Exhibitions

Landscape Architecture in the News Highlights (August 1 – 15)

J.R. TaylorLeave a comment
Approaching the Japanese Garden Cultural Village / Jeremy Bittermann

Portland Japanese Garden Cultural Village by Kengo Kuma & Associates – Architectural Record, 7/1/17
“Surrounded by majestic Douglas firs, Oregon’s Portland Japanese Garden (PJG) is a piece of Japan transplanted to the Pacific Northwest.”

Chicago Botanic Garden Exhibit Brings a Little Bit of Rio to Glencoe – The Chicago Tribune, 7/2/17
“Burle Marx, who died in 1994, was a famous modernist landscape architect and artist, and his style is being celebrated in a summer-long event at the Chicago Botanic Garden.”

The Underline Is Set to Transform Miami’s Metropath into a 10-Mile Linear Park – Designboom, 7/7/17
“Following in the footsteps of New York’s high line and Seoul’s Skygarden, Miami is set to build a linear park of its own that will transform the land beneath part of the city’s metrorail.”

Why Hong Kong Is Scared of Trees: The Fight for Urban Forestry in City That Sees Them as a Threat, Not an Enhancement – The South China Morning Post, 7/7//17
“The Chinese city of Liuzhou has begun construction of a pioneering “forest city”, designed by Italian architect Stefano Boeri, in which 40,000 trees will create a green urban paradise for residents.”

How a Landscape Architect Turned His 300-Square-Foot Balcony Into a Lush Private Oasis – Toronto Life, 7/8/17
“Owning a private, landscaped backyard used to be an achievable goal for a great many people in Toronto. Today, many starting homebuyers with horticultural ambitions have to make do with whatever outdoor space is afforded to them by their condo balconies.”

#WLAM2017 Reaches 2.9 Million

J.R. TaylorLeave a comment

Each April World Landscape Architecture Month (WLAM) celebrates all aspects of landscape architecture. The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) asked its members and followers to share pictures of their favorite examples of landscape architecture on social media with #WLAM2017 and a card that reads, “This Is Landscape Architecture.” The goal of the campaign is to educate the public about the profession and all it entails.

This year, approximately 1,700 people from 57 different countries posted nearly 7,000 times with #WLAM2017, reaching 2.9 million people. Each day during WLAM a different ASLA chapter took over our Instagram so we could show the breadth of the field.

For example, the Iowa Chapter decided to highlight off some of its public spaces.

The Louisiana Chapter stressed the importance of advocacy within the profession.

Our Southern California Chapter wanted to give our followers a glimpse into the future of landscape architecture with its four local student chapters.

@socalasla is home to four landscape architecture schools! Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Pomona, UCLA Extension, and USC. We are proud of the faculty, staff, and students at each school. Our students learn all they can for their professional career, and they have certainly learned how to have fun too! Each of our schools have their student chapters. They do a lot for their fellow classmates, and when they can all four schools get together for trips and events. #wlam2017 #worldlandscapearchitecturemonth #asla #sccasla #socalasla #socalchapterasla #socal #california #southerncalifornia #cali #landscape #landscapearchitecture #landarch #landscapedesign #thisislandscapearchitecture #landscape_lovers #cppla #calpolyslo #uclaextension #usc #ucla

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The North Carolina Chapter reminded people some projects start from a hand-drawn rendering.

The California Sierra Chapter showed us the power of tactical urbanism.

Our Colorado Chapter gave us an example of what landscape architects can do with residential projects.

Finally, the New York Chapter showed us an iconic park.

The Instagram takeover will continue until May 19, so keep following to see the best of landscape architecture from our chapters.

Lawrence Halprin’s Evocative Landscapes

Jared GreenLeave a comment
Lawrence Halprin at his residence at The Sea Ranch / Charles A. Birnbaum, 2008
Lawrence Halprin at his residence at The Sea Ranch / Charles A. Birnbaum, 2008

“Lawrence Halprin didn’t imitate nature; he abstracted it,” argued Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, president of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), at the opening of a new exhibition of Halprin’s work at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Martin Moeller, curator at NBM immediately agreed: Halprin often evoked a natural scene rather than copying it literally. “He let people think it through.”

