The French Mind On The Landscape

Book excerpt: Germán T. Cruz is a landscape architect by profession and vocation with a wide path of practical engagement in urban and residential design across the USA and several countries. In addition to professional practice from his studio, Professor Cruz teaches at the Department of Landscape Architecture in the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University where he leads graduate and undergraduate design studios on urban design, graphic communications, parks, regional design, and open space as well as lecturing on design theory, technology and materials, contemporary history of urban design, and philosophy of landscape architecture. In 2010 he walked on the Road of Saint James through southern France and northern Spain from Le Puy en Velay to Santiago over 3000 km in 66 days. The result of this journey was a design meditation and travelogue under the title Walking to Know that was published recently by Xlibris. A collection of his poems has also been published in a bilingual edition (Spanish/English) under the title Poemas Veniales/Venial Poems.