Landscape Architecture in the News

Nancy C. Somerville, Executive Vice President, ASLA
Edmund D. Hollander, ASLA
Sold at First Sight
The New York Times (New York, NY)
HOT real estate markets don’t sizzle forever. After more than three years of feverish demand in and around New York, the inventory of unsold homes is piling up, especially in the suburbs.... “Good landscaping could add up to 15 to 20 percent to the value,” said Nancy C. Somerville, the executive vice president of the American Society of Landscape Architects, citing a number of studies over the last few years. “Conversely, if the landscape is poor, you could expect a sale price of 8 to 10 percent below comparable homes with good landscaping.”--This growing focus on the outdoors seems to reflect shifting demographics. “The one thing that I’m finding is that people want a place where they can enjoy life with their family,” said Edmund D. Hollander, a landscape architect in Manhattan. “They want to play with the grandchildren in the swimming pool.”

Nancy Somerville
Mark Rios, ASLA
Redesigns mask security barriers throughout USA
USA Today 
Anti-terrorist barricades that went up to protect public buildings after Sept. 11, 2001, are slowly disappearing from the public landscape. They're not going away, just being disguised.
The design is similar to one at the Washington Monument. Last summer, concrete barriers around the obelisk were replaced by terraced, walled embankments that a truck can't drive over.
After seven years surrounded by concrete barriers, the monument is now "the poster child for good security design," says Nancy Somerville of the American Society of Landscape Architects. "I don't think anybody coming to it and walking up those lovely curving paths or sitting on those low walls has any clue that they are there for security." --Obvious blockades, such as the highway barriers and concrete planters that followed 9/11, create unfriendly spaces that are difficult to navigate and where people don't want to linger, says Mark Rios, a Los Angeles landscape architect who is writing a guide for government agencies on good security design.

American Society of Landscape Architects
PBR Hawaii
Belt Collins
Loriann Gordon, ASLA
Dana Anne Yee, ASLA
ASLA Hawaii Chapter
Walters Kimura Motoda Inc.
Paul Weissich, ASLA
Dean Minakami
Landscape judges like Queen's grounds
Pacific Business News (Honolulu, HI)
The Hawaii chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects has recognized five firms for 11 outstanding projects at its 2006 awards. PBR Hawaii got five, Walters Kimura Motoda Inc. got three, Belt Collins got two, and one each went to Loriann Gordon and Dana Anne Yee. The ASLA Hawaii Chapter professional design awards are given out every three years. Walters Kimura Motoda took top honors in general design for the front lot landscape architecture at The Queen's Medical Center, which one judge, Paul Weissich, lauded as "hospitable." The same firm also won an award for the landscaping at the Kalia Tower in Waikiki. Big Island landscape architect Loriann Gordon won an honor award for the Mullin residence at the Hualalai Resort for, as jury member Dean Minakami put it, "enhancement of habitable space without overrelying on props." PBR Hawaii was recognized for the Kolea Beach Club at Waikoloa for "spatially interesting" architecture. Belt Collins was recognized with a merit award for the Pauoa Beach Club.

PWL Partnership Landscape Architects
For green roofs, it's lonely at the top
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
The north and south sides of the roof on the Robertson Building in downtown Toronto look as different as the before-and-after photos in a men's hair replacement ad. While the north side is a bald expanse of asphalt roofing, the south side has been transformed into a luxuriant meadow of indigenous grasses and wildflowers....Its landscape architect, Bruce Hemstock of Vancouver's PWL Partnership Ltd., has noted that this green roof will cover as much area as 15 hockey rinks. On harbour front test plots, his firm is now evaluating various plants and wild grasses to determine which ones will thrive best on the convention centre's site.

SITE Design Group
It's All in the Swoop
Time Magazine
If Salvador Dali had fashioned the moon, its surface might look something like the skate park in Sayreville, N.J. Undulating concrete bowls flow toward one another like bumping wombs. Ribboning "snake runs" slither around steel-pipe rails and abrupt concrete boxes... As skaters have moved into the role of designers, establishing firms like SITE Design Group, Dreamland, Team Pain and Grindline--a grind is what you do when you skate down one of those steel-pipe handrails--the skate park has evolved into an entirely new subdepartment of landscape architecture.

