Assistant professor in Landscape Architecture Silvia Benedito was awarded the MacDowell Colony Fellowship. During the summer fellowship she worked on her current book project titled Atmosphere Anatomies: On Design, Weather and Sensation, which is focused on the role of atmosphere as a design medium in the disciplines of landscape architecture and urbanism.
The colony, founded in 1907 by the composer Edward MacDowell and his wife Marian, brings together a broad spectrum of artistic practitioners investigating an unlimited array of inquires and concerns by offering an inspiring environment in which they can produce enduring works of the imagination.
Benedito was also awarded the Dean’s Annual Research Grant with the proposal “Landscape and Atmosphere: The Genealogy of a Design Idea.” This project examines various civic landscapes through its strategies and sensorial domains in which atmosphere, as matter and affect, are integral to the design process.