La 2009 01 Jan

JANUARY ZOOt VOLUME 99 • NUMBER 1
LAND MATTERS 113

LETTERS 114 RIPRAP l1"'6

Social hie in super- small urban spaces, pro and can seating, honors on the waterfront, and partying like it's 2009 at L4BASI-f_

Edited by Linda Mclnt)fre

R SEARC ,122

Research Design Conneorions

Studies examine teenagers and pubNc places, playground obstocles, how to get kids mouing. and tbe effectiveness 0/ wander gardens.

By Sally Augustin and Jean Marie Cackowskl-Campbell, ASLA

CHANGING PLACES 130

Degrees of PreseIvation

Three residential landscapes hy Thomas Church face challenges under new ownership

By Daniel Jost, Associate AS!.A

RETROSPECTIVE 142

Seeing Space

Friends, clients, and colteaguej remember Robert N_ Royston

(19 18-2008), a pioneering modernist who51;' tea.ching and work helped to define landscape architecture in postwar ealt/omia.

ON THE COVER

The "Idea House" iii Sail Franasco is inlelwed

/Q modelsu<tamahle isteroention: for residences, page 88. P!Jo,'(Jgj·~i'h &jHjj"U~, ThIJ'mas j. StoryJSu'/~e' Puh'i~hing

21 Landscape Architecture J~.NUA~V 2009

TdBeCa segment--

includes a boardwalk

------------------~a~~h~h~----

-=--------=:;:'i("""'"---------=-:-=::---------=-.....:.......-------:pedeshian.Jlidhs. ...----

\\\~ ",~'"' ~\\~'- \\\"

\~, ..

If you or your broker haven't contacted Leatzow Insurance, you are missing a significant piece of your professional liability puzzle. For nearly 20 years, we have been providing landscape architects with a highly cost-effective way to protect against the damage lawsuits can cause to a firm's finances and reputation. Now, backed by the strength and experience of the AIG Companies, we have an even stronger team with more efficient services to make life easier for clients and brokers. Our tools help you recognize risk exposures and develop better contracts to help reduce your liability and protect against loss. And we even make certificates of insurance available online.

The Pentagon Memorial Story

The victim1sfamilieI, the federal bureaucracy, and the designers worked together to evolve a fitting memorial.

By Benjamin Forgey 78

ICONS REVISITED 162

Dancing Through Halprin's Portland

Almost 40 years after it was built, Portland, Oregon's Open Space Sequence hosts a dance event that honors Lawrence and Anna Halprin. Text and Photography by Judith R. Wasserma,n

LESSONS 160

I earning from FLO

How Frederick Law Olmsted got the Central Parkjob. By Leonardo Vazquez

URBA PARKS 164

Next Installment on the Hudson

The TriBeCa section extends the Hudson River Park soutbioard. By Alex Ulam

Green House In the City

A San Francisco experiment offers some hard lessons in sustainability.

By Louise Levathes

88

GREEN ROOFS 172

Elevating Habitat

A quasi- traditional green roo/ design can increase biodiversity in cities.

Text and Photography by Reid Coffman, ASLA

BOOKS 196

PRODUCT PROFILES 198

DISPLAY AD INDEX 1100 BUYER'S GUIDE INDEX !"'10 1

CRITIC AT LAROE 1116

Bench Marks

In a bid to discourage skaters, landlords at TorontoDominion Centre have made incisions in the iconic granite benches around a plaza that was meant to welcome people. Guess what-boarder.l are people, too. By Lisa Rochon

4 I La ndscape ArchItecture JAN U A RV 2009

Clean,. streamlined lines and rich woods, Greenwood™ (recycled), or aluminum, all with a cast aluminum base.

Whatever you envision:

Configurations to stimulate conversation or retreats for private reflecting, Sitecrafl has your design. And, we'll customize

it to your satisfaction in your choice of top-grade woods or metals.

Also available without arms and/or 'back.

OTH E.R OESIG:N S AVAI LAB I.E:

Brooklyn B ri~g~ aa rden L i no K"" West

Outback

Cast al" m i num polye ste, coated pedestals a", ava liable In a range 01 colors.

\\\~ ete raft 40-25 Crescent Street. Long Island City, NY 11101 .

~ Sf C Tel· 71 a. 729. 4900 Fa.· 71 a .482.0661 1 - 800 - 93 7 - 0203 WWW. site - craft. com

Preferred Seating

Crescents. Circles. Freestanding or with backs. Whatever you prefer: configurations to stimulate conversation or retreats for private reflection, Sitecraft has your design. And we'll bring il to live in your choice of top-grade woods or metals.

Add our tables for two or for a crowd in Redwood, Red Cedar, Ipe and other premium woods. Accent it all with our planters and planter benches in wood, metal, or slone to create possibilities as endless

as your imagination.

They'll raise your site to your own exacting standards.

That's the "craft" in our name.

CIRCLE 287 ON READE R SERVIC E CARD OR GO TO IfTTP;/IiN Fa. HorIMS.COMI23489-287

the POSSIBILITIES are ENDLESS!

CI RClE 90 ON REAOER SERVICE CA RD OR GO TO HTTPi/INFO_HOllMKCOMI2a4S9-so

61 landscape Architecture JANUARY 20 ns

tectUre

THE MAGAZINE

OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

J. William Thompson, F ASLA ED ITO R I bthompson@asla.org

Lisa Speckhardt

MANAGING EDITOR I lspeckhcu-dt@a.sia.org

Christopher McGee

ART DIRECTOR I cmcgee@asla .. ors

Daniel Jost, Associate ASLA

W R I T E R / EDIT 0 R I djost@a_sla .. org

Lisa Schultz

ASS 0 C I AT E ED ITO R I lschultz@a.sla.org

Megan Ciarfalia EDITORIAL/LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANT mcia.rfalia,@asla .. o"g

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jane Roy Brown; Lake Douglas, ASLA Diane Hellekson, ASI,A; Peter Jacobs, FASLA Frank Edgerton Martin; Linda McIntyre James L. Sipes, ASLA; Kim Sorvig

J ames Urban, FASLA

P~EASE {-"AIL CONlM"ENrS TO APPIlOPRlllTE STAFF MEMBER OR SENO VIA U.S. NIAlL TO

836 EYE STREET NW. WASHINGTON, DC 20001-3738

EDITORIAL ADVISORV COMMITTEE Frederick R. Steiner, FASLA, Chair

Thomas R. Tavella, FASLA, Vice President, Communication Brian Braa, ASLA

T. Carter Crawford, ASLA David Cutter, ASLA Barbara Faga, l"ASLA l\1iehael M. Jam~s, ASLA Todd D. Johnson, FASLA

J ordan Jones, Student ASLA Bianca E. Koenig, ASLA Nancy S. McLean, ASLA SI~ott Reese, ASLA Stephanie A. Roney, FASLA Ronald B. Sawhill, ASLA Tara N. Sawyer, ASLA

EDITORIAL: 202-216-2366 FAX/202-898-0062

~~esa

Wonderful play palette

that we can use over and over while still m.tclng every park a unique place to pla.y. From my favorite play event the MuItI-Pondo~, to the many drnblng choices, we are able to create playgrounds

neighborhood .. theit own."

Create your

own wonderful play palette today by calling your Miracle playgroood repNSentatlve.

CI RClE l4P ON. A EADElR S EAVIC)E CARD OR GO TO HTTf' filN FO'HOTIMS.OOMI2:34.g·140

81 La nd sea p e Arcltitecture lA N U A R Y 2009

THE MAGAZINE

or THE AMERICAN SOCIETY or LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

Ann Looper Pryor PUBLISHER (doopel·@asla. org

ADVERTISING SALES 202~21 6-2 335

Daryl Brach SENIOR SALES MANAGER db '·ach@asla .. org

Mark Frieden SALES MANAGER mfdeden@asla. org

Nyah Miller SAlLES S'PECIALIST nmiller@asla .. org

PRODUCTION Marceia Cork PRODUCTI.ON .MANAGER mco ,·k@asla. org

MARKETING Kelly Robinson MARKEtiNG MANAGER k robins» n@aslo. or g

Carolyn MitcheU RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR cmitchell@asLa .. org

SUBSCRIPTIONS Monica Barkley REPRESENTATIVE sub sc rip fiolls@uslu. org

REPRINTS 800"259-0470

BACK ISSUES 800~ 787"5267

.e.

Audit Bureau of CI((ula ttons

ImIdscri{X lI.mirrcr"I~ see kJ to .. ppoo a healt hy 'pta~~Ih,.~gh envlrenmen mlly ........ ."..- COJm:ious prodlKllon aIld dlstrlbullon Gf the

magiltin e. 011, I'linL racilll)' is dlaln..,f'wslocly oertUicd, ensudns LbaL ow boIIy OlOCk eemes fn>m 'espoonoibl.y lIumagc<l forests, LAllI insats an: ml.1fled u ndor 1.1,. S usia lnahl. Forest lrt1tialiv.·~ Slandani,Comaillng Dllow~ 115 ID bundle and !TU<k LJL11 wIth aLII., :I'ublh:a~., ns, ",dud"g fU.1 eonsnrnpdon and em issien s, LJL1f is nOi UV ClNIl<:d. I'll,." ".-sa!),. lOO pereem n:cydable poJyw"'P Is used III prole<t the m!Ill"~n. and rid e-a long eernents rrom damage du ring <llitribu~"n.

GREEN

• Low cost

• .Lightweight

• Easy assembly

• Water/Moisture resistant

• Non-corrosive and non-conductive

• Will not rust, rot, or stain

• Strong and durable

• Graffiti resistant

Harder, Luckey & Hargrave manufactures two types of its Tuf-BarrierTM sight and sound barrier wall system, The STC 32-Heavy Wall system meets or exceeds AASHTO guidelines including panel mass requirements, wind load capacities and noise reduction criteria. The more economical STC 25-Medium Wall system, while lighter, still provides exceptional sound reduction performance. Both Tuf-Barrier™ systems are aesthetically pleasing, easy to install, remarkably rugged and virtually maintenance free.

www.hlhwalls ... com

Our product is proudly made in the USA and shipped worldwide.

•

1-866-2.31-7867

-

=-

_'

-

10 I Landscape Archiledure JA ~UAHY 2009

CI RClE 323 ON. A EADElR S EAVIOE CARD OR GO TO HTTf' filN FO.'HOTIMS.OOMI2:340.<32J

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

PRESIDENT Angela D. D),c, FASLA PR ESI DENT-ELECT Ga"Y D. Scon, FASLA

IMMEDIAfE PASf PRESIIIENT PelTY Howard, FASLA

VICE PR~SIDENTS Pamela M, Blough, ASLA

Ga,'Y A. Brnwu , FASLA TerryL. Clements, ASLA

Brj an J, Dougherty, FASLA

.J ouathan Mueller, FA SLA Thoma" R. Tavella, FASLA

EXECU11VE VICE PRESI.DENT Nan~y C. Somervi.lle SECRETARY

Mary 1. Hanson, Honorary !ISLA tREASURER

em'ald P. Beaulieu TRUSTEES

Ellis L. Antunez , FASLA Caron Beard , ASLA

Hunter L. Beckham, ASLA Donald E. Beuson , ASI.A Houald A. Bevans. ASIA Andrew C. N. Bowden, J\ SLA .Idf CaSH"', FASLA

Uran C. Collins, ASLA

SU san Crook, ASLA

Lynn M. Crump, ASLA Edward G. Csyscon , ASL.~ Chad D. Dauns , ASU

Bruce John Davies, ASLA Christopher .I. Della Vedova , ASLA

Thomas R. Doolinle, .~SLA Melissa M. Evans, _~SLA Thomas A. Hall, ASLA Faye B. Harwell, FASLA

Alan Hoops, ASJ.A Andrew Ka ufma n, ASI.A Carl R, Kelemen, FASLi\ Shown T, Kelly. ASLA Cheist opher Kent , ASLA Mntthew D. Langston, ASLA David L, Lycke , ASLA Michael P, McGa"vey, ASLA Jim Mihan, .~SL4 G"eo:;ory A. MiU,,,', ASLJI Jack It, Phillips, ASLA Stel,hen P. Plunkard, FASLA

Richard H. Powell , ASL.~ Terr-y \y, Ryau , FAST.A Jeffrey A. S argent, A SLA Eric R. Sauer, ASLA Horat Sehaeh, FASI"A LO"i Eddie Schanche , ASl.A Glen Schmidt, FASLA Debra M, Schwab, ASLA Co!i>ate M. Seaele II, FASI.A :'COIl L. Siefker; ASLA Aeis W. Stalis , ASLA Michael S, Stanley, ASLA

Jcff'rey A. Townsend, ASLA David H. Walters, ASLA Vanessa Warren, ASLA Lee Weintrauh. FASLA

William p, Winslow. FASLA

LAF REPRESE;N1A1IV~S ChnrIes Crawford. FASLA Janice Cervelli Schach, FASLA L, Susan Everett. FASLA

Sl'UDE,Nl REPRES E N1A1J,1,r'E J m-dau JOM,S, Student ASLA PARLIA'MENTA RIA N Donald W, Leslie, FASLA

ASLA

(kraftsJman), n 1. One who performs with skill and de gri y in the manual arts and crarts.' "

Changi'1g the Shape of Landscape Architecture One FountBln at a Time,

ro",an. foun.t.ai,ns·

Ameticn's FOullll.lin Comp:my''''

'1-C3ld- (94-" 8.. '-I WAW COrTlanfounlairs. com

os Angeles • A ouquerq J8 • Atlanta

•

·

·

·

· ,

.

"Randclrlft0d in /vrerca by AmAncar Cra-Sr'l8n •

mistakably Elegant. ..

Undeniably Durable.

Our attention to detail when it comes to design and durabillty is what makes Dumor's site furnishings the essential element in any environment. Benches, tables, receptacles, planters, and ash urns are all designed with form and function in mind. And if a standard design doesn't meet your needs, ask us about our custom design and fabrication options. To learn more about DuMor's product line and options, visit us online at www.durnor.com or contact your local Dumor representative today.

~ •• ®

II!!!II .-

DuMo~

SITE FURNISHINGS

Email: sales@dumor.CDm , Web: www.dumDr.cDm

friendly. He or she can build a compost pile, replace all or part of the lawn with drought-tolerant plants, even dig and plant a rain garden. How-to information is available from the friendly county extension service and other sources-no landscape professional required.

It's dear what the landscape architect's role 15 on high-dollar projects like La Casa Verde: integrating complicated systems such as cisterns and, of course, ensuring that the landscape aesthetics are ready for the photo shoot. Bur where the big budget is not available, is there a practice opportunity in making ordinary home landscapes more susrainable---or will the landscape designers beat the landscape architects to this market niche' Here in the nation's capital, George Washington University's program in landscape design now offers a Certificate in Sustainable Landscapes to teach landscape designers "best practices in landscape conservation and susrainability, adapted to the small-scale landscape at the neighborhood level."

In today's shrinking market, when high-dollar residential projects like La Casa Verde may be fewer and farther between, there may be a market for "greening" the average home landscape. Who's gOIng to corner it?

Is Sustainable Affordable?

MORE AND MORE THESE DAYS, I'm seeing residenrial landscapes with the rag "sustainable" attached. I SOmetimes.' wond.er if des. igners don't tack that on for marketing reasons, to position them for magazine publication, or to enter an awards competition. This month's cover project, "La Casa Verde" 111 San FranCISCO's Mission District, goes far beyond such tokenism. It features, among other things, a wind turbine to produce electricity for (he house and two large cisterns under the patio that collect rarnwarer for use in the house and to be fed i11[0 a drip irrigation system for the garden and terraces. Other features include green roof panels for insulation, reused lumber, and solar panels to produce hot waterand all of this in a very dense urban neighborhood.

Not char all the sustainable details turned Out exactly as planned.

"Green" landscapes are very much in the trial-and-error phase, and the owner and the landscape architects admit that they learned some hard lessons in creating Ia Casa Verde. (For details, see "Green House in the City," page 88.) But even with such caveats, La Casa Verde pushes the envelope 111 terms of what rs possible 111 a city.

Bur what about the cost of all those bells and whistles? "It's not practical fur everyone to put in a $35,000 wind turbine," the landscape architect admits, "or expensive water catchment system with cisterns." So is the sus tar nable home landscape just another privilege of the well to do?

Maybe not. The average home owner can do a lot on a shoestring co make his or her home grounds more environmentally

0f71\A~f~

J. William "Bill" Thompson, FASLA Editor / bthompsoll@asla.org

UN U II RY 2009 L~ n dscape Arc h it ecru rei I 3

CI RCeE 302 ON READER SERVI CE CARD OR GO TO HlTI'iliN FOcHOTIMS.COMI23"'·'"2

141 Landsnpe Architeelure JA ~UAHY 2009

LET

A Silver lining to t~e Economic Crisis?

IF YOU WERE ASLEEP for the past month, you might have missed the end of credit as we know it and the historic election ofBarack Obama (Land Matters, December). Wage freezes, layoffs, and difficulty getting projectS will likely continueLandscape architecture is fur from a recession-proof business. Is there a silver lining to all this scary news?

Al Gore, Honorary ASLA, wrote in the New Yom Times recently, "Here is the good news: The bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis." In Chinese, the word crisis is composed of rwo characters: one represents danger, che other opportunity. What opportunities should landscape archirecrs be aware of'

- The economic crisis has provided us with an opportuni cy to market "green" in a new way. Municipal and commercial clients will be more receptive chan ever to ideas chat combine saving money with saving [he environrnenc. Residential clients will be amenable co removing lawns and planting fruie trees if it saves them money and you can demonstrate a benefic to che environment. Educate yourself about rhe options and commit to a real marketing effort for sustainabiliry, Have the courage ro use your knowledge and design skills to show how things can be done differently!

- We can all do something that saves money and decreases resource consumption. Can you take the bus or ride your bike to work? Set a goal fOr a paperless office and start filing things electronically? Make a change to your house to become more energy efficient? If you are always too busy to spend time on projeccs of this nature, you might have a little more time on your hands these days. Use it co change something in your lifestyle, no matter how small. - As population growth continues and humans affect more and more of the planet, we require visionary designers to create a new paradigm. Razing land to build Strip malls and building endless jam-

RS

packed highways are clearly things of rhe past. Our future landscapes can be as efficient, sustainable, and beautiful as our most inspired designs.