Peter Kruek, ASLA
Durante Kreuk
Paying homage to a shipbuilding past
Globe and Mail (Canada) 
After the Burrard Dry Dock closed the site sat stagnant for years -- in contrast to its history as one of Canada's largest shipyards. But redevelopment of the area has begun and, pending approval, will mix the old with the new, including a national maritime museum... The opening of the Burrard Dry Dock Pier last year restored public access to the area after almost a century. Pedestrian access to the site is particularly important since the tourist draw will surely jump during the 2010 Olympics, not to mention upon completion of the proposal for nearly 1,100 residential dwellings. That's where landscape architect Peter Kreuk's firm, Durante Kreuk, came in...."The heritage of the site has played a very important role," Mr. Kreuk said in an interview. "You take a bit of the Granville Island concept . . . it'll be a much more dense, pedestrian-oriented space than North Vancouver is used to." Mr. Kreuk's firm has the Herculean task of taking the rough, industrial land and transforming it into a family and tourist-friendly place, while staying true to the site's heritage.

Arkansas Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects
Fran Beatty, ASLA
Kim Hesse, ASLA
Melissa Evans, ASLA
Planning commissioners consolidate, tweak city landscape ...
Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville, AK)
A proposed codification and consolidation of Fayetteville landscape requirements unanimously passed the city’s Planning Commission Monday.... It could make the city just a little cooler and just a little greener.... Three landscape architects spoke to the value of adding that requirement. Requiring a licensed professional helps insure public health, safety and welfare while preserving and enhancing the beauty of Fayetteville, said Fran Beatty of Fayetteville, who of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.... Kim Hesse, a landscape architect and developer, said a landscape architect offers the advantage of someone with an overall viewpoint, someone who is not just looking at the plants or just the drainage.... Landscape architect Melissa Evans also supported the changes, saying they were good for the city overall and create a more user-friendly code.

William Spell, ASLA
UMW signs finally acknowledge university
The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)
It's been two years since Mary Washington College became the University of Mary Washington. And despite some promises to the contrary, the most prominent signs around the Fredericksburg campus will no longer bear any reference to Mary Washington College.... Frawley said he knew of discussions last spring in which the landscape architect hired to design the signs, William Spell, suggested the new signs read University of Mary Washington, College of Arts and Sciences.

Richard Manning, ASLA
TCAT gets approval for Seneca Street makeover
Ithaca Journal (Ithaca, NY)
The approximately 4,000 daily TCAT passengers who use the Seneca Street bus stop will soon notice an extreme stop makeover that TCAT hopes will lead to more new and improved stops around the Commons.... TCAT received approval Tuesday from Ithaca's Planning and Development Board to provide a new passenger shelter at the corner of East Seneca and North Tioga Streets as Phase I of the City Center project.... In addition, the entire block of Seneca Street on the garage side will be improved with plantings, benches, new curbing and sidewalks.
“It's not just the shelter, but the south-facing elevation along Seneca Street,” said Rick Manning, the project's landscape architect. “They're going to be very nice looking.”

Thomas Balsley, FASLA
Pines in the sky for Tribeca project’s wealthiest tenants
Downtown Express (New York, NY)
The residents of 101 Warren St. will not need to trek upstate to enjoy pine trees — they’ll have a whole grove of them right outside their window.... The new luxury development currently under construction will come equipped with a bucolic grove of 101 Austrian pine trees set atop the building’s third floor terrace. The building’s sports center will open out on the grove, and all the residents in the 227 condo units will have access to the trees.... “There’s just the serenity and peacefulness of this grove,” said landscape architect Thomas Balsley. “The needles, the texture, the sound of the wind going through the pine trees above. It’s really an extraordinary experience, it’s almost religious. It’s one that would be transported to this roof as a gift to the residents of this building.”

Tom Elmore, ASLA
Train station group receives more grants
Windsor Locks Journal (Windsor, CT)
The Windsor Locks Preservation Association, in its continuous effort to raise money to preserve and renovate the old Amtrak Station on Main Street, recently received $2,100 in grants from local contributors.... The preservation association's growth has resulted in its preservation grant, which it released applications for at the end of May to coincide with national preservation month. The winner will be announced sometime in the fall; as of press time, no one had applied for the grant.
All residents who live in a pre-1900 home are encouraged to apply. The winner will receive an exterior landscaping project, completed in conjunction with Boy Scout Troop 261.... "It will be professionally done," Schley said, explaining that historical landscape architect Tom Elmore will donate his time and work with the scouts on proper landscaping practices.

