Congratulations to one of PLANT’s newest team members: on Monday, October 22, Margot Shafran will be in Philadelphia to accept an ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) Student Award at the ASLA Annual Meeting and Expo. The ASLA describes The One Tree Project, the winning submission by Margot and seven of her Washington University in St. Louis classmates, as “a multidirectional and exhaustive survey of nearly everything one can learn from a single tree.”

With the pending expansion of the university’s Missouri campus, a historic pin oak allée was targeted for removal. This prompted Margot’s team of landscape architecture, architecture, and fine arts students to collaborate amongst themselves and with a wide range of external partners to analyze ecological and cultural aspects of one of the pin oaks. They then extrapolated this information into the surrounding environment. For example, the team took core samples from the tree’s trunk and used sonic tomography to understand the environmental stresses the tree had survived. The studio shared its findings on a blog and hosted on-site stage performances, lectures, and other events.

Margot earned Master of Landscape Architecture and Master of Architecture degrees from Washington University in St. Louis in 2017 and joined PLANT’s team earlier this year. She is now working on the Beach Village BIA Streetscape Master Plan and other public realm improvement initiatives.