This well-edited exhibition is perhaps the best of NBM’s recent triptych of landscape architecture exhibitions, which included a survey of the landscape photography of Alan Ward, FASLA, and a retrospective of Oehme van Sweden’s work. The curious flow of the exhibition enables discovery. Around each corner are Halprin’s surprising drawings and dioramas, and photographs graciously donated by some of the country’s leading architectural photographers.

The exhibition moves through 35 sites chronologically, from his early residential work through to his first forays into the public realm, from the hallmarks of his Modernist designs to his post-Modern work in the late 70s and early 80s, and, finally, his capstone projects before his death in 2009.

Some themes emerge. Throughout his career, Halprin enjoyed partnering with artists. He purposefully created room for art works, knowing they add rich, pleasing layers. Gould Garden in Berkeley, California, created from the late 50s to 1960, shows one of his early partnerships with artist Jacques Overhoff, who molded bas-relief panels in concrete around Halprin’s pool.

Pool at the Gould Garden / Ren Dodge, 2016
Pool at the Gould Garden / Ren Dodge, 2016

Halprin believed in cities. When many people abandoned the urban cores after the race riots, Halprin saw opportunities for regrowth. His Portland open space sequence, with its three-part necklace of Modernist parks, was created from 1965-70 and demonstrated his early commitment. Moeller argued “it changed perceptions of downtown Portland.” And New York Times architecture critic Ada Louis Huxtable, who was not generous with the compliments, called the sequence “one of the most important urban spaces since the Renaissance.” (The sequence is now on the National Register of Historic Places, but it is in need of major repair. A $4.5 million rehabilitation effort begins next year).

Ira Keller Fountain / Jeremy Bittermann, 2016
Ira Keller Fountain / Jeremy Bittermann, 2016

Halprin was all about “animating the landscape through choreography,” particularly the movement of water. The first thing you see when you enter the exhibition is a 10-foot-tall watercolor drawing of water moving around rocks. But if you look closely, you will see Halprin drew arrows to indicate the currents’ directions; he was mapping the choreography of a shore eddy.

Moeller thinks Halprin was deeply influenced by his wife Anna, who was a dancer. “He adapted her ideas by ‘scoring’ for human activity.” In his UN Plaza in San Francisco, he applied a design approach he called “motation,” which is described in the exhibition as “scoring how perception of the environment changes depending on the speed and motion of the observer.”

Fountain at United Nations Plaza / Charles A. Birnbaum, 2005
Fountain at United Nations Plaza / Charles A. Birnbaum, 2005

The exhibition, of course, includes beautiful photographs of his masterpieces: the Frankin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C., which is a culmination of his life-long collaboration with artists; Freeway Park in Seattle, which creates a sense of movement through water and sculpted concrete and initiated a new landscape type — the park over a highway; and Sea Ranch in California, which showed how ecological community design should be done.

Sea Ranch in particular is made fresh by new photographs that show how Halprin ingeniously used berms reminiscent of military forts to both hide buildings and pools and create wind blocks. As Birnbaum explained, “Halprin was one of the first to think of landscape as infrastructure.”

Recreation Center at The Sea Ranch / Saxon Holt, 2016
Recreation Center at The Sea Ranch / Saxon Holt, 2016

Many of Halprin’s landscapes are under threat of demolition or a slow death from a lack of maintenance. Birnbaum hopes this exhibition will help “raise awareness of their value.” It’s a bit ironic given Halprin’s influence can be found in so many contemporary projects. Birnbaum even sees his impact on the High Line in New York City, where James Corner choreographed a continual dance between observer and observed.

The exhibition is open until April 17, 2017. As Birnbaum notes, it will travel to multiple cities, but many of the featured drawings and dioramas won’t; they can only be seen in D.C. Download the gallery guide for free; print copies are available for $12 at the museum and online. Also check out the companion exhibition website from TCLF.

