"Sustainability."

If the word doesn't mean much to you now, just give it time, it will. The concept looks at the ways all the elements around us—building materials and design, architecture and landscape architecture—contribute and work together into a greater, synchronous ecological system.

This two-day event brings to campus a wide assortment of architects, writers, scholars, and designers, including Toronto-based designer, Bruce Mau. In a relatively short amount of time, Mau has made the leap from graphic designer to design guru of sorts, producing books, art installations, and a constant stream of provocative social commentary. Among his many accomplishments and appointments, he's also on an advisory board for Ohio State's Wexner Center for the Arts.

The symposium will be held in the Knowlton School of Architecture's Knowlton Hall and will commence Friday at 5:30 p.m. with a presentation by Mau and will continue as an all-day event on Saturday.

Featured contributors:

Jane Amidon, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, The Ohio State University; editor, Radical Landscapes

Julie Bargmann Principal, D.I.R.T. Studio; Director of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia

Blaine Brownell Architect NBBJ Seattle; editor, Transmaterial

Anna Dyson Founder, MATERIALAB; Assistant Professor of Architecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Chris Fannin Partner, D.I.R.T. Studio; Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia

Andrew Freear Co-Director, Rural Studio; Associate Professor of Architecture, Auburn University

David Gissen Assistant Professor of Architecture, Pennsylvania State University; editor, Big & Green

Mark Husser AIA, LEED; Partner, Grimshaw New York

Sheila Kennedy Principal, Kennedy & Violich Architecture, Boston; Design Critic in Architecture, Harvard GSD

Anneliese Latz Principal, Latz & Partner, Kranzberg, Germany

Bruce Mau Founder, Bruce Mau Design; Co-Founder, Institute without Boundaries, Toronto

Toshiko Mori Principal, Toshiko Mori Architect; Chair, Department of Architecture, Harvard GSD

Jennifer Siegal Founder, Office of Mobile Design; Professor of Architecture, Woodbury University