Jeffrey Curl, ASLA
Q. Grady Minor & Associates
The Oaks in Naples making way for Walgreens
Naples Daily News (Naples, FL)
After nearly two decades on Tamiami Trail, The Oaks shopping center is expected to be razed some time next year to make way for a large Walgreens pharmacy and liquor store.... Naples’ architectural guidelines don’t allow classic “big box” stores, such as Walgreens and Wal-Marts, so developers must enhance them with added towers, cupolas and other softening features to create a look that satisfies city planners.... During a lengthy design board hearing Wednesday morning, Jeffrey Curl, a landscape architect with Q. Grady Minor & Associates in Bonita Springs, said Walgreens will keep the live oaks and add landscaping along U.S. 41, creating a linear park, but planned to shy away from mahogany trees, which hadn’t held up well when Hurricane Wilma hit last fall.

Derek Williams, ASLA
Citizens have opportunity to discuss proposed
Jamestown News (Jamestown, NC)
Plans for a new recreation center in the southwest portion of Greensboro have taken a step forward. On July 19, Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department conducted a community workshop to gather citizen input about development of the facility.... A bond referendum passed by citizens of Greensboro in 2000 included plans for the new center. When property on Hilltop Road became available last year, the city purchased the site with the intention of building the recreation center and a surrounding park.... “This site is covered with trees and is absolutely perfect for a park,” said Derek Williams, a landscape architect with Site Solutions. “Our intent is to make a place for active recreation, but also leave a lot of open space. We are very sensitive to our neighbors and will buffer and maintain space between those backyards that join the site.”

Edward L. Blake, ASLA
IMA to Develop Nation's Largest Contemporary Art Park
Inside Indiana Business (Indianapolis, IN)
Indianapolis – IMA Indianapolis Museum of Art officials announced today that it had received an $11 million challenge grant from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation for the development of the new IMA Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park. Located on 100 acres of woodlands, wetlands, lake and meadow adjacent to the Museum, the Fairbanks Art & Nature Park will feature site-specific commissions in diverse media that explore the natural features of the Park.... The IMA has engaged architect Marlon Blackwell and landscape architect Edward L. Blake to work with the selected artists to transform the 100 acres into a unique place to experience art. Formerly a gravel pit, the land was donated to the IMA in 1972 by the Indianapolis construction firm Huber, Hunt and Nichols. Since that time, a natural reclamation has occurred and the land has evolved into its current state of woodlands, wetlands and a 30-acre lake.

John Tarkany, ASLA
The Post and Courier
Charleston Post Courier (Charleston, SC)
MOUNT PLEASANT - Plans for a new $157 million East Cooper Regional Medical Center moved a step closer to becoming a reality Wednesday after a hearing before the Commercial Design Review Board on the conceptual master plan for the project...."All of the concepts that you're talking about seem to be right on the money," said board member Sam Herin. Building Architect Michael Hart, who received feedback from the board at a previous meeting, presented a tweaked design for the hospital that included the use of brick to create an earthy feel....Landscape Architect John Tarkany told the board he was trying to create a small-town feel and a pedestrian-oriented streetscape that would have a therapeutic, calming effect.

Mark Gullatte, ASLA
Library board to consider learning park
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA)
A proposal to develop a library learning park on some 26 acres near the new Columbus Public Library will be considered Thursday by the Muscogee County Library Board.... Landscape architect Gary Gullatte will make a presentation at the 1 p.m. board meeting at the library on how such a "library in the park" concept could be developed. It could include such things as an arboretum; garden reading rooms on the library's rear terrace; a small ecological system along a creek behind the library; nature trail; children's garden; amphitheater; and even incorporate an indoor/outdoor magnet at the New Rigdon Road Elementary School to be built beside the existing school. Gullatte was hired using private funds to work on the concept.

