Baumer Lecture Series, Mary Margaret Jones + Charles Renfro

Engaging the Commons -- The Knowlton School Spring 2023 Baumer Lecture Series

The Knowlton School invites practitioners and scholars to think about how the design professions’ particpate in (and with) the dense social and political webs of the built environment, and how active practices might engage these places—our “commons.”

Mary Margaret Jones is President and CEO of Hargreaves Jones, leading the firm’s offices in New York City, San Francisco, and Cambridge. Mary Margaret has over 30 years of experience, demonstrating the power of investing in the public realm to transform cities, institutions, communities, and individuals. She is a recognized leader in landscape architecture and planning, lecturing widely and shaping professional design practice and education. She holds board positions with the American Academy in Rome; The Architectural League NY; the Regional Plan Association; and ODC Dance in San Francisco. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects; Fellow of the Urban Design Forum in New York; and Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.

Charles Renfro is a Partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), a design studio whose practice spans the fields of architecture, urban design, installation art, multi-media performance, digital media, and print. He led the design and construction of the studio’s first concert hall outside of the US—The Tianjin Juilliard School in China—as well as the studio’s first public park outside of the US—Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Charles has also led the design of much of DS+R’s academic portfolio, with projects completed at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Brown University, the University of Chicago, and the recently completed Columbia Business School. Charles is the Co-President of BOFFO, a nonprofit organization that supports the work of queer LGBTQ+ BIPOC artists and designers. He has twice been recognized with the “Out100” list, and also distinguished as a notable LGBTQ leader by Crain’s New York Business. He is a faculty member of the School of Visual Arts.