Assistant Professor

Kris Fox is an Associate Professor at SAPL whose unique approach to landscape architecture combines digital innovation with hands-on craftsmanship and a deep engagement with regional landscapes. With a career that spans the practical and academic realms, his research explores materials, fabrication, and deployment strategies and efficiencies, particularly through innovative use of “cheap” and/or sustainable landscape construction materials. He brings his hybrid approach into his teaching, fostering originality and innovation among his students by demonstrating the versatility of design tools and encouraging creative explorations into their potentials.

Fox’s approach is characterized by a deep curiosity about how specific tools and materials can be used to enhance and democratize design, making it more accessible to a wider audience: “It can, at times, feel like an elitist profession because design is not accessible to most people.” He is particularly interested in working with “cheap, crappy materials” like asphalt, chain-link fences, and simple concrete, exploring how these humble materials can be transformed through design. This philosophy reflects his broader goal of making design more inclusive, ensuring that even the most modest materials can be used to create spaces that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

Fox believes that while digital tools are essential for modern design, it is equally important to maintain a connection to analog methods, such as drawing and hands-on construction. His courses at SAPL often reflect this hybrid approach, where students are taught to appreciate the strengths of both and to use them in tandem to achieve the best possible design outcomes.

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Contact Info
+1 (403) 220-7428
Professional Faculties 3181
mk.fox1@ucalgary.ca

Education
MLA - University of California at Berkeley, 1999
BS - Urban and Regional Studies, Cornell University, 1995

Licenses and Professional Memberships
Registered Landscape Architect, California - License Number 5018

Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA)

Keywords

• Northern / rural regionalism
• Hybrid representation and film
• Field recordings and site documentation
• Material phenomenology