Dumbarton Oaks is pleased to welcome Karen Lewis, who joins Garden and Landscape Studies as a one-month research awardee from September 1 to 30.
Karen Lewis is an associate professor of architecture at The Ohio State University whose research interests explore the intersection of graphic and infrastructural systems. Her recent book, Graphic Design for Architects (New York, 2015), explores issues of architectural representation through the lens of information design and visual communication. Recent published design projects include “Light Industrial Landscape,” a proposal that explores the programmatic overlap of transportation and recreational systems in New York, and Restoration Network, a living, landscape memorial in Connecticut that connects underused parks and recreational spaces with contemplative zones for reflection.
While at Dumbarton Oaks, Professor Lewis will continue her ongoing archival research on the Oregon Trail, a landscape of transportation and communication technology. Since its identity as a route for westward expansion, the Oregon Trail has continued to evolve as a space for infrastructural interchange. From the U.S. Mail Service, the Union Pacific Railroad, highways and its current use as a conduit for oil, gas, and internet infrastructure, the Oregon Trail is an ever-evolving landscape of network of connectivity.
Karen Lewis is a graduate of Harvard University Graduate School of Design and Wellesley College.