event
Reflections: The Teaching, The Study, The Practice of: Landscape Architecture by Tarna Klitzner
16 September 2025
About the Honorees:
When Vivienne Japha completed her Architectural studies at the University of Cape Town in 1973,she was one of a very small group of women graduates. At the time of her death in 1999 she was an Associate Professor in the Schoolof Architecture and Planning at UCT and the second woman to hold the position of President of the SouthAfrican Institute of Architects.Len Hicks was a fine Cape TownArchitect, who taught part-time at the School of Architecture &Planning. He also worked in a number of offices including those of Revel Fox and Associates as well as with the Cape Town City Council. He was particularly esteemed for his love for and expertise in the Cape’s flora. Len Hicks died in 1978 after along illness.Gunnel Hicks was an immensely talented person, who was equally at home in designing the tapestries for the Paarl Civic Centre interior and making urban proposals for the
Foreshore. She taught part-time in both Architecture and Planning Programmes at the School of Architecture & Planning. Gunnel Hicks died suddenly in 1998.
About our Guest Speaker:Tarna Klitzner is a professional landscape architect and educator with over three decades of experience in practice and academia. She holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvaniaand a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Cape Town.As founder of Tarna Klitzner Landscape Architects (TKLA), she has built a practice renowned for creating environments that respond thoughtfully to natural,urban, and social contexts. TKLA’s work spans public and private projects, fostering interaction and community engagement through collaborative, interdisciplinary design. Since 1992, Tarna has lectured part-time at the Universityof Cape Town, shaping generations of designers while advancing the profession through built work. Her projects have received multiple ILASA Awards of Excellence, the ILASA President’s Award (2024),and international recognition, including an IFLA Mention in Barcelona and selection as a finalist for the Rosa Barba Casanovas Prize. In 2025 she presented as a keynote speaker atHarvard GSD’s African LandscapeArchitectures: Alternative Futures
conference.