Dare I say it? "Yes, we can!"

MEG WEST Santa Barbara, California

Design T~at Leaves Out People

THERE IS A LESSON to be learned from the Critic at Large (Ocrober) about Beijing's Olympic Green, and we can bring it closer to home and our profession. In the first place, author Thomas Boswell has confused architecture with landscape architecture and design wich use. The "green" has nothing co do with landscape architecture. It is a poorly designed, unfriendly architectural feature-created solely as a base upon which to seat the Bird's Nesc stadium.

TIle lack of people in a project shows that the design was for design itself-and to hell with the clutter oflaughing, playing, calking-out-loud humans. This is the way that I look at many of the projects shown in Landscape Arc/Jitecture. Seldom do I see humans in any of rhe projects, and never do I see a residence designed with kids and dogs in mind. These are some of the elements chat I chink should be considered in all of our projects, and if they are lacking, how can the project be considered award quality?

TED GREEN, ASLA Kaaawa, Hawaii

P IIld.Je be aware that any photos in Landscape Architecrure that are completely devoid of people always come from landHape architects. When LAM hire.r a photographer to shoot a built projea, our fint request is, "Get people in the photos." \V hen are landscape architei.1S going to start including that directive in their own photo assigmnenu? -Editor

The name of Gerould Wilhelm, principal botanist at Conservation Design Forum in Chicago, was misspelled on page 53 of the special ANLA Hort iculrural Product Suppliers section in the December 2008 issue of LAM.

RARE FINDS. Belgard Ha~dscapes unearths the newest additions to our groundbreaking collection of pavers, featuring versatile shapes, colors and textures certain to capture the imagination of r~ 1 =! Ikff,,1 )(J III designers a nd landscape architects everywhere. Each offering is a perfect specimen of the timeless style and lasting durability homeowners have come to expect. From the classic, hand-laid look of Old Worl.d to the

flagstone-inspired styling of Mega-Arbel, there's a Belgard paver to complement whatever your plans require www.belgardwinter.Gom

@~~ ~ ~~. CAlll-877-BElGARD OR ViSit BElGARDWINTER.COM FOR A FREE 2009 CATALOG.

-HARDSCAPES-

A sligh.tly irregular look a

BY LiNDA ]VICINTYHE

METER MADE

Park(mg) by the Hour

Cozy space for short-term lease, no stairs.

WITH IN-TOWN RENTS on the rise, metered parki ng spaces are among [he last great deals in urban real estate. Rates in most U.S. metropolises run one to two dollars an hour, making each curbside slot a 200-square-foot bargam:

Two of them stacked together would make a decent studio apartment in Manhattan.

Rebar, a San Francisco-based artists' collective with one foot in landscape architecrure and the other in theater of the absurd, imagined the possibilities these pint-sized parcels might hold in a less car-centric urban scape. In November 2005, Rebar founders Matthew Passmore,John Bela, and Blaine Merker filled their pockets with quarters and created a ciny park in a downtown space.

"We JUSt rolled in, unrolled some grass, a tree, and a bench, and stepped back and watched what happened," Passmore tells Landscape Architecture. "People really got it;

Kelly Vresilovic of Bohlin, Cywinski, Jackson says her firm's 2008 Parklingl Day project wa s design ed to a ppeal to othe r office wo rke rs in their downtown PiHsburgh neighborhood as well as slreet·leveillassersby.

they came in and sat down and used it for what rr was. And at rhe end of the rwo hours, we just rolled things up."

That first, solo event-reported in LmdJwpeAnhitectllre in March 2006---attracted critical and media attention, and Rebar decided to make Park(ing) Dayan annual,

Contact Linda Mcintyre at l m e l ot i r e e s s l s c e r«,


RIPRAP

worldwide happening. "We made a tactical decision to let the prOject go open source," says Passmore. Teamed with the Trust for Public Land, Rebar published an online how-to manual, with loose specifications, tips on navigating local regulations, and

HOT SEATS

Both Sides Now

Artist lets subjects shOUJ where they stand by choosing where they sit.

WE LIVE IN AN OPINIONATED ERA. Last year's election campaigns threw this into high relief, but we hardly limit our disagreernencs to politics. Hummer or Prius? Coke or Pepsi? People or The Atlanti(} Mac or PO

Washington, D.C.-area artist Linda Hesh has made the process of considering what brings us cogecher and what drives us

suggestions for sourcing materials.

For 2008, Park(ing) Day grew to 600 parks in more than 65 cities around the world. The event draws talent from many disciplines, including landscape architecture firms, alternative tmnsportation groups, and bicycle coalitions, with installations ranging from vermiculrure and solar-panel demonsrrarions to a community health clinic sponsored by San Francisco group Si Se Puede,

Partlcipants choose a bench and a position: The sifter at top is for housing, work, and education, and the sifter above is against being a vegetarian.

apart into an art form. Visitors to her latest interactive installation-a pair of park benches, one labeled "For" and one "Againsr'v=-can choose a bench and write down what they are for or against, Hesh


then photographs the subject and annotates the event with a caption setting out the visitor's srarement.

Hesh, who specializes 10 photographybased art centered on social issues, says that

Park(ing) Day is at heart a guerrilla undertaking, but participants are urged to respect local regulations, including limitations on feeding the meter. "The only problem I've heard of is people staying longer chan they had on the parking meter," Passmore laughs, "A few people had to pick up their installations and move down a few spaces."

-JOSHUA GRAY

Uhe benches] don't have any meaning on their own-you have to put the.m into context.

though she had been shooting objects imprinted with words for a while, this is her most interactive installation to date. When she came across a manufacturer's flyer for the benches, she immediately envisaged a pair of benches forcing a choice. "Sitting on one would be a way of physically announcing a viewpoint," she told us. "The words 'for' and 'against' carne from the partisanship that is rampant in our country today. But I like that they don't have any meaning 011 their own-s-yon have to put them into context by adding your own words."

Phllip di Giacomo on Demanding ." fVh/:e. ;'t yed. Or don't /J"laKt!! ;:t at all. 7"hat'.s what Z dt!V>1anci oP />1Ij.se.ll'. Idt!V>1and t.he. .sap,e. oP any ·one w;"ot;VO,./r.s ~·t.h me.. Or 1'01" Me. 50 whe.n CoIo,.a:/o Y/ard.sc.apes .said, • Great ;.s not jl"ed ehOUjh," I ~ed the. c.haJ/e.n:J!!. ro;ythe.f" ~ 'l"t!!6tr/Vil1j 'to be. be.tit!!!" t.han eve.!". So ;,f'you .ne.ed r~ wori:, c.ha//eJlje. YoUr.se.ll'. -rhtY? c..ha/lt!!"je. u.s."

Oenver Office' 303.750.8200 • Info@co!oradohardscapes.com I California Studio' 81,8.907.0990' w\I"w.digia.comoinc.com

CI RCLE '8' ON m,p;DEA S E:RViCE CAAD OA GO TO H.TTf'~1I NFO.HOTI MS_COMI23<II9·'8"

RIPRAP

She has been pleasantly surprised by the level of participarion. "So far, about half the people who walk by will write somerhing down they are for or against," says Hesh, "They seem genuinely excited to be able to have a voice, even if it IS JUSt part of an art project."

Those voices can be unpredictable, says Hesh, who thought the responses might be as partisan as a cable TV news channel. "Though some people do write down a political candidate as what they are for or agamst, most wnre a cause they are concerned about," she says. And even rhough the project was originally inspired by the partisan mood of the country, Hesh says that from what she has seen, our differences are not as great as they might seem. "It's really JUSt the method co get to the solution that divides LIS. In the end, this piece seems co inspire the idea that we can work together co solve the issues of our rime."

PARTY PlANN:ING

AWARDS CORNER

Landscape architects honored for promoting excellence on the waterfront.

THE WATERFRONT CENTER in Washington, D.C., recently named the winners ·of its 2008 Excellence on the Waterfront awards, in which landscape architecture firms were heavily represented.

The Zhongshan Shipyard Park in Zhong· shan, China, designed by Turenscape in Beijing, won top honors. The Boston Children's Museum, with a landscape designed by Michael Van Valkenburg11 Associates of Cambridge, MassachuseHs; Shangri-La in Orange, Texas, by Dallas-based MESAj Harborside Fountain P·ark in Bremerton, Washington, by Portland, Oregon's Walker

Macy; Prince Memorial Greenway in

Santa Rosa, California, by RRM Design Group, based in San Luis Obispo, California; and the Historic Arkansas Rwerwalk of Pueblo, Colorado, by Design Studios West of Denver were among the Project Honor Award winners.

"Managed Retreat: Coastal Development in an Era of Climate Change," by Mary H. Cooper Ellis, Associate ASLA, of Kilmarnock, Virginia lsee Landscape Architecture, March 20081, was among the student award winners.

The nonprofit Waterfront Center helps communities and professionals find ways to use waterfront resources for maximum public benefit. To learn more, and to find information on the 2009 Awards, visit www.waterlrontcenter.org;

Mixing and Mingling By Design

jump-start your February-and Y0111' nascent career-at LABASH 2009.

PENN STATE UNIVERSI1Y is the proud host of LAB AS I-I 2009, the annual meet up oflandscape archirecture students and professionals. Organized around the theme "Make Your Mark," the event will be held February

26 to 28. Approximately 500 [Q 600

students and professionals are expected ro attend.

Speakers will include landscape architecture professionals such as Michael Van Valkenburgh, FASlA, environmental artist Stacey levy, portfolio design expert Harold limon, and Doris Stahl, the former director of Philadelphia's Urban Gardening Program. Rhino and 3D Max, hand-drawn graphics, and green roof plants and design are among the ropics that will be covered

In workshops and sernrnars. Technology learning pods will be on hand where you can brush up your skills, and you

can interview for internships and 1""·"''''''''--·'''

entry-level positions. It won't be all

The jury was impressed by the combination of natural and industrial elements in the design of Turenscape's Zhongshan Shipyard Park in China_

work and no play, though: A social will be held every evening.

Sponsorsh ip opportunities are still available--becoming a sponsor ofUBASI-I 2009 is an excellent opportunity to promote your firm to the landscape architecture community. Early-bird registration is available until January 15.

The organizers look forward to seeing you in February and hope Penn State will leave 1[5 mark on you with an enjoyable and memorable LABASI-I experience. Please visit www.laba.sh.orgforfurther information, registration, and sponsorship.

-JULIE CANTOLA, ENTERTAINMENT/SOCIAL CHAIR lABASH 2009

20 I Landsnpe Architeelure JA ~UAHY 2009

~1==-_. Wide range of paver colors and styles.

• Exceeds all ASTM C902 requirements.

• Extremely durable - strong and colorfast.

Size consistent and versatile - often reversible.

• Clay pavers can contribute to design strategies for LEED certification.

• Sustainable product with low environmental impact from manufacturing.

• StormPave genuine clay permeable paver now available in English Edge® style.

P.O. Box 11044. Wil'lston-Salem, NC 27116-1044 800.334.8689

L ANDSCAP E A I?CHITECTU RE, in partnership with the web-based newsletter and daily blog Re.Jearch Design Connections, uses this column to report current research of interest to landscape architects from a wide array of disciplines. We welcome your comments, suggestions about future topics, and studies you have encountered in yom own practice.

When Designing Public Places, Induding Teenagers Is (duh!) a Good Idea

ESIGN FEATURES of the communities in which adolescents live have a signi ficanr influence on their experiences and development, according to long-standing research. Yet, while planners and designers acknowledge the needs of both adults and children when they are designing spaces, they rarely recognize the needs of adolescenrs. Camille Passon, Daniel Levi, and Vicente del Rio explore the influences of community design on youths and investigate the involvement of people in their teens and early twenties in the community planning process_ Passon, Levi, and del Rio measured the environmental satisfaction of high school seniors living in three coastal communities in central California.

Public spaces are very significant for youchs, in particular, because many important social inreracrions occur outside the home at this stage of development.

Based on previous studies, Passon and her colleagues believe that youths are excluded from the planning process for several reasons. One is age discrimination, resulting in a belief that youths are destructive and dangerous. This not only leads to their exclusion from planning, bur [Q the design of public spaces that teenagers will actively dislike.

Another reason why adults leave youths out of the plann ing process is that they feel teens lack rhe knowledge and judgment required to participate effectively. (Although this also applies to younger children, adults tend to advocate for the needs of young children during the process.)


RESEARCH DESIGN CONNECTIONS

Studies examine teenagers and public places, playground obstacles, how to get kids moving, and the effectiveness of wander gardens. 8y Sally Augus,tin and Jean Mar:j:e Cackowski:~Campbell, ASLA

But, in their review of existing literarure, [he researchers learned that when youths do participate, the process yields places chat more effectively meet their needs, and designers and planners also find that teens have valuable skills co contribute.

Regardless of the reason, the researchers observe that when teenagers are not involved in planning spaces intended for their use, the consequences are serious: "[Tjhe exclusion of adolescent-s from public spaces may hinder [heir development, since socialization and involvement in the daily social life of urban streets help them to become well-adjusted adults. Consequently, the ci ty needs a culturally rich and meaningful system of public places in

which youth are actively involved in planning and designing."

The authors ci re previous research showing that teenagers who live in suburbs like quiet, friendly, suburban neighborhoods and enjoy having backyards and access to natural areas. Young people living in cities like being dose to scores and activity centers, such as libraries and movie theaters. In general, urban youths want access to public spaces where they can act as they wish, without the constraints of adult supervision, as well as places such as parks where they can be alone. Previous research also indicates that youths dislike living in places where they feel that there is little to do and where they need public rransporratiou to

R« t ai n in g E xc e lie nee'"

Pushing the limits of what is possible is not just a goal for Keystone. Its what we do. Our distinct designs and innovative structural solutions have boldly set the bar for the segmental retaining wall industry throughout the last two decades. Keystone-s-defining your landscape.

Hln 5UIILlUliON

Visit us at www.keystonewalls.com.

Keystone Retaining Walls Systems, Inc.' A CONTECH Company' 4444 West 78th Street- Minneapolis, Minnesota 55435' 1-800-747-8971

CIR.CLE 11 S 0" READER SERVICE CA RD OR 50 TO tfTTP;/II"FO.HOTIMS.C0Ml2:34(19·115

RESEARCH

get around, but it is not available. Youths living 111 cities complain about many of the same incivilities rhar adulrs do: noise, crime, and unfriendly people.

UNESCO's Growing Up in Cities project has identified six factors that make a space desirable to adolescents in general, allover the world. In their research, Passon and her colleagues used the UNESCO parameters to assess the environmental satisfaction of high-school seniors in the three California cornmunmes:

• Social integration-how welcome youths feel in their communities. [Socially integrated communities}. .. are ones in which young people are able to interact with other age groups in public places and have a sense of belonging and of being valued.

• Variety of interesting settings-a community in which young people have access co a range of places where they can meet with friends, play sportS, join in

community work, shop and run errands, be away from adult supervision, and observe action on the street.

• Safety and freedom of movementa general sense of safety that occurs when young people are familiar with the community, feel comfortable being there, and have the ability to move about freely and easily reach their destinations.

• Peer meeting places-niches in the community that youths can claim as their own places in which to socialize, such as plazas, empty lots, street comers, coffee shops, and community centers.

• Cohesive community identity-a place that has clear geographic boundaries, where residents take pride in the history and culture of the place, and where a posirive identity is expressed through festivals and art.

• Green areas-some SOrt of vegetation that is accessible to young people, from flae grass playing fields to tree-shaded parks and wild, overgrown landscapes.

The researchers used a written survey, focus groups, and interviews to collect infor-

marion .. Students offered clear opinions about important attributes in communities that were relevant to the design of successful public spaces in relation to the design of the entire community. The following percentages indicate the number of responses rating the aunbutes as important or very Important:

• Is a safe community-94 percent

• Has plazas, community centers, or courtyards where teens can hang om- 80 percent

• Has reliable transportation options for yotmg people-~72 percent

• Has several parks and fields to play in- 71 percent

.. Has a variety of interesting senings=- 70 percent

• Expresses irs culture through ace and fescivals-42 percent

The researchers hypothesize that the low ratings given to art and festivals may be because "many of the existing public events 111 these communities are dedicated to adults or young children."

Synthesizing their results, Passon and her

.J Blocks up to~.o:::::::::..--- 99% of U.V .. rays

.J Reduces air temperature

by up to 20 degrees

J Easy One-Point Fastening System .J Extensive Warranties

Shade_l_

~~'G:®ODO£5" 1 .. 800~609 .. 6066

the coolest 5VtuticrM u"t/_~r the 5 .. ",' www.shadesystemsinc.cam

CI RCLE 59 ON HEADER SI;; RVIC~ CM=tO OR GO to iHTIP:fl1 NFO'_HOTIMS.COM!23489-59


,Sllowi'l Above:

Douglas Park City 0 f Miitmi 8ea ch FJorwa

colleagues advocate fur town centers where teenagers can gather (and travel to via public transportation) and that reduce boredom by developing mixed-use settings. Com ~ rnuniries should stage regular civic events such as cultural festivals in this central area and make an effort to plan activities that engage teenagers, such as concerts, dances, and film festivals. The researchers' additional recommendations emphasize the importance of including youths in the planning process and the interest they show in smart-growth concepts when exposed co them.

grounds. Their research builds on earlier progranls to increase the activity levels of elementary-school-age students.

The researchers measured activity in a playground for five days before and five days after their "intervention," an experiment that consisted of introducing certain kinds of equipment arranged in a particular way. At both times, a play kitchen, a sandbox, a tire swing, multipurpose play structures, and a basketball hoop were in place. Tools for digging in the sandbox, tricycles, hula hoops, and basketballs were also available from teachers, although before the researchers began their experiment, they observed that children used only the sandbox toys.

Hannon and Brown added "hurdles to jump over and hoops to jump through, tunnels to crawl through, balance beams, target toss/throw sets, beanbags, various size playground balls, etc. ... The play area was designed by an early childhood movement specialist into a course that included developmentally appropriate equipment for children ages three to five. Equipment

Source

• "Implications of Adolescents' Perceptions and Values for Planning and Design," by Camille Passon, Daniel Levi, and Vicente del RioJottrnal ()/Planning Education and Research, vol. 28, 2008.

