landscape architecture

Green Lake Park, Seattle

While the greenbelt was the prevailing feature of the master plan, John Charles Olmsted also intended to locate a park or playground within a half mile of every home.[read more]

healthy soil

Most landscape architects, for the majority of their projects, will not be able to afford to hire a soil scientist or plant specialist. We should not have to bring in an expert for the average soil and plant problems we face.[read more]

urban design foes?

 

Designing trees as stormwater infrastructure is a great example of why landscape architects and engineers also need each other. Successful design requires a collaborative, holistic approach that can satisfy both specialties.[read more]

greenway in Oahu, HI

Can landscape architecture ameliorate public-private conflicts? How can these buffers protect landowners’ privacy without encumbering public access to shared spaces?[read more]

The University of Virginia School of Architecture, asked faculty, students, and eight invited panelists to consider “urban metabolism” as a mix of socio-ecological flows, structures, and processes.[read more]

In a working paper that became the precursor to his seminal work ‘A Pattern Language’, Christopher Alexander, along with Serge Chermayeff, speculated on the problems concerning the way suburban cities were built in the immediate post war era. Their concerns about the distribution of buildings in the urban landscape were not so much...[read more]

New York City is certainly willing to pay top dollar for excellent design. A new $3 billion water treatment plant is taking shape in Van Cortlandt park in the Bronx. The Croton water treatment by Grimshaw Architects and Ken Smith Landscape Architects includes some $250 million in new buildings, plazas, wetlands and meadows, and a...[read more]

I started my research as a landscape architect and urban ecologist in St. Petersburg, Russia. My home town is one of the biggest European cities and it is famous for numerous historical landscapes. In that time (1990’s) investigation of urban biotopes was a novelty. Passion for the history of landscape architecture resulted in my...[read more]

The new issue of Architype Review focuses on parks, the spaces designed to explored on foot, and pavilions, the spots from which visitors can take a moment to sit and enjoy the landscape. Some of the best pavilions compliment their setting, creating a unique presence and vantage point. They fundamentally respect the...[read more]

The three presidents of the major design organizations shaping the built environment – the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), American Institute of Architects (AIA), and American Planning Association (APA) – discussed the challenges facing the design professions as well as the opportunities at the American...[read more]

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

Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) hosted a symposium at the unlikely location of the open-air Tobacco Warehouse under the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, part of the 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh, FASLA. The half-day affair was organized to celebrate the completion of the first phase of the park...[read more]