Landscape Architecture in the News

Laurie Olin, FASLA
Of parks and plazas
OregonLive.com (Portland, OR)
This Wednesday, the Portland Parks & Recreation Bureau will unveil the first draft of the next entry in Portland's greatest architectural legacy… The new park is being designed by internationally noted landscape architect Laurie Olin, allying with a local team. And when it opens, it will take its place among the city's six other downtown fountain plazas that, from Lovejoy Fountain to the new Tanner Springs Park, make up one of America's most notable collections of urban landscape architecture… Recently, Olin spoke by phone from his Philadelphia office about downtown, the park and the prized history of Portland's plazas. 

Nancy C. Somerville
ASLA
Plant now, sell later
The Journal News.com (White Plains, NY)
Felice Talamo prepares for winter by dreaming of the colors that will follow the ice and snow….In the meantime, real estate agents concur, the best strategy for sellers is to make their properties as attractive as possible. Good landscaping can add 15 to 20 percent to the value of a house, according to estimates from Nancy C. Somerville, executive vice president of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Poor landscaping can cost a home seller as much as 10 percent, she added.

Ellin Goetz, FASLA
Majority approve continuing taxes to preserve land
Naples Daily News (Naples, FL)
An overwhelming majority of Collier County voters backed a measure Tuesday to keep taxing themselves to buy land for preservation.  Some 66,500 voters, or 82.5 percent, favored continuing the county’s Conservation Collier program until 2013… “People care about this community enough to recognize that this is a program that’s good for everybody,” said Ellin Goetz, chairwoman of the Keep Conservation Collier political action committee.

Ken Smith, ASLA
Architects change their view of the lowly roof
Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) 
Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, NH)
In a city famous for its views, the one from the observation tower of the year-old De Young Museum is among the best, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the distant Berkeley hills… In his design for the 1,300-acre Orange County Great Park, New York landscape architect Ken Smith included a giant helium balloon, painted bright orange, that will lift two dozen visitors at a time 500 feet into the air… Smith worked with similar themes in a design for a new rooftop garden at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. When the garden opened early last year, some were surprised to discover not only that it was composed entirely of synthetic materials, including plastic rocks and rubber mulch, but also that it was inaccessible to museum visitors and even staff.

Tom Oslund, FASLA
ASLA Annual Meeting
Little things make a big difference
Minneapolis Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
Move some dirt, build a 32-foot-high mound, plant 300 hand-picked trees, and voila! Minneapolis has a new park. The Gold Medal Park east of the Guthrie Theater seems to have appeared almost instantly… Minneapolis landscape architect David Motzenbecker, who is project manager for designer Tom Oslund, said the 7½-acre park will be mostly complete by Thanksgiving… Gordon Price, a former Vancouver city councilman who directs the City Program at Simon Fraser University, created a wave of Vancouver envy at the international convention in Minneapolis of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Martin Poirier, ASLA
Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects
Paging Ma Earth! Artwork for park is on line
San Diego Union Tribune (San Diego, CA)
The two collaborators came to the public meetings with the usual tools: a Power Point presentation, drawings and a written statement to convey their unusual ideas for an interactive, public art installation designed to energize a downtown San Diego park… Wang and Bertelsen were chosen from 22 California-based teams that applied for this commission. A panel that included art experts, an urban planner, an architect and Martin Poirier, the park's lead landscape architect, reviewed the entries. After interviewing three finalists, they selected Wang and Bertelsen in May… Guided by a 2004 geotechnical report, the artists and the park's lead designer, Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects, of San Diego, have a good idea of the fault's location.

Kenneth Helphand, FASLA
Landscape architect to discuss ‘Defiant Gardens’ book
Asheville Citizen-Times (Asheville, NC)
Why is it that in the midst of a war, one can still find gardens? Wartime gardens are examples of what landscape architect and author Kenneth Helphand calls “defiant gardens,” which he describes as “gardens created in extreme social, political, economic or cultural conditions.”  Helphand discusses this topic in his new book, “Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime.” He will give a free presentation Sunday at the N.C. Arboretum.

Kevin Robert Perry, ASLA
Nevue Ngan Associates
Sustainable Life briefs
Gresham Outlook (Portland, OR)
To help developers build projects that are nature-friendly, Metro is offering a series of seminars called “Green from the Ground Up.”…Speakers: Amber Clayton, Portland Bureau of Environmental Services Clean River Rewards program; Kevin Robert Perry, landscape architect, Nevue Ngan Associates.

Jennifer Richmond, ASLA
Genus Landscape Architects
Drake-area residents see plans for trees, signs
Des Moines Register (Des Moines, IA)
Drake Neighborhood residents got their first peek Thursday at street improvement plans proposed for the area around Drake University…"You have to know where you've been to know where you're going," said Jennifer Richmond of Genus Landscape Architects of Des Moines.  The plans are a joint effort of the city, the neighborhood association and the business association to find ways to better integrate the university with the neighborhood and surrounding areas.

Phil Lewis, FASLA
The Capital Times
The Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Dane County will cooperatively purchase 10 acres between Waunakee and the town of Westport in an effort to create safer bike routes and keep Six Mile Creek's waters clean…The 10-acre parcel will become part of Madison's larger "E-Way," a watershed preserve that is four times as large as New York's Central Park. The E-way was designed by Phil Lewis, an emeritus University of Wisconsin-Madison landscape architecture professor.  Lewis said of the new land purchase: "We ought to have some kind of a plan that protects all water systems. Without water, you have no life."

Scott J. Morgan, ASLA
Plush Toys to Film/Installations
Seattle Weekly (Seattle, WA)
Zeitgeist For his new paintings, Scott J. Morgan draws inspiration from music and a 25-year background as landscape architect. Reception: 6-8 p.m. 171 S. Jackson St. 206-583-0497, zeitgeistcoffee.com. 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Sat.-Sun. Ends Dec. 6.