On the Playground, Obstacles Jump-Start Activity

AMES HANNON AND Barbara Brown developed a simple and effective intervention to increase the activity levels of three- to five-year-old children on play-

www.min.-drop.= 419"201·1229

CIRCLi;_ 316 ON REA'DER S~RVICE CARD OR 'GO to Hnp:/IlNFO.HorIMS_C0f1N2~89-316

lAN UARY 2009 Landscape Anhitecturel2 5

RESEARCH

was placed in roughly the same position each inrervenrion day, The equipment was placed in an irregular circle, following the natural COntours of the play area, but with enough space between stations so that children were unlikely to be crowded." The added equipment, which promoted a variety of activities, COSt $1,000.

Not only did the changes boost activity, but this higher activity level also continued for all five days after the researchers introduced che additional equipment and measured the children's activity levels. The participating preschool teachers achieved these results with only minimal effort.

Source

• "Increasing Preschoolers' Physical Acciviry Intensities: An Activity-Friendly Preschool Playground Intervencion," by James Hannon and Barbara Brown; Preventive Medicine, vol. 46, 2008.

To Get Kids Moving, It's Not Just the Park, but What's in It, That Counts

INA RECENT STUDY in a rnidsized city in Ontario, researchers Luke Potwarka, Andrew Kaczynski, and Andrea Flack found that merely the presence of parks did not influence the activity levels of children, bur the location of particular park facilities and features within communities did. They found that "availability of certain park facilities may playa more important role in promoting physical activity and healthy weight status among children chan availability of park space in general." The children observed in the study varied in age from two to 1 7 .

In che study, trained observers visited

parks and noted the presence or absence of 13 features and facilities, including trails, playgrounds, game fields, tennis COUrtS, and swimming pools. Not all ofthese features were presem in every neighborhood park. The researchers found that "(o)f the 13 park facilities examined in the present study, only one was a significant predictor

Fac;adeScape"" Cable Trellis System

- by Carl StahL DecorCable

FayadeScapen' offers design flexibility, easy specification, and trouble-free installation. Specially designed stainless steel components help you achieve your green buildi.ng goals by ensuring a long lasting, maintenance-free, and fully recyclable installation.

FayadeScape encourages healthy plant growth in all hardiness zones. Controlling and trimming plants is simple and the system can be partially removed for building maintenance or seasonal changes.

Our FagadeScape system is manufactured iiiii;;IIII~~S~· in ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 compliant

facilities for high quality and environmental responsibil ily.

I-SYS®

X-TENO®

•

•

• MCS® • Posilock® • StreamLine™

CI RCLE 43 ON BEADI;::R S~::i::WIC~ CM=tO OR GO to iHTIP:fl1 NFO_HOTIMS.COM!23489-4J

Fa<;adeScape™

2.61 Landsnpe Architeelure JA ~UAHY 2009

Tet 800.444.6271

so les@decorcable.com

The Bast InTansro:n

www.decorcable.com

and reduce agi ration and other dementia symptoms. Wander gardens typically are designed to provide a rich sensory experience with "a variety of plants to promote visual, olfactory, and tactile stimulation and to attract birds and butterflies. Also, crees may provide shade, color, seasonal variation, and sound when the leaves rustle in the wind .... Some wander gardens include sandboxes where residents can use their hands or simple safe tools for digging and other activities with supervision. Horticultural therapy may be used to encourage function and cognition. There are Walking paths that promote movement, encourage contact with plants (all nontoxic), and lead the residents to protected areas for sitting and socializing. The paths may be circular and continuous with no dead ends to encourage cardiovascular exercise." Dementia patients in institutions have free access to wander gardens.

of a child's weight category: playgrounds." And the distance between home and the park playground mattered. "Children with a park playground(s) within one kilometer of home were almost five times more likely to be ... a healthy weight than those children without playgrounds in nearby parks.

"Playgrounds might be ideal settings for facilitating physical activity episodes and healthy weight statUS anl0ng youth populations," the researchers concluded. "These amenities might provide children of various ages with diverse sets of activities that can be physically strenuous, but at the same time be fun, interactive, and socially rewarding."

Source

• "Places to Play: Association of Park Space and Facilities with Healthy Weight Status Among Children," by Luke Potwarka, Andrew Kaczynski, and Andrea Flack;Journal of Communiiy Heeltb, vol. 33,2008.

Wondering About Wander Gardens

OR THE PAST FEW DECADES, insritutions for people with dementia have experimented with "wander gardens" designed to enhance patients' emotional well-being, promote physical exercise,


CI RClE '05 ON A EAD8R s EAVlGE CARD OR GO TO HTTI' f~N FO,HOTIMS.COMI2:34EOl·' 05

AM[RIUN SO[IHY OF lANOS[AP[ AR[HIHnS 636 En STREET NW. WASHIH6TON. U[ 20001-3736 202-090-2444 • FAX 202-898-2285 • WWW.ASLA.OHG


RESEARCH

Without empirical research, however, care providers and designers have lacked the objective data needed to assess JUSt how effective wander gardens are. A recent study by Mark Detweiler and his colleagues provides some long-awaited objective data and underscores the prevailing uncertainty surrounding the topic.

In their study, Detweiler and his colleagues collected information on the behavior of patients with access to wander gardens for tWO consecutive years, one year before the garden opened and one year after. During this period, the researchers ob-

The research clea~y shows that the effectiveness of wander gardens is not an easy issue to research, much less to resolve.

served 34 people with dementia, ages 74 to 92, with a mean age of8L Twenty-one patients were ambulatory, 11 were in wheelchairs, and two used walkers.

Based on their more-subjective observations, staff members and families of dem encia patients with access to the wander gardens felt that the patients displayed berrer moods and fewer inappropriate behaviors when they used the gardens. The study data shows, however, that although patients display less agitation in wander gardens, the association is not dearly one of cause and effect; the gardens do not seem [Q influence inappropriate verbal behavior and actually correlate with increased numbers of the most serious type of physical (sexual and combative) incidents, which involve the resident striking our and causing physical harm to him- or herself or others.

Wander gardens clearly are associated with reduced agitation without medication, and this is desirable from humanitarian and financial perspectives. But the internal contradictions of this new data-wander gardens correlate with both positive and nega-

rive behavior-point to uncertainries chat have long shadowed chis therapeutic concept. Whac facrors, for example, trigger ag~ itation, aggression, and even wandering in patients with dementia' Do these factors vary individually among dementia patients, or do they engage a common physiological malfunction? Until the causes of these symptoms are known, it stands to reason that dementia therapies, including gardens, will show inconsistent results.

Some of the data objectively collected in the course of this study also conflicts with some of the subjective observations by people close to the patients, which raises still more questions. Is it possible, for instance, chat subjective observations may be equally valid in assessing the patients' emotional states' The research clearly shows that the effectiveness of wander gardens is not an easy issue to research, much less to resolve. This fact, as much as specific resulrs, signals an urgent need for more study.

Source

• "Does a Wander Garden Influence [nappropriace Behaviors in Dementia Residents?" by Mark Detweiler, Pamela Murphy, Laura Myers, and Kye Kim; Americall Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Otber Demenzies, vol, 23, no. 1,2008.

Sally Augustin, RDc's senior editor, is an emsronmenta] psychologist. Jean Marie CackowskiCampbell, ASL4, is the publisher if ROC and has an MIA degree from Ohio State U niversit)i.

RESEARCH DESIGN CONNECTIONS is a subscription·based newsletter, blog, and web site {www.ResearchDesignConnections.cDm} providing current infonnation on people and place researeh, Rocel!plores the ways physical environments can be designed to reduce stress, increase creativity, improve health, increase safety,. and suppor1 people's welfare. Toempha· size the link between current research and design solutions, ROC gathersinrormation from hard·to·access academic sources and presents it in straigbHo rward prose, tables, and photos. ROC is published in print and online four times a yea r. M embers of ULA ca n su bse ri be at a 20 percent. savings. For more infonnation or to sub· scribe, go to www.ResearchDesignConnections. com/subscribeJas/a.htmf.

Water OdysseyTM

Fountain People, Inc., manufacturer of Wat~r Odyssey'" aquatic playground equipment, 1S the wo rld's leading design er and manufacturer of specialty eq uipment and systems fo r architectural a nd interactive water features.

Fountain People design personnel work wit.h Architects, Landscape Architects, Aquatic Consultants, and end users around the world to develop new innovative wet play environ ments and eq uipment.

CIRCUE 23' ON 'READER SE,RVICE CAA.D OR GO TO HTTP}/INFO.HOTIMS.cOMI2J489·231

AM[RICAN SOCIBY OF lANDSCAP[ ARCHIHCTS 6J6 EYE SIRHl NW. WASHIN61ON. DC 20001·J1J6 2D2·098·2444 • FAX 202'090'2205 • WWWASlA.DIG


, 'T OM&-fY CHURCH REA_llY is my ida] _ in many ways," says Ron Herman, FASlA_ So there is always a certain

tension when he is called in to re-

-- work one of Church's designs. Most of Thomas D. Church's gardens are no longer owned by the people who commissioned them, and the only thing protecting them is the will of the new home owner. Some know of Church's work and hope to restore their garden, but others view these landscapes as a blank slate.

Herman often finds himself educating his diems about Church's importance and the value of preserving certain aspects of these gardens. He says that with a little bit of prodding from the landscape architect, many owners will agree to restore the garden

I n the fro nl ya rd of the tlerma n n Ga rd en, Ron Herman, FASLA, overlaid a water-intensive lawn area designed by ThomasChureh, right, wilb more drought-toleranl plantings, new seal walls, and a cenerete terrace,abore.


Th id - '"II d - b Th Cb I

_fee rest tenua _anscapes _ y omas nurcn

face challenges under new ownership.

By Daniel Jest, Associate ASLA

Dedication to innovation, advanced technology, and excellence in engineering has developed into the first ever generation of outdoor LED fixtures from King Luminaire.

A new generation of post top fixtures offering:

• 5x the usable life of HID fixtures

• Central array or Indirect array options

• Energy Savings

• Excellent light distribution

• Effective uplight control

For more information on our LED

product line, and for a full list of

fixtures offered, please visit us at www.stresscretegroup.com or email/ed@kingluminaire.com

King Luminaire • Strl1ssCret(l • Est. 1953

STRESSCRET.E GROUP

Quality People' Qualityproduct5

In thehacky,lIli, abol'e, Hermanpresenred a curvaceups stune wall that was a p,lti of Church's original design, oppfJSite top. Herman redesigned the paving and relocated a sculpture, which fhe new owners felt was dated. The sculpture has been retained in a less prominent area of the garden, below.

or incorporate some of its defining features into a new landscape thar reflects their own tastes and lifestyle.

Making an existing garden meet the needs and desires of new users can create challenges even for the rnost preservationminded owners and landscape archirecrs. However, thoughtful interventi ons are preserving some of Church's designs to varying degrees. Hop aboard as we tour three Churchdesigned landscapes that have £"1Ced challenges under new ownership-a garden where the new diems had different demands for their landscape, a private garden that has been opened as a public park, and a garden where the new owners are very preservation minded but rhar's rnak-


ing it really hard to carry in the groceries.

The Hermann Residence

At a large estate in Pebble Beach, California, Herman reworked a Thomas Church landscape for its new owners in a way char

preserves parts of the original design. Originally designed for the Hermann family (no relation to Ron), the landscape had a number of beautiful rearures: magnificem old oaks, undulating stone walls and paths, and a layout that was cohesively integrated with the house. However, the new owners wanred more amenities-a pool, a hot tub, and more areas for entertaining outdoors. They felt that some of the macerials were dated, and many of the original materials were dereriorari ng, including (he asphalt drive and some of the paving on the terrace.

Also, the garden was nor very water efficient. The irrigation system wasted a great deal of water, and there was a large, nonfunctional lawn

"It's almost like a bubble diagram. We can keep the good things while updating those things that are out of date and plantings that have outlived their life span."

area in the fronc yard, an issue in this region where water supplies are limited. The lawn was incompatible with the live oaks planted in ir, as the heavy irrigation required for lawn is detrimental to oaks, and the oaks were shading out the Lawn.

Given these demands, restoration was not in the cards, bue Herman convinced his diems to redesign the garden in a way rhac preserves many of its original features and some of its underlying spatial organizarion. "In many of Church's gardens, there is a real clarity co the pian," Herman says. "It's almost like a bubble diagram. We can keep the good things while updating chose things that are out of date and plantings chat have outlived their life span."

Herman says this SOrt of strategy wouldn't be appropriate for some of Church's more influential gardens. He believes gardens such as the Martin Garden at Aptos, tbe Donnell Garden, and the Henderson Garden would merit a purer preservational approach. However, when working on one of Church's lesser gar-

dens in the San Francisco Bay area, where there are perhaps hundreds of his designs remaining with varying degrees of inregricy, he believes it is more imporranr to preserve some of the gardens' unique forms than to preserve them in their entirety as museum pieces.

Throughout the property, Herman preserved the original stone walls of the Hermann Garden. He restored an undulating concrete path that sweeps around the residence. In other areas, Herman maintained the original spatial organization but substituted different materials, For example, he replaced the deteriorating asphalt driveway and auto courts with a warm-colored concrete,

Occasionally, Herman found it necessary to overlay the features and geometries from the Church design with new geometries, creating new spaces. In the front yard, he retained the oak trees but replaced the lawn with drought-tolerant plantings and a concrete terrace, satisfying the clients' desire for space co entertain. New stone seat walls in this area blend in with the historic walls. Subtle differences in the size of the stone allow an observant visitor to discern the history of the garden's developrnenr. The terrace is broken up by zigzagging planting areas that COntrast with the curvy forms of the walls, recalling Church's experiments with similar forms.

In the back garden, Herman removed a sculptural concrete fountain, which was at

new spa draws inspiration e::~11!1 from the original stone walls of the property.

J ANUA R 1 2009 Landscape Architecture I 33

the cencer of a circular area defined by stone walls. TI1e new owners felt this boxy sculpture was dated and didn't like irs prominenr location. It has been replaced by a stone feline sculpture, which sits toward the edge of the circle rather than in the center of it Herman also removed the central planting area and replaced it with plantings along the walls. From a functional standpoint, the new design may work better for the clienrs. It provides more space where rables can be set up when rhey throw a parry, bur the new sculpture does nor punctuate the space as effectively as the taller concrete sculpture once did. Preservation isrs will cake heart in knowing that the concrete sculprure has not been destroyed or sold; rather, it has been moved to a less-prorn inenr location

on the properry, so if a future owner wirh differem tastes and needs wanted to restore that aspect of Church's design, It would not be very hard.

In siting the spa and swimming pool, Herman was careful to make sure that they would not infringe on the views from the

The hy Garden, at a private residence designed by Ch IIrc h, ha 5 been restored and IlPC ned til' Ih e public a 5 a pa rk, abo ve. A hlstoric ph Iltll III the garden, be/ow, shows its unusual combination

of symmetry and asymmetry.

main terrace. He locared them downhill from the house in an area that was once used as a vegetable garden. Church often hid [he vegetable garden and other utility areas, so these spaces can frequently be repurposed by a new owner without affecting other parts of the original design. The vanishing-edge swimming pool [hat Herman designed is absolutely


stunning w irh views that look Out over the ocean. Although such pools were unknown in Church's day, Church himself was

known for his innovative pool designs and the subtle ways he used lawn co make it seem that the garden flowed into a far-off view. Perhaps if he were alive today, Church would design vanishingedge pools, thinks Herman.

While adding a pool can hardly be considered "water conserving," the design does compensate for at least some of its water use by collecting rainwater from the sire in an infiltration trench and using it co water the plantings.

While the approach cak-

en at the Hermann Residence may make some purists cringe, it left many very familiar spaces and features. Like an old Victorian house thar was remodeled co suit its new owners, the garden can be remade in its former image if anyone ever wants to. Or perhaps future preservationists will look at the garden and value Ron Herman's work as another important story that the landscape has ro tell, a remnant of our own em.

The Fay Garden

located a shan walk from San Francisco's famous lombard Street, the Pay Garden is the only residential garden designed by Church that has been opened to the public. In her will, Mary Fay Berrigan donated her house and garden co the city of San Francisco along with $100,000 to be used coward the restoration of the garden. But restoring the garden and bringing it up to modern codes would have COSt nearly 10 times that amount. A neighborhood friends group fought to have the project completed, and after years of delays caused by inadequate funding, the garden was reopened as a park in December 2006.

Pictured in the third edition of Gardens Are for People by Church with Grace Hall and Michael Lurie, the garden was designed at the height of Church's popularity in the late 195 as, but it is spatiall y very different from the modern-looking gardens that Church is best known for. The garden is very traditional in style with three terraces connected by central stairways. Ie transitions from an asymmetrical layout on the lower terrace, designed to work with the asymmet.ry of the house, co a more symrnerr ical layour on the top terrace, with twin gazebos that dominate the space.

Some of the detailing and problem solving at the Fay Garden is familiar from Church's other work. The concrete paving uses redwood expansion joints to provide a decorative look. The wood deck adjacent to the house has a basket-weave panern. Church's genius for caking advantage of views is also evident. At the back of the garden is a steep slope, and ar the top of that slope, Church has sited a craw's nest that provides views of Alcatraz Island and the San Francisco Bay.

Opening this park ro the public presented a number ofchallenges.says ]. C. Miller, who worked on the historic garden report as an employee of Royston Hanarnoro Alley & Abey (RHAA). When he first visited the garden, almost all of the original materials remained, but its condition was poor due to deferred maintenance. "Everything was rotten," Miller says. The wood expansron joints had ratted out and "you could have pushed the balustrades over." The gazebos were mnong the few parts of the garden still 111 good condition.

Our designs or your concepts formed from steel, timber or recycled plastic.

