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,  Sustainability for Planning and Design, 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: The Landscapes of Castilla-La Mancha, Contested Waters: The Tajo River in Spain and  A Place in Heaven, a Place in Hell. Tactical Operations in São Paulo’s Informal Sector. Werthmann was recently selected as teacher of the year in landscape architecture.

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 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 large waterfront park in San Francisco. Before coming to the GSD, he was an Associate at Peter Walker and Partners, where he led a series of major design projects as the project landscape architect including the award winning Parking Structure #4 at Stanford University. In his private practice he has been a finalist in numerous national and international design competitions, such as the Harvey Milk Memorial in San Francisco, 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, most recently at the International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam.

Werthmann studies landscape and infrastructure 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 at the Graduate School of Design. As a co-founder of the interdisciplinary research group TransUrban, He critically examines built experiments of sustainable urbanism and issues reports in regular intervals.

In 2007 Werthmann co-founded with John Beardsley the research initiative Dirty Work which studies landscape as the primary agent for improvement in poor urban areas.  In Spring 2008 they staged a major exhibition titled Dirty Work. Transforming the Landscape of Nonformal Cities in the Americas showcasing landscape based projects in the non-formal sector of seven Latin American cities. A book publication on the same topic will follow from Princeton Architectural Press (2010).