To commemorate KU Leuven’s 600th anniversary, the Faculty of Architecture is awarding the first Honorary Professorship. With this distinction, our faculty wishes to recognize individuals who make significant contributions to research, innovation, and practice, and who serve as role models for our students.
Kate Orff was chosen for this inaugural award. With her firm SCAPE, she focuses on the ecological and cultural potential of the built environment. She designs and advocates for ecological restoration and socially engaged landscapes, urban environments, and the natural infrastructure of the future. She does this through various forms of design—built landscapes, planning, visioning, and research—with the ultimate goal of connecting people with their surroundings.
Kate Orff is faculty director of the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes, Associate Professor in Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and director of the MSc Urban Design Program at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York.
Her Honorary Professorship is of great significance to the Faculty of Architecture. The way she teaches complex, interdisciplinary studios with a focus on the urban systems of the future is an example to us. Her design-driven work underscores the importance of transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary practice.
The Honorary Professorship will be awarded to Kate Orff on Monday 17November 2025, at the Sint-Lucas Ghent Campus, followed by a lecture and reception.
- November 17, 2025, 6:00 PM
- Room 122, Hoogstraat 51, 9000 Ghent
- Admission is free, but registration is required. Please register here.