Visit our web site orcontact us directty at: 1-800/547-1940 ext. 739 e-mail: asla@timberform.(om

CIRCLE 5, ON A EADE!R SEAVI CE CARD 0 R GO TO HTTP j~N.FO.HOT1MS .COMIZl.",,·52

AMfRICAN SOCIETY OF lANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 6J6 EYE SIRHl NW. WASHIN61ON, DC 20001-J1J6 2D2-098-2444 • FAX 202-090-2205 • WWWASlA.DIG

lAN UARY 2009 Landscape Architecture I 35

CHANGING PLACES

As one of the main purposes of opening the garden ro the public was to interpret Church's legacy, RHAA prescribed a fairly by-the-book restorarion. All of the concrete work was replaced in kind. "The maintenance folks were not very excited about using the wood expansion joints," says Miller. "The wood rots away. {But] it's an important aspect of the design." There was also some debate about planting a new pepper tree in the garden. The original tree died of a fungal disease around 2000, and some were concerned that if a new pepper tree was planted, it would meet the same fate. However, the landscape architects convinced the city to give it a try, and so far the tree's still alive.

The designers came up with clever trade-offs to preserve aspects of the garden that did not conform to modern codes for public space. The large openings in the original balustrade made it an unaccept-

able barrier mil, but rather than replacing the balustrade, the landscape architects lifted the grade of the soil in front of it so that no barrier mil was required.

Making the garden Americans with Disabilities Act compliant was also an issue.

Rather than providing a ramp, which would have overwhelmed the small garden, the landscape architects suggested a new gate that would allow wheelchair-bound visitors to access the upper terrace from the sidewalk (ar least in theory-the surround-


CIAC!";E: 2:1 ON REAOI;:R SE:.RVICE CARl) OR 'GO to HrtP:JIINj:"O.HOTIMS_C0Ml2~4.B9-~1:

ing sidewalks are quite steep, so people in wheelchairs would have to be dropped off at the gates). Within the garden, the new concrete paths are slightly wider than the paths they replaced, providing four feet of clearance. New handrails have a very subde pro-

file detailed by another local landscape architeccure office. (While RHAA was involved in the project from start co finish, there were tWO other local landscape architecture firms involved: The office of Antonia Bava, ASLA, provided renderings for the

Silhouette Recy~e Trash Recept.Jde Modified. SI,e: 30-;( 36" hl~I'Perforated slalnless stee I or

alu mlnum. casl alu m Inum tep. Rec1cler 3 compartments: cans, plastic, trash.

Silh.uene Tliafigu lor 'Irash Reoeptacle with Ooor. 12 Ga or

1: 6 Ga. Perforated Staioless Steel OJ AJ urn i[]u m wilh satin fillish, Removable tiner, Si".: 33" high

, 24' tr,iangular sides. Option:

Re"l'd" with additional 4"

open ing. Custom si, es a""ilable.

PADC Rocyeler Modell 04<l

Si,e: 30"' x 37'''-lligI1. 45 gallorlS. 2 or 3 trash com partments.

Side door {j pen ing. Mid-rivers version.

master plan, and Cliff Lowe Associates drafted the construction drawings.)

A lack of documentation also muddied restoration efforts. RHAA chose the late 19505 as the period of significance. They had an aerial photograph from shortly after the garden was completed. But the only plan they had to work from was a 1980s photocopy of Church's original plan that had been drawn over. And rather than listing the individual planes use-d in the garden, it had large areas marked "flowers." This is often a problem for those looking to faithfully restore Church's gardens.

The city's commitment to sustainable design also conflicted with a pure restoration approach. The deck was originally constructed using old-growth redwood. The city decided to replace the redwood with susrainably harveste-d ipe, but ipe is a much harder wood than redwood, and it required a different strategy for attachment. "The prominent screw pattern you see did not exist in the original," says Miller. "Also the pattern is slighrly different than it was because ipe comes in a slighcly different size."

SilhoLltllt A"oyole Trash receptacle, Size: 30' X 36" high. Perforated' stainless steel OJ ,aluminum, Cast alu m hu m lop. R"oyle, 1,2, or 3 cornpenments.


One challenge that remains unsolved is what to do with the rum-of-rhe-cencury house that sits on one half of the property. The house has been srabilized with a new roofand a fresh coat of paint, but it remains vacant, awaiting further repairs and a new purpose. The city has thrown around a number of ideas over the years, including making it into a museum or renting it our as a private residence. However, it does not have the funding required to move forward on any of these proposals. Add icionally, the SHang visual connection between the house and what 15 now a public park might pre~ sent privacy issues if the house was rented out as a residence.

The Fay Garden shows the potential fur convemng a historic residential garden into


a park while preserving its essenual historical character. While modern codes and reqUIrements for accessibility can present challenges, thoughtful design trade-offs can often meet these requuements without much effect on the garden's character.

"The Author's Garden"

For more than four decades, Church lived in what is now the Damkrogers' house, a modest Victonan structure near Fisherman's Wharf. "We were specifically lookIl1g for a historic house," says Courtney Damkroger, who works in the field of histone preservation and sits on San Francisco's Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board. Her will to maintain the garden intact is occasionally broken when she goes grocery shopping. The property does not have parking, so she's forced to compete with tourists for the public parking spaces nearby. She often has to drive around for quite a while with her groceries in the car-the milk sours and ice cream melts. And once she does find a parking space, she'll often have to carry her grocery bags quite a distance. Sometimes when she's walking uphill with two hands full of groceries, she wonders whether there wasn't some previous historic period when the storage room in the from of the house was a garage.

Part of the problem is that Church's estate was not sold as a single piece. Church had owned two adjacent properties with tWO hOllses and tWO separate gardens since the 1940s. Damkrogerowns the Victorian house with the famous staircase and the area called "The Author's Garden" in Gardens Arc for Prop/eo The parking was on the adjacent parcel.

"The Author's Garden" was Church's intimaee front yard. It started Out as a more formal garden in the early 1930s but was redesigned with informal plantings in 1954, the same year that Church redesigned the from Stairs to resemble the staircase at the Chateau Founrainbleu in France. In Church's day, the staircase was surrounded by distinctive clipped shrubs that frame the view of a sculpture in the center of the tWO flights of stairs; today only one of those shrubs remains, and the sculpture has been removed. However, the area where the sculpture once stood is still surrounded by cubbies Church installed to hide his cools.

The garden is hidden from the street by a tall wooden fence on which ivy has been trained to grow in a diamond pattern. The plantings are mainly a palette of green leafy vegetation, including palm trees and ferns. A flat, pentagonal area surrounded by a wooden seat wall lies in the far corner of the garden. "This secluded corner is a sunken garden," wrote Church in Gardens Are for People, "A small outdoor room where we can sit and reflect." When Church lived here, he would often use this space to entertain friends and clients. Today, it is an outdoor play space for the Damkrogers' young son, and on the day Landscape Arrhitecturevisited, there were toy trucks siccing out in the garden and chalk drawings on the concretea sign that Church's garden was being very aceively integrated into its new owners' lifestyle.

Since the Damkrogers bought Church's residence, they have been taking a preservationminded approach to the house and its gardens. They have made concact with landscape architects who specialize in historic landscapes and members of Church's inner circle, including Church's longtime secretary, Grace Hall. They have braced the fence, which had started to pull away, and they plan to rebuild ir. "Hopefully we'll be able to use the existing wood, just with new

AM[RICAN SOelBY OF lANDSCAP[ ARCHIHCTS 6J6 EYE SIRHl NW. WASHIN61ON. DC 20001-J1J6 2D2-098-2444 • FAX 202-090-2205 • WWWASlA.DIG


stakes in the ground that make it a little safer," says Darnkroger. Plans call for preserving what remains of the diamondpatterned ivy in situ, stringing it back until the fence is replaced. In another parr of the garden, where ivy framed a door, they have removed the ivy temporarily while they repaint the wood structure, bur they have plans to restore it. "We'.re planning to list the home and garden in the National Register," says Damkroger. If they are successful (which is highly likely given the in-

tegriry of the site and Church's importance to the history of landscape architecture), their house would be the first Churchdesigned residence to be listed.

First, however, the Darnkrogers' parking needs must be met. They had hoped co buy the adjacent house, which Church once owned, and reunite the rwo parcels so they could take advanrage of the adjacent parking. But when the property went up for sale recently, they were outbid. Their options for integrating parking into their own

The Damkrogers have temporarily braced the front fence, left, which was beginning to pull away. They hope to preserve the fence and the vines along it, below. However, their need for

parking may threaten the fence and the garden's pentagonal living area, .bottom.

-

So you think your garden

was designed by Church ...

Those who own landscapes designed by Thomas Church don't alway.s know it.

If Ron Herman, FASIA, thinks a garden was designed by Ch u reh, the fi rst th in g he does is eheek with the Environmental Design Archive at the University of Ca lifornia, Berkeley. Church's papers are housed allhe university, and by using the name of a gar· den's original owner, you can often find old plaus, contracts, and photographs of the garden. Siuce Church never kept a comprehensive list of his commissions, the archive is ineomplete, but there are approximately 1,200 folders available. To learn more about the archive, visit www.ceil.berkeley. edulcedafchives or call 510·642·5124.

site while preserving its integrity are limited. A car could porenrially be hidden from view if they were able co convert an old storage area inro a garage, bur constructing a new driveway connecting this area to the street would devascare the garden, destroying the pentagonal seating area, the only area that truly connects the garden to Church's legacy as a proponent of outdoor living.

As it stands the Darnkrogers are currently still harboring hope that they will find parking in the neighborhood. But it is unclear how long they will be able to hold om. The future of Church's own garden remains unclear.

Resources

• Gardem Arefor People, by Thomas D. Church, Grace Hall, and Michael laurie; Berkeley, California: University of Cal if ornia Press, 1993 (Third Edition).

• "Historic Home Sitting Empey, Future Uncertain," by Beth Winegarner; San Francisco Examiner, November 17, 2008. Available online.

• "(Re)working with Thomas Church," by Ron Herman; Stlldies in the History of Gard.ern and Designed L:md.fcajJes, Summer 2000. • "Secret Garden: The Againsr-All-Odds Opening of a Thomas Church Oasis on Russian Hill," by Sam Whiting; San Francisco Chronicle, A ugllSt 28, 2005. Available online.

AMlRlCAN SomTY Of lANDSCAH ARCHIHCfS 636 m SlRm NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20001- 3736 202·090-2444 • fAX 202-090·2205 • WWW.ASfA.OR6

lAN UARY 2009 Landscape Anhitecturel41

" LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS must be able to see space," Bob Royston often told me. Always an erirhusiasr ic

teacher, he wanted [Q make sure I understood (hat spatial relationships were the foundation of good design. Our conversation about design began abouc 10 years ago, shortly after I joined Royston Hanamoro Alley & Abey (RHAA), and it continued through the years as I researched a book on his innovative suburban park designs with Reuben Rainey, ASiA.

As I listened to Royston, I carne to un-


SEEING SPACE

Friends, clients, and colleagues

remember Robert N. Royston (1918-2008), a pioneering modernist whose teaching and work helped to define landscape architecture in postwar California.

derscand that his concepts of design and space went well beyond aesthetics and the arrangement of elements in an orderly and pleasing fashion. For Royston, design form was always directly related to use and the psychological effect of space on its parricipants. For him the ultimate goal of design, whether in a backyard garden or regional use plan, was the creation of delight, joy, and serenity for the people who would 1l1- habit the space.

Born in San Francisco, Royston grew up on a farm 111 the Santa Clara Valley of Cali-

fornia. While his rural upbringing certainly had some effect on his perspective on nature and the environment, he cited his enrollment in the Landscape Design program at the University of California, Berkeley, as (he beginning of his journey as a landscape architeet. Royston's training began at a time when the classical style of the Beaux-Arts School still dominated the curriculum, an unlikely starring point for a man who would go on to become an innovative modernise designer. Forrunarely, his mentor, Professor leland Vaughan, allowed him to experiment on his own with the new design perspectives emerging in the profession at the time" His studies also included courses in studio art, engineering, and architecture, an experience that convinced him of the value and necessity of interdisciplinary design collaboration, which was a cornerstone of his practice as a landscape architect.

\'V'hile working his way through college, Royston was introduced to Thomas Church and began to work part-time in his office. Upon graduarion in 1940, he became a full-

"If there is a Bay Area style, it is to make the transition between building and nature as quickly as possible, hy actual line, form, and space, The nature comes in and the structure comes out."

-RaysulIIllI "Point al View," Liltld$c"f)e Arot.Ife,ture, Novem berJD:e camber 1986

time employee. While Church's office was primarily focused on residential design, Royston's time in the office marked a period when the firm was beginning to rake on larger projects, such as San Francisco's "city within a city," Park Merced.

In addition ro his professional work, Royston was an active participant in the erearive, and somewhat bohemian, community (hat thrived in the prewar Bay Area. He happily counted artists, poets, and musicians among his circle offriends. He joined Telesis, an informal group of designers concerned with environmental problems,

Residential works such as the Chinn Garden in San Francisco 119471, abo.-f!, the Marin Art

and Garden Show exhibit from 1960, left, and the Basham Residence, below, show how Royston experimented with geometries found ina b str act pa intin g to ere ate ouid oor room s,

where he met several of the architects he would later collaborate with as well as his furure professional parmer, Garrett Eckbo,

With the outbreak of \'V'orld War II, Royston volunteered for the navy. In his spare time aboard ship, he experimented WIth design ideas, sketching and building

models out of scrap materials. He credits these efforts with developing many of the ideas on space and form he would explore after (he war. In 1945, Royston returned (Q the Bay Area and accepted Eckbo's invitation ro form a partnership with him and landscape architect Edward WillianlS. The

JANUA R 1 2009 Landscape Architecture I 43

a terra ee usi ng cone rete c ;rcles of d iHere nl sizes, abo ve. Roysto n sits in h is oW n garde n, in front of a se ree n that wa s exh ibiled at San Francisco's MoMA, right.

new firm, Eckbo, Royston, and Williams, eventually established offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Royston's early professional work consisted mostly of residential site planning and garden design. He was among a group of landscape architects---induding Thomas Church, Eckbo, and Lawrence Halprin, FASLA-who helped co redefine the garden in California in the years following World War II. They experimented with innovative materials to create landscapes inspired by modern art and social ideas, designing gardens thar acted as outdoor living rooms. While Roys ton never wrote a book or man-


ifesto like Eckbo's, his work at the drafting table and in the classroom helped to define the movemenr. Royston's specific design vocabulary of layered, nonaxial spaces and bold asymmetrical arcs and polygons suggests the influence of analytical cubism, biomorphism, and the geometries of absrracr painting. An architectural treatment of space inspired by the work of Mies van

"Catrett [EckboJ wrote the notes; we played the music, ')

-RlIj'Ston in Mod"m Pnblj~ G.ardens: RQberl RoystWl and 'lie Suburban Park, by Reuben M, RaineF. A5l11, and 1. E. Miller

der Rohe and Le Corbusier is also clearly VIsible in his work.

His practice soon expanded to include parks, plazas, and planned residential comm unities. Mitchell Park in Palo Alto, California, which was designed in 1955, represents the first fuJI flowering of Roys ron s talents in the public realm. It attracted national arrention and influenced suburban park design for decades after its completion. In that park he combined functional zoni ng, 1a yered spaces, and residentialscale derails with fresh and imaginative playground design. But the park was not JUSt for children; spaces were planned to serve many different age groups. Some of these spaces could perform multiple functions: A grand concrete circle surrounded

by London plane trees has accomrnodaced everything from roller skating to graduation ceremonies for 50 years.

Royston was also innovative in his methods of opening up the park to views from rhe street. Unlike the large parks of the late 19th century that tried to keep the city Out, Royston's suburban parks provided views into the park to draw people in.

Royston designed parks at all scales and once estimated that he had a hand in several hundred park projects, many of which are still vibrant and popular today. Some of these noteworthy California parks are Cuesta and Rengsrorff parks in Mountain View, Las Posicas Park in Santa Barbara, and Bowers, Homestead, and Central parks in Santa Clara.

Royston also influenced the landscape architecture profession through his teaching. In 1947, he began teaching at the U niversiry of California, Berkeley. His teaching career at Berkeley ended abrupdy in 1951 when he resigned after refusing to sign a Mc-Carthy-era loyalty oath. Soon after leaving Berkeley, he accepted a pare-time position in the archirecture school at Stanford University. Over the course of his career, Royston taught and lectured at more chan 25 colleges and universities across the United Scates.

In 1958, Royston parted amicably wi th Eckbo and Williams and formed a new professional office wich Asa Hanarnoro, FASLA, and David Mayes. That firm developed into RHAA and is still in existence. For 50 years char office has been engaged in a wide range of projects and has earned numerous design awards, including an ASLA award for Sun River, a planned community in Oregon. Royston, who was named a Fellow of ASLA in 1973, was the recipient of many professional awards during his long career, including the American Institute of Architects Medal in 1978 and (he ASLA Medal in 1989.

Royston officially retired in 1998 but remained active as a consultant to his firm and to clients engaged in the rescorarion of his parks. It pleased him grearly that at 90 he was still crafting engaging spaces for the delight of others.

J. C. MILLER Coauthor with Reuben Rainey, ASLA, of Modern Public Gardens: Robert Roy,ton and the Snburbar: Park Oakland, California

AM[RICAN SOCIBY OF lANDSCAP[ ARCHIHCTS 6J6 EYE SIRHl NW. WASHIN61ON. DC 20001-J1J6 2D2-098-2444 • FAX 202-090-2205 • WWWASlA.DIG


Royston was known

for h is in n ovative playgro II nd designs. Pixie Place 119541 featured

one of the naUon's first spray pads, alwve. MitcheUPark 119561 has concrete "gopher holes,'" center right. La Loma Glendale Park's playground, thoug"h occasionally a hassle

for parent.s of insubordinate children, was very sculptural, bottom rigbt. And Krusi

Park 119541 had colorful play sculptures, bottom feft,

I FIRST MET BO'B ROYSTO'N in 2007 at his home in Mill Valley, California, when he was the subject of our Pionees oral history series" I had read much abour the celebrated designer, who was told at an early age

that he should become either an attorney or a ballet dancer. Fortunate for us he entered the profession otIandscape archirecmre,

The July day we met was perfect. Bob was dressed in a navy blue driver's cap and

"Back in 1950, a park was considered among the dullest things you could do-a :few trees and a baseball diamond. I couldn ~t wait to get my hands on it."