Landscape Architecture in the News Highlights (June 1 – 15)

J.R. TaylorLeave a comment
waterfall-olafur-eliasson-versailles-installation-art-france-anders-sune-berg_dezeen_1568_3
A towering waterfall appears to fall from midair into the Grand Canal at the Palace of Versailles / Dezeen

The Forgotten Space Under this Sao Paulo Highway Will Become a Hanging Garden and Park – Co.Exist, 6/2/16
“When an elevated highway was built in the middle of downtown São Paulo in 1971, the city said it was attempting to improve traffic. Instead, congestion got worse. The two-mile stretch of road, called Minhocão (‘Big Worm’) is now one of the most polluted parts of a city where smog kills thousands of people a year.”

DLANDstudio Launches Phase 1 Design for Rails-to-Trails QueensWay – The Architect’s Newspaper, 6/2/16
“After years of debate over what to do with the 60-year old abandoned Rockaway Long Island Railroad (LIRR), the coalition has been moving toward the goal of converting 3.5 miles of the railroad—which extends from Rego Park to Ozone Park—into a park similar to the High Line.”

A Look at Apple’s Insanely Ambitious Tree-Planting Plans for Its New Spaceship Campus  – Venturebeat, 6/4/16
“While construction crews work furiously to finish Apple’s mammoth new headquarters in Cupertino this year, another critical piece of the campus’ design is taking shape 100 miles to the east.”

Olafur Eliasson Installs Giant Waterfall at Palace of Versailles – Dezeen, 6/6/16
“A towering waterfall appears to fall from midair into the Grand Canal at the Palace of Versailles as part of Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s latest exhibition (+ slideshow).”

Design Team Led by Mia Lehrer Picked for New Downtown L.A. Park – The Los Angeles Times, 6/9/16
“A group led by landscape architecture firm Mia Lehrer & Associates has won a design competition for the 2-acre park, on the site of a former state office building adjacent to Grand Park at the foot of City Hall, city officials announced Thursday.”

His Landscape Designs Take an Artist’s (Quirky) Vision – The Los Angeles Times, 6/10/16
“If there were a competition for tackling out-of-the-ordinary landscaping projects, Mitch Kalamian, a landscape designer, would be on auto entry.”

Sensory, Universally Accessible Playground Designed for Chanticleer Park – The Santa Cruz Sentinel, 6/12/16
“The Santa Cruz Playground Project and Santa Cruz County Department of Parks, Open Space, and Cultural Services revealed designs Sunday for a $4 million wheelchair-accessible playground planned for Chanticleer Park in Live Oak.”

How to Re-weird Design

Heidi PetersenLeave a comment
Rococo Chair / Tony Favarula
Rococo Chair / Tony Favarula

Can leaving the comfort zone push designers to re-imagine what is possible? Outside Design, an exhibition at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)’s Sullivan Gallery, shows that the answer to this question is yes. During a talk at the gallery, Jonathan Solomon, director of architecture, interior architecture, and designed objects at SAIC, called for leaving the usual behind and “re-weirding the discipline of design,” which can allow designers and artists to innovate and move beyond disciplinary boundaries. The exhibition is part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial and features the work of five firms of artists and designers: Analog Media Lab (Urbana-Champaign, Illinois), Ants of the Prairie (Buffalo, New York), The Living and the Ali Brivanlou Lab (New York City), Species of Space (Chicago), and Sweet Water Foundation (Chicago). Solomon curated the gallery as a “series of laboratories.”

To re-weird design, as Solomon explains, designers must design outside of their wheelhouse. They have to explore ideas and processes that push both the design and themselves, and go beyond clients’ comfort levels. It may also call for designers to look outside — literally. Designers should see the “complexity of nature and ecology” as an inspiration for design and art, as well as a potential means to create a more sustainable future.

David Hays of Analog Media Lab describes their work as “purposeful, pragmatic, and playful” yet grounded in experimentation. Their Rococo Chair riffs on the floral designs of Rococo-era upholstery fabrics, replacing them with actual flowers sandwiched between clear plastic (see image above). However, these flowers aren’t sealed up; they are allowed to decay. The flowers in the chair are dynamic, making the “rococo image real.”

