Ben Barsotti Scott
Designer and independent curator, Brooklyn, NY
Landscape designer with strong interests in architectural history and theory and socially-engaged design. Independent curator of contemporary architecture and design with experience organizing exhibitions, publishing original research, and teaching. Professional designer with experience managing projects from concept through construction.
Research interests
Urban ecology and urban wildlife management, contemporary landscape photography, queer theory in landscape architecture, theories of citizenship and national belonging, urban displacement and gentrification, labor in architecture and construction industries.Education
Master of Landscape Architecture, 2017. University of Virginia School of Architecture.Bachelor of Arts in Art History, 2010, Magna cum Laude with Honors. Knox College.
Professional Experience
2019–present: SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Associate 2022—present. Senior Designer 2019–2021. New York, NY.
2017–present: Bad Little Brother. co-Director. New York, NY, and Boston, MA.
2017–2019: Ken Smith Workshop. Designer. New York, NY.
2014–2017: University of Virginia School of Architecture. Research Assistant and Manager. Charlottesville, VA.
2016–2017: Research Assistant, Theories of Modern Landscape Architecture.
2015–2016: Research Manager, Benjamin C. Howland Papers.
2014–2016: Research Assistant, Arctic Design Group (ADG).
2012–2014: Art Institute of Chicago. Assistant to the Chair, Department of American Art. Chicago, IL.
Teaching and critique
Spring 2022, Adjunct Instructor, Department of Art History, Maryland Institute College of Art. Teaches course AH-379 Contemporary Architectural Theory and Criticism. Designs syllabus and assignments for an undergraduate seminar on architectural theory of the past thirty years.Fall 2020, Guest Critic, “Agential Systems for Sea Level Rise,” UVa School of Architecture.
Winter 2018, Guest Critic, “Queer Space” seminar. School of Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design.
Summer 2017, Teaching Assistant, Summer Design Institute, UVa School of Architecture.
Spring 2017, Guest Critic, Landscape Architecture Foundation Studio II. UVa School of Architecture.
Spring 2017, Teaching Assistant, Theories of Modern Landscape Architecture.
Talks
“Type and Regulatory Type,” Invited talk for History of Architecture survey at Maryland Institute College of Art, October 15, 2021.“After the Hyperprofessional,” University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Department of Architecture, March 2021.
“Altering the Landscape a Little Bit: Queer Space-Making in Collier Schorr’s Blumen,” at Senses and Spaces, University of Toronto Department of History, May 10-11, 2018. Panel: “Moving through Landscapes.”
Exhibitions and programs
Exhibition Curator and Designer (as Bad Little Brother), “Unrestrooms,” March 2-April 5, 2018, Front/Space, Kansas City, MO.︎︎︎See press coverage: Anne Kniggendorf. “At An Exhibit In Kansas City, Designers Begin Solving America’s Public Bathroom Problem.”
Panel Organizer (as Bad Little Brother), “A Discussion of Inclusive Restroom Design,” March 31, 2018. Kansas City Center for Inclusion, Kansas City, MO. A panel discussion with architects and activists working in trans rights and gender-inclusive restroom design.
Exhibition Curator and Designer, “Yes, It Can Be Done: National Park Service Expanding, 1950–1980.“ Spring 2016, East Gallery, University of Virginia School of Architecture. Charlottesville, VA.
Curatorial Assistant, “Arctic States” (under Arctic Design Group). A survey of recent design research on the far North. Spring 2015, Elmaleh Gallery, University of Virginia School of Architecture. Charlottesville, VA.