Julie Bargmann

Bargmann was born at Holy Name hospital, in Teaneck, New Jersey, to James F. Bargmann, a sales executive for Owens-Illinois (now O-I Glass), a producer of glass and plastic containers; and Alice Jane Badenhope, a homemaker and 1947 graduate of the University of Toledo. Bargmann was the sixth of eight children. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1987, where she was a classmate of Anita Berrizbeitia.

After graduating from Harvard, Bargmann worked alongside Michael Van Valkenburgh, while also teaching at the University of Minnesota. In 1992, Bargmann founded D.I.R.T (Dump It Right There), a landscape design studio based in Charlottesville, Virginia, with the mission to turn “ugly duckling” sites—meaning, polluted industrial land—into productive, habitable landscapes with a distinctive aesthetic. Her work included repurposing former landfill sites into public spaces such as parks and playgrounds. Shortly thereafter, Bargmann accepted a position at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, while continuing to run D.I.R.T. Studio

In 1998, Bargmann became a contributing editor to the Landscape Journal, published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

In 2021, Bargmann delivered the annual Daniel Urban Kiley Lecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.