Frank Sleegers
Master of Landscape Architecture Program Director, Professor of Landscape Architecture
Bio
Dipl.–ING, Hanover, Germany, 1996
M.L.A., University of Massachusetts, 1995
Frank Sleegers is a Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a registered Landscape Architect in Hamburg (GER). Frank Sleegers holds graduate degrees from Hannover (GER), and UMass Amherst.
Frank’s work centers on strategies to rebuild urban environments through ecology, community, art and aesthetics in an interwoven comprehensive approach. He teaches design studios and courses in landscape architecture and urban design.
Frank engages in underserved communities within the setting of urban design studios and design laboratories. As Associate Director of UMass Amherst Design Center in Springfield, MA he provides meaningful community service learning experience for students and connects them with professional design and planning. Through this work and mentorship his students won numerous awards and design competitions.
Frank Sleegers practices as a landscape architect with projects in Berlin and Hamburg(GER). Built works include parks, plazas and gardens. Frank’s public art focuses on urban places to transform their perception. His recent work experiments with spontaneous urban vegetation on leftover sites.
Frank’s scholarly work investigates human perception and design aesthetics in relationship to stormwater management. His recent publications focus on design philosophy and oeuvre of German landscape architect Gustav Lange.
Prior to joining LARP, Frank Sleegers was a adjunct faculty at the Department for Urban Planning - HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany from 2002 to 2005.
Frank Sleegers is the Director of the LARP Zube Lecture series.
Courses
LANDARCH 497A/497B - Senior Studio Urban Design
LANDARCH 191/591 - Graphics and Landscape Representation
LANDARCH 597Q - Urban Design Workshop
LANDARCH 607/608 - Graduate Studio Urban Design
LANDARCH/SCD 197Z Lecture Series in Landscape Architecture, Regional Planning and Sustainability
Recent Work
- "Playing or Planning? Urban Voids, Wilderness and City Planning" presented at the Politecnico di Milano Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (November 2024)
- Transformation of downtown Northampton, MA through tactical urbanism interview with Smith College Professor Maria Succi, Department of Italian Studies
- “Mauerpark Berlin -Balancing the edge of a park between urban vibrancy and commemoration," Journal: “4D' Journal of Landscape Architecture and Garden Art" (Fall 2020). The article features reflections of Sleegers' work as lead designer collaborating with German landscape architect Gustav Lange on the completion of the Mauerpark Berlin since 2016. He had a major impact on designing the major gateway into the park that accommodated artifacts of the Berlin Wall.