Jens Jensen, ASLA
Judge OKs sale of Segal estate
Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
A federal judge has approved the $17.6 million sale of the historic Highland Park estate of convicted insurance executive Michael Segal in a deal that includes plans to rehabilitate the Prairie-style Tudor Revival mansion.  The agreement with a Lincolnshire developer preserves a coach house also designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw and grounds designed by famous landscape architect Jens Jensen.

Anne Spirn, FASLA
Images of environment focus of interdisciplinary conference
Stanford Report (Stanford University, CA)
On Nov. 8-10, the conference "Imaging Environment: Maps, Models and Metaphors" will bring together scholars from the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences to explore, on a global scale, questions that arise from differences in the ways that disciplines represent the environment… Visiting speakers will include…Anne Spirn, professor of landscape architecture and planning at MIT.

Design Workshop
Colorado chapter
Denver firm honored for golf-course design
Denver Post (Denver, CO)
Design Workshop, a Denver landscape-architecture and land-planning firm, has been honored by the Colorado chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects for its environmentally friendly golf- course design at the Glacier Club. The course, 18 miles north of Durango, was previously known as the Cliffs at Tamarron. Design Workshop was hired to redesign the existing 18-hole golf course and add a nine-hole course and a clubhouse - a $7.7 million project.

Laurie Olin, FASLA
Nothing to See Here
Philadelphia citypaper.net 
The floor-to-ceiling display of some 40 years of John Armleder's works on paper through the ICA's ground floor exhibition area is a singular, almost kinetic experience…On the second floor of the ICA, architect Peter Eisenman and landscape architect Laurie Olin present a contrast to Armleder's almost traditional works in Fertilizers. Angled wooden ramps are supported by a grove of I-beams, each decorated on its flat sides with photographs of tree bark. Climbing, shoeless, to the top, one person at a time looks through a small peephole. As with Duchamp's Etant Donnez, it's a compressed quest to view life itself.

Dennis Y. Otsuji, FASLA
ONA, Inc.
ASLA
ASLA President’s Medal
ABA Business Leadership Award Winner
San Diego Daily Transcript (San Diego, CA)
Dennis was selected to receive ABA’s Business Leadership Award because of his remarkable contributions to business and the community in San Diego… He has received awards for design excellence from numerous organizations including the American Society of Landscape Architects, California Land-scape Contractors Association and the Building Industry Association. He is also the recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architects President’s Medal for unparallel contributions to the profession of landscape architecture.

Cindy Sanders, ASLA
Olin Partnership
Field Operations
Beyer Blinder Belle and Planners
Firms explain College Ave. redesigns
RU Daily Targum (Rutgers University, NJ)
A miniature Stealth Bee tank dressed as a Scarlet Knight sped across the floor in the Rutgers Student Center last night…Predock, with partner Cindy Sanders, a principal in Olin Partnership and Rutgers Alumna, also excited the crowd when he talked about his idea for "Grease Trucks Plaza," an area dedicated solely to the Grease Trucks, solidifying their permanence at the University… Although not focusing on buildings, Eisenman's team, which also consisted of Field Operations as landscape architects, did call for a signature academic building, which is one of the contest's requirements… Another group, Beyer Blinder Belle and Planners, a landscape architectural firm, went a completely different route with focusing on much more than just College Avenue. Its design encompassed every campus at the University.

Mundus Bishop Design Inc.
Patrick Mundus, ASLA
On the move, October 31
Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
Mundus Bishop Design Inc., a Denver-based landscape architecture and planning firm, elected Patrick Mundus as vice president/president-elect of the Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Prairie Gateway Chapter
Region Issues Sustainability Challenge
Kansas City infoZine (Kansas City, MO)
A coalition of organizations in the region has created a competition to solicit innovative ideas from Kansas City area residents about how to make our metropolitan community more sustainable. In addition to the Mid-America Regional Council, the other sponsoring organizations are the Prairie Gateway Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Kansas City Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Kansas City Metro Chapter of The American Public Works Association, and the American Planning Association.

Mariani Landscape
ASLA
LEADERSHIP 2006 Frank Mariani
Lawn & Landscape 
The perfect garden. To some it shouts with showy blooms and bellowing brights, while others prefer tiny whispers coming from blushing blossoms that twinkle and sway in the sun and wind…Mariani Landscape has been recognized by the Professional Landcare Network, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association with numerous awards for the design, installation and maintenance of their landscape projects… Through his membership with the Associated Landscape Contractors of America – now the Professional Landcare Network – the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association, Mariani gathered a wealth of knowledge from his peers.

GreenWorks Landscape Architecture
Jason King, ASLA
Mayer/Reed
Business People
OregonLive.com (Oregon)
GreenWorks Landscape Architecture has hired Jason King as a senior landscape architect, Robin Craig as a senior landscape designer, and Tim Strand as a landscape designer… Mayer/Reed has added landscape architect Ivy Dunlap and landscape designer Ryan Carlson.

Michael Kittrell, Associate ASLA
Jill Statz, Associate ASLA
Craig Letson, Student ASLA
Executive items
Charleston Post Courier (Charleston, SC)
Michael Kittrell, Jill Statz, Heather Foley, Lisa Daye and Craig Letson have joined DesignWorks LC of Charleston…Kittrell holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Georgia and a master's degree in landscape architecture from the University of Texas. Previously, he was a counselor and a quality assurance specialist for an online recruiting firm.  Statz holds bachelor's degrees in landscape architecture and horticulture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison…Letson holds a bachelor's degree in environmental design and a master's degree in landscape architecture from Auburn University