-Royston OD getting tile oomn.issi(ln for the Sta nda I'd 'Oil Rod nod 1>11 n CI nh, his Ii rat 11'1 rl.

I n "Avant Ga rd ens" by Debo rahBI sh DP I n Dwell, September 2007


"Plant materials as individual plants never interested me much ... invariably I would look at them as sculpture .... I saw them

as building space., .1:'

-Roystlln in Modem Public Gilrdens: Robelf Royston and tile SuburbiHl Parli, by 'Reuben M. Rai ney, ,!ISlA, and J .,C. Mille r

a powder blue sweater. The cloudless sky surrounding the vista to Mount Tamalpais, which Bob incorporated into his garden as borrowed scenery, was as blue and bright as his sparkling eyes-perhaps even bluer than the pools he designed for the Pettit Garden in Piedmont or Santa Clara's Central Park.

We began our work with a videotaped walk around the Royston property as well as the adjacent residence, the Stein/Higgins Garden-both designed by Bob in 1947. In these tWO landscapes, Bob explored the garden as an art form. A wooden screen he designed for an exhibit at the San Francisco MoMA in the 1950s was later installed in his own garden to visually separate the terrace from the rose garden. It includes ceramic panels by Florence Swift, a celebrated Bay Area artist. For the Stein garden, he employed inexpensive, surplus Army sinks that serve a dual pU1]_)()se as both planter boxes and a retaining wall. In recent years he continued the experimentation: The rose garden, ao addition designed for his wife, Hannelore, is as kinetic as his playgrounds, with irs oversize

planrer boxes mounted atop industrial caster wheels. Throughout the property, deceased, gnarly trees have been painted exuberant and iridescent colors, transforming them into whimsical and playful sculptural elements.

A few hours into our visit, leaf blowers began to make videotaping impossible. Rather than viewi ng this as a problem, Bob suggested that we playa round of peranque (French bocce ball) in his lower garden. The noise conti nued for a couple of hours and so (he play proceeded with Bob beating us all every time-with him grinning ear to ear. Still baby faced and cherubic at 89, his delight in play reminded me of the giddiness we witnessed the day before--of children popping in and out of the gopher holes in

dreas and Patricia are documenting Bob's gardens as part of their studies. Here's looking at yon, kid.

CHARLES .A. BIRNBAUM, FASLA The Cultural Landscape Foundation \'{Iashingtoll, D.C.

As A alENT; I had the pleasure of working with Bob over a period of 30 years. During that time we created a master plan and developed more than 10 million square feet of commercial space at Bishop Ranch, in the San Ramon Valley near San Francisco.

Bob was an optimise. When we were developing our master plan in the late 19705, he would constantly remind me of the great opportunity we had to create a parklike setting in this project. He never doubted that we could succeed in our shared vision because of the purity of design and the respect we shared for human experience and doing what was right for the environment. Today, Bishop Ranch has more than 100 acres of planted area and over 30,000 people who enjoy the landscape.

Bob was creative. One day, several years ago, he called me

from overseas and said, "Alex, I was thinking of you today; and I am going to send you a self-portrait 1 drew this morning." A few weeks later an envelope arrived at my home, and (here was a drawing of Bob's feet crossed on a chair by the beach! 1 have that drawing on my desk at home.

Bob was practical. We have made our share of mistakes together; however, Bob was never one to jump to a conclusion that because a certain plant was not doing well immediately after planting we should yank it up and replace it. He tried to give everything and everybody a second chance. One day he said to me, "There are too many people out there who say, 'I knew that plant was going [0 die; that's why I didn't water it."

I am honored to have shared a part of Bob's career. His wit, vision, optimism,

Royston's lively style of rendering is evident in this axonomelric plan for the NaifyGarden (19541.

Palo Alto'S Mitchell Park, his innovative design where play and art were fused in 1956.

This past May, JUSt four months prior to Bob's passing, we went back to visit the Roystons with rwo dozen colleagues as part of a two-day tour ofRoyscon-designed parks and gardens. The group included former colleague Asa Hanamoto, educator Linda Jewell, FASLA, and two young landscape architecture students, Andreas Stavropoulos and Patricia Algara. 111e tour culrnmared with a reception on the Roysrons' cantilevered terrace. Bob, confined to a wheelchair at this point, lit up for the company and recounted stories and anecdotes for his fans. Although he could not participate he insisted that we all play petanque. I now own a peranque game of my own, and An-


WHEN REMEMBERING Robert Royston I recall an eloquent and passionate speaker with a merry twinkle in his eye. The first time I

heard Royston speak was around 1961. I was planning to enter the University of California, Berkeley, me next year as a landscape architecture major, and I was attending a lecture sponsored by the Oakland Women's Garden Club. The lee-

ture feacured Church, Royston, and Halprin. They were the first "real" landscape architects I'd ever meet.

Church gave an interesting, if somewhat dry, presentation, bur something about his stature and style reminded me of comedian Jack Benny. Halprin reminded me of still another comedian, Danny Kaye. Royston's lively manner, springy step, and especially his flaming red hair reminded me of the comedian Red Skelton. And I thought, JUSt what is this profession I'm committing myself co?

Later, both as a student and a practicing professional, I mer Royscon a number of times. I was always impressed by his vitality, the power of his personality, the eloquence of his voice, and his passionate humanity-

R T R 0 S P en V E

and pragmatism will be missed. However, like a great movie, I can walk OLlt of my door every day and see the results of his hard work.

ALEXANDER R. lAlEX} MEHRAN Sunset Development Company Sail Ramon, California

JONCOE, fASLA Jon Coe Design Mefbwme, A1tJt1'atia

My FONDEST MElVIORY of working for Bob Roysron is his "big fat wax pencil." When he approached your drafting table, he would whip out rhe wax pencil with a big smile and attack the paper like a noonday shoot-om in an old western movie. It didn't take long to realize that Bob was not dueling but


'('We work in the realm of health:

the San Francisco Bay Area, where most landscape architecture office environments were very competitive. At RHAA, the principals of the fum were not separated in their own office cubicles, bur sirting among the Staff. He always talked freely about his wife and children in the office~their family canlping trips, his daughter's jewelry, his tennis games, and his trips with his wife. Bob made professional and personal family seamless in a way that made for a comfortable office environment. As young employees

we understood rhar he was JUSt as concerne-d about the well-being of his Staff as he was about that of his own family.

And what a sense ofhurnor Bob had. He bore a striking resemblance to the comedian Red Skelton, or at least the staff always thought so. He probably suspect-

ed that we passed around jokes at his expense. However, these jokes

were never mean-spirited; they focused on Bob's jovial similarity to the comedian, his spontaneity, and his toral enjoyment of the profession. Bob loved landscape architecture so much and atrocked design problems wi rh such joy that watching him work was inspirational.

Our profession call restore a marsh, purify the air, abate noise, and provide systems in the city where trees will grow and people can gaciler, exercise, and laugh."

-Royston". writings quoted in "Avant Gardens" by DeborabBishop in DweR, Selltember 2007

teaching. The wax pencil was his classroom chalk, and his young employees were his students. I quickly learned to embrace each pencil stroke rather than fight it.

Bob's leadership in me firm created a feeling of "professional family" that was rare in

Bob leaves not only a loving family, but also a loving professional £1111 il Y of former employees who carry his passion for landscape architecture around the world. History will honor his contribution to the California and world landscape.

GLENN 'lARUE SMliH. ASLA Chair of Graduate Landscape Architecture Department at Morgan State University in Balcimore and principal of G. Smith Studio LLC 1f!i1lhhlgtOf:l. D. C.

I FIRST MET BOB ROYSTON as a student at the University of California, Berkeley, in the late 1950s, and he was my friend and mentor from that point forward. After school, I worked for him at the old Eckbo, Royston, and Williams landscape archicecrure firm. We founded our own firm, Royston, Hanamoto & Mayes, in 1957, which is DOW RHAA. Out children grew up together, often goi ng 00 vacations wi th

"Standards in design are an effort to design with words, often to the detriment

of creativity. ,j

-Roystlll1 in ""IIllOUghts lin landscape A",hlted:use" I unpu bl;.h ed m an usc ripl from 1985 qUilted ill Madero Public Ganlem: RoBert Royston and file Suburban Park, by Reube n M. Ra !tley, ASLA, and J. C. Mille r1

the other family. H is enthusiasm for things to do, things to buy and sell, and sometimes just things went beyond being rational. Bur he was always enthusiastic.

As a teacher and cornmunicacor, Bob was just great. He gave the class an exciting perspective on Ian cis cape design that was all encompassing. I remember Bob explaining design with a big, black sketch pencil in his large hands, drawing away as his students, me included, looked on in awe. He taught at many universities and colleges throughom the U nired Stares after leaving the U ni versi ty of California. We had to constantly remind him that he was a partner in a professional design office nying to make a living, and he couldn't accept every request to lecture.

Bob was an enjoyer (my word), a lover of life with all its ramifications, its ups and its downs. He did nor let the downs leave him

SPECIFY KORNEGAY DESIGN LANDSCAPE CONTAINERS

notable alternatives for distinguished projects 877.252.6323 WW'W.kornegaydesign.com

CIRCLE 118 ON. READER $EAVlOE CARD OR GOTO HTTPfIINFOHOTIMS.OOMI2:3"""·118

1H( ~IRT: [AN You 0161T?

AMfRICAN SOCIHY Of LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 636 HE SIRHl NW, WASHIN610N, DC 20001-3736 202'090-2444 • fAX 202-090'2205 • WWWASlA.OHE

lAN UARY 2009 Landscape Anhihcturel4 9

"down in the dumps"; he always came up to the positive side. His love of life and the outdoors is typified by his weekend place on Hat Creek, just north of Lassen N arional Park He loved this piece of land with its pristine views, wildlife, and trout. We spent many wonderful days together there. The opening of trout season every spring used co be an annual ritual for his friends and the office scaff. We always managed co catch a few, bue it was a good thing there was other food or we would have gone hungry.

Bob lived a long life and lived it well. The day before he passed away, I sat with him in bed, held his hand, and quietly talked, telling him about the positive impact he had on so many lives. As I talked he would open his eyes, show a crinkly l irrle smile, and squeeze my hand. My last visit with Bob will be with me for the rest of my life.

ASA HANAMOIO, FASLA l'ili!! Valley, Califomia

I FIRST MET Robert Royston more than 40 years ago when I moved to Palo Alto, California. He had been referred to me by his former partner, Garrett Eckbo. I was building low-income multifamily projects in the Bay Area. After the first project, I realized what a genius Bob was. His design was flawless and inspiring. Over the years, he


., A community park should have something for all ages. It is not an outdoor gymnasium but an intimate space where everyone should feel at home-families., friends, children) and old people. "

-Royston in "Avant Garden." by 'DelJorllh Bisho,p ln Dwe/I, Septe m ber 2001

designed a dozen large projects for my firm, all meant co be enjoyed by the tenants who lived in rhem, Truly, I feel that my business success was enormously helped by Bob's landscape architecture. He is sorely missed.

JACK BASKIN Retired engineer, developer, philanthropist Sa/Ita Crss, Califomia

THE JOURNEY OF ONE of the kindest landscape architects I have ever known has come to an end. Looking back over the more than half a century since I first met this big, ever-positive man, I've become convinced chat he was much more than a distinguished landscape architect. Aside from being a humanist and an untiring liberal, Bob was at his core a perpetual and talented artist.

We met around 1950 through my father, who was an artist. Both he and Bob were parr of some of the same relatively small overlapping circles of artists and design professionals living the bohemian life in San Francisco. Those were heady times-we had defeated the fas-

.Royston's firm designed the amp hilhe ater at the University

of California, Santa Clara, above, and Santa Clara Central Park 11960-19751, left. The park has a n un u sua I te ntl ike stru ctu reo

cisrs, the United Nations was born, and now the world was ready to turn irs attention to the designers who would playa key role in helping create a peaceful and beautiful future. Bob, who had experienced the war in the Pacific, was one among many designers of that generation who dived into that task with enthusiasm and COltroge. One sign of that courage: He refused to sign the unconscitutional loyalry oath required then of all University of California faculty.

He starred his studies at a time when the old Beaux-Arts School still held sway in the landscape architecture departments-c-ar Berkeley it was still called the Department of'Ornarnental Horticulture. These departments were dedicated to the students' eventual employment in the "atelier," the old model for a landscape architecture practice in which the grand master made all the design decisions whilst his underpaid apprentices looked on with adoration. But by the time I joined the firm of Eckbo, Royston, and Williams 10 1954, chat atmosphere had disappeared completely, and Bob made us young pups feel like colleagues who had something valuable to contribute. Bob and others of his generation made the transition from the atelier or studio to the now ubiquitous corporate office form without losing the former's human touch. In doing so char generation helped grow the profession by increasing public awareness ot landscape architeccure and making it a significant participant in a rapidly changing world.

Bob loved drawing and his own drawings. I can still see him, charming a city councilor park and recreation commission and actually caressing me wall display with a planting plan consisting of studies in space, form, color, and rexture-s-not ecological principles. When one looks at his delicate and complex wood fence and arbor patterns and the sensuality of his ground forms, ic is hard to avoid the conclusion that what he was really doing was sculpting a landscape. In 2006, when the book on Bob's park designs was released, he vigorously inscribed my copy in his familiar bold handwriring. He wrote, ''Tito--life is memories and love"~sentiments that couJd only have come from the heart of a true artist.

lITO PATRI, FASLA Tito Patri & Associates Satl FranciJro

1555 N, Mingo Road Tulsa, OK 74116 Phone, J-888-333-34·12· FlO: 1-8~1Ii-3747 _ ........ r""o..co'" &naIll ~ ..... lf __ '"

M~~!~~[8~

vvvv \.IV. 1\1\ 0 N lAC., ('. F E_NC L . c .. < .. >IV\

The new Montage® welded steel ornamental fence system blends advanced manUfacturing and coa~ technology with innovative ideas from renee proli!ssionals tosatiS~ all requlrements for consIderably less than ornamental fences 0 the past. It Is acdatrned as "the greatest Innovation ever Introduced In the fence Industry"]

faslon-welded for durabUJty £~~oatecl .m.aintenancefree finish Dadoed by 20-\IeM Womanty

lit:::;! AMERlSTAR8

-

CIRCLE 7 ON READER SERVICE CARD OR GO TO HTTP}ANFO.HOTIMS.C0Ml23489·7

AIT(NTION: OUSIN(SS(S. SUPPlI(RS. [ORPORATIONS ...

AMfRICAN SOCIHY Of LANDSCAPE ARCHllfns 636 HE SIRHl NW. WASHIN6TON, DC 20001-3736 202'090-2444 • fAX 202-090'2205 • WWWASlA.OHE


STANDARD FARE in landscape architectural education includes a study of Lawrence Halprin's work in Portland, Oregon, with a special focus on the Ira Keller Fountain and Lovejoy Plaza, both part of Portland's Open Space Sequence, completed in 1970 as a gift to the city. Typically Halprin's works in Portland are taught in terms of their aesthetic form, often neglecting the artistic and social context from which this national treasure emerged. Last September 14, community members in Portland's rich arts scene returned the gift by honoring the Hal pr ins with a large-scale community-based dance and music celebration almost 40 years afrer the Open Space Sequence's installation. The event, titled The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin, was produced by crossdisciplinary artist Linda K. Johnson, journalist and urban historian Randy Gragg, and musician Ron Bellinger, artistic d ireccor of Third Angle New Music Ensemble.

Dance is an appropriate medium for highlighting Halprin's work in Portland. His designs are born directly from his marriage to dancer Anna Halprin and their involvement with the San Francisco incellecrual and artistic scene of the 1960s- This j nreraction led Halprin to develop an approach

to design and dance he called the

"score," in which he analyzes the underlying structure of place and embeds choreograph ic design dues to invite active movement in and around the place. Halprin's intent is to create places that offer refuge and joy to [he urban dweller. Through

The essentia! pUrpOJ-e of design is to create the possibilitie: for events to happen, -Lawrence Halprin, FASLA, 1972

Text and Photography by Judith R. Wasserman

choreographically inspired design, he creates dynamic places.

The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin beautifully revealed how intricacy and complexity, challenge and comfort can engage community in an urban space. Cho-

reographed dances in and around the founrains throughout the Portland Open Space Sequence high Lighted design elements and revealed cues embedded 111 the built forms. Four choreographers- Tere Mathern, Cydney Wilkes, Linda Austin, and Linda K.

Jim McGinn and Hannah Downs engage with the verticalib' of the water's flow at the Ira Keller fountain.

521 Landscape Architeelure JA ~UAHY 2UU~

Newest resources in landscape architecture.

VERSIOM 1.0

978-0-470-37937-0 • Single User 978·0470·39537-0 • Network License

With a user-friendly interface and CAD-compatible file formats, this CD-ROM brings the must-have "bible" for landscape architects to your desktop.

978·0·470·13455·9

A complete guide to the evaluation, selection, and use of sustainable materials in the landscape to minimize environmental and human health impact.

MATERIALS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS IN LANDSCAPE DESIGN

ROB W. SOVINSKI. ASlA

978-0-470-11293-9

An encyclopedic and systematic approach to the broad palette of materials commonly used in landscape construction, in one convenient volume.

For more information, visit www.wiley.com

~WILEY

Now you know

CIRCLE 190 ON REPiDER SERV,ICE CARD OR GO TO HnP;lIINFO.HOTIMS.COMI23o!89-190

Johnson-were involved with the project. Mathern's dancers highlighted edge, danger, challenge, and comfort at the Ira Keller Founcain. Wilkes used movement as a metaphor at Petrygrove Park, directing pedestrians to move through the park's mounds in a pattern chat evoked the flow of water. Austin's playful choreography at Lovejoy Plaza brings the musicians and audience into me ace, and Johnson's composition at the Source Founrain brings dancers and musicians together with the audience.

While the Ira Keller Fountain is popular and heavily used in the warmer months, the other pieces of me Portland Open Space Sequence are submerged in Portland's urban context. In casual conversation with Portland residents J learned char many do nor understand that Perrygrove Park, Lovejoy Fountain Plaza, and the Source Fountain are

even public spaces. The most popular Portland tourist map names the Ira Keller Fountain, but the other elements of the Open Space Sequence remain nameless green patches on the map. Towering condominiums surrounding these places overshadow them, and paths connecting them have become more tentative because of encroaching development. The Ira Keller Fountain is the only space in the sequence that has vehicular access on all edges; pare of its recognition has to do with sheer visibility.

