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5/2/2023Leave a Comment
Image of Torey Carter-Conneen and Kate Orff, FASLA, by ASLA
By Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO ASLA
Thank you all for your wonderful contributions to a successful World Landscape Architecture Month! I was on the road for most of April and joined many of your WLAM festivities first-hand. In the last half of the month I was on both coasts–New York City and Southern California.
Most recently I celebrated Earth Day with the Southern California Chapter for their 2023 Climate Action Symposium. In back-to-back presentations ASLA’s vision for the profession kicked off the day. I shared with the group ASLA’s Strategic Plan and 2030 vision. And Mia Lehrer,FASLA, who served on the Climate Action Plan Advisory Group presented the ASLA Climate Action Plan. I want to pause here and congratulate Mia and Studio-MLA on being named to Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023. I had the great honor of joining her at the Fast Company event in Manhattan a couple weeks ago. I also visited Studio-MLA, which is a stunning space that’s both indoors and outdoors at the same time–what a wonderful workspace. I talked with Mia and her team about their work on Puente Hills Park, which was once a landfill and is now a rehabilitated community space.
The Climate Action Symposium agenda was packed with innovative speakers from private practice, academia, and public service and we were joined by Mayor James T. Butts of Inglewood.
Magic Johnson Park Sign Image by ASLA Southern California Chapter
Evan Mather, FASLA, Principal at MIG and past President of the SoCal ASLA Chapter, gave us a tour of the redesigned Magic Johnson Park which includes two rehabilitated seven-acre lakes that capture stormwater runoff and protect nearby Compton Creek, native plants to support biodiversity, and a new community center and gathering spaces. I saw first hand how much the neighborhood, which is primarily a working class BIPOC community, relies on this green space for their daily exercise and access to nature.
Torey Carter-Conneen and David Watts with Cal Poly SLA students, by ASLA Southern California Chapter.Back on the East coast I spent several days in NYC where I met with many firm principals about the ASLA Fund’s programs–primarily our career discovery program.
- I met with Kate Orff, FASLA, who I’m sure you’ve all seen was named one of the Time 100 Most Influential People in 2023. Congrats Kate! I talked with Kate about ASLA’s Career Discovery program and I learned that her firm hosts an externship for high school students every year. We talked about ways to expand that to other firms or work it into part of ASLA’s program.
- Similarly I met with Kimberly Tryba, ASLA, MLA,MFA and Managing Partner at Martha Schwartz Partners and had a great conversation about career discovery and how we can maximize opportunity for early career professionals.
- I got a studio tour from Lisa Tziona Switkin, RLA, ASLA, FAAR Senior Principal at James Corner Field Operations and spoke with James as well who commented that he liked the direction ASLA is going.
- I also visited with Ken Smith,FASLA and Principal at his workshop where we discussed his firm’s leadership on the Croton Water Filtration Plant project located in the historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. This is a dual use site that protects the water supply and also provides native habitat along riparian woodlands and wetlands. The site incorporates a green roof and an 11 acre driving range.
Thanks to Adrian Smith, FASLA and Vice President of Professional Practice for the invitation to speak with the entire team at the NYC Parks Department where there are more than 100 landscape architects working to innovate green spaces throughout the five boroughs. We were joined by Parks Department leadership Nancy Prince, FASLA, Chief of Landscape Architecture, Mark A. Focht, PLA FASLA, Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, and Therese Braddick, Deputy Commissioner of Capital Projects. I traveled out to the Olmsted Center, NYC Parks' design and construction offices in Queens, and presented the Climate Action Plan. The NYC Parks team is grouped according to the boroughs they work in so I learned about the priority projects in each borough which was fascinating. Adrian and his team are working on some great new resilient playgrounds and they’re putting the finishing touches on Freshkills North Park, the former landfill site, which is scheduled to open this spring.
Carl Carlson, ASLA and current President of ASLA-NY and Trustee Jennifer Nitzky, FASLA, hosted a great happy hour to close out my trip. It was wonderful to spend time with so many active chapter members.
If you are in DC on May 31 I’ll be a moderator for The Economist Sustainability Week Panel: Greening the built environment—how can the buildings and construction sector decarbonise? Would love to see you there.
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