Who Do You Admire?

March 30, 2017
Peninsula Residence, Hillsborough, CA, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture, 2011 Professional ASLA Honor Award, Residential Design Category / image: Marion Brenner

When we asked ASLA's Professional Practice Network (PPN) members whose work (an individual landscape architect or a firm) they most admire in a 2015 survey, one response basically sums up the results: “too many to list.” Another member emphasized how their answer is constantly changing: “Today...Andrea Cochran...tomorrow MVVA...depends what I'm working on and how I feel!” Clearly, there are many landscape architects out there doing exceptional work, and highlighted below are both some familiar names and hopefully a few new ones to check out when you need a new source of inspiration.

Here are the most admired landscape architects, designers, and firms, each coming up four times or more:

  1. Laurie Olin, FASLA – OLIN
  2. Michael Van Valkenburgh, FASLA – Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
  3. Douglas Reed, FASLA, and Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA – Reed Hilderbrand
  4. Christine Ten Eyck, FASLA – Ten Eyck Landscape Architects
  5. Piet Oudolf
  6. Frederick Law Olmsted
  7. Dan Kiley
  8. Nelson Byrd Woltz
  9. Oehme, Van Sweden
  10. Peter Walker, FASLA – PWP Landscape Architecture
  11. James Corner, ASLA – James Corner Field Operations
  12. Thomas Church

The responses below all appeared two or three times:

A. E. Bye

Andropogon Associates Beatrix Farrand Darrel Morrison, FASLA GreenWorks (Portland, OR) James Rose Jon Coe, FASLA Kathryn Gustafson, ASLA – Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Kongjian Yu, FASLA – Turenscape Lawrence Halprin Maya Lin Mia Lehrer, FASLA Michael Vergason, FASLA Roberto Burle Marx SWA Thomas Balsley, FASLA – Thomas Balsley Associates West 8

Other firms—ranging in size from small studios to large international practices—that were also mentioned include AHBE Landscape Architects, Biohabitats, CMG Landscape Architecture, Design Workshop, D.I.R.T. studio, EDSA, GROSS. MAX. Landscape Architects, Inscape Publico, O2 Planning + Design, PFS Studio, Sasaki Associates, Stoss, Swift Company, VITA Planning and Landscape Architecture, Wallace Roberts and Todd, and Wirtz International.

Inspiring individuals who were mentioned included:

Andrea Saven, ASLA – Lango Hansen Landscape Architects

Andrés Duany – Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ) Anne Whiston Spirn Claude Cormier, ASLA Garrett Eckbo Grant Jones, FASLA Herbert Dreiseitl, International ASLA Jamie Durie Jens Jensen Julie Moir Messervy Ken Smith, FASLA Thorbjorn Andersson Walter Hood, ASLA

At the start of 2015, a questionnaire was sent out to members of ASLA’s Professional Practice Networks (PPNs). The theme: creativity and inspired design. As you can imagine, responses were varied, and included many insightful comments and suggestions. Synopses of the survey results were originally shared in LAND over the course of 2015, and we are now re-posting this information here on The Field. For the latest updates on the results of the annual PPN Survey, see LAND’s PPN News section.