Biography
Colgate M. Searle,
Jr., is widely recognized for his long-term, continuous commitment to the
profession through teaching and community-based, participatory environmental
and ecological design projects. A symbiosis among academic service,
professional practice, and community service aptly characterizes his career. He
is a Professor of landscape architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design
and former Head of the Department. He has been teaching a wide range of courses
for over thirty years, within the Departments of Landscape, Architecture and
the Freshman Foundation. He is the originator and teacher of the
interdisciplinary course, “Field Ecology/Design Foundations.” He had recently
served as chief critic for the RISD European Honors Program.
Colgate is a
registered Landscape Architect and Principal in the landscape architectural
design and planning firm of Searle and Searle, founded in 1975, and a fellow and
a trustee of the American Society of Landscape Architects. The firm has earned
its reputation for award-winning work, especially in the areas of planning and
restoration of environmentally sensitive lands, and historic landscape
rehabilitation. Colgate has received numerous RIASLA design awards, as well as
the RISD alumni Council Arts Education Award. His current projects include the
Wheeler School Farm Master Plan, Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, the
Blackstone River Bike path, and the Roger William Park Botanical Garden. From
his practice, he brings the complex issues of stewardship into classroom
discussions and studio work.
His research most recently includes design for
the 1-95 highway bridge corridor, culminating in a design proposal for an
elevated highway reused as an armature for a new city district connecting
neighborhoods. The RISD innovations studio “Think Like a River” applied
watershed management understanding to abandoned industrial sites, from the
river’s source to the tidal waters, sponsored by the RISD and the RI
Development Council. “One River Project” is developed design strategies that
maximize mixed use development at the water edge, while providing public access
and restoring and enhancing environmental and ecological health. One River is
sponsored by RISD, the RI Economic Policy Council and grants form the National
Endowment of the Arts. Colgate is founding director for RISD/Earth University,
Costa Rica, collaborative projects. This ongoing collaboration works on issues
ranging from the masterplan of their new campus, the ubiquitous computing, to
designing products that use agricultural waste.
This work has evolved into an annual research studio, funded through,
“The Fund for Sustainable Education”. His current research is focused on the
hill town of Castelvecchio Calvisio, damaged in the 2009 Abruzzo, Italy
earthquakes.
Colgate holds an undergraduate degree from RISD
and a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University. He has
lectured and been a guest critic at the Chinese Academy of the Arts in
Hangzhou, the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, the Department of Landscape
Architecture, Tsinghua University Beijing, the Seoul National University in
Korea, Cornell University, Harvard University, Roger Williams University, Asian
Institute of Technology in Thailand, and the University of Maracaibo,
Venezuela. He has been a visiting critic at the Harvard Graduate School of
Design, Cornell University, Roger Williams University, Edinburgh College of
Art, and the RISD European Honors Program in Rome.