Mark Hamelin, ASLA
SE Group
City sifts through Moran proposals
BurlingtonFreePress.com (Burlington, VT)
The next next step is on the horizon for the Moran Generating Plant....The great hulk on Burlington's waterfront -- home only to the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center -- still sits mostly empty, though it might have entered pigeon lore since it was decommissioned as the city's power plant in the 1980s....The city is preparing drawings and site plans of some of the proposals, which will be available for viewing in mid-September....The drawings and site plans, he said, would be done at a cost of $5,000 by Fritz Horton, president, and Marcelle Beaudin, the founding director, of the sailing center, and landscape architect Mark Hamelin from the SE Group, a private company.

LandDesign, Inc.
Pine Needles Plans $400 Million Village
Southern Pines Pilot, NC
Southern Pines officials Monday got their first look at the proposed Pine Needles Village, a huge development that could cost $400 million and include 1,100 homes.... LandDesign, a Southern Pines-based landscape architect, is working on a master plan for the project.

Gary Gullatte, ASLA
Plan's details presented
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, GA 
The concept for a library outdoor learning park will be sent to the school board as another option to develop public land around the new Columbus Public Library, the Muscogee County Library Board agreed Thursday.... The 16-1 board vote came after a visual presentation by landscape architect of Gullatte Associates Inc., Phenix City, on what such a park might include. Gullatte gave each board member a copy of a color brochure his company prepared outlining possible uses of the property as a "library park." Library board member Bobby Ledford cast the no vote.

Mike Sosadeeter, ASLA
Fort Hamer boat dock to be renovated soon
Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, FL)
Fort Hamer Park won't be receiving a full makeover this year, but its boat dock will. Mike Sosadeeter, parks landscape architect for Manatee County who said a little over 14 months ago that he thought any upgrades to Fort Hamer Park would be known within a year, said Wednesday the park won't be upgraded this year.

Pamela Linn, ASLA
Sports briefs: Moor downs sets grand reopening of clubhouse
Waukesha Freeman (Waukesha, WI)
The grand reopening of the Moor Downs Golf Course clubhouse will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday.... The nine-hole course, run by the Waukesha County Park System, is offering golfers a chance to play a round for 50 cents Wednesday. Door prizes will be awarded during the reopening ceremony.... We're up to date and up to code," senior landscape architect and project manager Pam Linn told The Freeman last month.

Robert Mowat, ASLA
Flight 93 memorial taking shape in Union City
Inside Bay Area (San Francisco, CA)
Thanks to a little union grit and city largess, construction is under way on the memorial to passengers of United Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001.
Union workers have donated about 300 hours to dig an iron-reinforced trench and lay its foundation at Sugar Mill Landing Park, at Dyer Street and Alvarado-Niles Road, across from Union Landing....With Emerson securing donated land, labor and materials, as well as Robert Mowat, an established landscape architect to act as project manager, city leaders decided not to require a hefty deposit from Emerson to safeguard against unforeseen problems.

Nolan, Walmsley & Associates
Business briefs Carpinterian-designed gardens featured in magazine
Coastal View News (Carpinteria, CA)
The firm of Carpinteria landscape architect Leland Walmsley recently completed a series of gardens on a three-acre Ojai estate that has been featured in a national magazine. “The Privacy Fantasy,” in the August issue of House Beautiful hit newsstands this week and details Walmsley’s work with the guest house’s veggie and herb garden. Walmsley, a member of the Carpinteria Tree Advisory Board, works with Nolan, Walmsley & Associates. For more information, visit NWAlandscape.com or call 684-1718.

Debra Schiel-Larson, ASLA
Grants to beautify city, keep residents safe
DesMoinesRegister.com (Des Moines, IA)
City grants are supporting a series of Johnston neighborhood projects to beautify areas or make them safer.... The grant money has helped pay for such varied projects as planting wildflowers in drainage ditches, planting an outdoor classroom and providing electrical outlets for decorative lighting. Currently, residents are sprucing up the entrance for Eagle Crest Drive off Northwest Beaver Avenue. Other volunteers have placed house numbers in more visible areas on townhomes at Bent Tree Villas.... Deb Schiel-Larson, a planner and landscape architect with the city of Johnston, said more people are now applying for the grants. The city began offering the grants three years ago

Laurie Olin, FASLA
Independence security fence sparks ire
Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA)
The National Park Service's plan to erect a 7-foot iron barrier is drawing bipartisan complaints from local elected officials. Plans by the National Park Service to cleave Independence Square in half with a seven-foot-high iron security fence, which have been moving quietly forward over the last few months, have come under stinging bipartisan criticism from Sen. Arlen Specter and U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah.... Ann Meredith, president of a coalition of local businesses and residents, said her group strongly opposes the park's fence plan and has offered an alternative developed by architect Laurie Olin, who created the park's master plan.

