Richard Weller recently passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was a landscape architect, a prolific writer and he had a deep passion for landscape architecture and sought to challenge the profession to move beyond the norm.
Richard was the Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture and former Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, serving from 2013 through 2022. He was the co-director of Room 4.1.3. He co-founded The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology and was also the founding creative director of the interdisciplinary journal of landscape architecture LA+. He previously held the Winthrop Professorship at the University of Western Australia, where he taught for nearly two decades[1].
“Richard was as bold, witty, and beautiful as his prose and drawings. In grief, I find hope and joy that many others will discover Richard as I did: through what he wrote and drew and painted and designed.”
Dean and Paley Professor Fritz Steiner
Richard’s design projects included the masterplan for the Perth foreshore; the masterplan and landscape design for the National Museum of Australia, Canberra; and the Docklands, Melbourne.
Richard achieved a great deal through writing, exhibitions, art works, contributions to various organisations and causes. I will remember Richard for his passion and ambition for the profession of landscape architecture, as shown in The Landscape Project, The World Park Project, The Atlas for the End of the World and To The Ends of The Earth. A charismatic person who encouraged me to push forward with WLA when we first met in Philadelphia in 2013. He took reviews and critique of his writings on board and offered thanks for contributions.
We have lost someone who greatly cared about the profession and study of landscape architecture, but he will continue to live on through his works, and hopefully, we can all take on the challenge of understanding “the landscape project” whilst continuing to create a better future.
Read more about Richard Weller and tributes at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design website https://www.design.upenn.edu/post/remembering-richard-weller-1963-2025
