Frank Sleegers

Frank Sleegers is an Associate 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 News

Since 2016 Frank Sleegers has been the lead designer collaborating with German landscape architect Gustav Lange on the completion of the Mauerpark Berlin. He had a major impact on designing the major gateway into the park that accommodated artifacts of the Berlin Wall. Reflections on this work were published in the fall of 2020 “Mauerpark Berlin -Balancing the edge of a park between urban vibrancy and commemoration.” Journal:“4D' Journal of Landscape Architecture and Garden Art.” Read here.

Frank Sleegers has been interviewed by Smith College Professor Maria Succi, Department of Italian Studies, on the transformation of downtown Northampton, MA through tactical urbanism. The interview was conducted in Sleegers favorite language, Italian.