PJA Architects
Laurie Olin, FASLA
Brooklynites battle Bruce Ratner’s plans to change their ...
New York Press (New York, NY)
At sunset, at most intersections in this part of Brooklyn, it is actually possible to see the sun set. The only high-rise building is the 34-story Williamsburg Savings and Bank Tower, an unobtrusive part of the view of swirling orange, yellow and blue at the end of the day. The area near the Vanderbilt Yards offers one of the most striking vistas. Many of the area’s residents are hoping to keep it that way.... “One of the things we find unbelievable is the statement that the neighborhood will not be changed by this development,” says Sue Wolfe, President of the Boerum Hill Association and a resident of Boerum Hill since 1975. “It’s an absolutely absurd statement. If you put 16 skyscrapers among three brownstone neighborhoods and an arena, you cannot say the neighborhood will not change.” She adds, “Frank Gehry and Laurie Olin are not urban planners,” referring to the two leading architects on the Ratner plan. “It’s too big a space to not have a professional urban planner on the team.” 

Moss Gilday Group
Give 'em shelter
Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ)
About 200 cats and 100 dogs are at the Eatontown Monmouth County SPCA right now, waiting for a home. More animals arrive daily.... The animals are cleaned, fed and cared for, but the shelter — which does not euthanize adoptable animals — wasn't built to house that many pets, shelter staffers say. A larger, modernized shelter would improve animals' living conditions, reduce their stress and increase their chances of adoption, they say.... The project is the result of much research, Goetz says, including visits by the SPCA's building committee to other shelters. Involved are KGD Architects in Red Bank, landscape architects Moss Gilday Group of Little Silver and Nelson Engineering in Ocean Township.

PJA Architects + Landscape Architects
Five int'l consultants short-listed for Saigon Safari Park
VietNamNet Bridge (Trieu Viet Vuong, Hanoi, Vietnam)
The selection of an international consultant for mapping out the first safari park in Vietnam is drawing to a close as five foreign consulting firms have been short-listed, said the project owner.
Le Toan, deputy director of the HCMC Service of Communications and Public Works as the project management unit, told the Daily on Tuesday that his service expected the chosen foreign consultant would help make the large-scale park more feasible and attractive to foreign investors.... The five short-listed candidates are the consortium of TJ Engineering Consultants Inc. and PJA Architects + Landscape Architects, German's Rasbach Architekten, France's Imaginvest, Singapore's Bernard Harrison & Friends Ltd., and the consortium between the Portico Group of US and HKS Designer & Consultant International Ltd. of Thailand.

Nathan Perkins, ASLA
Turfing the turf
Waterloo Record (Waterloo, Canada)
Lloyd Hauser used to be the sort to gaze proudly over his lush green grass in a neighbourhood filled with immaculate front lawns. That was until grubs took over his property in the Pioneer Park area of south Kitchener.... Undeterred, Hauser and a neighbour ripped out the grass, laid sod and paid for a sprinkler system to keep it green.... People are slowly coming around to the idea that grass isn't the only option for a front lawn, says Nathan Perkins, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Guelph who studies lawn alternatives.

The Beals Alliance
Big or small
Tracy Press, CA (Tracy, CA)
A swath of more than 40 soccer, football, baseball and softball fields would stretch from the junction of the Southern Pacific Railroad and Delta-Mendota Canal north to Schulte Road in less than three years if the city signs a $20 million homebuilding deal with AKT Development and Souza Realty.... Landscape architects Beals Alliance, which was contracted to plan the fields, recommended Thursday that the city build them in four phases.

