Ryu Kim During a Design Review
Image Credit: Ryu Kim
What is your name, graduation year, and current career status.
Hi my name is Ryu Kim, December of 2012 (BLA), a Senior Project Manager at the Public Design Commission, NYC Office of the Mayor.
What was your experience like during the LARC program, both academically and personally?
The LARC program offered diverse opportunities to explore landscape and design with its studio curriculum, design competitions, and study abroad programs. Each studio project was grounded with a unique geographic context and program, helping us straighten our design and critical thinking skills. The program promoted a strong sense of freedom, autonomy, and ownership over our ideas and work. I especially appreciated the studio environment and the thoughtful pedagogy that our professors cultivated. Our cohort fully embraced hand drawn graphics. There was something deeply rewarding, intuitive and artistic about thinking through ideas and spatial relationships through sketching. It is something that I still carry with me to this day.
Personally, for me and to a lot of us, the studio lives were our personal lives. There was no boundary in between. We genuinely loved and enjoyed what we were doing. Talking about projects and plants continued outside the studios. We were really in it.
Could you share your professional path since completing the program and what you are doing now?
Since completing the program in December 2012, I worked at design firms and pursued a Master's degree at Harvard Graduate School of Design, all while asking the same question: What makes a design truly successful? As I visited public parks across NYC, I noticed that some Frederick Law Olmsted parks remain in a great condition, while others have fallen into significant disrepair. This contrast made me look beyond the design and toward what happens after a project is built. My times at Madison Square Park Conservancy deepend this perspective. I gained firsthand experience and understanding of park maintenance and operations - the ongoing, never ending but invisible work that begins once the ribbon cutting ceremony is over.
The same question still guides my career journey today. How can we better connect design and maintenance to ensure the long-term success of public spaces?
In my current role at the Public Design Commission, where I manage the review of New York City's public park portfolios with commissioners, I continue to explore this intersection and seek ways to incorporate operational and stewardship driven thinking into the design review process.
What advice would you give to prospective students considering this program?
UMD's LARC program is accredited and offers a strong studio curriculum that helps build you a compelling landscape design portfolio, from urban to regional, whether that is art-focused or horticultural. Also, I cannot emphasize enough how impactful and well-structured the study abroad programs were, which were the highlights of my undergraduate experience, in Italy and Costa Rica.
