Landscape Architecture in the News

Ken Helphand, FASLA
Hope Grows in Improbable Gardens
The Providence Journal (Providence, RI)
Like many big ideas, Ken Helphand’s started small, with a black-and-white photograph: an image of French soldiers in World War I standing in front of a tiny vegetable garden in their dugout headquarters somewhere along the Western Front. Helphand, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Oregon in Eugene, has always been fascinated by the creative spirit that inspires and inhabits gardens…Then it came to him. He named them “defiant gardens,” places created in extreme and difficult conditions that also assert and affirm that, yes, despite everything, life and dignity exist here. “They’re the lost Edens in the middle of hell,” says Helphand, who turned his idea into a book that is both dispiriting and regenerative: Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime.

DeLorenzo Inc.
Site Design Group Inc.
Michael McIntyre, ASLA
Nick DeLorenzo
Skaters Guide Design of New Park
The Coast News (Encinitas, CA)
The Carmel Valley Skatepark has taken its first major step toward becoming a reality, after a special meeting was held at the Carmel Valley Library on January 24 to discuss the design of the new facility. More than a dozen skateboarders from the local area were a critical part of the process. City and community representatives, as well as architects from two different firms, were also on hand to share ideas with their eager young constituents…. The city of San Diego hired DeLorenzo Inc., a San Diego-based landscape architecture and land development firm, as the primary contractor. DeLorenzo Inc. then hired Site Design Group Inc., a nationwide skatepark design firm based in Oceanside, to handle the intricacies of designing the park itself. Site Design Group Inc. is led by Michael McIntyre, a registered landscape architect and internationally known skatepark designer. “Hopefully we can get a consensus among the community, and once we figure it out and put the puzzle pieces together, we’ll go into further blueprints and design specifics,” said Nick DeLorenzo of DeLorenzo Inc.

Joseph A. Sexton III, ASLA
Joseph A. Sexton III, Our Assistant Superintendent, Shade Tree and Parks Commission
The Paramus Post (Paramus, NJ)
Coordinating schedules to interview the assistant superintendent of the Shade Tree and Parks Commission proved more difficult than anticipated…. It seems strange that this task was assigned to a man who has devoted years of education to attain a license as a Certified Landscape Architect (CLA). But then again, there isn’t too much landscaping to do when it is winter and snowing…. At that time there were only 21 universities that offered programs accredited by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). He took a five-year course at the University of Georgia, graduated with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, became a member of ASLA, and started in this field in North Jersey.

Louisiana Chapter
Patrick Moore, FASLA
GlobalOptions Group Receives Award in Recognition of Louisiana Recovery Effort
Business Wire
GlobalOptions Group Inc., a leading provider of domestic and international risk management services, today announced that its disaster and crisis management unit, James Lee Witt Associates (JLWA), has been honored with a Merit Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Louisiana Chapter. The award was in recognition for an online planning tool—the ESF #14 Long-Term Community Recovery Planning Tool developed by JLWA along with Moore Planning Group, Sides & Associates, and ATCS PLC on behalf of FEMA and the state of Louisiana’s Recovery Authority Partnership. “With the assistance of James Lee Witt Associates, Louisiana and the entire Gulf Coast are better equipped to meet the challenges of rebuilding after the devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” said Patrick Moore, managing principal of Moore Planning Group and Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

TBG Partners
ASLA
Jobs: Landscape Photographer: Capturing the Right Setting
San Antonio Express (San Antonio, TX)
Lisa Lennon has to resolve a design problem in one of her photos. Her client, a San Antonio landscape company, has asked her to insert more flowers into the digital picture. The company plans to plaster its vehicle fleet with the image and wants lots of color…. Landscapers, developers, architects, lighting and wrought-iron manufacturers, stonemasons, and engineers contract with landscape photographers to capture their products in the best light for marketing materials and website displays…. Lennon wound up with TBG Partners three years ago after responding to a job posting with the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Mary Palmer Dargan, ASLA
Lauren Rogers Museum to Host Garden Lecturer
Hattiesburg American (Hattiesburg, MS)
The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art will present "A Garden Lecture" by Mary Palmer Dargan, ASLA member, at 10:30 am February 2. The lecture will be held in the museum's American Gallery and will be followed by a book signing of Dargan's Timeless Landscape Design: The Four-Part Master Plan in the museum shop. Following the lecture and book signing, lunch will be served at the Rogers–Green House.

ASLA
January 31, 2007—United States QuakeWrap Launches Free Online FRP Course
JEC Composites 
QuakeWrap has launched its first free online course aimed at the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. The course, “Using Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRP) to Repair and Strengthen Structures,” allows professionals to gain knowledge and earn continuing education credits. AEC Daily is registered with the American Society of Landscape Architects as a provider of continuing professional education programs for landscape architects.

