Noted landscape architect Ian McHarg will speak in Las Vegas next week as part of an intensive design workshop taking place at UNLV.

The workshop, known as a charette, will take place March 13-15 at UNLV. The task of those involved will be to plan an expansion of the Las Vegas Valley Water District's desert demonstration garden. The garden is to be known in the future as the Mojave Center.

To kick-off the event, McHarg will speak at the Aquavision luncheon at 11:30 a.m. March 13 at Tropicana Gardens restaurant. Aquavision is a group concerned with water conservation. The public is invited to the luncheon. The cost is $20.

McHarg is the author of "Design With Nature" and is a founder of the ecological planning process. He initiated the department of landscape architecture and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1990, then-President George Bush awarded McHarg the National Medal of the Arts.

At the end of the charette on March 15, the public is invited to view the plans proposed by the workshop participants, attend a presentation by McHarg, and then attend a reception marking the wrap-up of the event. All those activities are free and will take place at the Thomas T. Beam Engineering Complex. The work display will begin at 5 p.m., followed by McHarg's presentation at 7 p.m., and the reception at 8:30 p.m.

In addition to UNLV, sponsors of the charette are the Las Vegas Valley Water District, Aquavision, and Design Workshop, a landscape architectural firm.

For additional information on the charette, call Mark Hoversten, assistant professor/coordinator of the landscape architecture program, at 895-4880.