Rovira, Roberto

Rovira, Roberto Graduate Faculty

Positions

Professor, Landscape Architecture + Environmental and Urban Design , Architecture

rovirar@fiu.edu

Roberto Rovira profile
Website
YouTube Channel

biography

ROBERTO ROVIRA is Principal of Studio Roberto Rovira, a Miami-based landscape architecture and art practice, Full Professor and former Chair of FIU LAEUD. A registered landscape architect with a design, engineering, and arts background, his teaching, research and creative work focus on ecology and public space and see landscape architecture as playing a pivotal role in shaping the public imagination. He has lived in Latin America, Europe, and Japan, and is a former US Naval Officer, where he served in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Asia and the Persian Gulf.

Fast Company magazine twiced selected his EcoAtlas research project as a World Changing Ideas finalist alongside the MIT Media Lab and Nike. He was identified by Architect’s Newspaper as having 1 of the 5 most exciting design firms in Miami and earned the Emerging Voice award from the Architectural League, one of the most coveted awards in North American Architecture, which spotlights distinct design voices with the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism.

Additional recognition includes two FIU Top Scholar awards, the Kauffman Professor’s Prize for Entrepreneurship, the American Institute of Architects Landscape Architect of the Year award, the CARTA Research and Creative Work Award, a national American Society of Landscape Architects Award of Honor, and Florida ASLA Awards of Excellence and Merit. His professional work has received honors in over eleven open and public international competitions, including 1st Place in the Miami Monument Competition and the Wynwood Gateway Park Competition.

An active member of the Miami & South Florida communities, Roberto has served on the Miami Beach Planning Board and was recognized by the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce with the Leadership Award in Sustainability, and in Miami Today’s Best of Miami list, which focuses on individuals, companies and organizations that make special strides to improve local communities. He was the founding chair of The Underline’s Design Advisory Committee which he presided for four years and served on its Board of Directors.

Roberto Rovira’s work has been published by Princeton Architectural Press, Routledge/Taylor-Francis, HarperCollins, Landscape Architecture Magazine, Metropolis Magazine, the Journal of Landscape Architecture, TEDx, and others. As teacher and mentor, the student work produced under his guidance has received prestigious state, national, and international recognition from the ASLA National General Design Honor Awards, the Florida ASLA, the Van Alen Institute, the U. S. Department of Energy, the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, and the International Federation of Landscape Architects.

He is past President of the Landscape Architecture Foundation/LAF, one of the field’s leading organizations whose mission is to support the preservation, improvement, and enhancement of the environment through innovative research, scholarships, and leadership. He previously served as VP of Leadership as well as VP of Research for LAF and was part of the national DEI Working Group on LAF’s Ignite Scholarship and Mentorship Initiative, which raised over two million dollars in its inaugural year. Roberto has been an invited lecturer to more than 17 universities around the world, and has presented his research, creative, and professional work internationally in over 20 cities worldwide.

research interests

My research interests are centered on the intersection of design, technology, art, and ecological systems, and explore the following:
1. Ecological Infrastructure and Resilience: Investigating the ways that landscape architecture can promote ecological and community resilience, particularly in the context of urban environments. I am interested in the ways that designed landscapes can act as ecological infrastructures, contributing to the long-term health of urban ecosystems and their capacity to adapt to environmental changes such as climate change.

2. Data Visualization and Landscape Representation: My work often involves the innovative use of data to represent landscape phenomena, enabling designers and non-designers to better understand and respond to complex ecological and environmental systems. This includes exploring digital tools for visualizing large-scale environmental data and translating it into actionable insights for design and planning.

3. Sustainable Design and Environmental Performance: Exploring the potential of landscapes to perform ecologically, socially, and economically, and how landscapes can be designed to contribute to energy efficiency, reduce carbon footprints, and promote biodiversity.

4. Urban Design and Public Space: A focus on the role of public spaces in urban environments, particularly in how they can foster social interaction while simultaneously supporting ecological and cultural functions. My projects often seek to blend aesthetics with ecological processes to create spaces that are both functional and inspiring.

5. Integration of Art and Science: Merging art, science, and technology and employing a transdisciplinary approach to landscape architecture. This includes collaborations with other fields such as engineering, ecology, architecture, art, and computer science to address complex environmental challenges and engage communities.