Robert Reich, FASLA
LSU’s School of Landscape Architecture
Elizabeth Mossop, ASLA
'Doc' Led School to Top Ranking in 65 Years of Service
The Daily Reveille (Louisiana State University)
What began as a single class taught by Robert "Doc" Reich in 1941 has developed into a complete curriculum with the top-ranked undergraduate program in the nation. A recent study by industry magazine DesignIntelligence named the School of Landscape Architecture's undergraduate program as the one that produces graduates "best prepared for real-world practice." "The school has historically been very strong in design and the emphasis on the use of plants," said Elizabeth Mossop, current director of the school. In 1960 the program was accredited by the American Society of Landscape Architects, and four years later it became an independent department in the College of Agriculture.

Robert Z. Melnick, FASLA
Former Dean Selected as Interim Director for Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
UO News (University of Oregon)
Robert Z. Melnick, a strong supporter of visual arts and former dean of the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts, has been chosen as interim executive director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art while a national search is conducted for a permanent director.  Melnick is an internationally recognized expert in the evaluation and preservation of both cultural and historic landscapes. He joined the University of Oregon faculty in 1982. He was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1993.

Ken Saiki, ASLA
Ken Saiki Design
Two-Way Traffic on the Table
Monroe Times (Monroe, WI)
Even if you're a lifelong Monroe resident, familiar with all the town's quirks—including which streets are one way and which ones are two—giving driving directions to downtown establishments isn't easy. The discussion about streetscapes began even before Monroe Main Street was created, when the Business Improvement District developed a relationship with Ken Saiki of Ken Saiki Design, a Madison-based landscape architect, to "self-assess what assets they see in their downtown and what areas need to be addressed," Matt Urban, executive director of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said

Charles Anderson, FASLA
Sculpture Park Ground Cover
Seattle Times (Seattle)
Q: Can you tell me what the tiny ground cover is all over the new Olympic Sculpture Park? It has little round leaves and looks almost like basil and like it was sprayed on. I just can't imagine what it could be. Other people were wondering about it, too, at the park's opening celebration.
A: According to landscape architect Charles Anderson, the mystery plant you describe is probably a native aster or possibly pearly everlasting.

Merrie Carlock, ASLA
State Grant to Build Reserve
Detroit Free Press (Detroit)
In a city known better for its high-rises and parking decks, nature is about to gain some ground.
With a $500,000 land development grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Southfield plans to build a nature center in the Carpenter Lake Nature Preserve at 10 Mile and Inkster roads. The nature center, which likely will be built by 2010, will overlook the five-acre lake, which won't be open for swimming, said Merrie Carlock, the city's landscape architect/park planner. The center will have exhibits and classrooms with a focus on educating children about the environment.

Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
9/11 Crash Site in Pennsylvania Contains Humble Gifts; an Act of Congress ...
Belleville News-Democrat (Belleville, PA)
If you head west on Interstate 76 for 200 miles from Philadelphia and then take Route 30 for 20 miles, you'll come to the biggest little town in America: Shanksville, Pennsylvania, population 245. Like another small Pennsylvania town to its southeast, Shanksville became a national landmark quite unexpectedly. A memorial advisory commission was created, and in 2004, its members held a design competition, receiving 1,011 entries. On September 7, 2005, the commission chose the design from Paul Murdoch Architects and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects.

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
Hargreaves Associates
Stoss Landscape Urbanism
We're Attracting the Best
Toronto Star (Toronto, Canada)
Toronto is fast becoming a meeting ground for some of the best landscape architects in the world: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, New York, with acclaimed Toronto planner Ken Greenberg. MVVA is already familiar with Toronto's waterfront through its work at Don River Park, now under construction…Hargreaves Associates, whose San Francisco project, Crissy Field, transformed a military airstrip into a waterfront park. Their local Toronto partner is the Hough Group. Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Cambridge, Massachusetts, with Brown & Storey, the small Toronto architectural practice best known for Yonge–Dundas Square.

Bob Callans, FASLA
Bob Callans & Associates Landscape Architects
Meeting on Park Set
Fort Smith Times Record (Fort Smith, AR)
A public meeting regarding plans for Greenwood’s Strozier Park will be 5 to 7 pm Thursday, February 15 at Greenwood City Hall, 30 Bell Road. Planning Director Steve Tedford said Strozier is a small park around the boat ramp at Greenwood Lake. Architect Bob Callans of Little Rock-based Bob Callans & Associates Landscape Architects will be there with concept drawings and will be seeking public input, he said.

SUNY ESF Landscape Architecture Faculty
George W. Curry, FASLA
SUNY-ESF’s Landscape Architecture Program Receives National Ranking
SUNY-ESF Headlines (SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry)
The Faculty of Landscape Architecture at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) has, for the second year in a row, been ranked among the nation’s top programs in that discipline… The study ranks programs accredited by the Landscape Architecture Review Board, based on the participation of leading landscape architecture firms and public practitioners. DesignIntelligence also named ESF’s George W. Curry, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and the William Kennedy Munsley Distinguished Faculty Chair, a 2007 Landscape Architecture Educator of the Year.

