Sustainable Design & Construction: A Materials Showcase

Please join ASLA Connecticut and our host & sponsor O&G Earth Products Showcase for a full-day continuing education program! Suitable for all Landscape Architects and Designers, Architects, Engineers, Landscape Contractors, and Green Industry Peers. This event will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. at O&G's Bridgeport location (325 Hancock Avenue). Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided as well as opportunities to connect with over 20 exhibitors! Find more information on the day's schedule, presenter biographies,  and to purchase tickets below.

This program is approved by LA CES for 5.5 PDH/HSW. Registration for this program is closed. Please contact programs@ctasla.org with any questions or concerns.

Exhibitors include: Alliance | Ardex | Boral | Earthcore | Elegance Porcelain | Getty Granite | Illuminate | Keystone | Miracle Sealants | Mirage Porcelain | Nicolock | Quikrete | Royal Perla | Unilock

PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES

Nora Rizzo is Grace Farms Foundation’s first Ethical Materials Director, leading the recently launched Design for Freedom Initiative. Design for Freedom aims to eradicate modern slavery from the built environment by addressing the systemic use of forced labor in the building materials supply chain. For more than 15 years, Nora has dedicated herself to creating change in the built environment through her sustainability, resiliency, and social equity work.  Before joining Grace Farms, Nora spent over a decade as Director of Sustainability for Fusco Corporation in New Haven, CT. Nora is accredited with her LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, and LFA and currently serves on the Board of Directors for mindful MATERIALS and the CT Green Building Council and was invited to serve on the Governor’s Council for Climate Change (GC3) Infrastructure and Land Use Adaptation Working Group.

Louis Fusco has been a registered landscape architect since 1984, licensed in New York, Connecticut, and Maryland. He began his career in Milan, Italy and New York City specializing in urban design, city parks, plazas, and playgrounds. His current practice, Louis Fusco Landscape Architects, balances residential/estate design with commercial work, campus planning, and park design. Louis has been recognized with numerous ASLA awards (Connecticut and New York, including the 2022 Yarwood Award) and has been featured in professional journals and magazines. Louis has an extensive history of volunteering with CTASLA on the Executive Committee, Programs Committee, and Scholarships Committee. His passion for our future generation of Landscape Architects and their ability to fund an education led to his initiation of CTASLA's recent Environmental Stewardship Scholarship for high school students.

Louis Grasso Jr., LEED AP, is the Lead Inventor of Pozzotive®, a Founding Partner of Urban Mining Industries, LLC and Chief Executive Officer of Urban Mining CT LLC, a licensed regional    producer of Pozzotive®. Louis has over 35 years of experience combined in commercial construction and development and in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of masonry products. As the Lead Inventor of Pozzotive® including several US Patents regarding Ground Glass Pozzolans for use in concrete, he has committed over 20 years of his professional career toward the commercialization of the product. Louis is responsible for new product and plant development, operations and ongoing efforts to educate the design, development and construction industries on the benefits of Pozzotive® and to strengthen the Pozzotive® brand. **UPDATE: Louis is no longer able to attend this program due to unforeseen circumstances. In his place, Patrick Grasso, Co-Founding Partner of Urban Mining Industries, LLC will join us remotely to present current innovations in the concrete industry

Tom Quackenbush is part of the Ardex Tile and Stone Installation Systems team, where he is a field representative aiding in the specification and technical support on a variety of interior and exterior commercial and residential projects. Over his 25-year career as both an installer and field representative, Tom has provided a unique insight to architects and installers, becoming a solution provider for successful tile and stone installations. He currently co-manages the NY/NJ/CT market for ARDEX Tile and Stone Installation Systems and resides with his wife and 2 boys in central New Jersey.

Dan Julian has 9 years of experience working in the stone veneer manufacturing business. Graduating from Roger Williams in 2014, he went right to work running a thinstone veneer saw for a company in Bridgeport, CT. Spending a year there learning the process from the ground up, he then went to work for his father in the company that would eventually become Getty Granite. His mission is to create a safe and fulfilling work environment that delivers quality stone veneer product in a timely fashion. He lives in Stratford, CT with his girlfriend Rachel.

Chris Carboni has been in the stone business for 6+ years. Prior to this, Chris spent 5 years working in wealth management at Wells Fargo. It is there where he learned invaluable skills that bring a unique analytical approach to Getty Granite. With an eye for data and emphasis on critical thinking, Chris blends this numbers-oriented mindset with a hands-on approach that has paid off substantially for Getty Granite. He lives in Madison, CT with his wife Quinn and two young sons, Leo and Sonny.

Eric Rains, PLA, ASLA, Principal of Eric Rains Landscape Architecture, LLC, (ERLA) launched his practice after 23 years in the industry. During this time, he practiced in the Fairfield County, tri-state area and Washington, D.C./Baltimore metro area. Mr. Rains is an accomplished Landscape Architect who has extensive experience in local, state and federal regulatory permitting processes. He balances this with deep ties to his community. Currently Mr. Rains serves on the Mayors’ Task Force for South Norwalk and on the Board of Directors of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce.  He is an active member of American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and is a Past President of the Connecticut Chapter of ASLA.  He is also a member of the University of Connecticut's Alumni/Practitioners Advisory Board and is licensed in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Jeff Taphouse has been with Techo-Bloc since 2015 and full-time with the Commercial Division since 2022. Jeff is an ICPI and NCMA Instructor and former licensed builder in VA and MD. Jeff has a passion for social responsibility and sustainability. Helping design and specify permeable interlocking concrete pavement is his favorite part of the job. Jeff lives in the Philadelphia, PA suburbs with his wife, daughter, son, and two dogs (both foster-fails). As an outdoor living and fitness enthusiast, Jeff tries to spend most of his free time hiking in the woods with his family.

Image Credits: Eric Rains Landscape Architecture