April « 2011 « The Dirt

Archive for April, 2011

New CityCenter Brings Green Public Space to Downtown D.C.

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Real Estate Development, Smart Growth, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization, Water Management on 04/28/2011 | Leave a Comment »

The 10-acre CityCenterDC, the largest redevelopment project currently underway in any downtown in an American city, looks like a people-centric design. Incorporating a generous new park and central plaza, along with green roofs and gardens set within commercial and residential buildings, the development may present an improved model for how to integrate sustainable design elements into a dense downtown area. The redevelopment of the old DC convention [...]

Read Full Post »

3-day Landscape Urbanism Design Challenge in Melbourne

Posted in Opportunities, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 04/27/2011 | Comments Off

The Office of Urban Transformations (OUTR), a non-profit organization at the School of Architecture and Design at RMIT University, Melbourne, has launched a design competition and event called Urban Realities: Landscape Urbanism 3-day Challenge. The idea: 100 international and national architects, landscape architects, designers, craftspeople, and artists will “race the clock to design and construct exciting new public [...]

Read Full Post »

Andrea Cochran: “It’s Hard to Sell Nothing”

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Design, Water Management on 04/27/2011 | 1 Comment »

Andrea Cochran, ASLA, a preeminent landscape architect, said landscape architects often don’t get appreciated for their subtle work because if a “landscape is designed well it looks like nothing has been done. It’s hard to sell nothing.” As a result, Cochran joked she now shows ”before images” in all her presentations. At the National Building Museum, Cochran outlined the many [...]

Read Full Post »

E.O. Wilson’s Love Letter to Parks

Posted in Ecosystem Restoration, Gardens, Historic Preservation, Landscape Architecture, Public Spaces, Wildlife on 04/27/2011 | 1 Comment »

E.O. Wilson, one of the world’s great biologists and a Pulitzer prize-winning author on the natural world, made a case for preserving and investing in the restoration of urban parks at the 70th anniversary of Dumbarton Oaks Park in Georgetown. Designed by renowned landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, the only woman among the founding members of ASLA, the 27-acre park has [...]

Read Full Post »

ASLA Research Internship, Summer 2011

Posted in Opportunities on 04/26/2011 | Comments Off

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is seeking applicants for its 2011 summer (May – August) internship program. A summer internship with ASLA provides an excellent opportunity for a graduate student studying landscape architecture, architecture, urban planning, sustainable development, or environmental studies. Students with an interest in policy, advocacy, and Web communications are encouraged [...]

Read Full Post »

Despite Economy, Green Roofs Bloom

Posted in Green Roofs on 04/21/2011 | 2 Comments »

Steven Peck, Hon. ASLA, kicked off the Washington, D.C. meeting of his organization, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, by stating the U.S. green roof market grew 30 percent in 2010 despite the challenging economy. A survey of corporations involved in green roof design and development found that 8-9 million square feet of green roofs were added last [...]

Read Full Post »

Interview with Joyce Lee, NYC Active Design Program

Posted in Active Design, Landscape Architecture, Public Spaces, Sustainable Transportation, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 04/21/2011 | 1 Comment »

Joyce Lee, AIA, LEED AP, is the Director of the Active Design Program at the City of New York Department of Design and Construction. Download NYC’s Active Design Guidelines for free. Contact Joyce about submitting landscape architecture case studies at adgleadership@ddc.nyc.gov In a recent talk, Dr. Richard Jackson, former head of the National Center for [...]

Read Full Post »

The Many Benefits of Public Art

Posted in Ecosystem Restoration, Land Art, Public Spaces, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 04/20/2011 | Leave a Comment »

According to Linda Slodki, Mt. Airy Art Garage, the arts are a highly cost-effective way of driving economic revitalization in urban areas. However, the arts not only spur economic development but also ”shape our consciousness, create a collective attitude, inspire, remake behavior, and reduce stress.” In a session at the national Brownfields conference, both public artists and [...]

Read Full Post »

Visualizing the Dangers of Toxic Brownfields

Posted in Technology, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 04/20/2011 | Leave a Comment »

At the national Brownfields conference, a few innovative social media and education projects demonstrated how the Web and video can be used to educate the public and school students about the dangers of toxic brownfields. For people living near brownfields and students growing up beside them, these tools provide important weapons in the fight to [...]

Read Full Post »

Keeping Urban Farmers Safe

Posted in Agriculture, Policy and Regulation, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 04/20/2011 | 1 Comment »

Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.), URS, and City of Chicago outlined how to safely farm an urban garden on top of a contaminated site at a national conference on brownfields. As Amy Yersavich, Ohio E.P.A. explained, “urban gardens aren’t going to come and go. They are here to stay so we need to focus on making them safe.” [...]

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »