Conference Schedule 

Conference Hotels

Keynote Speaker 

Field Sessions 

Education Sessions

Conference Schedule

Conference Hotels 

Hotel Block #1

Courtyard by Marriott
Richmond West
Information Coming Soon

Hotel Block #2

Holiday Inn & Suites
Richmond West End
Information Coming Soon

Additional Hotel Recommendations

Quirk Richmond

Linden Row Inn

Courtyard by Marriott Richmond Scott's Addition

Graduate by Hilton Richmond

Moxy Richmond Downtown

Keynote Speaker 

Thomas Rainer, PLA, ASLA
Founding Principal, Phyto Studio

Thomas Rainer is a registered landscape architect and founding principal of Phyto Studio, a design and consultancy practice focused on ecological planting design. Based in Arlington, Virginia, his work spans public gardens, parks, and residential landscapes across North America. He is widely recognized for advancing a systems-based approach to planting that integrates ecology, horticulture, and design to create dynamic, resilient landscapes. Thomas is co-author of "Planting in a Post-Wild World", a leading text on contemporary planting design. Through his writing, speaking, and built work, he has helped shape a new generation of planting designers working at the intersection of beauty and performance.

Field Sessions (Friday, June 12)

Field sessions will take place from 2:00–4:00pm. Participants will meet directly at each location, and detailed instructions, including addresses, parking guidance, and any materials to bring, will be shared as the conference date approaches. Be sure to select a field session when completing your conference registration. (Note: LACES credits pending approval)

FRI-01: Beyond the Fields: A New Multi-Generational Park at River City Sportsplex (2.0 LACES)

Explore the new 8-acre park at River City Sportsplex as it approaches its grand opening in June. This field session highlights how landscape architects are expanding their role within complex recreational environments through collaboration with parks professionals, safety experts, and community partners. Inspired by the James River, the multi-generational park integrates nature-inspired play, custom play features, native planting, and inclusive design within a regional sports complex. Participants will learn how interdisciplinary collaboration, evolving safety standards, and innovative design strategies shaped this meaningful public space while touring the themed play parks and connected plazas.

Learning Objectives

1. Explore design strategies used to create a multi-generational park within a large regional sports complex, balancing active recreation, play, and community gathering spaces.
2. Identify key lessons learned during construction, including coordinating custom play elements, site grading, and integrating complex features within a cohesive park environment.
3. Learn about collaborative planning and implementation, including the roles of designers, County Parks & Recreation staff, and playground consultants in delivering a complex public park project.

Speakers
Shawn Balon, PLA, ASLA, Timmons Group
Chris Hale, PLA, ASLA, Chesterfield County Parks & Recreation
Tiffany Tiberio, KOMPAN Inc. Americas

FRI-02: Edge Condition: Transforming Marginal Landscapes into Meaningful Places for Understanding, Discourse, and Environmental Stewardship (2.0 LACES)

Join the client and design team on a walk along Little Westham Creek, a forgotten landscape at the margins of the University of Richmond campus. Explore a half-mile stream restoration that anchors the Eco-Corridor, a linear trail where students research, gather, and connect with living ecology. Then walk upstream to trace the creek's historical ties to plantation-era land use, culminating at the Burying Ground memorial: a once-hidden landscape now revealed as a place for community understanding, discourse, and transformation.

Learning Objectives

1. Learn how early site research can initiate and guide a project’s design trajectory.
2. Understand how local environmental regulations can be the impetus for project funding and collaboration.  
3. Learn how community-led design can reveal and restore a sense of place, integrating ecological and cultural histories to create enduring engagement beyond project completion.

Speakers
Jill Nolt, PLA, ASLA, Waterstreet Studio
Sonny Joy-Hogg, Associate AIA, Baskervill 
Joseph Day, Natural Areas Steward, University of Richmond

FRI-03: From Conservatory to Wick Lake: A Tour of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Expansion (2.0 LACES)

Join the client and design team on a walking tour of the recently completed expansion of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Funded by THRIVE: A Campaign for Communities, the expansion includes improvements to the Kroger Community Kitchen Garden, the incorporation of Wick Lake as part of the visitor experience, and 7.5 acres of new gardens designed by a diverse group of professional planting designers, as well as a larger Conservatory featuring four distinct climate zones and a permanent home for the beloved butterfly exhibit.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify key design strategies for designing outdoor and indoor botanical garden collections.
2. Understanding how infrastructure such as irrigation ponds and stormwater management BMPs can be brought from back of house and transformed into amenities with botanical interest.  
3. Understand how multiple landscape architects can coordinate their planting design choices within the bounds of one site.

Speakers
Jake Fox, PLA, ASLA, Waterstreet Studio
Andrea Almond, PLA, ASLA, 3North
Danny Cox, VP Horticulture, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

FRI-04: The Green: Transforming Urban Hardscape into a Living Landscape (2.0 LACES)

Discover on foot how “The Green” is transforming 20 acres of urban land—a former asphalt parking lot—into a climate-resilient, community-centered landscape in the heart of Richmond. See how native plantings, green infrastructure, and people-focused design can simultaneously advance environmental goals and public health while aligning with Richmond’s 300 plan and net-zero targets. Attendees will gain replicable strategies and design insights for turning underutilized urban spaces into high-impact green assets for their own communities.

Learning Objectives

1. Explore design strategies for transforming underutilized urban land into high-performing green space. 
2. See how forward-thinking landscape solutions are implemented that respect the museum’s historic character. 
3. Experience the landscape’s role in supporting both site-specific requirements and broader community interests.

