Landscape Architecture students from left to right: Hayden Bertone, Audrey Foster and Will Marshall, Class of 2025
Three University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning Landscape Architecture Implementation Studio students received international recognition for their designs at a prestigious competition in Portugal this semester.
This year’s theme, “Garden of Peace: Garden for Peace” attracted 51 entries from 15 countries including the US, Portugal, Austria, Slovakia, Holland, Brazil, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Colombia, Mexico, Germany, Italy, Ukraine and Bulgaria.
Will Marshall’s “Paths of Peace” was selected as one of two alternate finalists.
Audrey Foster’s “Re-Imagining Peace” and Hayden Bertone’s “Awaken” entries both won first place honors.
Audrey and Hayden’s winning designs will be built over the next six months and will showcase as two of the 12 gardens featured at the 20th annual Festival Internacional de Jardins, Pont de Lima, starting in May 2025.
This marks the first time students in the Implementation Studio submitted designs for an international competition.
Studio instructor Kevin Thompson reflected on the unique challenges the students faced during the process.
“It was a challenging semester as we were not only confronted with time differences, cultural boundaries, language barriers, foreign exchange rates and the challenges of specifying and detailing materials in the metric system of measurement,” said Thompson. “But throwing in two hurricanes on top of it all really stacked the odds against us.”
Challenges aside, the students did an amazing job.
“In the end, the studio produced 20 individual competition entries, each with full construction documentation sets, and three taking top prizes,” said Thompson. “I am very proud of each and every student for rising to meet this challenge”.
Jules Bruck, Chair of the Landscape Architecture program, emphasized the significance of this accomplishment for the program.
“This notable achievement demonstrates the exceptional talent and dedication of our students and faculty, as well as the strength of our program in preparing future leaders in landscape architecture. Competing on an international stage reinforces our commitment to fostering innovative, globally-minded designers who can navigate complex challenges and contribute meaningfully to the profession. We are incredibly proud of our students’ success and the impact their work will have.”