James Corner, ASLA, Discusses Landscape Architecture at the National Building Museum

James Corner, ASLA, discusses depth of design during his "Spotlight On Design" lecture, part of ASLA's National Landscape Architecture Month festivities.

Earlier this month, James Corner, ASLA, held a “Spotlight on Design” lecture at the National Building Museum. His lecture was held in celebration of ASLA’s National Landscape Architecture Month. Corner and his firm, Field Operations, have made headlines with new, large-scale projects like the Fresh Kills Park on Staten Island in New York, The High Line elevated park in New York City, and other projects spanning the globe from Korea to Spain to Baltimore.

Corner’s lecture focused on what he sees as the “depth of design” of landscape architecture. He noted that while the public might think of landscape as just meadows and trees, in reality much more is going on beneath the surface. He is particularly interested in new technologies for pollution remediation and how public space bleeds into the rest of the cityscape.

Nancy Somerville, Executive Vice President and CEO of ASLA, introduces James Corner, ASLA, at the National Building Museum on April 3, 2007.

Corner also gave practical advice to would-be designers of large public spaces. Using the 2,200-acre Fresh Kills Park as an example, he warned that designers can often be entangled in “the thicket” of conflicting bureaucracies, interest groups, and governmental agencies. “I used to believe that designers made a plan and then that plan was built. I don’t believe that anymore,” he said wryly. He told designers to keep the goal of the project secure and to not lose sight of it through the sometimes laborious approval process.

Much of Corner’s lecture focused on Fresh Kills Park and on The High Line. The High Line, a 1.4-mile abandoned elevated rail line that snakes its way above the west side of Manhattan, is currently being converted into a park. During the design process, it was important for Corner to keep the “illicit, secret-garden” feeling of the original High Line as much as possible, even while providing safe access for tens of thousands of visitors every year. Corner also discussed Field Operations’ upcoming projects in Singapore, the Buson Civil Park in Korea, and a new riverfront project in Spain. With each of these new projects Corner hopes to create a permeable or edgeless perimeter to the parks and to not seal them off into a walled garden.

Visit the Field Operations website for more information on their work. The next NLAM event at the National Building Museum will be held on April 26 with a panel discussion on the restoration plan for Four Mile Run in Virginia. Panelists will be Elliot Rhodeside, FASLA, and Deana Rhodeside, PhD, principals of the Alexandria-based landscape architecture firm Rhodeside & Harwell Inc.; William "Bill" Hicks, PE, with the Northern Virginia Regional Commission; and Judy Guse-Noritake, AIA, LEED AP, a principal of Noritake Associates. Visit the National Building Museum’s site for more information.