West 8, founded by Adriaan Geuze in 1987 and based in Rotterdam, is an international office for urban design and landscape architecture. The team includes 75 architects, urban designers, landscape architects, and industrial engineers working around the world on large-scale urban master planning and design projects, landscape interventions, waterfronts, parks, squares, and gardens. West 8 also develops concepts and visions for large-scale planning issues involving global warming, urbanization, and infrastructure.

Geuze won the prestigious Rome Prize in 1990 and founded the SLA (Surrealistic Landscape Architecture) Foundation in 1992. West 8 has won numerous awards, including the Dutch Maaskant Award, the Rosa Barba First European Landscape prize, and the Veronica Rudge Green Prize for Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 2005 Geuze curated the 2nd International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam. The firm has won many international design competitions, including Governor’s Island in New York, Playa de Palma Mallorca in Spain, and Toronto’s new Central Waterfront.

Generous support for CCA public programs in San Francisco has been provided by Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund. The Architecture Lecture Series is funded by McCall Design Group; Pfau Long Architecture; Jensen Architects; ARCH Drafting and Art Supplies; GCI Inc.; Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc.; Perkins+Will; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP; and SRG Partnership.