Living Immersive
Live 6-month Project-Based Course
Registration Open for Fall '26
Now Until September 15th
24 Live Sessions
Starts September 18 2026 - March 26 2027
Winter Reflection Break:
December 15 2026 - January 15 2027
Friday's 12–1:30 PM EST
Registration Closes September 15th
Ancestral Wisdom as TEKnology
The Living Immersive Course is a six-month learning journey through both Living Earth and Living Water. Through mentorship, guest lectures, collaborative inquiry, and the development of an individual project, participants engage ten ancestral TEKnologies and gain full access to both living curricula throughout the duration of the course.
Exploring systems across land and water, the immersive invites participants to rethink ecology, design, governance, adaptation, and regeneration through ancestral knowledge systems and contemporary practice.
What is the
Living Immersive
Course?
The Living Immersive Course is a six-month learning journey through both Living Earth and Living Water, exploring ten ancestral TEKnologies across diverse communities, cultures, and landscapes worldwide. Grounded in the Lo—TEK Institute's approach to Embodied Planetary Pedagogy, the course invites participants into a deeper engagement with ecological intelligence, Indigenous knowledge systems, and collaborative inquiry. Together, we explore ancestral technologies not as artifacts of the past, but as living systems that continue to inform contemporary approaches to ecology, design, governance, adaptation, and regeneration.
What is Included?
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Six months of live instruction and collaborative learning
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Full access to both Living Earth and Living Water throughout the program
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24 live sessions
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Monthly mentorship
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Guest lectures from global practitioners, researchers, artists, and knowledge holders
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Research pathways, practices, and project development resources
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Access to recordings for all live sessions
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A global learning community spanning multiple disciplines and countries
What makes this course different?
Who is this course for?
The Living Immersive Course is designed for participants seeking a deeper engagement with ancestral knowledge through sustained study, research, mentorship, and project development.
The course may resonate with:
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educators and curriculum designers
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architects, planners, and designers
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environmental practitioners
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artists and storytellers
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students and researchers
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climate and sustainability advocates
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museum and cultural workers
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individuals seeking deeper ecological and philosophical frameworks for understanding land, water, ecology, culture, and relationship.
The immersive experience is best suited for participants who have the time and commitment to engage with the curriculum beyond the live sessions through independent research, collaborative dialogue, and the development of an individual project.
How CanThis Work Be Applied?
The Living Immersive Course invites participants to rethink how ecological systems, infrastructure, ritual, adaptation, and community care operate within both local and global contexts.
Participants often apply the work toward:
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curriculum and educational development
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regenerative design and architecture
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ecological storytelling and arts practice
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climate adaptation frameworks
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systems thinking and organizational practice
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community engagement projects
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environmental humanities research
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land and water stewardship initiatives
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personal ecological reflection and embodied practice
The course encourages participants to connect ancestral and contemporary systems back to their own communities, landscapes, practices, and disciplines.
Testimonials
Teaching Community
Melissa Hunter Gurney
Melissa Hunter Gurney is a writer, educator, and land steward focused on equitable, embodied, and interdisciplinary approaches to education, ecology, and cultural stewardship. She is the co-founder of the Lo—TEK Institute and Black Land Ownership, a grassroots organization addressing systemic inequities in land stewardship and ownership across the Americas. Her work spans education, community advocacy, and the arts, and her writing has been published in journals including The Yale Review, PANK Magazine, and Paris Lit Up.
Julia Watson
BA, GDLA, MLA II
Julia Watson is a landscape designer, author, and academic, educator, specializing in Indigenous nature-based technologies and post-carbon futures. She is the author of the bestselling TASCHEN books Lo—TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism and Lo—TEK Water, A Field Guide for TEKnology and has taught at Harvard, Columbia, RISD, and Rensselaer. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Monocle, and Architectural Digest, and her TED Talk, “How to Build a Resilient Future Using Ancient Wisdom,” is included in the international AP curriculum.
Prof. Cynthia Neri Zayas
BA, MA PhD
Cynthia Neri Zayas, PhD, is an anthropologist, maritime scholar, and former Director of the University of the Philippines Center for International Studies. An internationally recognized expert on maritime cultures, Indigenous knowledge systems, and Philippine–Japan cultural exchange, her research focuses on maritime archaeology, stone tidal weirs, artisanal fisheries, disaster cultures, and maritime cultural landscapes. In 2023, she was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette by the Emperor of Japan for her contributions to cultural and academic exchange.