Speakers
Harley Walker, VHB
David Gerstenmaier, PLA, VHB
Kendra Taylor, PLA, VHB

Education Sessions (Saturday, June 13)
(Note: LACES credits pending approval)

SAT-01
Keynote Session: Designing the Future: Planting as a Living System (1.0 LACES)

What if planting design began not with what plants look like, but with how they live? Using Ann Lee’s Meadow at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden as a starting point, this talk reflects on a garden many attendees will have just experienced—one designed for vivid floral performance in Richmond’s heat and humidity, and shaped through active care. From there, Thomas Rainer opens up a broader conversation about planting as a living system: responsive to site, structured through relationships, and always in motion. Moving between projects with different levels of management and autonomy, he explores how designers can work with change rather than resist it. The result is an approach that aligns planting with purpose—where plants are chosen and arranged for the roles they play, and where ongoing care becomes part of how the design evolves and succeeds.

Learning Objectives

1. Understand how planting design can shift from a focus on appearance to a focus on performance and long-term behavior.
2. Recognize how site conditions, plant relationships, and management shape planting outcomes over time.
3. Apply a systems-based framework to select and organize plants based on the roles they play within a designed landscape.
4. Evaluate how varying levels of management and autonomy influence the resilience, adaptability, and expression of planting systems.

Speakers
Thomas Rainer, PLA, ASLA, Phyto Studio

SAT-02
Thirty Years Expanding Landscape Architecture at Maymont Park (1.5 LACES)

Maymont celebrates its 100th anniversary as a public park in 2026. Now one of Richmond’s most visited destinations, the park once faced serious decline after opening to the public in 1926 without long-term planning. When the Maymont Foundation assumed management in 1975, a comprehensive Master Plan by Earth Design Associates guided its renewal. Over three decades, the firm helped transform the 100-acre estate while the landscape architecture profession in Virginia simultaneously gained certification and broader professional recognition. This session will examine the evolution of Maymont Park and the innovative landscape‑architecture practices that shaped it, concluding with a guided walk through the Japanese Garden.

Learning Objectives

1. Learn how landscape architecture, over a continuous 30-year period, made a primary contribution to making Maymont the showcase park it is today.
2. How the introduction of a comprehensive Master Plan in 1975 supported safer circulation, improved maintenance practices, and more resilient landscape systems.
3. Learn the history and process of the planning, design, and construction of Maymont’s Japanese Garden.

Speakers
Barry W. Starke, FASLA, AICP, Earth Design Associates, Inc.
Maymont, TBD

SAT-03
Revitalizing Richmond’s Riverfront: The Brown’s Island Transformation (1.0 LACES)

Brown’s Island is being reimagined as Richmond’s premier urban riverfront park, restoring views of the James River, enhancing ecology, and creating flexible spaces for everyday use and major cultural events. Led by a collaborative landscape architecture team, the project revitalizes native habitat, modernizes infrastructure, and introduces welcoming public spaces that reconnect residents and visitors to the river. This landscape‑architect–driven transformation positions Brown’s Island as a vibrant gateway to the James River Park System and a model for contemporary urban riverfront revitalization.

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the interdisciplinary, collaborative process needed to design and build the Brown’s Island renovation project. 
2. Uncover the obstacles and solutions that have been encountered on an intricate and historical riverfront project site
3. Discover how budget and stakeholder input are translated into designed spaces
   
   

Speakers
Andrea Almond, PLA, ASLA, 3North
Daniel Strait, AIA, 3North
MaryKate Weaver, PLA, ASLA, Timmons Group

SAT-04
From Silos to Synergy: 3D Modeling Workflows for Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Civil Engineering Collaboration (1.0 LACES)

Explore how integrated Revit and Civil 3D workflows can finally break down long‑standing silos between architecture, landscape architecture, and civil engineering. Learn how landscape architects translate seamlessly between both 3D platforms to streamline communication and keep site and building teams aligned. By leveraging coordinated 3D workflows, design teams can synchronize grading, site, and building models more effectively, reducing rework, improving accuracy, and delivering more cohesive, fully integrated project solutions. 

Learning Objectives

1. Understand how integrated Revit and Civil 3D workflows can improve coordination among architecture, landscape architecture, and civil engineering teams. 
2. Describe the role of the landscape architect as the “connector” discipline that interprets and coordinates design data between Revit and Civil 3D. 
3. Apply practical strategies for aligning grading, site, and building models across both platforms to reduce clashes and rework. 
4. Evaluate collaboration techniques and model exchange best practices that lead to more cohesive, interdisciplinary site and building solutions.

Speakers
Jessi Barnes, PLA, ASLA, MS, VHB
Bethany Pritchard, Associate AIA, VMDO
Karen Casey, EIT, VHB

Call for Presentations

The Virginia Chapter is excited to announce the Call for Presentations for the 2026 Virginia Conference on Landscape Architecture. We invite members, students, and allied professionals to help shape the conference by submitting a presentation proposal. This is your chance to share ideas, projects, and insights that inspire and advance the practice of landscape architecture across the Commonwealth. Session types include: 

Field Sessions (Friday afternoon)

• - 2–3-hour session
• - Maximum of three speakers per session
• - Include a site visit highlighting a landscape architecture project of significance
• - Projects may be completed or currently under construction
  - Projects must be within the Greater Richmond Region and accessible by vehicle for attendees
• 
  

• - 1-hour session
• - Maximum of three speakers per session
• - 50 minutes of instructional content followed by 10 minutes of Q&A

How to Participate:

The deadline to submit closed on Friday, March 13. Be on the lookout for future opportunities to participate in education sessions at our annual conference and fall symposium.

Thank you to our Sponsors and Exhibitors! 

Current Exhibitors