Leonard Mirin

For more than a decade, Leonard Mirin served as chairman of the Cornell Campus Planning Committee. He was recently honored with the Award of Distinction for Long-Term Excellence as an Educator of Landscape Architecture by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture.

Mirin grew up in New York City and graduated from Columbia University, where he studied civil engineering and American literature. As one of the first group of Peace Corps volunteers, he worked for two years as a teacher in the rural Philippines. He earned his master of landscape architecture degree from the University of Michigan.

Academic Research/Specialty Areas

  • Landscape architecture
  • Urbanism

Classes (Selected)

  • ARCH 3309 Elements, Principles, and Theories in Japanese Architecture and GardensExamination of Japanese architecture (buildings and gardens) and their contexts: landscapes, settlements, and cities. The course is addressed to those interested in Japanese architecture as a manifestation of Japanese culture and as a subject for analysis. Emphasis is on underlying concepts, ordering principles, formal typologies, space and its representation, perceptual phenomena, and symbolic content. Readings focus on theoretical treatments of these aspects by Japanese and western writers.
  • ARCH 3819/LANAR 5250 History of American Landscape ArchitectureThis course addresses pertinent issues relative to the subject of History of Architecture and Urbanism. The instructor(s) of the course are drawn from the permanent and visiting faculty who may either broadly or narrowly define the course's scope and content. For precise content, please see the Architecture Department webpage.
  • ARCH 3308/ARCH 6308 The Modern LandscapeThis course addresses pertinent issues relative to the subject of Theory of Architecture. The instructor(s) of the course are drawn from the permanent and visiting faculty who may either broadly or narrowly define the course's scope and content. For precise content, please see the Architecture Department webpage.
  • ARCH 3819/LANAR 5240 History of European Landscape Architecture: Pathways to the Modern European LandscapeThis course addresses pertinent issues relative to the subject of History of Architecture and Urbanism. The instructor(s) of the course are drawn from the permanent and visiting faculty who may either broadly or narrowly define the course's scope and content. For precise content, please see the Architecture Department webpage.
  • ARCH 3909 Tales of Two Cities Modern Landscape Architecture in New York and Paris

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships (Selected)

  • East Asia Society Grant, Corporate Meditations: The New Japanese Urban Park
  • Greenport, New York Waterfront Park Competition, selected for exhibition
  • Registered Landscape Architect, New York State, License No. 804
  • East Asia Society Grant, On the Trail of the Modern: Contemporary Japanese Landscape Architecture
  • New York State Department of Parks and Recreation Grant, Development of Model Playground Apparatus for All Children

Publications (Selected)

  • "Landscapes By Fire: Design Responses To An Unpredictable Event" (CELA Proceedings)
  • "Invisible Gardens," Peter Walker/Melanie, Architronic: The Electronic Journal of Architecture
  • Playground For All Children Manual (with graduate students and Charles Lewis and Linda Meyer)
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