Christian Werthmann, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, teaches in the landscape architecture core design studio sequence where he is also Director of the Master in Landscape Architecture Degree Programs. Recent courses include Green Infrastructure in the Non-formal City, Studies in Landscape Representation 1, the core studios Second Semester Core: Landscape Architecture Design,  Third Semester Core: Planning and Design of Landscapes and Fourth Semester Core: Planning and Design of Landscapes as well as various Option Studios including: Contested Waters: The Tajo River in Spain, and The Landscapes of Castilla-La Mancha.

Werthmann received his Master of Landscape Architecture degree with a specialization in urban design at the University of Kassel in Germany. Before moving to the United States in 1997 he worked for the landscape architecture office of Latz and Partners near Freising and taught as an Assistant Professor at the Technical University Munich. In the U.S. he joined Hargreaves Associates in San Francisco, where he worked on multiple large-scale projects including the 2000 Sidney Olympics and Crissy Field, a waterfront park in San Francisco. Before joining the GSD faculty, he was an Associate at Peter Walker and Partners, where as the project landscape architect he led a series of major design projects including the award winning Parking Structure #4 at Stanford University, the new California State Campus at Merced and the master plan for the San Jose International Airport. Werthmann won the San Francisco Prize in 2000 for his Harvey Milk Memorial proposal and has been a finalist in numerous national and international design competitions, e.g., the Lenné Prize, the International Competition of the Eo Wijersstichting foundation and the Philips Award. His work has been published in Der Architekt and Architekturjournal Wettbewerbe magazines and exhibited throughout the world.

Werthmann’s current research revolves around the design implications, constraints and opportunities of incorporating living infrastructure like green roofs, rain gardens and constructed wetlands in heavily urbanized areas. Portions of his research resulted in the book Green Roof: A Case Study, published by Princeton Architectural Press (2007) and in the founding of the GSD Green Roof Initiative that installed an experimental green roof on top of the Graduate School of Design starting in 2006. As a co-founder of the interdisciplinary research group TransUrban, Werthmann critically examines built experiments in sustainable urbanism like the new city quarter Vauban in Freiburg, Germany and Solar City Linz in Austria. The first results of this study can be seen in an international traveling exhibition and the book publication TransUrban. Charting Experiments for Cities of the Future. Case Study 01: Vauban (2007). His latest engagement is concerned with the transfer of green infrastructure technologies and principles to the fastest growing cities in the world. As part of this new research initiative Dirty Work Werthmann currently studies the implementation of living systems in the upgrade of squatter settlements in South and Central America.