The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin community event drew attention and energy to the Open Space Sequence, giving Portland residents a chance to learn more about their downtown and the special pedestrian places that exist within it. In organizing the event, 14 city agencies had


I ra.Kell er dance rs test the fOllntai n's edge and play in the water pools, above left. Esther lePoinie, above, highlights the sense of daoger embedded in the Ira Kelter Fountain, and other

daneers gather above it, bottom left.· The Portland Open Space Sequence is shown with original open space names, bottom right.

THE SOURCE

LOVEJOY PLAZA AND CASCADE

PmYGROVE PAR.K

AUDITORIUM PLAZA

& W.ATERFALL

key roles, from the city water department to those called on to dose the streets. Landscape architects, architects, dancers, mUS1~ cians, artists, community organizers, and a host of volunteers came together over a period offour years, with the final two years involving intensive event planning. Even the street people who spend their days on the edge of the Ira Keller Fountain Park were engaged with the process: A few days betore the event, choreographer Johnson let them know that the space they occupy would be filled with dancers, musicians, and audience members. During the final public dress rehearsal I eavesdropped as these founcain residents mused and speculated about the deep metaphoric content of the work.

Through the love and attention of the dancers and community as a whole, the Portland Open Space Sequence has once again become enlivened.

Ira Keller Fountain

On the street corners bordering the Ira Keller Fountain, dancers-two co a comer and dressed all in whice=-skipped, rolled on the sidewalk, and spun around, signaling the special event. A crowd of spectators gathered on the steps of Portland's civic auditorium and every possible sittable surface (of wh ich there are many). Musicians sat on chairs under a blue acoustical rene. Then, at the top of the fountain, a row of dancers emerged dressed in sky blue.

Anticipation and energy built as dancers moved toward the fountain's precipice. Navigating the fountain's rim, dancers balanced between inviting pools of water and a dangerous plunge to the platforms below. Highlighting the fountain's edge with their bodies, they remained frozen on the wall, looking, in unison, up toward the sky. As the dance progressed, dancers alternated be-tween playful and ritualistic immersion in the pools of water and testing their bodies against the angular concrete in the interplay between dancer and concrete edges, music and roaring water, sun and shadow.

Recognizing that Halprin's fountain de-sign is about community spirit and play, choreographer Mathern delighted in rhe challenge of connecting bodies to environment."What is fasci nating about the Keller space," she told me, "is the tension between the body as soft orh>anJc rhing within these very angular concrete planes and lines and

CIRCLE 71 ON. READE'R SERVICE CARD OR GOTO HTTI'j~N.FO,H0T1MS.COMIZl"'J.71

AMfRICAN SOCIHY Of LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 636 HE SIRHl NW, WASHIN610N, DC 20001-3736 202·090-2444 • fAX 202-090·2205 • WWW.ASlA.OHE


Audience members assemble on mounds at Petiygrove Park, above, with dancer Carla Mann and cellist. Justin Kagan, Tracy Broyles, Mike Barber, and Mann, above right, use ffags and motion to highlight the flow of the Pettygrove paths while referencing Anna Halprin's origInal San Francisco City Dance. Dance.fs in bright orange are discovered inlyri'tal motion as audience members enter Pettygrove Park, right.

the raw force of water." Her dancers were given the opportunity eo explore the fountain. The choreography and dance interpretation matched Halprin's intent for the fountain. As he wrote in his notes for the Portland Open Space Sequence, "The planes and fracture lines, ledges and talus at the toe would allow water co circulate, leap, ooze, jump, erc., all in great diversity" On this day, the dancers' movement replicated the water flow. Starting from the top, first one, then two dancers slipped down the Stairs and emerged on the ground plane, their graceful duet a counterpoint to the gushing water.

It's worth remembering that the Ira Keller Fountain originally opened justafter a major anti- Vietnam War protest had occurred in Portland in which police injured many protesters. In acacharric release at the

opening ceremony, the young people who showed up jumped inco the foumain_ According to Randy Gragg, Halprin biographerand evencorganiz.er, the mayor of Portland sought to halt this joyous impulse. Rather than debate with the mayor, Halprin simply joined the revelers and jumped in. At that moment a mandate was set: The Ira Keller Fountain was for the people.

As the modern event at the founrain neared its end, one of the dancers turned to the wall and tentatively approached, putting first one hand in, then her arm. As if finding it irresistible, she jumped. under the water sheets and all but disappeared, with only a fainr image of a body submerged and engulfed" Audience applause erupted.

'Pettygrove Park

An integral pare of the Portland Open Space Sequence, Pecrygrove Park is a lush contrast co rhe Ira Keller Fountain. Instead of huge angular drama sparkling in the sun, it is a landscape of gentle mounds with a tree canopy char lers in soft, dappled rays. That September day, with multitudes of audience members participating, choreographer Wilkes explored the water movement in a metaphorical way.

As th e dan eers asce nd t.he Lovejoy Fountain, musicians Jeff Pey10n, Susan Smith, and Joel Bluestone, above, become the central focus. Dancers express angle and level changes at the Lovejoy Plaza wit h the ir bod i es, left.

She directed the pedestrian flow through the space, with rhe individual parricipanr becom mg part of a collective mass that resembled a meandering stream.

The dancers, dressed in bright omnge, were already ll1 motion as the audience moved into Pertygrove Park. Musicians, inStead of being assembled in a traditional unit, were spread throughout the mounds, a cello player on one, a flutist on another. Music echoed through the park. Dance events took place on all sides of the mounds, which served as viewing slopes and hiding places. Dancers appeared and disappeared. After the audience flooded the site, dancers paired up on the mounds.

Dancer Linda K. Johnson appeared, carrying light blue flags that reference the original City Dance 40 years earlier char was Staged by the Halprins and others who were part of the San Francisco art scene. Wilkes transposed the audience with the dancers, and the viewers were ushered from the path up into the mounds. The audience settled on the lush greenery, and the pathways became the stage, transformed into a kal!eidoscopic mesh of color and fabric as blue flags and orange-clad dancers interlaced throughout. Then Johnson rang a bell and the audience was awakened out of this dreamlike world and led up the path to Lovejoy Plaza.

Lovejoy Plaza

Lovejoy is an open hardscape with [he fOW1- rain located in one comer. Some consider it the harshest space in the Open Space Sequence and have difficulty warming to its scale. Choreographer Austin, however, found it co be the perfecc size for dancers and audience. In participating in this dance event, I could not help bur think of Halprin's own vision-that the designed vastness was created to be filled up with celebracory arts events, as expressed in his Notebook.)". Lovejoy Plaza, he says, should host dance events with dancers "all over and arriving co center space" from above, down the stairs, and around the founcain.

Out of Austin's choreography, humor emerged. Once the audience was serried into all the different plaza levels facing the founram, the dancers in green filtered through the crowd. Starting in the plaza space in front of the fountain, they began to play. Engaging with the edge of the fountain, they draped their bodies on the

AMfRICAN SOCIHY Of LANDSCAPE ARCHllfns 636 HE SIRHl NW. WASHIN6TON. DC 20001-3736 202'090-2444 • fAX 202-090'2205 • WWWASlA.OHE


ICONS REVISITED

wall, delighting in the water through dipping 10 fingers and feet. Dancers defined the edge of the water pool through movement, chen angled their bodies to explore the chaotic system of the lovejoy stairs. The dancers ascended to the upper level and turned into human fountain "follies." Then some of the musicians entered the dancers' space, banging with trash can lids, large wire springs, and other found percussive instruments. They finally crept into the water itself, joining the pianist waiting in the pool's center.

Again, a bell fang OUt, and the audience was ushered to the back side of the fountain, where the dancers were revealed in a quiet ritual of bathing themselves and each other. This referenced Anna Halprin's interest in submerging the body in elemental natural substances and the universal cultural practice of the ritual cleanse. The audience was shepherded around the space and back along the plaza's edge to once again engage with the connector path, on the way to the Source Fountain.

The Source

A little known, yet integral part of the fountain sequence, the Source is a human-scaled fountain in a small square space surrounded by building edges. Moving up the path toward the Source, the audience passed dancers depicting cleansing and dressing! undressing rituals. Women in white along the path knelt with water buckets, slowly releasing trickles of water downstream as pedestrians moved upstream. Some women took off their clothes and put them back on as if in a trance. Anna Halprin's work often featured nudity-in the Portland work, the women left their undergarments on.

The decision to conclude the dance sequence at the Source was the result of a cwomonth discussion among the choreographers. Some favored ending at the Ira Keller, so the audience could join the waterthemed mayhem and jum p in. In the end, for conceptual and practical reasons, it was decided to direct the piece in the reverse direction of the metaphoric water movernent. Johnson reflected that it "made a lot of sense eo create a sense of journey upstream" And for practical purposes, the sign i fican tl y smaller place would not be able eo contain more than 75 people at a time, so it would not offer a good poinr of departure. Instead, Johnson chose the smaller space with the central focal element as a place of gathering, allowing

the audience to become an "active part of the performance."

Johnson entered with a Cart pulling Ron Blessinger, musical director, playing his violin. Then a tape loop incorporating music and the recorded voices of Lawrence and Anna Halprin started. along with a traditional Israeli community dance as Johnson took the hand of a member of the audience and led audience members in a grapevine step around the site. Participants joined hands, and together they created a giant continuous circle that moved ineo the space. Lawrence and Anna Halprin both eire their Judaic heritage as a source of their political and social values; this dance form honored that ancestral source. Dancers scooped up buckets of water from the fountain and spread it on the ground at people's feet.

Music and the spoken word engulfed the space. The Halprins' presences were felt, as their words on the day the Ira Keller opened were broadcast, among them Lawrence Halprin's saying, "I want you co know that this is probably the greatest moment of my life to see you all here and eo see you using this place."

The dance ended with [he lines blurred between performers and [he audience. Ending at the Source was a profound choice. Through gathering in a circle and dancing together, the entire community had a chance to spiricual.ly gather up the brilliance of the sequence and emerge with a commitment to public engagement for

MUSical Director· Ron Blessinger, top, weaves violin music into the musical and voice tape loops. Audience members participate in the

dance, center, and join hands and gather in a co ntinuo us loop arou nd the So uree F ounta in, Jeft.

the sake of a collective urban enrichment. After experiencing the u111ry of the circle, participants encountered a dancer waiting to offer them closure before they moved our of the Source plaza and OntO the connector path. The dancer took each audience member's hand and placed a button in it with a singular word: "Play"---one last simple thought to sum up the event and the intent of places like the Portland Open Space Sequence in urban life.

Judith R. WaJ"Senltart is an associate profe.J"Sor in the College of EnviromlWlt and Design at the UniverJityofGeorgia.

Resources

• The City Dance of Lawrence and Anna Halprin was created as part of the Portland Insti nice for Concern porary Arc (PICA) Time-Based Arts Festival (TBA). See tuww.pica. orgltba.

• The Halprin Landscape Conservancy (HLC) participated in the PICA TBA Festival through guided design tours of the Portland Open Space Sequence, financial conrributions, and fund-raising. The HI.C's mission is to activate, improve, and maintain the Portland Open Space Sequence so these open spaces can be enjoyed for generations to come. For more information, see halprinlc. ()t-g_ Steven Koch, ASLA, of Portland-based Koch Landscape Architecture, is one of the founders of rhe me and the liaison to the Office of Lawrence Halprin.

• Process: Architecture No.4. Laurence Halprin, edited by Chi- Yu Chang; Tokyo:

Process Architecture Publishing Company, 1978.

• The Cui rural landscape Foundation offers a vast wealth of information on importanr historic and contemporary works of landscape architecture, including rhe Halpri n Open Space Sequence in Portland. For more information, see unouuclf.org.

• Notebooks 1959-1971, by Lawrence Halprin; Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1972.

• Ta1ePart: A Reportm2New Ways in Which Pevple Can P artici.pate in P fanning Their Own Emsronmems, by lawrence Halprin & Assonates; New York, San Francisco: Lawrence Halprin & ASSOCiates, 1972.

• Sketchbooks of Lawrence Halprin, edi ted by Karsuhiko Ichinowarari; Tokyo: Process Architecture Publishing Company, 1981.

CIRCLE 72 ON READER. SERVICE CARD OR GO TO HHP"nNFO.HOTlMS.GOMI2:348$·72

The 390 is also ideal tor swinging gOfoge and custom conioqe-style doors.

The Model 390 low voltage electromechanical swing operator was designed primarily to accommodate large pillar install ations.

For more information and complete speclfications on the 390 and other

FAAC low voltage operators, along with our famous line of hydraul ic operators, visit our web site at~~UJmmlll3lrtW

An ISO 9001 c."tified Company

CIRCLE '"4 ON 'READER SE FlVICE CAR.D OR GO ro HTTPB1NFO.HOTIMS.cOMI2"'''''.'''4


IF THE FREDERlCK LAW OLMSTED of 1857 offered to plan and. manage your cirys central park, you probably wouldn't hire him, The then 35-year-old was a. farmer, journalist, and former sailor with no formal training in archirecrure, engineering, or any related field. Though he didn't have much technical expercise, he had great leadership skills. Those gave him the opportunity ro succeed and then to be successful.

The year 2008 was the 150th anniversary of the awarding of the job to create Central Park, the first and still the foremost major park in New York Ciry, Central Park launched Olmsted's famous career in planning and landscape architecture and became a model for other urban open spaces throughout the United States. Olmsted's scory sounds too Hollywood to be true-------a struggling farmer, B-lisr writer, and failed businessman from the backwoods of Staten Island gets picked by Manhattan's elite co steward their dry's emerald of open spaces. Bur it's qui re logical and provides some lessons for how we can be successful.


How Frederick Law Olrnsted got the Central Park job.

By Leonardo Vazquez

Like Leonardo Da Vinci and Thomas Jefferson, Olmsted was a man of many talents. Among them was building connections with influential people. He was born co a comfortable fum ily in Connecticut but was an outsider when he moved to what is today New York City's borough of Scat en Island. After buying a farm there, he formed a small dub of farmers, and from there the Richmond County Agricultural Society. He made himself the president of the group.

Olmsted increased his visibility by getting letters and announcements published

Centra I Park is fo rever ass oc iated with Frederick Law Olmsted, thanks to his ability 10 use hi s skills and stren glhs strategiea l!y.

in local publications, such as the now defunct Staten Islander. Finding the agriculturallife coo constraining, Olmsted and his brother set our to explore the cities of England. While there, he gOt the opportunity to write a few articles for the Hartford Courant. That scarred him on the road to being a journalist and writer.

In 1857, while working on a book, Olmsted met a member of the commission chosen to pick the first superintendent for what would become Central Park Olmsted talked enthusiastically about the value of such a park, and the man invited him to apply for the job.

Meeting the commissioner was lucky\'{7hat Olmsted did afterward was strategic. He reached out through h is network to support his candidacy. "Since his activities in recent years had brought him into contact with men of prom inenr and various affairs," says biographer Laura Wood Roper, "he had no difficulty in collecting a number of imposing sponsors." By a vote of eight to one, Olmsted was chosen as superintendent to manage the creation of the park.

Join Landscape Arch.ifedure magazine editor Bill Thompson, FASLA, onen exclusive tour designed especially For landscape architects. Explore the historic and contemporary landscapes of one of the world's most beautiful cities during the Historic Chorleston Foundation's annual Festival of Houses and Gardens.

Noled author and landscape historian James Cothran, FASLA, will lead tours of gardens desiqned by the renowned loutrel Briggs, ASLA. Award-winning lendscope architect Sheila Wertimer, AS.LA, will shore her work in historic gardens and visionary developer Vince Graham will open the discussion on the many New Urbanist communities being developed around Charleston,including a tour of his own groundbreaking work 01 l'On, Enjoy a private tour of Middleton Ploceond g,ain exclusive access to gardens not usually open for public tours.

Have breakfast withthe city's beloved Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., Han. ASLA, and hear his views on what makes Charleston so engaging and his vision for the city's future·,

Journeys with the Editor

H:sto_ ic and Contemporary Charles on Landscapes

March 18 . 22, 2009

11-, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCH ITECTS

CALL FOR ENTRIES

lalldsca archrtecnife

\

AWARDS PRESENTED:

September 18-22,2009 at the ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO in Chicago

\

,

LESSONS

Playing Politics

Now that he had proven himself a good campaigner, Olmsted had to demonstrate excellent political skills. New York City at the time was run by the Tammany Hall political machine, part of the Democratic party. The New York State Legislature had taken control of the park away from New York City and given it to a comm 1Ssion made up mostly of Republicans. M superintendent, Olmsted reported to an engineer-in-chief, Egbert Viele, who was chosen when the commission was 10 Tammany Hall hands. Many of the workers were hired through pacronage and were there to help in elections, not park building. Olmsted worked hard in the field and showed a thick skin co the taunts and jokes of the employees. When the commission fired workers and hired new ones to soothe the anger of unemployed

things, And this helped him to go beyond park planning into public health and community planning. If it wasn't for the connections he made, his communication skills, and his being a reflective practitioner, Olmsted would be remembered, if at all, as anomer struggling farmer in a rural hamlet in southern New York State.

"Nothing 10 h is record-a farmer who had not made his farms pay,. a writer who had made nothing but reputation, a publisher who had gone bankruptsuggested his capacities," Roper says. Bur he had "the vision to grasp complex problems, the acuity to analyze them, the balance to see the whole and the parts in proportion, and the discipline and imagination to devise solutions .... "

What Are the Lessons for Our

Practice and Careers?

- Get involved and get connected. If it's a choice between participating in that urban design committee meeting and sharpening up another demographic table in a long report, go co the meeting.

- Build your leadership skills. Olmsted could have been JUSt another brilliant

thinker who gee crushed by political realities, bue he knew that being smart was not enough.

- Be reflective and explore deep questions. Don't JUSt think about how and what you do. Ask yourself: Why? Why nor? What would happen if?

- Be open to ideas from a diverse array of people. When was the last time you asked the office manager or someone in the mail room ro comment on your proposed plan?

