnett is involved in Artweb www.artweb.co.nz, an urban planning and design research project of the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Unitec New Zealand, whose aim is the realization of a network of landscape architectural projects in Auckland in collaboration with artists and scientists, that are connected by pedestrian and bicycle pathways.

Barnett's noted work in Auckland is the redevelopment of Aotea Square, Auckland's central business district (with Ted Smyth, 2002-2010); and Under the Radar (2006), an "enhanced lizard habitat" in a public open space in Manukau City.

Barnett's most recent work is a series of philosophical investigations that explore how issues of emergence, transformation and disturbance have historically shaped landscape discourse.

Barnett earned a BS in psychology and philosophy from the University of Waikato in 1973, a masters in philosophy (1997), and a PhD (2005) in landscape architecture from the University of Auckland.