LEONARD NEWCOMB is Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at Rhode Island School of Design and served as Chairman of the department from 2002 to 2005. Leonard teaches core and option design studios, construction, thesis and theory seminars and has coordinated the first semester Design Principles studio with architecture for numerous years. In 2000, he was the Chief Critic for the RISD European Honors Program in Rome, Italy.
Leonard's design projects includes an exhibition for the RISD museum “First a Tuck, Then a Ripple Project for the Paris Goose Game,” the Peace Garden Competition, Pershing Square Competition with Machado/Silvetti Architects, and a Courtyard for the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA.
Leonard studied Studio Art and English Literature at Amherst College and received a Masters in Design Studies in History and Theory from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His research and practice focus on contemporary topics in landscape and architecture with special interests in changing perceptions of public space and the development of landscape in the visual arts and media. His seminar and advanced studios examines connections between visual and verbal representations of landscape. He has received a RISD faculty research grant to study the Bomarzo and Renaissance Gardens in Italy. Newcomb has served as visiting faculty at the University of Miami and Harvard Graduate School of Design.