Cherokee Garden Library Spring Event

Thomas Woltz | The Land Is Full: Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects

April 15, 2026, 7:00 pm

McElreath Hall, Atlanta History Center

Lecture, followed by an author’s book signing and cocktail reception.

Please join us on Wednesday evening, April 15, 2026, for the Cherokee Garden Library Spring Lecture featuring renowned landscape architect Thomas Woltz, who will discuss his firm’s new monograph, The Land Is Full. This newly published collection highlights twelve transformative projects that showcase the power of landscape architecture and its ability to create vibrant public spaces at the heart of communities.

Over the past two decades, Woltz and his team at Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW) have infused narratives of the land into Atlanta and other cities around the world. Their local projects include the eight-acre EcoCommons at Georgia Institute of Technology, an ecologically and socially driven pedagogical space, highlighting native ecologies and daylighting the site's nearly forgotten Civil Rights history. The design of the EcoCommons was conceived as three primary zones artfully connected by universally accessible paths. The learning deck accommodates outdoor classes and stormwater capture while providing habitat and air quality monitoring; The play area provides views to the surrounding campus, gathering areas, and adult-sized slides and hammocks on the lower elevations; and The Contemplative Site reminds us of the momentous Civil Rights events that happened on the site while providing contemplative space for reflection. NBW partnered with Perez Planning + Design to create Piedmont Park’s first comprehensive plan in 25 years, unveiled in April 2025, focusing on expansion, ecological restoration (including Lake Clara Meer), new amenities (including trails), and a major new gateway at Piedmont Ave & Monroe Drive, with phased implementation beginning after extensive community input. This collaborative plan is a joint effort between the Piedmont Park Conservancy and the City of Atlanta, involving thousands of residents.

The work of NBW and indeed the very profession of landscape architecture, is set in a broad context through authoritative essays by noted scholars, ecologists, and cultural historians. It articulates the critical role the profession of landscape architecture plays in reshaping public space to meet the challenges of ecological and social resilience. An incisive introductory essay by Thomas Woltz, senior principal and owner of NBW, dives deeper into the practice’s research-driven design process, its approach to preservation, and its covenant with land. Woltz writes, “The land allows us to remember who we are and have been. The landscapes presented in this book are the manifestation of a moral bond with land held by a community of makers: a commitment to the preservation of its health, its history, and its future. Our mission is to conceive of, design, and build landscapes that forge a meaningful connection between people and nature.”

About the Speaker

Thomas L. Woltz, senior principal and owner of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW), is recognized for his innovative approach to public landscapes that blends culture, ecology, and sustainability. Under his guidance, NBW has expanded to include scientists and historians in projects ranging from urban park restoration to post-industrial and educational sites. Woltz’s honors include induction into the American Society of Landscape Architects Council of Fellows in 2011, recognition as Design Innovator of the Year by the Wall Street Journal Magazine, and a Frederic Church Award in 2025.

About Cherokee Garden Library

Founded in 1975 by the Cherokee Garden Club of Atlanta, the Cherokee Garden Library reveals the fascinating world of horticulture, history, and friendship to gardeners, historians, landscape architects, ecologists, writers, students, and nature lovers. From 1586 to the present, the Cherokee Garden Library contains a growing collection of 40,000 items, including books, periodicals, manuscript collections, and visual arts collections, which tell the fascinating stories of horticulture and botanical history in the Southeastern United States and areas of influence throughout the world.

The Library’s professional staff serves our communities year-round, including supporting thousands of researchers; hosting curatorial tours; supporting and presenting engaging programs; expanding and making available collections of books, manuscripts, and visual arts; preserving invaluable resources; producing two issues of the Garden Citings magazine annually; and engaging with broader communities throughout Atlanta, the state, the Southeast, and beyond.

We are honored to serve the public, free of charge, and to help connect people with the expansive resources found at the Cherokee Garden Library, as part of the Kenan Research Center of Atlanta History Center. Learn more about the Cherokee Garden Library: here