The downtown Baton Rouge riverfront will get a facelift – on paper at least – during the upcoming Design Week at the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture.

The design charrette, as the intensive workshop and presentation process is called, will be held from Tuesday Jan. 13 – Friday Jan. 16 and will be led by internationally acclaimed landscape architect Matthew Bradbury of New Zealand. He will work with 10 teams of students over the course of the week and coach them as they make their way through a series of exercises.

The charrette will culminate with the students’ final presentations on a new, improved and redesigned riverfront. The presentation will be open to the public and will be held Friday, January 16 at 2 PM in the Design Building on the LSU Campus.

“Bradbury is going to teach them to use some really innovative technologies in the design process,” says Elizabeth Mossop, director of the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture. “This is not only an invaluable opportunity for our students but it may spark some ideas as to how we can take an already beautiful riverfront area and make it better.”

Matthew Bradbury is a principal with the firm Bradbury McKegg Landscape Architecture, which specializes in the integration of landscape infrastructure and urban development. He has more than 20 years experience on a wide range of projects in New Zealand, China and Europe.

The Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture if among the top rated in the United States. It was recently ranked No. 2 in the nation by DesignIntelligence magazine, marking the fifth consecutive year it has been included in the top five landscape architecture schools in the country.