Sara Zewde

As I listen to landscape architect Sara Zewde describe retracing Frederick Law Olmsted’s journeys through the cotton kingdom and beyond, she evokes a deep, personal curiosity to understand the American landscape through one of its iconic founding figures. Olmsted observed his 19th century cultural landscape against its social and political backdrop, particularly how slavery shaped it. Sara’s firsthand encounters with these landscapes in the modern day empower new voices to challenge, reinterpret, and rewrite a more inclusive view of history. 

How might her interpretation lead to a new understanding and model for the American ­landscape—and the architects who shape it—in the 21st century? Sara’s current work—including redesigning Dia Beacon’s 32-acre grounds in upstate New York this year—provides one answer. Her fresh voice and aesthetic challenges the homogeneous legacy of landscape architecture in the past century, and makes clear that the medium is in more than capable hands.

Hood is a landscape architect