Meeting the commissioner was lucky~ What Olmsted did afterward was strategic~

men during ad ifficul t economy, Olmsted used these opportunities to get and retain competent workers.

After the commission chose a superintendent, it held a competition to design the park. Olmsted was asked by architect Calvert Vaux to team up with him to enrer the competition. Being politically smart, Olmsted tested [he waters to see if Viele would object. He didn't, Vaux and Olrnseed jointly developed the design, called Greensward, that became Central Park.

The winning design gave no credit to any individual, so it wasn't dear who contributed which piece. And this is anoeher factor in Olmsted's success: Though he was personally ambitious, he also knew teamwork and understood when the whole was bigger than the sum of its part-s.

A Reflective Practitioner

Olmsted was what we might c-all today a reflective pracririoner-c-someone who asked deep questions about his own work and wanted to learn more about more

Letmardo Vazquez is director of the Leading I nstiuae (www.thelead ing institute.org), which provides leadership development and training to plannm and related projeJJionais.

Reprinted with permission from Planerizen, www.planetizen.com.

Resources

• FLO: A Biography of Frederick Law Olmsted, by Laura Wood Roper; Baltimore:

Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983; 573 pages, $20.95 (paperback).

BARTLETT.

BECAUSE CUSTOMER SERVICE,

JUST LIKE TREES, SHOULD BE

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR.

You know best - the trees and shrubs that grow along with your customers are valuable assets that deserve care and protection. For over 100 years, we've led both the science and services that make landscapes thrive. No matter the size or scope of their tree and shrub cue needs, our experts provide your customers with

a rare mix of local service, global resources and innovative practices.

BARTLETT TREE EXPERTS

For the life of your trees.

PR UN I N G FERTI LI ZATION R EM OVAL PEST & DI.SEASE MANAGEMENT

CALL 877 BARTLETT 877.227.8538 OR VISIT BARTLETT .. COM

C IRGLE. zsa ON READER SE AVICE CACRD OR GO TO HTTPj~ NFO.HOTI MS_COM<2"'S~·263


Located in lower Manhattan, the TriSeCa section of Hudson River Park, here, accords spectacld'ar views of an expa nd i ng b usi ne ss d i.strict ac ro ss the H udso n River in Jersey City.

The riverfront esplanade,befow, is characterized in places by a historicist design vocabulary that includes 19305 World's Fair·style benches and an art deco-style railing.

The TriBeCa section extends the

FROM A DISTANCE, the TriBeCa section ofHuclson River Park looks a little like a dollhouse landscape. Across busy FDR Drive, the massive skyscrapers of lower Manhattan form an imposing backdrop. But although it is only 4.6 acres, this section of Hudson River Park, designed by the landscape architecture firm Mathews Nielsen, not only takes advamage of the dramatic views around it but also forms a little world unto itself that's packed with arnenir ies. And after a walk-through, the park seems much larger than it actually is. The illusion of space here is created through an intricately contoured landscape and a variety of plantings that shelter intimate seating areas from more active uses such as tennis and basketball courts. There are also different ways to travel through this relatively small section of Hud-

son River Park-a meandering 10- foot-wide wood-planked nature walk leads up a slope to a nature area that overlooks dense! y planted beds of indigenous flowers and grasses, while below, parallel co the nature walk, a l5-foot-wide waterfront esplanade is lined with replicas of 1930s World's Fair benches and art deco-sryle lighting fixrures. Paved with granite slabs, the esplanade is part of a walkway

with a standard design vocabulary that extends through the other sections of Hudson River Park ro its northern terminus at West 59th Street.

Completed last July, [he first part of the TriBeCa segment to be built-the upland portionis ushering in a new ern for lower Manhattan by providing greatly needed apen space far one of New York City's most dynamic neighborhoods. Since the 2000 Census, the residential population of the city-planning

Hudson River Park southward.

By Alex Ulam


NEW

RBAN

SIGN BOOKS FROM ULI

GETTING REAL ABOUT URBANISM Contextual Design for Cities

Bernard Zyscovich

The Urban Land Institute

Outstanding urban design starts with identifying and incorporating the unique characteristics and personality of an area. The author explains the how-to's of creating authentic, innovative urban designs, including an outstanding section on working with the community. Lavishly illustrated, the book is packed with examples and hundreds of large color photographs.

20081120 pages/hardco ver/color/ISBN 978·0-87420-105-5 $69.95 Retail- ASLA Members Save 10%

URBAN DESIGN ANID THE BOTTOM LINE Optimizing the Return on Perception

Dennis lake

ULl-the Urban Land Institute

How can you calculate the "design dividend"-the added value generated from good design before an investment is made? This book answers that question using verifiable figures and drawing on the experiences and lessons learned from developers, public officials, and designers. It explains what makes for good design, who benefits from it and how-the community, companies, employees, the public, city officials, and the developer. Lavishly illustrated with photographs and plans, this book makes the case for value-added design, showing the impact of trails, parks, and amenities; landscapes and streetscapes: transportation and urban waterways; the built environment, and conservation, on the bottom line. A final chapter explains how to put

all of the pieces together for the greatest impact and value.

200B/approximately 250 pages/hardcover/c%rlISBN 97B·08 7 420~996~9

$79.95 Retail- ASLA Members Save 10%

Urban Land I slilu

ASlA MEMBERS SAVE 100/0!

Use cod'e AS LA in the Ull Bookstore.

Order on line at www.uli.org/bookstore 0 r ca II 800-321-5011.

The elevated IVO od e II II a lu re wa Ik, above, offers a rei alively Ira nq ui]

experlenee in eomparison to the more public esplanade, Hudson River Park exteods for approximately five miles from Batlery Place to West 59th Sire et, right. Sirik ing eo IItrasts in eolor and te xture

b etwee n th e bed 50f flowe rs and grasse s, below, h el p ereille the

iIIu;s!on that Ihis park is much larger than it ilclually is.


district of which the TriBeCa segment is a part has increased by approximately 83 percent, and coday it numbers about 60,000. Officials of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the entity chartered by the dey and state

to help the area recover from the World Trade Center disaster (the Twin Towers were located just a few blocks away), contributed $70 million toward the COSt ofbui lding chis section of the park, which is the most significant park in the neighborhood. The upland portion has already COSt $16.3 million. Pier 25, estimated to cost approximately $26 million, also part of the

TriBeCa design, is under construction and

scheduled for completion in the spring of 32

2010. The other major pier in the TriBeCa

section, Pier 26, is currently unfunded, bur

Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) officials are 2S

confident they can rebuild and finish it as well

as most of the other unfinished work in the oth-

er sections of the park by 2011.

The TriBeCa section marks an important milestone for Hudson River Park, which is now approximately 50 percent complete. Up until last year, budget shortfalls were jeopardizing the park's completion, and Hudson River Park officials were on the verge of cutting back on projects. But now, thanks to the contribution from the LMDC and

95

94 92

- .. OJ

00

t

88

Clinton

:~aa- •

64

.. ~. • E
i £r4:,
l'
Chelse~
IIFO,$Io •
'i j
I I" I
i ,
, ~
I" I
f
"'~"J)
">I.e..!
.,p
.,....,.~ Gre;enwlch
-~ .. ViUage
I ..
~
l ..
" • 62 61 60 59

52

40

a new $42 million contribution in capital funds from New York City and New York state, the prospects for the park's completion look promising.

What makes Hudson River Park especially interesting for the landscape architecture profession is that it has been divided into seven segments, each of which has been assigned to a different designer.

Immediately north of the TriBeCa section is the three-quarter-milelong Greenwich Village section designed by Abel Bainnson Butz Landscape Architects and built in 2003, followed by a segment designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh, PASLA, that is still largely under construction. Farther north are tWO largely completed segments that extend from West 26th Street to West 59th Street (also named

Completed last July, the first part of the TriBeCa segment to be built is ushering in a new era for lower Manhattan.

after me neighborhoods they abut) designed by Danner Architects and MKW + Associates.

In comparison to the park's other completed segments to the north, the TriBeCa section is fanciful in its design. The other three completed segments are distinguished by sweeping open lawn spaces, gradual transition zones, and Olrnstedian layered plantings, while the TriBeCa section has a more detailed landscape with more varied and colorful plantings and materials. And, unlike the neighboring segments to the north, the Tl-iBeCa segmem offers active programming with its tennis and basketball courts.

People who use Hudson River Park say the TbBeCa section stands Out for the diversity of experiences rhar it offers. "1 think that the Greenwich Village [part of the park} is far less complex-it has a lot more foliage and 000- programmed spaces," says Michael Levine, director of planning and land use for Manhattan Community Board 1, the city's local citizen advisory board. "Bur in TriBeCa you have so many needs to satisfy that it is more programmed-you see more activity, but less green space."

Many aspects of the TriBeCa section's design reflect the active participation of the neighboring community, says Diana Taylor, chairperson of the BRPT. "This whole park is abour community outreach," she says. "These are the people who are going [Q be using the park. To the extent that people want cuttingedge design that is a little bit harder to do, because one person's cutting edge is another person's horror show. You try not to make it plain vanilla, but rry to make it interesting enough so that people think that it is interesting, but nor so much that it is outlandish."

Another issue was bringing back some of the colorful aspects of the riverside area that were there before the rorting piers were dismantled and their tenants evicted. Formerly, on Pier 25, there was a clapboard shack called


URBAN PARKS

the Sweet Love Snack Shack, along with a sculpture garden made from debris salvaged from the river and a golf course made from recycled trash. Moored off the pier was a historic steamboat ferry, the Yankee, on which people lived. Currently, there are plans to locate a restaurant on Pier 26, but some TriBeCa residents are concerned that it will be a large commercial restaurant that will dominate the pier. The size of the restaurant is an issue, says

As with other sections of Hudson River Park, the TriBeCa segment offers a free kayak program, above. Hudson River Park is built around various pieces of infrastructure-Pier 34 leads out to the Hudson Tunnel Vent Shaft, right. Piers 25 and 26, below, are to be rebuilt in subsequent phases. Many TtiBeCa residents fear that a restaurant planned for Pier 26 will overwhelm and commercialize

the rest of Ihe pier, and they worry Ihallhe River Project/Estuarium,

which once occupied Pier 26, either will not be allowed to return or

Battery Park City

•

Stuyvesan High School

Pier .26

1. Skatepark

2. Basketball Court

3. Synthetic Turf FieLd

4. Sand Volleyball Courts

5. Mini Golf Course

6. Playground

7. Future Estuarium

will have a diminished presence.

Phase 2

Pha.se3

681 Landsnpe Architecture JA ~UAHY 2009

levine. "Will it be a quick little place to get a sandwich or a clamshell while you are walking, riding, bicycling?" he says. "Or is it going to be a major restaurant, which is what the cornmunrty does not wane-s-we would like them (HRPT} to come up with something slightly different from what we fear the proposal is."

S IGNE NIElSEN, FASLA, principal in Mathews Nielsen, the lead designer for the TriBeCa section, was in many ways the ideal person for the job. For one thing, she 1S a 34-year resident of TriBeCa. She also has a long relationship with Hudson River Park, having parked her truck there before it was designated parkland. She codesigned the master plan for the entire Hudson River Park in the 1990s with Peter Rothschild, FASL_A, principal of Que nne II Rothschild & Partners. later, she worked on the landscape for FDR Drive, adjacent to the park. And only in late 2004 was she given the job co starr designing the TriBeCa section, which was originally slated to be designed by Sasaki Associates Inc. Sometimes Nielsen's conflicring loyalties put her in an awkward posicion->such as with the upcoming battle over the future location of the River Project, a marine science field station started in the 1980s by a local resident, which was located on Pier 26 but because of the pier's reconstruction was relocated to temporary headquarters on Pier 40. HRPT plans call for the River Project, which currenrly is unfunded and 1S not shown in renderings, to be located somewhere toward the middle of Pier 26 behind a new restaurant! boathouse building that is shown in renderings. Some community members are concerned that the new River Project headquarters will never get built, and they want the HRPT to locare

8. Floating. Dock

9. Boa thouse/Restauran l

10. Dog Run

11. Overlooks

12. Nature Walk with Native Planting

13. Tennis Courts

Pier 32

I Future Eo)log real P erl

12

Pier 40


The TriBeCa section marks an important

it in the building designated for the restaurant. However, N ielsen says there is room on the pier for the restaurant and the River Project to have separate buildings. "There is no other place to eat in the park," she says. "In America we are so afraid of commercial activities as if they are going to swallow you up---but I know people would enjoy it. I am going to try to fight for it for the betterment of the park, although it is a little awkward, because it is my community board and everyone knows me."

The park must achieve a balance between being a local resource for the neighborhoods it abuts and its mandate to be a citywide destination. One way it accomplishes th is is by having a com mon design vocabulary along the esplanade, which runs almost the entire length of the park, while allowing the designers of the different segments more creative freedom in designi ng the upland areas and the piers. This concept arose our of the master plan for the entire

Signe Nielsen, FASLA, prefers Ihe conlemporary light poles along the nature walk, top, which are dark·sky compliant and create halos, 10 Ihe period piece fixtures along the esplanade that reflect lighl downward

a nd ad d 10 Ih e city's lighl p ollullo n. The dense planUn gs thro ughout the TriBeCa seclion do not obscure the spectacular views of Ihe river and the resl ·of th e city, left. Mark Gi b ia n '5 a.b stract sen Ipln re Serpentine Ensemble, opposite, with its curvilinear shapes, lies ,in with organic themes of the TriBeCa .segment, in contrast to primarily postmodern

sc u Iplores fou n din olhe r segm ents of th e pa rk.

Hudson River Park. The HRPT took the concept of a unifying esplanade and established design guidelines chat call for the esplanade to incorporate ornate 19th-century light poles, an arr deco wood and metal railing, and asphalt pavers. Many landscape architecture professionals are critical of the historicist motifs, and although Nielsen shares their concern, she says it was important that there is a consistent design vocabulary along the esplanade. "I think that the trust has done a good job of keeping some level of continuity," she says, by "having a consistent miling, a consistent lighting, and a consistent paving so fur the five and a half miles you know that YOll are in Hudson River Park."

While largely acceding to the tm.PT's guidelines, there were places where Nielsen rebelled and fought for her own vision for the TriBeCa section. Several of her battles involved historicist elements such as the period lighting fixrures along the esplanade. Not only do the historicist qualities of the esplanade lighting fixtures conflict with a completely different generation of historic light poles along the highway, but they also flood the park with direct light. Nielsen says she would have preferred fixtures with more ambient lighting along the esplanade, such as the ones she was allowed to Install along the nature walk. "We were hoping fur a gradation of light diminishing to almost nothing as you got to the end of the piers," she says, "bur we lost that battle completely"

planade. Separation between the tWO byways was achieved by contouring the planted landscape 111 between. The nature walk is almost a secret path, and in many places it is invisible to walkers along the esplanade. "With topography and a lot of planting we could have tWO walkways and get away with it," Nielsen says.

The illusion of distance along the nature walk 1S also conveyed through dramatic contrasts in the plantings-when you walk up and over the small hill on the nature walk you encounter striking transitions. The color palette of the plantings changes from beds

nrilestone for Hudson River Park, 'which is now 50 percent complete.

Nielsen literally put her foot down when it came to the asphal r pavers that the HRPT required for the encryways into the park and other paved areas adjacent to the esplanade. In contrast to the other segments of the park, here the surfaces of some of the pavers are embedded with bits of blue and green glass, intended co be a signature element of Nielsens design. The colored glass was one of the design features that Nielsen had to fight for in presentations to the HRPT. "I literally bad to cake my shoes offand dance on {the pavers] to show that it wouldn't cur my feet," she says.

Nielsen carne up with some of the ideas for her design for the TriBeCa section after carefully studying what other designers had done in the already completed sections of the park. "I looked at the other segments, and I thought about what works and what doesn't," she says. "There was a relentless line and a flatness, except for the fact that everything was berrned up against the road. I thought that you could be more adventurous."

Nielsen eschewed the straight lines rhar characterize the designs of the other segments of the park and elaborately contoured sections of the site to make many transitions in its topography. Instead of planting the trees on a grid in the elevated shaded seatmg area (a standard feature that the TriBeCa section shares with the Greenwich Village section), Nielsen planted the trees asymmetrically. And instead of designing a linear esplanade, as is mostly the case in the Greenwich Village section, Nielsen designed a curvilinear one. She also located the nature walk ad jacenr to the es-

of bright red flowers co taU grasses-a transition that Nielsen refers to as "bot co cool environments"

A key objective of Nielsen's was to "deurbanize" the park.

Rough-hewn blocks of limes cone haphazardly placed in a naruralisric fashion serve as embankments for the hilly slope and also as benches alongside the more convenrional World's Fair benches that line the esplanade. In addition, the sinewy multipart sculpture in the TriBeCa section, titled Serpentine Ensemble and designed by sculptor Mark Gibian, stands in marked contrast to the other, more linear modern sculptures that are found in other sections of the park. Nielsen's plan calls fur ivy co gtoW on the immense galvanized steel sculptures.

The opportunity to playa leading role in transforming an area of the Hudson River char once was a derelict former industrial waterfront has been immensely gratifying for Nielsen despite her quibbles about design guidelines and the battles over the boathouse. "I look at landscape archirecrure a little differently than some people," she says. "If a few details don't work, that matters to me less than that this exists and chat people use it and love it." That said, Nielsen has designed the most unusual segment of Hudson River Park to date.

Alex U tam is a freelance jDltrrtatiJt whD writesfreqllentLy on architecture and design for pubtications Jt{ch as The Architect's Newspaper and Architectural Record.


(J f) r' r' ~J !J J~ i _L J

D D f S

WHILE GREEN ROOFS have been lauded for their rechn ical advances in storrnwarer management and mitigation of the urban heat island effect, efforrs co create local habimt on green roofs remain modest. The style of green roofs popular roday-i-shallow, engineered soil mixes and a limited palette of plants (typically sedurn) considered tough enough for rooftop conditions-generally ignores local ecosystems. It is difficult to see these "technologically advanced" green roofs as any~

th ing but exotic, manufactured islands set atop an urban matrix.

