Sarah Cowles

A Ruderal Practice

A Ruderal Practice outlines the work of Ruderal, a landscape architecture and planning studio in Tbilisi, Georgia. Cowles will discuss the transition from her landscape research work in academic and art settings to a full-time landscape architecture practice; how the studio practice evolved in the specific context of Georgia and its landscape culture, and the studio’s current research and projects.

About Sarah Cowles

Sarah Cowles is the director of Ruderal, based in Tbilisi, Georgia. For Cowles, every site project is a forum to negotiate and invent new relationships of ecology and culture. Her expertise in landscape planning and design spans a range of scales, including master planning for cultural institutions, ecological rehabilitation of industrial and mining sites, and urban and residential landscape design. Current projects include the Mtatsminda Urban Forest, Kvareli Lake Resort, and Arsenal Oasis, winner of the 2021 Lila Special Jury Prize for public landscapes.

Before establishing Ruderal, Cowles was an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at Knowlton School at the Ohio State University, and Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Southern California. At TLS Landscape Architecture she coordinated site design of the US Consulate in Guangzhou, and large-scale urban redevelopment projects in the San Francisco Bay Area.