DMW
Business Briefs
Hagerstown Morning Herald (Hagerstown, MD)
Daft-McCune-Walker Inc. has opened a new office in Frederick.... The company intends to use the office as a springboard for expanding its presence in Maryland and West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, according to a release from the company.... DMW is a 90-person firm of land planners, landscape architects, engineers, surveyors and environmental professionals.
The office will be under the direction of Jerry Muir, vice president and general manager.

Claude Cormier, International ASLA
Janet Rosenberg, ASLA
Canada's new bloom town
Globe and Mail (Montreal, Canada)
If you thought of Montreal as a sophisticated, slightly down-at-the-heels but dashingly European kind of city, add another element: floriferousness (a fancy way of saying it's home to a lot of blooms). After what seems like years of stasis, the city is perking itself up in the most extraordinary way: With the Montreal International Flora 2006.... From Janet Rosenberg and Glenn Hermann's wild Sfumato, to Jack Merlo's amazing retro outdoor dining room called Cocoon (which I'd take over in a heartbeat if I could), to the splashing elegance of Patrick Lefebvre's J=M(H20), to the traditional sacred place by Stephen Douglas Aikenhead and Peter Owen, every single garden had something to recommend it.... And do not let it be said that landscape architects lack humour: From Claude Cormier's brilliant blue stick garden to I Spy (with mannequins in various states of undress, including in a bubble bath) by Williams, Asselin, Ackaoui et Assoc, there is a joie de vivre you'd expect in Quebec. Few of the gardens are so deadly that you sigh and turn away, wishing to ignore them.

Mayor Richard Daley, Honorary ASLA
CHICAGO GREEN ROOF PROGRAM
Inhabitat Blog
The birthplace of the skyscraper has something new to be proud of: the green roof. Chicago is home to over 200 green roofs, covering 2.5 million square feet, more than any other U.S. city. They sit atop Mayor Daley’s City Hall, Target, the Apple store, and a McDonalds. But they’re not just for large institutions anymore. Thanks to the City of Chicago’s Green Roof Grant Program, they’re literally sprouting up everywhere.

ASLA Greenroof
Outdoor Illumination, Inc.
Mark Oxley, Affiliate ASLA
Nancy Somerville, Executive Vice President, ASLA
Outdoor Illumination Selected for ASLA Green Roof Project; Green ...
U.S. Newswire Washington, DC 
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has selected Outdoor Illumination, Inc. to design the outdoor lighting for its green roof in downtown Washington, D.C...." Outdoor Illumination was selected to help create an enjoyable environment for nighttime use of our green roof. As an ASLA member and a leader in the landscape lighting field, Outdoor Illumination has been generous in sharing their experience and technical expertise with our design and construction team," said Nancy Somerville, executive vice president and CEO of ASLA...." We were thrilled to have played a role in the green roof at ASLA. Our design was intended to create an 'outdoor room' at night, employing indirect lighting via efficient halogen lamps. Aimed at creating comfort and safety for associates and guests, the perimeters were to be defined and the initial walk out was gently illuminated," said Mark Oxley, president of Outdoor Illumination, Inc.

Planning Solutions, Inc.
Daniel George, ASLA
A New Workplace, By Design
The Columbian (Clark County, WA)
Downtown Vancouver seemed desolate in 1993 when Dan George opened a two-man office in the city's urban core.... " You could have rolled a bowling ball down the middle of the street," said George, founder and principal of Planning Solutions Inc., a land-use planning and landscape architectural firm.

Malcolm Cairns, FASLA
Ball State University to Sponsor Building at State Fair
Inside Indiana Business (Indianapolis, IN)
Ball State University will have a much larger presence than in past years at the 150th Indiana State Fair Aug. 9-20.... The university is once again sponsoring the Ball State Backyard, in association with the Landscape Architecture Department. This year, however, the university also will sponsor its own building....  "Seeing the university get more and more involved and watching the wonderful space come to fruition each year has been an enjoyable experience," said Malcolm Cairns, backyard coordinator. "It's a great venue to showcase Ball State and the amazing opportunities available for our students."

