Please join the University of Oregon’s Portland Architecture Program and ASLA Oregon for a screening of the new documentary film, Sitting Still with Laurie Olin, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Gina Angelone. This is a public event in the winter 2026 UO School of Architecture & Environment Lecture Series. 
 

Description:

Sitting Still is an original documentary that explores the life and work of Laurie Olin—one of the world’s most influential urban designers and his profoundly social vision. Hailed as a modern-day Olmsted, Olin has transformed the design of public space and paved the way for future design leaders.

This rare, intimate portrait invites viewers inside the mind of a brilliant and irreverent iconoclast—to see what he sees, feel what inspires him, and hear his urgent call to confront the environmental challenges shaping our collective future like never before.

Sitting Still brings into focus the critical issues which have defined Olin’s life and work: urbanization and our lost connection to nature, economic marginalization, and the grave importance of humanity in design.

In a time when global values increasingly reflect “profit over people,” Olin's motivation has always been to create a more democratic and egalitarian society through healthy, shared public space. Environmental and human stakes have simply never been higher. In many ways, the most pressing challenges of the natural environment and social disunity can be healed through the power of landscape.

Sitting Still invites the voices of other design luminaries into the conversation, including architectural visionaries Frank Gehry and Billie Tsien, and esteemed landscape designer and artist, Walter Hood, among others.

Olin’s life story of growing up in Alaska on the edge of the American frontier, challenging belief systems around designing in nature, and his lifelong work transforming environments for social good are the launching pad for Sitting Still.

Part portrait of an artist and part exploration of social concerns, Sitting Still looks at the critical importance of humanity in design in order to create more livable cities. Olin and other design visionary bring into sharp focus the marks we make upon the land and why they matter.