Professor of Landscape Architecture, School of Architecture – College of Architecture, Art and Construction
Cultural Landscapes, Historic Landscapes, Landscape Design
At A Glance
Landscape architecture plays a pivotal role in the evolution of cultures, societies and the environment. The outdoor spaces people use for commuting, work and recreation greatly affect the health and well-being of those people, especially in times of crises like a pandemic. Hala Nassar’s understanding of landscape architecture and its effect on civilization spans history and the globe.
Bio
Nassar is one of the world’s foremost experts on landscape architecture and its relationship with cultures, the environment and societies. As a professor of landscape architecture, Nassar has made a name for herself with groundbreaking research, teaching and design. She has received scores of awards and accolades for her work, including being named a 2020 Fellow by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA).
Nassar’s professional achievements span her career and the globe. One of her most notable projects took place in Luxor, Egypt. Working alongside Clemson students in partnership with Ain Shams University, they developed a master plan to restore and rejuvenate the Karnak and Luxor temple complexes as well as the Avenue of the Sphinxes and surrounding city. She has consistently contributed to the advancement of the profession and the academic field of landscape architecture through service to national and international organizations in different capacities, including holding elected offices with CELA for the last nine years.
She has been published in 35 peer-reviewed publications, earned 25 national and international awards and recognitions, and has more than 120 citations, media interviews and reviews of her work by others, including in national and international publications and governmental reports. She has received over $1 million in research funds, including her most recent grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop drone-deterring solutions in partnership with Duke University.
Nassar was instrumental in building a partnership with Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, and Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China, to create the World Design Studio (WDS), a collaboration between the landscape architecture program and the School of Architecture at Clemson, the Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Engineering at Ain Shams University and the Department of Landscape Architecture at Huazhong Agricultural University. The studio engages students worldwide to address globally important architectural and environmental issues that enrich design education through cross-cultural, interdisciplinary collaboration and gives architecture and landscape architecture students from the three institutions the opportunity to participate in real-world projects across three continents.
Nasar was born in France and raised in Egypt. Her research interests include historical and cultural landscapes, 19th-century landscapes of Cairo, Islamic landscape tradition and international education. Her scholarly work has been published in Landscape Journal, Landscape Review, Urban Design Internationaland Critiques of Built Work.
“Landscape architecture is not an art, and it’s not a science — it’s a hybrid. It’s really a very interesting field that blends together the knowledge of science and the knowledge of art. It weaves artistic talents and inclination with scientific facts and grounding — and that makes it super appealing to me. It’s logical and has reasoning behind it, but it has to be appealing for people to engage with it.”