Moving up to the scale of the building, both Ants of the Prairie and The Living propose re-wierding building façades, integrating them with the natural world.

Whether we like it or not, animals and bugs live with us in and around our homes. How do we reveal and enhance this relationship? Joyce Hwang of Ants of the Prairie created her installation, Habitat Wall, as an “inhabitable living membrane.” Built of different types of wood, including salvaged and reclaimed pieces, and composed of a series of modules, Habitat Wall is a beautiful physical object, but also functions as nesting houses and ledges for bats and birds, allowing both people and creatures to live together.

Habitat Wall / Heidi Petersen
Habitat Wall / Heidi Petersen
Habitat Wall / Tony Favarula
Habitat Wall / Tony Favarula

Designing at the intersection of biology and architecture, David Benjamin of The Living works with biologist Ali Brivanlou to co-create a façade with nature. They designed Amphibious Envelope, a façade wherein the traditional double-paned glass is replaced with tanks filled with water, moss, frogs, and snails. As the oxygen levels in the wall lower, the frogs rise to the top of the water, triggering sensors which release air bubbles, thus re-oxygenating both the water and the air around the wall. The installation is both a “functional façade” and an “open-ended experiment” that allows for a more fluid relationship between the inside and outside.

Amphibious Envelope / Heidi Petersen
Amphibious Envelope / Heidi Petersen
Amphibious Envelope / Tony Favarula
Amphibious Envelope / Tony Favarula

And the process of re-weirding design can be expanded yet again to the scale of the public realm.

Eric Ellingsen of Species of Space plays with questions of language and people’s perception of public space. A book case built on an angle and a dream machine, a spinning strobe in a dark room that produces visual hallucinations, are a means to change our perception. Elison also is in the process of mapping poems of cities, to create a “physical manifestation of language and design.”

Dream Machine / Tony Favarula
Dream Machine / Tony Favarula

For Emmanual Pratt of Sweet Water Foundation (SWF), an ecosystem can be both a physical natural process and a network of people. SWF “transforms blight into life” through their internship model, which trains students in aquaponics and ultimately encourages them to create a “decentralized network of sharing.” The aquaponics ecosystem then becomes an ecosystem of community partners and users. Their installation, Aquapons, highlights the importance of a sustainable system.

Aquapons / Heidi Petersen
Aquapons / Heidi Petersen

Outside Design shows us how small changes in perception can yield interesting results. Designers owe it to themselves to look outside the usual design processes. Inspiration may come in the form of bats, frogs, or poetry. Everyone should be open to the opportunities “re-weirding” can provide.

A number of lectures exploring the ideas of Outside Design are scheduled through November. The exhibit runs through December 19.

This guest post is by Heidi Petersen, Associate ASLA.

Landscape Architecture in the News Highlights (April 16 – 30)

J.R. TaylorLeave a comment
Temple Baths, ArchDaily / Studio Octopi
Temple Baths by Studio Octopi / Arch Daily

Hermann Park’s Japanese Garden Serves As City Oasis – The Houston Chronicle, 4/17/15
“Hermann Park’s Japanese Garden is a place where families flock to watch koi school in murky ponds, where couples rest under the trellis covered in leafy wisteria and where Houstonians steal away for quiet time in a natural setting.”

How the Drought Will Reshape Californian Landscape Architecture – Curbed, 4/22/15
“California is dealing with a resource crisis that’s asking a West Coast accustomed to expansive growth and endless possibility to go against character and make do with less. The last time going dry has caused this much consternation was during Prohibition. Curbed spoke with four leading landscape architects to find out how their profession needs to adapt to a challenge with the potential to reshape the industry.”

‘The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley’ Review – The Wall Street Journal, 4/22/15
“’The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley,’ an exhibition at the Center for Architecture, shows how modern landscapes often make a better case for modernism than the architecture itself.”

Studio Octopi Begins Crowdfunding Campaign for a Lido on London’s River Thames – Arch Daily, 4/23/15
“London’s central waterway, the River Thames, has been a site of enormous interest from architects and urbanists in previous years. From a controversial garden bridge to discussions about how to appropriate what has been described as one of the city’s largest untapped public spaces, London-based practice Studio Octopi have now launched a Kickstarter campaign to help to realize their dream of creating ‘a new, natural, beautiful lido’ on its banks.”