EKISTICS Town Planning, Inc.
Essential Innovations Signs Letter of Commitment for China Joint ...
Business Wire (Bellingham, WA)
Essential Innovations Technology Corp. (OTCBB: ESIV) has been selected as the exclusive provider of Geoexchange technology design, engineering and equipment supply to the CIPEA (China International Practical Exhibition of Architecture) Project, in Nanjing, China. The Company recently signed a letter of commitment to form two joint-venture companies in China to direct the CIPEA Project...." Working together with our Chinese partner, as well as Ekistics Town Planning, allows us to further the use of Geoexchange in the Chinese marketplace," said Jason McDiarmid, President and CEO of Essential Innovations.

Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering, Inc.
Gove Associates, Inc.
Gove Associates to Merge With Michigan Firm
Inside INdiana Business
Gove Associates Inc., with offices in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, is merging with Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering Inc. in Grand Rapids to expand its engineering and construction management services in Indiana.

Sarah Schrock, Student ASLA
Caring for a wounded waterway
Salem Statesman Journal (Salem, OR) 
Every day, saltwater floods the marsh surrounding Highway 101 just south of the popular Cascade Head hiking trail.... It is a natural process in a place that looks like it has been a tidal marsh for centuries. The grasses grow higher than humans here, the air is salty and fresh and fish feed and hide from predators.... But this area isn't as pristine as it first seems. used to be a pasture for cows -- cut off with dikes and dams from the flow of ocean water up the Salmon River....Remnants of the past are hidden between the clumps of grasses....A team of graduate students has spent the past several weeks exploring the history of the Salmon River estuary, an area where seawater and freshwater mix....Sarah Schrock, a landscape architecture graduate student at the University of Oregon, studied options for Pixie Land, a former amusement park.

James L. Wescoat, Jr.
School district, UI collaborate on idea for new Champaign school
Urbana/Champaign News-Gazette (Champaign, IL) 
Take a school district under federal mandate to eliminate racial disparities in educational achievement and put more seats in the north part of Champaign.
Add a world-class university with experts in education, architecture, social work, and library and information science.... Mix with creative community leaders who think big.... What you get is a proposal for an innovative new school that incorporates the best teaching methods and the expertise at the University of Illinois to help students from all backgrounds do well.... The task force was looking for ways to link classroom work to community projects, said its chairman, Jim Wescoat, head of the Department of Landscape Architecture. The task force is providing a $10,000 grant, from the chancellor's office, for expenses.

Robert L. Bucci, ASLA
FORMA
FORMA Promotes Four to Associate Director Positions
TransWorldNews
FORMA today announced that Robert (Bob) Bucci, Joe King, Michael Savage and Michael Taylor have been promoted to associate directorships. As associate directors, each is responsible for overseeing their respective department operations as well as the activities of their team members who contribute to the company's horizontally structured network of project teams.... "We are looking to each of these individuals to lead their business units with vision and aesthetic balance in all things," said Van Stephens, principal of FORMA. "Each has demonstrated his ability to excel through drive and talent. FORMA is proud to have such an outstanding team directing its activities."

Sergeant Lucas Murray, ASLA
Amid rubble, he gave Iraqi children a place to play
Boston Globe (Boston, MA) 
The constant weapons raids and roadside bomb explosions began to weigh on the mind of Sergeant Lucas Murray during his year in Iraq. Watching local children play soccer, with artillery shells marking the goals, made the Boston parks architect think he could make a lasting contribution to the community simply by doing what he did for a living back home.  He built a playground.

Jennifer Jones, Student ASLA
Attorney general keynoter for police memorial
Tucson Citizen (Tucson, AZ) 
U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is to be the keynote speaker here Tuesday when Tucson police dedicate a memorial plaza that was under construction for five months at police headquarters.... The memorial plaza honors Tucson officers who have been killed in the line of duty. Seven Tucson officers have been killed since 1892. The department was formed in 1871.... It also features a $70,000 bronze sculpture by Tucson artist Judith Stewart, with plaza landscaping designed by Jennifer Jones, a University of Arizona landscape architecture student, Hovden said.

