Fast Company wonders whether landscapes will be the focus of the next wave of preservation, and why many modernist landscape masterpieces are not more widely known. ”How many of us have even heard of masters like Dan Kiley who designed the Miller Garden in Columbus, Indiana?” Fast Company argues that modernist landscapes may finally gain recognition, having been long “overshadowed by mid-century architecture.” The economic downturn may be helping as well.
Fast Company says that just a small portion of historic places are landscapes. “Of the more than 80,000 properties on the National Register of Historic Places, fewer than 1,900 have an element of landscape. The irony is that mid-century architecture tended to emphasize the indoor-outdoor aspect, but preservationists largely ignore the outdoor portion of the sites.”
Americans may not view landscapes (other than major parks) as valuable. “Why do Americans value buildings, but not landscapes? For whatever reason, we tend to see open space as a blank spot waiting for development. For too many of us, designed landscapes means dog runs, cafés, and skateboard ramps. It’s hard to make the case for saving Modernist landscapes like the NationsBank Plaza in Tampa (photo above) because they depart from the convention of the pretty, pastoral scene fixed in our minds by Frederick Law Olmsted.”
Landscape preservation, according to Fast Company, has a strong advocate in the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a group dedicated to saving public plazas, private modernist gardens, estate grounds, and historic parks.
Read the article and see ASLA’s 2009 Landmark award for the Pepsico headquarters grounds, designed by EDSA. The Landmark award is co-sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Image credit: Fast Company