Group Rallies to Save Cherished Spot at Children’s Hospital – The Boston Globe, 4/27/15
“Just ahead of a wrecking ball, a contingent of parents and caregivers want the city to bestow protective landmark status on Prouty Garden, a half-acre splash of green at the heart of Boston Children’s Hospital. It may be their last hope for preserving the emerald retreat.”

Three Finalists Chosen in National Design Competition to Improve Areas below the Main Avenue Bridge – The Cleveland Plain Dealer, 4/28/15
“The nonprofit downtown development corporation announced on its website that it has winnowed a field of 51 landscape architecture firms to three finalists in a national competition to beautify the portion of the Flats beneath the Main Avenue Bridge.”

World’s Largest Underground Trampolines Now Open to Upbeat Cave Explorers

Yoshi Silverstein1 Comment
technicolor trampolines
Technicolor trampolines / Bradley White (Bounce Below)

Adventurous and non-claustrophobic explorer-types have typically relied on climbing equipment and headlamps to venture into caves below the earth’s surface. The Bounce Below Arena at Zip World Titan in Wales is now offering visitors an entirely different experience, fusing cave exploration with playground fun via giant mesh trampoline nets connected by walkways and slides running as long as 60 feet.

The three trampolines are suspended in historic Llechwedd Slate Caverns, a Victorian-era slate mine twice the size of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Originally mined in the 18 and 19th centuries, the caverns were later used to hide precious art works from the Germans during World War II, writes Inhabitat. According to The Daily Mail, workers cleared out some 500 tons of rubble to prepare the attraction. And to add to “the already awesome experience,” said Bounce Below, the trampolines are lit by a kaleidoscopic LED light display.

Users bouncing / Bradley White (Bounce Below)
Users bouncing / Bradley White (Bounce Below)

Anyone willing to be a canary to mine the brand new underground experience can visit anytime – the arena is open as of July 4, 2014 and the cave stays a cool 46 degrees even in wintertime. Activities run in one-hour long sessions, and visitors are supplied with cotton overalls and a safety helmet before riding to the cavern via the old mining train. Yep, just like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (though ostensibly without the saber-wielding bad guys). Sidekick Shorty not provided so bring your little buddies age seven or older along with you for bounce-around techni-colored fun.

A 60-foot slide leads to the exit / Bradley White (Bounce Below)
A 60-foot slide leads to the exit / Bradley White (Bounce Below)

Visitors to Zip World Titan can also soar above ground along over 8-kilometers worth of zip line cables through the historic mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Zip-Liners / Zip World
Zip-Liners / Zip World

Yoshi Silverstein is the ASLA 2014 communications intern. He is a Masters in Landscape Architecture candidate at the University of Maryland. He focuses on landscape experience and outdoor learning environments.

At Home in the World: The Works of Reed Hilderbrand

The Dirt Contributor3 Comments

visible
Throughout October, the University of Virginia School of Architecture community got to see photographs of the landscape architecture of Reed Hilderbrand, touch samples of materials used in their projects, and grab post-card copies of their site plans. An exhibition of their work culminated in a lecture by founding partners, Douglas Reed, FASLA, and Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA, on their design philosophy.

Rather than being cloistered in an enclosed gallery space, the exhibit occupied the open, eastern hallway of the architecture school where it encouraged daily encounters between students and the firm’s work. It was clear from Reed and Hilderbrand’s talk that both believe places of cultural significance shape fledgling designers and the type of work they ultimately produce.

Each designer situated the firm’s work within his own personal biography and the landscape in which he was raised. In discussing his youth in Louisiana, Reed drew upon Jens Jensen’s belief that we are always longing to return to the “landscape of home.” His experience growing up in a landscape of extreme flatness — contrasted with Hilderbrand’s childhood in the rolling Hudson River Valley — plays a significant role in his unique understanding of the conditions of the ground. Together, they believe “a site’s history and the particular character of its ground – its shape, soil, moisture, vegetative cover – are what motivates meaningful form in our projects.”

