The Future of the Public Realm

FRI-FS-06: The Huntington Past, Present, Future: Preserving Legacy Landscapes, Building Climate Resilience

Friday, September 18, 2026

7:30 AM - 4:00 PM PT

Location: Los Angeles Convention Center, Field Session Departure Area (South Lobby)

4.50 PDH, LA CES/HSW
Ticket Price: $225 per person

Field Session Leader(s)

Ruth Siegel, ASLA

Senior Project Manager, Botanical Gardens & Grounds
The Huntington
Los Angeles, CA
Tom Rau, ASLA, PLA

Principal, Landscape Architect
Urban Water Group Inc
Los Angeles, CA

Field Session Presenter(s)

Carol Bornstein, na

na
Santa Barbara, CA
Ray Giang, na

Partner
ProFun
Tustin, CA

Explore The Huntington’s past, present, and future—preserving legacy landscapes while adapting to evolving public use and climate change. Enjoy a guided campus tour, including limited-access areas and recent projects highlighting stormwater management, native-plant strategies, and ADA upgrades. Learn how comprehensive planning guides project implementation to support a resilient, welcoming public realm.

Includes transportation, catered lunch. Extensive walking.

Accessibility: This session involves outdoor walking, with uneven surfaces and steep grades in some areas.

Learning Outcomes:

Analyze how legacy public landscapes can preserve historic character while implementing climate resilience through stormwater, planting, and circulation upgrades.
Identify stormwater and native-plant design strategies that improve site performance, reduce flooding/erosion risk, and support long-term maintenance.
Evaluate implementation tradeoffs in an active public campus, including phasing, visitor access, heat/HSW considerations, and operational capacity.
Apply a practical framework for translating comprehensive plans into phased projects aligned with climate pressures and evolving visitor expectations.