Florida chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects
Levitt Corporation Reports Financial Results For The Second...
International News Service, Australia 
Levitt Corporation (NYSE:LEV) today announced financial results for the second quarter 2006. For the three-month period ending June 30, 2006, Levitt Corporation (the "Company") had a net loss of $0.7 million, or a diluted loss per share of ($0.04), compared to net income of $6.1 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, reported in the second quarter 2005. The 2006 results include impairment charges associated with our Tennessee operations (discussed in detail later in this release), which reduced net income for the second quarter 2006 by $3.8 million, or $0.19 per diluted share. Year-to-date, the Company reported a net loss of $1.4 million, or a diluted loss per share of ($0.07), compared to net income of $35.9 million, or $1.79 per diluted share, for the first six months of 2005...." Core Communities received an Award of Excellence for its 2006 Residential Landscape and Site Design Guidelines for our 8,200-acre master planned community, Tradition(TM) Florida at this year's Florida chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (FLASLA) Annual Conference and Expo. The award is the highest recognition possible in the Research and Communication category.

Dufresne-Henry, Inc.
Stantec
Stantec Announces Strong Results for the Second Quarter
Market Wire
STANTEC INC. (TSX: STN) (NYSE: SXC): Gross revenue increased 39.1% to C$208.8 million compared to C$150.2 million in the second quarter of 2005.... Stantec announced the acquisition of Dufresne-Henry in April, adding about 270 employees to the US East region, primarily in New England. Stantec also acquired Oakland, California based ACEx Technologies, a 25-person firm specializing in transit, rail, and power communications, and control systems engineering.

Schmidt Associates
Condos continue their Mass appeal
Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN)
Mass Ave. has long been a powerful draw for boutique shoppers, fans of the performing arts and people seeking trendy dining, but lately the allure and size of the street's residential developments have been getting a lot bigger.... The building will be designed by Schmidt Associates and developed by Halakar Properties and Pillar Investments LLC. Contractor Keystone Construction should break ground by March at the latest, and tenants could start moving in by early 2008.

MKW & Associates
John P. Williams
Metro/Grand plan set to start
New York Daily News (New York, NY) 
A long-delayed plan to improve commercial strips on both Metropolitan and Grand Aves. is expected to begin early this fall.... Grand Ave. will get new trees, trash cans and planters, along with decorative clocks at Garlinger Memorial Triangle at 72nd Place and 57th Ave. and at the triangle at Flushing and Grand Aves. and 64th St., according to John Williams of the landscape architecture firm MKW and Associates.

Du Toit Allsopp Hillier
Torontonians handed "Quay to the City" for 10 days Archiseek 
Torontonians handed "Quay to the City" for 10 days in August as ... CNW Telbec (Communiqués de presse)
The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation (TWRC) today laid out the welcome mat for a 10-day event in August that showcases a vibrant new design for transforming Toronto's waterfront. The event, called Quay to the City: Summer '06, runs over two weekends from August 11-20, and features activities intended to immerse Torontonians in the winning design that affords everyone a taste of Ontario's popular cottage life without leaving the city....The temporary installation is part of a permanent design that will transform Queens Quay by providing continuous public access along the water's edge and extending the Martin Goodman Trail. The design was the unanimous winner of a juried competition won in June by a team led by West 8 urban design & landscape architecture, which includes Toronto-based firm du Toit Allsopp Hillier.

Peter Walker, ASLA
Dickens' great expectations despite hard times for Alba
Scotsman (United Kingdom)
PAUL Dickens is smiling again, albeit rather tentatively. But just a few months back he was at the door of despair.... The collapse of the Peter Walker construction group in April was threatening his multi-million pound flagship Edinburgh property project. Even before the failure, problems with unpaid sub-contractors linked to Walker were creating difficulties.

Scott Murakami, ASLA
PBR Hawaii
NAMES & FACES
Maui News (Maui, HI) 
PBR Hawaii has promoted landscape architect SCOTT MURAKAMI from landscape designer to associate. Among his projects have been planning at Maui Lani and in Makena.

David Brown, ASLA
Career Moves
News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) 
David Brown joined JDavis Architects in Raleigh as a landscape architect.

NiteLites
The Outdoor Lighting Professionals, NiteLites Franchise of Dayton ...
PR Web
NiteLites the landscape lighting professionals of Dayton and Cincinnati owner operators, Jim and Tracey Landsiedel are pleased to announce their participation in this year’s Homearama in Country Estates community of Cypress Ridge Clearcreek Township.