While Reed and Hilderbrand may call upon their particular conceptions of home in their design philosophy, they also spoke of the importance of travel. Hilderbrand attributed his year in Rome as a Rome Prize recipient as the primary inspiration him to come together with Reed to found Reed Hilderbrand. Getting to intimately know the landscapes of Rome, not as a tourist, but as an extended visitor with the time and the freedom to “see and return,” made him want to build great places. “Seeing great things is both humbling and inspiring, ” said Hilderbrand.

In their first project together, the Leventritt Garden at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, their design drew upon not only a deep understanding of the conditions of the site, but also an experiential knowledge of Roman terraces, resulting in an “organic parterre” distinct from, yet perfectly suited to the rest of the Arboretum.

andrea_jones-d37f8489
The success of this first project stemmed from their ability to grasp the site’s unique assets, while drawing on a vast inner library of places seen over years of travel.

AA_lev_Plan
In Reed Hilderbrand’s work at Bennington College, their reading of a set of disjointed site systems from previous eras of development, including an overlay of campus architecture of disparate styles, propelled the partners to bring cohesion to the campus. As Reed says, in this case “we realized that the larger regional context – the panorama of mountains,” with the elevated plateau of the college campus serving as a viewing platform, drew the campus plan together.

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micheal-moran-otto_1130_02
While it was inspiring to see images of Reed Hilderbrand’s work in the everyday environment of the school and in the pages of their new monograph, Visible | Invisible: Landscape Works of Reed Hilderbrand, the magnitude of their effect became more apparent after hearing them reflect upon their work. The elegant detailing, subtle sculpting of the ground, and the clearly distinctive quality of the work, are stunning and motivating.

This guest post is by Rachel Vassar, Master’s of Landscape Architecture Candidate, University of Virginia

Image credits: (1) Visible / Invisible, Metropolis Books, (2) Leventritt Garden / Andrea Jones, (3) Leventritt Garden Plan / Reed Hildebrand, (4) Bennington College plan / Reed Hilderbrand, (5) Bennington College / Michael Moran.

Best Books of 2011

Jared GreenLeave a comment


Last year, we only have five top books (see earlier post), but this year we’ve expanded the list. A range of great books came past our desk and any of these may be of interest to your favorite landscape architect. Here are the top ten books of 2011, along with five other notable books:

Landscapes in Landscapes by Piet Oudolf (Monacelli Press, 2011)
In his complex, endlessly interesting landscapes, Oudolf says he prizes form and texture as much as color. He almost exclusively uses perennials, which he values for their “beauty throughout their natural life cycle.” Requiring little maintenance, his naturally sustainable landscapes, which feature drought-resistant plants, evolve over time. As Charles Waldheim, chair of the landscape architecture department at Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD), wrote in The New York Times, “he’s gotten away from the soft pornography of the flower. He’s interested in the life cycle, how plant material ages over the course of a year.” Read the full review.

The Altered Landscape: Photographs of a Changing Environment by Ann M. Wolfe (Editor) (Skira Rizzoli, 2011) 
From the book: “This comprehensive look at the work of 100 contemporary photographers captures the impact of human activity on natural landscapes. The Altered Landscape is a provocative collection of photographs representing a wide range of artists, techniques, visual styles, subjects, and ideological positions. Organized chronologically, the more than 150 images-by artists such as Andy Goldsworthy, Chris Jordan, Catherine Opie, and Edward Burtynsky-reveal the ways that individuals and industries have marked, mined, toured, tested, developed, occupied, and exploited landscapes over the last fifty years.”

Field Notes from Science and Nature by Michael R. Canfield  (Editor), Edward O. Wilson (Foreword) (Harvard University Press, 2011)
The Los Angeles Times writes: “This gorgeous book reproduces samples from the notebooks of 12 naturalists in all their glory, accompanied by short essays on methodology and why field notes are still so critical to the art of science. These drawings, notes (in spectacular handwriting), photos, and maps are a reminder that natural history is the root of all biology, and observation is a critical skill. George Schaller’s drawings of a lion hunt in the Serengeti, Bernd Heinrich’s delicate drawings of leaves, Kenn Kaufman’s lists, Jonathan Kingdon’s drawings of acacia trees in Kenya, Jenny Keller’s spectacular drawings of moon jellies–these and others make science look not only appealing, fascinating and fun but human and creative as well.