Prof. Amina Chouairi
BSc Arch, MSc LA, PhD Urbanism
Amina Chouairi is an Italian-Moroccan landscape architect, researcher, and educator based between the Netherlands and Italy. She is a Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at Wageningen University & Research and holds a PhD in Urbanism from Università Iuav di Venezia. Her work explores transitional wet landscapes, with a focus on the ecological, political, and cultural dimensions of brackish marshes and coastal territories. Her research has been exhibited at the 10th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) and the 19th Architecture Biennale in Venice, and she regularly curates talks, symposia, and public programs on overlooked wet environments.
Chris Banks Carr
Chris Carr is a multidisciplinary artist, photographer, musician, educator, and cultural organizer based between Upstate NY and Washington DC. He is the founder of Brooklyn Wildlife, a creative arts incubator supporting independent art and music, and co-founder of Gamba, GAMBAZine, and Black Land Ownership. His art practice explores cultural expression, power, identity, social inequality, and alternative culture performance, education, and community engagement. He also leads diversity and inclusion workshops and developed Curating the Classroom, a framework for addressing systemic oppression through creative education.
Itamar Lilienthal (Ita)
BFA, MArch
Itamar Lilienthal (Ita) is an artist, biodesigner, architect, and founder of Casa Tamarindo, a vernacular research and design practice based between Mexico City and Las Californias. Trained at New York University and the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, his work combines locally sourced biomaterials and vernacular building traditions with contemporary fabrication techniques to explore regenerative design at multiple scales. He lectures internationally on biomaterials, fog harvesting, and vernacular biodesign, and contributed to Lo—TEK Water as a researcher on the Persian yakhchāl.
Prof. Nancy Rottle
RLA, FASLA
Professor Nancy Rottle is a landscape architect, educator, and Director of the Green Futures Research and Design Lab at the University of Washington. Her work explores ecological design, urban green infrastructure, and water-centered landscapes, with a focus on creating places that are environmentally resilient and culturally meaningful. A registered landscape architect and co-author of Ecological Design, she has led award-winning research and design projects and lectures internationally on climate adaptation, public space, and regenerative urban futures.
Lucio Usobiaga
Lucio Usobiaga is a regenerative farmer, philosopher, and co-founder of Yolcan, an organization dedicated to restoring the ecological and cultural heritage of the chinampas of Xochimilco. His work focuses on reviving traditional farming practices, advancing food sovereignty, and strengthening regenerative agriculture through collaboration with farmers, researchers, chefs, and local communities. Trained in philosophy, he brings an interdisciplinary approach to cultivating resilient food systems and restoring the relationship between people, land, and culture.
Immersive Structure
6 Months of Two Living Curricula
One Integrated Learning Journey
Starts September 18 |12-1:30pm EST
Participants receive full access to both Living Earth and Living Water throughout the immersive experience, including twenty ancestral TEKnologies, twenty identity explorations, eighty ecological concepts and perspectives, forty transdisciplinary research pathways, and a growing collection of practices and project resources. Live sessions focus on ten selected TEKnologies drawn from both curricula, while participants have access to the full learning ecosystem throughout the six-month journey.
Guided Exploration Through the Live Immersive
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Weekly live seminars, discussions, and collaborative learning experiences
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Monthly keynote lectures and guest conversations
The live course focuses on:
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10 selected TEKnologies (5 Earth & 5 Water)
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44 ancestral communities
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10 identity explorations
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40 ecological concepts and perspectives
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20 transdisciplinary research pathways
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10 applied ecological practices
Additional components include:
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Independent research and reflection between sessions
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Monthly one-on-one mentorship meetings
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Development of an individual Living Project
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Final presentation and community dialogue
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Participants also receive full access to the complete Living Earth and Living Water curricula throughout the six-month program.
The Living Immersive unfolds as a six-month journey of study, reflection, dialogue, and practice. Rather than moving through isolated lessons, participants engage the curriculum as an interconnected living system, supported by mentorship, collaborative inquiry, and the gradual development of an individual project.
