Roberto Rovira
Roberto Rovira is Principal of Studio Roberto Rovira, Professor, and former Chair of FIU Landscape Architecture + Environmental and Urban Design (LAEUD). A registered landscape architect with a design, engineering, and arts background, his teaching, research, and creative work see landscape architecture as playing a pivotal role in shaping the public imagination. Roberto Rovira’s work has received honors in over 11 open and public international competitions and has been recognized with awards by state and national American Society of Landscape Architects, the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, the American Institute of Architects, the Architectural League, the Environmental Design Research Association, Fast Company Magazine, the Kauffman Foundation, and the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. His work has been published by Fast Company, Princeton Architectural Press, Routledge/Taylor-Francis, HarperCollins, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Architects Newspaper, Metropolis Magazine, the Journal of Landscape Architecture, TEDx, and others. He has been an invited lecturer to more than 17 universities around the world and has presented his work in over 20 cities worldwide. Roberto recently served as the President of the Landscape Architecture Foundation / LAF, a non-profit organization based in Washington DC focused on advancing scholarship, leadership, research in landscape architecture, and formerly served as LAF’s VP of Leadership and VP of Research.
Fast Company magazine recently selected his EcoAtlas project as a 2018 World-Changing Ideas finalist and in 2017, he was identified by Architect’s Newspaper as having 1 of the 5 most exciting design firms in Miami. Roberto earned the 2015 Emerging Voice award from the Architectural League in New York, one of the most coveted awards in North American Architecture, which spotlights individuals and firms based in the U. S., Canada, and Mexico with dis-tinct design voices and the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism. Additional recognition includes FIU Top Scholar in 2016 and 2009, American Institute of Architects Landscape Architect of the Year, state and national American Society of Landscape Architects Awards of Honor, Excellence, and Merit, and over 10 open and public international competitions, including 1st Place in the Miami Monument Competition and 1st Place in the Wynwood Gateway Park Competition. Roberto Rovira’s work has been published by Princeton Architectural Press, Routledge/ Taylor-Francis, HarperCollins, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Fast Company Maga-zine, the Journal of Landscape Architecture, Architect’s Newspaper, ACSA, CELA, Univision, the Miami Herald, Fairchild Tropical & Botanical Garden Magazine, Design Book Magazine, Curbed, Miami Today, South Florida Business Journal, Trama, El Nuevo Herald, and others.As teacher and mentor, the student work produced under Roberto Rovira’s direction has received prestigious state, national, and international recognition in venues such as the ASLA National’s General Design Honor Awards, the Van Alen Institute’s Parks for the People Competition, the U. S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Excellence in Design Studio Teaching Awards, and the International Federation of Landscape Architects. He has been an invited lecturer to more than 15 universities in the United States, Europe and Canada, and has presented his research, creative, and professional work internationally in over 20 cities including New York, London, Barcelona, Paris, Taiwan, Bogotá, Monterrey, Montevideo, Zurich, Dubai, and Rio de Janeiro. Ro-berto has been guest critic at Harvard, Penn, UC Berkeley, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, RISD, California College of the Arts, and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya among others, and his research and creative work have been supported by grants from the Van Alen Institute, the US Department of Transportation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Community Foundation of Broward, and others. In 2018, he was 1 of 8 speakers at TEDx Coconut Grove where he presented “Mapping the Natural World,” a talk about “The Ecological Atlas,” his ongoing research project about ecosystem visualization.