April 2, 2007 -- Internationally recognized for her progressive landscape designs — unique amalgamations of graphic configurations, found objects, architectural pottery and rich textures — and her advocacy for environmentally sensitive and people-friendly public space, Los Angeles-based landscape architect Mia Lehrer will give the Benjamin C. Howland Jr. Memorial Lecture at the University of Virginia's School of Architecture on Friday, April 6, at 5 p.m. Lehrer's talk, “Growing California: Renovating Public Infrastructure,” is free and open to the public.

Lehrer is the founding principal of Mia Lehrer and Associates, based in Los Angeles, Calif. The firm has designed a range of public and private projects that include expansion of the Baldwin Hills Park Master Plan, a 1,000-acre urban park in Los Angeles; Parque Los Pericos in her hometown of San Salvador, El Salvador; historic renovation of the courtyards at Union Station in Los Angeles; and an outdoor plaza at the Capital Records building in Hollywood.

Lehrer received her Master of Landscape Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

For more information contact Alice Keys at (434) 924-7019 or eak3n@virginia.edu.