Genius of Life: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted by Justin Martin (Da Capo Press, 2011)
Genius of Place: the Life of Frederick Law Olmsted, a new biography by Justin Martin, illuminates Olmsted’s major achievements as a visionary artist, social reformer, pioneering environmentalist, and founder of the modern profession of landscape architecture. Olmsted is best known for creating several noteworthy landscapes, including New York City’s Central Park. Martin, a journalist who has written two acclaimed biographies on Alan Greenspan and Ralph Nader, paints a portrait of Olmsted as a preeminent American figure, revealing that “as a park maker, environmentalist, and abolitionist, Olmsted helped shape modern America.” Read the full review.

High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky by Joshua David and Robert Hammond (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2011)
The New York Times writes: “This lushly illustrated volume showcases the range of imaginative designs [Joshua David and Robert Hammond] explored and, in some cases, rejected. In recounting their decade-long experiment, they provide an inspiring primer for grass-roots urban planning.” Paul Goldberger at The New Yorker writes: “In this book Robert Hammond and Joshua David, who led the grass-roots movement to rescue the High Line from demolition, tell with energy, passion, and refreshing candor the story of how this industrial artifact became, against all odds, a magnificent park.” 

Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being, and Sustainability by Andrew Dannenberg (Editor), Howard Frumkin (Editor), and Richard Jackson (Editor) (Island Press, 2011)
Dr. Richard Jackson (see earlier post) and Dr. Howard Frumkin (see earlier post) have been long-time advocates of marrying public health and design. In this book, they offer a how-to that is essential reading for all landscape architects. “The authors have crafted an exemplary look at the various components of community design that promote and support health. Through their perspective we see clearly how much community design matters to our health and well-being; and it matters a lot.” – Georges C. Benjamin, MD, Executive Director, American Public Health Association. Read the full review.

MAPS by Paula Scher (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011)
Map making is not just about creating visual representations of physical spaces, but can also be about documenting impressions and emotions. Paula Scher, a partner at Pentagram and one of the most influential graphic designers of her generation, has a new book that conveys the rich, complex feelings she has for the process of map making itself. As she writes in the introduction, “I began painting maps to invent my own complicated narrative about the way I see and feel about the world. I wanted to list what I know about a place from memory, from impressions, from media, and from general information overload. They are paintings of distortions.” Read the full review.

The New American Landscape: Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Gardening by Thomas Christopher (Editor) (Timber Press, 2011)
Instead of exacerbating environmental issues, gardeners must harness the many ecosystem services provided by natural systems and design gardens that support and strengthen local ecologies. This how-to guide clearly demonstrates how gardeners’ sustainable practices can positively shape our shared enviroment. Read the full review.

Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier by Edward L. Glaeser (Penguin Press, 2011)
“Edward Glaeser is one of the world’s most brilliant economists, and Triumph of the City is a masterpiece. Seamlessly combining economics and history, he explains why cities are ‘our species’ greatest invention.’ This beautifully written book makes clear how cities have not only survived but thrived, even as modern technology has seemingly made one’s physical location less important.” – Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics, professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World by Carl Safina (Henry Holt & Co, 2011)
From the Booklist review: “From his home base, this celebrated scientist and activist travels to places where the impact of climate change and environmental abuse is starkly evident. With the spiral of a year as his structure and with what Einstein termed the ‘circle of compassion’ as his moral compass, MacArthur and Guggenheim fellow Safina illuminates the wondrous intricacy and interconnectedness of life in a book of beautifully modulated patterns and gracefully stated imperatives.”