David McCullough, ASLA
McCullough Landscape Architecture
Small Business Spotlight—McCullough Landscape Architecture
San Diego Business Journal (San Diego)
Even before they became parents, Catherine and David McCullough knew they wanted careers that would allow them ample family time. To turn the dream that so many seek, but sadly, few accomplish into a reality, the couple drew on Catherine’s experience as a marketing professional and David’s passion for design. The two founded McCullough Landscape Architecture in 1999…McCullough handles residential and commercial projects. Improving the business’s reputation within retail and hospitality industries is something the couple is aiming for this year.

Mario Nievera, ASLA
Wilesmith Collects Design Firm Honors
Palm Beach Daily News (Palm Beach, FL)
Palm Beach was well represented at the Design Center of the Americas' Stars of Design 2007 awards ceremony January 24 in Fort Lauderdale. Winners included island residents and those with Palm Beach clients. Other recipients were William R. Eubanks, interior design; Dan Forer, photography; Jeffrey Smith, architecture; Jason Hagopain, urban design; Romero Britto, art; Laura Munder, product design; Dee Robinson, yacht design; Mario Nievera, landscape design; and interior designer Mario Buatta, Lifetime Achievement Award.

Witold Rybczynski, Honorary ASLA
Laurie Olin, FASLA
Penn Profs Explore Gilded Age Estate
Research at Penn (University of Pennsylvania)
It seems like a natural: Two Penn professors—an award-winning architecture critic and a renowned landscape architect—teaming up to write a book together. It came about purely by chance, though, that Witold Rybczynski, the Martin & Margy Meyerson professor of urbanism and professor of real estate (pictured at right, with book), and Laurie Olin , practice professor of landscape architecture, came to work on Vizcaya: An American Villa and Its Makers.

Laurie Olin, FASLA
Frank Gehry to Break Ground in Brooklyn
BusinessWeek 
With the recently completed IAC/InterActiveCorp.’s headquarters, Frank Gehry has finally made a mark on New York City. Now he is about to make a bigger one with the Atlantic Yards, a $4 billion–plus Brooklyn development that is expected to contain more than 6,400 apartments, a new arena for the Nets basketball team, and several hundred thousand square feet of commercial space. Gehry will design every building on the 22-acre site.The remainder of the site], which includes eight acres of green space designed by Laurie Olin, would follow. Renderings released by developer Forest City Ratner show a mixture of upright structures, which Gehry refers to as background buildings, alternating with angled “signature” structures.

Lawrence Halprin Associates
A Clear Vision Is in Sight for the Trinity
Fort Worth Star Telegram (Fort Worth, TX)
The Most Holy Trinity, the name given to a Texas river more than 300 years ago by a Spanish explorer, is finally getting the reverence it deserves. In 1971, the Streams and Valleys Committee presented a plan by Lawrence Halprin Associates that was designed to get businesses and residents to begin facing the river instead of turning their backs on it. Parts of that proposal, including low-water dams, waterspouts, and the annual festival called Mayfest, were implemented very quickly.

Buck Abbey, ASLA
LSU Retrofits for Disabled
Landscape Online
Louisiana State University, home to our ordinance associate editor, Buck Abbey, ASLA, professor of landscape architecture, has an ongoing effort to improve handicap accessibility on campus as established by the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. “Unless you’re in a wheelchair, it’s really hard to know there’s a problem,” Dennis Mitchell, the campus landscape architect, told a student paper reporter. Construction began during the winter break, with about 40 ramps and curbs ripped up. Among the features will be putting brick with a bumpy surface at curb approaches as a tactile warning for the visually impaired.

Steve Martino, FASLA
Rise of the Phoenix Landscaper
Financial Times
Steve Martino's epiphany came as he was gazing at a vacant lot. He was working next door on a project for a landscaping company, installing a lush garden that would need a great deal of water and maintenance to survive in the hot, dry climate of Phoenix. The adjacent waste area, by contrast, had been colonized by native plants, all highly adapted to the conditions and thriving on neglect. Martino suddenly realizsed that he was more interested in this phenomenon than the job at hand.

EDAW Inc.
Close Landscape Architecture
St. Paul Names Team to Draft Ford Redevelopment Plan
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal (Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN)
Last week St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman announced the team of consultants it has hired to help create a redevelopment plan for the Ford Motor Co.'s Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. Paul. The team is led by EDAW Inc., a San Francisco-based planning, urban design, and architecture firm. A number of Twin Cities-based firms will assist EDAW, including Elness Swenson Graham Architects, Biko Associates Inc., Close Landscape Architecture, Meyer, Mohaddes Associates Inc., URS, and Dewar and Associates Inc.

Evan Stone, ASLA
Pickering, Corts
Council to Vote on Rental Inspections
Bucks County Courier Times (Levittown, PA)
The Bristol Borough Council will vote next week on whether to stretch the inspection of rental properties to every two years instead of annually. Each year for the past two years, the borough inspector has looked at each of the 1,600 rentals in the borough and, with follow-ups, has conducted a total of 6,000 inspections, Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe said. Evan Stone, director of landscape architecture for Pickering, Corts, told the council that his firm would also work out cost estimates in anticipation of applying for grants for the proposed new construction and the improvements to older sites.