SDSU landscape architecture students compete, place third in Istanbul

Two South Dakota State University students in the landscape architecture program competed in an international competition in Istanbul, Turkey. 

Jake Pytleski and Miranda Peck represented the SDSU School of Design in the International Federation of Landscape Architects conference Sept. 4-6. Pytleski’s team placed third in the conference competition. 

The students were accompanied by two faculty members, assistant professor Robert Dalton and associate professor Elizabeth Tofte, and the director of the School of Design, Pat Crawford. 

Dalton and Tofte presented their research at the conference. 

“It's wonderful to see people from all over the world presenting their research and their practice in landscape architecture,” Dalton said. “There are different approaches to the profession, different design types and different types of problems that we solve, but we all come with such a unified passion that you cannot leave that conference without inspiration to get back home and get to work and bring new ideas forward.” 

Getting involved 

The opportunity to have students present and compete at an international conference was something Dalton had dreamed of back when he was presenting his own master’s thesis at an International Federation of Landscape Architects conference in Cape Town. 

“I just felt more people should get involved here in the United States,” Dalton said. 

In September 2023, Dalton and other faculty members from the School of Design attended the International Federation of Landscape Architects conference in Nairobi to present their work. At that conference, they had meaningful conversations with the federation president about the importance of landscape architecture education and getting involved in education-based committees. 

What Dalton didn’t predict was that would open the door to a direct invitation from the International Federation of Landscape Architects president for SDSU students to participate in a new Global Studio program. 

SDSU was one of five U.S. universities selected to participate in the Global Studio program. Other universities included Penn State, Cornell University, University of California, Berkeley, and Clemson University. 

As part of the program, two students from each university compete at four different competitions. The first of those competitions landed on the 2024 International Federation of Landscape Architects conference in Istanbul. 

The Global Studio program officially launched in March 2024, and according to its website, “is a first step into integrating global landscape architecture academia.” 

The program hosts four charettes, an intensive design experience that involves collaboration to address a specific issue, at four different international regions. 

The second regional charette just wrapped up in Taiwan. The next two charettes will take place this fall in Saudi Arabia and Mexico. 

The competition process 

After receiving the invite to compete in the Global Studio program, Dalton and his colleagues had to choose the two students who would represent SDSU. 

The competition was open to any landscape architecture student. Interested students turned in a comprehensive portfolio and short essay on why they wanted to participate. 

“Soft skill development was important because they were going to be working with students from all over the world who they’ve never met,” Dalton said. 

Once the two students, Miranda Peck and Jake Pytleski, were chosen, they prepared for their trip. 

When the group from the School of Design arrived in Turkey, they took a day to explore the city’s design and historic sites. 

“Within both sides of the city you find design and landscape architecture in history that goes back to Roman times that has influences from Ottoman, Catholic Christian, Byzantine times, as well as influences from East Asia, all coming together and intersecting in what is a relatively very small part of the world, but an incredibly important part of the world historically,” Dalton explained. 

Students then began their charette. Each team consisted of five students. SDSU’s students had teammates from Sweden, China, the Philippines and Korea. 

Student participants were mostly in person, with a few attending virtually. Other schools participating came from France, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and New Zealand. 

All teams were placed in one large room with several tables. The tables had a map of the project site, markers and tracing paper. 

“Everyone worked on the same site,” Dalton said. “It was an area of an area of upcoming development and lower-income housing that they needed to ensure survives as the city develops economically, socially and environmentally.” 

They received their project details and then were given free rein to begin their approach to the problem. This included exploring the site in person, traveling around other parts of Istanbul to gather more information and historical context, and gathering any other pertinent information to inform their designs. 

The student teams had floating mentors who worked with the student teams and provided guidance over the four-day charette. 

“The first day there I had to collect inventory of our site and set up a game plan with my teammates of what we were going to implement into the site that was given to us,” said Pytleski, a senior landscape architecture major from Rock Rapids, Iowa. 

“My team and I worked hands-on with pen and paper for the first while before getting into the computer graphics part. During the four days of the charette, there were stopping points to present our work and ideas to professionals that were notable figures in the landscape architecture world. I personally oversaw keeping everyone on task so we could get a product that we were proud of in the end. I also produced section drawings that included programming or certain activities that the locals would be able to participate in if our design were to be built.” 

Once the charette was completed, the student teams turned in and presented a comprehensive site plan for future development. They discussed historical information on the site to describe how they reached their site plan conclusions. 

“There was great value in being able to participate and experience this,” Pytleski said. “I will be able to use the things that I learned and saw in their landscape to my professional advantage. … I can use that influence and experience in my future career as a landscape architect.” 

“As a smaller and growing program, this allowed our students to see how the world approaches landscape architecture from many perspectives,” Dalton said. “In turn, we were able to bring some of the kindest, most respectful students to be the representatives of our country and our approach to landscape architecture.” 

The president of the International Federation of Landscape Architects agreed, offering SDSU students an open invitation to participate in the future. 

Dalton hopes that they can continue sending two students to participate in the program. The biggest obstacle? Funding. 

“I need to find the funding,” Dalton said. “It is so important to get our students there year after year.” 

Landscape architecture students will present their work at an upcoming open house on Nov. 1 in McFadden Biostress Room 104. They will share information on their personal work, conference attendance, study abroad opportunities and internships. 

Student work from the past year will be on display from 2-4 p.m., while students will present their extra- and co-curricular work from 3-4 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. 

If you are interested in funding future opportunities like this for landscape architecture students, please contact the SDSU Foundation.