Other notable books in 2011:

The Agile City: Building Well-being and Wealth in an Era in Climate Change by James Russell (Island Press, 2011) Read full review.
Gateway: Visions for an Urban National Park by Alexander Brash (editor), Jaime Hand (editor), Kate Orff (editor) (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011) Read full review.
Pulled: A Catalog of Screen Printing by Mike Perry (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011) Read full review.
Small, Gritty, and Green: The Promise of America’s Smaller Industrial Cities in a Low-carbon World by Catherine Tumber (The MIT Press)
Urban Green: Architecture for the Future by Neil Chambers (Palgrave MacMillan, 2011) Read an interview.

In addition, check out a few other best book lists: Planetizen offers their top 10 planning books for 2011. The University of Cambridge compiled a list of the top 50 books on sustainability.

Lastly, these “painstakingly hand-printed” t-shirts of some great U.S. cities by City Fabric aren’t books but they make great presents.

Image credit: Montacelli Press

FIGMENT’s Free Art Returns to Governors Island

Jared Green1 Comment

In 2007, New York City’s Governors Island saw the birth of FIGMENT, a public arts organization. Since then, the organization has only grown. In fact, more than 200,000 attended FIGMENT events and exhibitions in NYC and Boston last year. To be even more ambitious, the group is opening new arts festivals and exhibitions in Jackson, Mississippi and Detroit, Michigan. FIGMENT says its continuing “its mission to offer free, inclusive and participatory art to entire communities, removing the barriers of museum and gallery walls and entrance fees, and blurring the lines between those who create and those who enjoy art.”

This year, on Governor’s Island, FIGMENT will offer a free arts festival with performances from June 10-12, and interactive exhibitions until September 25, including a “terrace sculpture garden” featuring “17 sustainable sculpture projects”; an artist-designed mini-golf course; and this year’s City of Dreams Pavilion, Burble Bup, which was the result of an international design competition created in partnership with ENYA and SEAoNY (see an earlier post on the competition and last year’s winner). 

A few events and exhibitions that look interesting:

Aqua Attack by Angry Dolphin. “Are you a Super Villain or Super Hero? Aqua Attack!! is Back! The imaginary Japanese game show where you dress up and battle in kiddie pools with super soaked plush toys and guest game show hosts. Plus a new surprise!” (June 10-12)


Plastic Fantastic by Diedre Kreiger. “Plastic Fantastic is a 16 foot geodesic dome made from over 6,000 post-consumer water bottles. Participate in the making of the dome and one of the programmed events throughout the weekend. Plastic Fantastic creates possibility for social change through play, collectivity, community development and production.” (June 10-12)


Stealth Fighter by Zaq Landsberg (see image at top). “This 1:1 scale replica is framed in wood and wire and covered in Astroturf. It will be hidden in plain sight. Although the Astroturf blends in with the grass, Stealth Fighter will be obvious because of its size and distinctive shape. Visitors can go inside the fighter and use its ‘cover’ to peek out the jet intakes and cockpit windows.” (May 27 – September 25) 

After seeing the art, visitors can play 14 holes on Bugs & Features, a mini-golf course in which each hole is designed by a different group of artists. One hole, The Composting Micro Bug Food Spiral by Dee Dee Maucher of the MoS Collective features “the multitudinous microorganisms” that “process our food waste. This golf hole is a three-step compost system for soil building and food growing.” In addition, there’s also the aptly named Very Large Flyswatter hole by Jason Lucas, Bob Scott, Bob Seetin, Lilah Amon-Lucas. (May – September 25)


Finally, there’s this year’s City of Dreams Pavilion, Burble Bup, which doesn’t seem to have been built yet, or at least we can’t find images of the actual installation online. Designed by Antonio Torres and Michael Loverich, who make up an artistic duo called Bittertang, the pavilion’s materials, which will include soft inflatable berms, will be completely reused or recycled at the end of the summer. (May-September 25)


Image credits: (1) Zaq Landsberg / FIGMENT, (2) Angry Dolphin / FIGMENT, (3) Diedre Kreiger / FIGMENT, (4) Jason Lucas, Bob Scott, Bob Seetin, Lilah Amon-Lucas / FIGMENT, (5) Bittertang / FIGMENT