Dr. Alec Spangler

Biography

Alec Spangler joined the faculty at Penn State during the 2017-18 school year after working at the Brooklyn office of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) since 2012. At MVVA, he contributed to a wide range of projects, including urban-scale plans such as the 8,000-square-foot Max Family Garden along the East River waterfront. Alec holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard's Graduate School of Design and a Master of Fine Arts in drawing and painting from Purchase College. His undergraduate degree is in art and philosophy from Vassar College. His M.F.A. thesis began with an exploration of the drawing as an analogy for the movement in landscape, and he is particularly interested in the relationship between bodily experience and representations of space in art and design. During his time at Harvard, he received a research fellowship to ride the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok and then walked back home to Pennsylvania, traversing the Atlantic coast from Florida to Maine by bicycle. Spangler teaches introductory courses in second-year studios and visualization courses.

Research Interests

Experience