The traditional method of green roof construction is an economical method relying exclusively on local materials. For cenruries in some of the Nordic countries, SImple roofing systems were made from nearby materials with waterproofing membranes made from a variety of local resources rneluding bark and straw, usually stacked on rop of one another and held down with rocks. Occasionally, soil alone was used. The SOIl's existing seed bank of native


plants was the sole source of vegetation, and plants were allowed to self-organize into a unique community. Maintenance consisted of occasionally weeding Out saplings.

In COntrast, the modem, conventional method developed over the past few decades has been influenced by the imperative to reduce risk of failure and emphasizes imported materials. Measures to protect the building's structural incegriry and prevent leaks at all costs predominate. The system typically begins with a petroleumbased waterproof membrane, topped with root-barrier fabric and drainage layers. Often a thin warer-rerencion layer is added. Occasionally roof insulation is used. Then

ELEVATING HABITAT

A quasi-traditional green roof design can increase biodiversity in cities.

Text and Photography by Reid Coffman, ASLA

Recruit Landscape Architecture Protesslcnals

with ASLA's JOB LIN<

ASLA

Each day, more than 1,500 landscape architects, students,

and other professionals use the American Society of Landscape Architects' JobLink to search for employment-that's more than 10,000 prospects visiting the JobLink site each week!

Visit www.asla.org

and click on JobLink. American Society of landscape Arch itects 636 Eye Street, NW

Washington, DC 2DODl-3136

Phone 202-898-2444 or

toll-free at l-888-9S9-ASiA

With ain exclusive reach to the landscape design community, AS LA's JobLink is the best way to recruit top-Quality candidates for positions at your organization. Post your employment ad today at www.asla.org.

GREEN ROOFS

comes a lightweight, water-retentive, sterile substrate, manufactured from shale, slate, or clay and blown OntO the roof. N lltriencs may be added via recycled agricultural products or compost. The plants are usually a monoculrure of sedum species or other exotics. Maintenance includes seasonal watering, fertilizing, and weeding all plants not in the original palette.

Although biodiversity studies in the United Scates and Europe confirm that all green roofs create habitat, some believe that mimicking the local environmental conditions can create more valuable habitat. With the goal of optimizing local habitat, green roof projects have been created using a "quasi-traditional" method of construction, a method that incorporates local soils and planes co connect to (he local ecosystems. Although there has been some interest in North America in the quasi-traditional method, the real innovation has come from Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

l'he Swilss Experiments

In Switzerland, quasi-traditional green roofs are becorn ing the preferred method because of their use of local materials and

creation of habitat. This was accidenrally discovered after several contemporary green roofs failed to keep vegetation alive, and designers and researchers turned toward adding local compost as topdressing. The remit was a unique plant community.

One of the most influential precedents has been the green roof on the Moos Lake Water Plant near Zurich, which was constructed in 1914 using the rraditional method. At the time Moos Lake was conceived, the soils would keep the water filtration processes inside the building cooler, thus preventing bacteria from developing in the municipal water supply. The ceiling slab 1S eight centimeters of concrete topped with rwo centimeters of mastic asphalt, five centimeters of sand, and 15 to 20 centimeters of on-site topsoil. The topsoil is original and was taken from the site where the building was being built, which at the time was a seasonal wet prairie. Over time the surrounding environment developed into the city, and, consequently, the green roof now posse-sses numerous extirpated and rare plant species including ni ne species of orchid. It is home

local smooth round stones, top,create insect habitat on the RosseHi Building green roof built in 1998 in Basel, Switzerland. Test plots provide local data on native plant-substrate interactions on the Irchel Tram Depot, above, built in 1998 in .Z.nrich.


to the only population of Orchis mora left in the region. The plant biodiversity 15 so unusual the green roof is being considered as a national wildlife site. It thrives today with minimal maintenance. Replacement of plants and soils has not been necessary. Only small improvements to the waterproofing have been required.

Due to the Moos Lake success, quasitraditional green roofs began appearing that use local soils or a combination of manufactured substrate and local amendments placed on top of contemporary membranes. In 1998 experimental test plots were constructed on the Irchel Tram Depot near Zurich to examine plant survival in these conditions. A variety of substrates varying in consistency and depth was planted with the same conservation seed mix. The findings showed that deeper substrates amended with local topsoil allowed for both greater plant growth and diversity. As a result of this study, this method of seeding native grasses and forbs has become a regular practice. Retrofit experiments began for exisri ng contemporary green roofs, and new projects required innovative design for biodiversity.

One retrofit is the University of Basel Library green roof, wh ich was orig inally constructed with the contemporary method of uniform substrates and sedums in the mid-1980s. The original design failed to keep planes alive due to low nutrient availabili ty; consequentl y, in the late 1990s the roof was amended with the dual purpose of improving its visual quality and its plant performance. Several topdressings

A patch habitat on the Basel Medical Building roof, above, increases plant and insect diversity, right, and has a view uf the Russe"i Building green roof.

were applied to the existing substrate, including compost and local clay topsoil. The topdressing was then seeded with an off-the-shelf local conservation seed mix containing several species of concern. The results showed improved plant as well as insect diversi ty.

During the late 19905 the Swiss began a four-year study observing 24 green roofs in tWO cities and found higher biodiversity levels (via species richness) in systems

that possessed substrate diversity, topographic diversity, and plant diversity.

Engineered substrates "are JUSt too poor 111 nutrients and too shallow to grow many plants," says Stephan Brenneisen, director of Basel's green roof program. While it is true that adding amendments and increasing soil depth can increase weigln loads that are usually antithetical to lightweight green roof design, Brenneisen points out that top-dressing lightweight soils with

organic amendment provides necessary habitat for invertebrate life to complete the ecosystem nurrrenr cycle 111 these systems.

When it comes to biodiversity, tWO other elements have been shown to be lmporrant: stones and mounds. Stones of various size placed on the substrate surface or worked into the substrate create areas with unique thermal qualities that allow insects to heat or cool themselves as well as hide from predators. "Stones are very important," Brenneisen says. "When stones are used with mounds and local soils, the chances for insect colonization and bird usage will rise."

A green roof on the Rossetti Building (built in 1998) in Basel was one of the first of its kind to employ and test local soils and vegetation to form small mounds, ranging from three to 15 inches in depth. The soils have diverse aggregate component-c-on percent stones, gravel, and sand-along with fine particles and humus. The system was seeded with a local meadow seed mixrure, After three years, coverage was 100 percent on the mounds and 50 percent on the three-inch areas between the mounds. This patchy vegetation coverage was considered acceptable for the mission ofbiodiversiry, because it provides variety in plant habirar, It is hoped chat the three-inch areas will achieve no more than 70 percent coverage, allowing continual patchiness that will attract a variety of insects and birds.

Efforts to protect natrve fauna have spurred recenr innovative projects. The Sihlposr Platform in the Zurich main railway station was designed co provide a "deserclike" habirac for lizards and birds char live in the rock-covered river basins next to the tracks. Topographic diversity and plant diversity were created by constructing


GREEN ROOFS

hummocks over suppOrt columns that provide habitat patches for insects, lizards, and birds. Terresrriallinkage for the lizards was maintained by creating gabion baskets filled with local stone. This linkage has so far been successful=-I observed several lizards using this system.

In am ixture of art and ecology, the roof of Nordtangenre, an elevated expressway in downtown Basel, was designed as habitat mitigation for a nearby dry meadow that was being developed. Dry meadows are species-rich environments of national significance in Switzerland. This green roof began with an artist's interpretation of the Swiss-inspired Helvetica font, constructed on raised shelves of aggregate so as to be visi ble from nearby residential flats. Local meadow topsoil (halfinch to one-and-a-half-inch depth) was added to random shelves to provide habitat. The random display makes the alphabet appear through a quilted patchwork.

the buildings don't matter to most architects. But they call matter to the local plants and animals if they are designed correctly."

English and Canadian I nterpreta.ti'ons

Using the quasi-traditional method in London would meet tWO objectives: The urban soils are habitat to numerous species of concern, and using on-site materials furthers the project's sustainability goals.

The soils in London are urban soils; therefore, green roof projects are being built with the "rubble" from local sites. On the new Laban Center, home of a famous dance school, a quasi-traditional green roof was built with contemporary membranes, and on-site materials were used for the substrate to provide habitat mitigation, but very little organic material was added to determine its potential as a unique bird habitat.

The "rubble roof," which includes crushed brick, concrete chunks, various aggregates, and stones, provides a patchy vegetated habitat for the black redstart, an endangered bird that has adapted to living in the cicys vacant lots. (As it happens, this same bird was also the most abundant species found on Swiss ecoroofs.)

This does not surprise Dusty Gedge, green roof designer and director ofLivingroofs.org, an i ndependent research and advocacy organization in the United Kingdom. "Black redsrarts are endangered in London and in conflict with redevelopment efforts," he says. "Why build a roof with aggregate and plants from out of town, when the birds like the local rubble better? Plus, it's more sustainable." On new projects he is overseeing in London's Canary Wharf, the green roofs include local "rubble" but also more organic material and a wider varIety of aggregate sizes to achieve the desired patchy vegetation mosaic.

In North America, at least one project has been recognized for using quasi-traditional

The seeds in the soils of the dry meadows established on the roof.

Today, all new green roof projects in Basel go through design review for quasitraditional techniques that improve habitat, which is overseen by Brenneisen, "We are trying to find homes for rare species on these roofs," Brenneisen says. "Afcer all, the tops of

A ve rtica I co rri dor made of ri pra p and planted withyi De s, top, e na bles a loca I liza rd spec ies to access a green roof on a train platform for Sihlpost at Zurich's Main Terminal bniHin 2002. Local stone is nsed for both habitat and art at Nordtangente, above, built in 1998 in Basel, Switzerland.


ecoroofing methods and applying landscape restoration practices. Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Center near Winnipeg received a 2003 international Award of Excellence from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a North American nonprofit whose mission is research and advocacy of green roots, The design team, including Ten Architectural Group and local naturalists, used an ecological restoration approach in creating this roof. A local prairie soil was preconditioned to eliminate weed seeds, installed on the roof, and then seeded and plugged with a combination of native grasses and forbs to form a short-grass prairie community. Locared within a wetlands complex, the roof attracts such bird species as mallards, pintails, gad walls , and killdeer, which seasonally build nests and hatch their young in the short-grass prairie environment of the roof. Maintenance is seasonal hand weeding, spot spraying when necessary, and periodically burning the green roof to maintain the nutrienc recycling of a short-grass pralfJe system.

Design Considerations

Some fear that specifying on-sire or local material will cause some green roofs to fail. Inventorying and assessing on-site materials can reduce this risk. Designs for all green roofs should meet the inrernarional standards known as the Fll Standards, which specify the physical properties of drainage and support courses. On-site materials can be used in each of the courses if they meet the speci fications to provide essential functions, such as drainage allowance or plant rooting area.

As more communities place green roofs into storm water regulations as best management practices, the quasi-traditional roof may encounter resistance, as local materials are unproven. One advantage to most contemporary substrates is that they clean the water through the use of expanded clays and shale, which act as filters, U nknown entities such as untested local copsoil could become pollutant sources that could leach nutrients, including nitrates, into the storm sewers from the building downspouts. If this is shown ro be the case, quasi-traditional green roofs could become anathema to water quality goals. It is important ro lab test soil and substrate for retention and chemical properties.

Pia nt dive rs it)' im proved, "bo ve, after a mpdressing with local amendment at the University of Basel LibraI)' elrea 2000. On-site 'rubble ii 5 U sed for h a bit a t, below, in the gre en roof at laban [lance Center in london.

Very little is known about how elevated habitats will function for wildlife. Size, location, and elevation are all variables that could affect wildlife usage, Some migratory birds are using the roofs as scopover habitat where they rest and forage for food, while a few bird species are successfully nesting on the roofs. At this time most researchers believe green roof habitat is advantageous for all species of wildlife. One way of preventing species decline is by providing adequate resources for targeted at-risk species.

Also, retaining waterproofing membrane warranties may be difficult with 10-cal materials. Many distributors will warram their waterproofing membrane only if their green roof system is specified, though some don't have that requirement. Early

communication with suppliers and contractors will alleviate problems in this area.

In the end, the quasi-traditional method may contribute to urban biodiversity and wildlife habitat, which may come with its own challenges. Because much innovation has been created around stormwater issues, it is reasonable to assume similar innovation can occur with habitat in mind. Quasi-traditional practices can be effective for habitat creation and may possibly be useful for the future of green roof design.

Reid Coffman, ASLA, is an aJSistant profeHor of landscape architecture at the Uniwrsity of Oklahoma, whefe be specializes in the study of Iltgetated roof systems.

Resources

• Conference proceedings from Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities 2003-2008 available at Greening Rooftops for Healthy Cities, www.greenfoofs.IJrg

• Fil Guide! ines for the Planning, Execution' and Upkeep of Green Roof Sites, umnuf-l-i. delenglish. btml.

• Green Roofs Ecological Design and Construetion, edited by Seina Chrisman with Earth Pledge; Altglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 2005.

• Green Roofs in Smtainable Landscape Design, by Steven Cantor; New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008.

• Wi'n~Wi'n Ecology: How the Earth's Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise, by M. L. Rosenzweig; New York:

Oxford University Press, 2003.


The victims' families

I

the federal bureaucracy,

and the designers worked together to evolve a fitting memoria!

By Be,njamin Forgey

}.{MEDIATELY following September 11, 200 l, i m prom ptu testimonials-phocographs, flowers, flags, posters, handwritten letters, and cards-began to appear at the fenced edges of the charred sites in lower Manhattan, the open field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and alongside the busy roods bordering the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Such signs of individual anguish continued to be pJaced for months and even years after the attacks, their poignance intensified by weathering in wind, rain, snow, and sun.

And soon, of course, the process of institutionalizing those thousands of individual impulses began in all three places. Rapid action was both demanded and expected, it seemed, as officials announced daring and, as it predictably turned our, unfulfillable timetables to erect permanent memorials at rhe three sires. No prediction was mote ambitious and impossible than that made by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, who vowed to have a memorial in place at the Pentagon within a year-by September 11, 2002.

The 1.93·acre memorial field, shown here with family members of the victims visiting the newly dedicated site, is separated by only 165 feet from the Pentagon wall targeted by the terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.

e

e

o

•

e

I

&, the inherent difficulties of designing and budding permanent memorials began to surface, such schedules had to be revised again and again. Rumsfelds impulse to build something lickety-split was shined forwatd by one year, and then tWO and then three as the completion date became an uncertain goal. Similar delays were encountered in New York and Pennsylvania even though, JUSt as in Virginia, design competitions had been organized and completed in remarkably short order.

Yet as the wait goes on in Shanksville and Manhattan, with completion dates still renrarive, j t is over now in Arlington. In September, on the seventh anniversary of the attacks, the Pentagon Memorial was dedicated by President Bush and other rap federal officials, with an attentive crowd of about 20,000 on hand. When the speeches and formal ceremonies concluded at midmorning, families of the l84 victims of the attack on the Pentagon-l 25 military and civilian workers inside the building and 59 in the plane-were given time to visit before others were allowed in. "For so long there was absolutely nothing positive (Q be identified with that date," recalls Keith Kaseman, who with his partner (and now wife) Julie Beckman authored the competition-winning design in 2002. "But during the dedication, there were so many smiles and family gatheri ngs and hugs and laughter. Tears that day were mixed with joy."

Tfaweling a.t a speed of 530 mph, the Boeing 757 penetrated three of the Pentagon's five rings, right. An aerial view, below, shows the difficnlt context for the memorial (shaded goldlsec u rity ba Hie rs, parki ng lots, and busy roads.

FROM THE BEGINNING family members had been intirnately involved with getting the memorial designed and built. The subject arose immediately after the tragedy dur-

ing the Pentagon's Office of Family Policy's effort to assist fumily members with their grief and confusion. "Right away we started heari ng some of the same questions over and over again," says Jim Laychak, whose brother, David, a civilian worker in the building, was killed in the attack. "How are we going co remember rhis? And where) And what do we do to get it right?"

There was no discrimination in this process between relatives of military and civilian casualties or berween family rnern bers of Pentagon workers and the plane's passengers and crew. Laychak, a business consultant who was larer to become president of the Pentagon Memorial Fund, emphasizes that" it was all one group." A consensus quickly developed behind the idea of a design competition, and

801

The competition·winning design by Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman aligned 184 beuchlike "memorial. units"-one for each of the victimsprecisely ou th e angle

to Uowed by th ealrpla ne d u ri ng the attack.

The "Impact Site" is a 1.93-acre

plot of ground only 165 feet

01

from the wall

pulverized by that Boeing 757 in 2001.

z o

~ !Z

w a...

A Memorial Gateway G Ornamental Grasses on Berm

B Locator Stone H Precast Concrete Paver Path

C Limestone Zero Age Line with Perimeter Bench

Inlaid Dale and Time Age Line

D Age Wall K Memoiial Unit

E Asphalt Bike Trail F Perimeter Bench

l Gravel Paving

IS1

This simple inscription demarcates the entrance to the memorial field. When they g'fOW to a mature

some inrerest in the project. The families were brought together as a group periodically, but their participation was channeled on a regular basis through monthly meetings of the steering committee, a group that, laychak says, "pretty much Stayed together throughout the whole process." Anderson-Ausrra provided the committee with copies of Edward T. Linenthal's The Unfimshed Bombing:

Oklahoma City in Americatj MenuJt)', which in great detail chronicles the collaborative process leading to the memorial to the 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah fe-deral building.

Two early decisions were to €Oxen major influence on the memorial's ultimate design. The first was the site overwhelmingly preferred, Out of 10 possibili ties, by family members. Properly labeled as the "Impact Site" in packets handed Out to the assembled families, it is a 1-93-acre plot of ground separated by only 165 feet from the wall pulverized by that Boeing 757 in 200l. (The stand-off distance of 165 feet was established by the Pentagon as a security rneasure.) Tom Heidenberger, whose wife, Michele, was a Bight attendant on the plane, summed up the families' sentiments last Septern ber when he told USA Today, "We wanted it here and wouldn't settle for anything else."

The second decision, arrived at after prolonged, intense discussion, was the "Family Statement" provided to designers who considered entering the competition. Only four paragraphs in length, the statement ended with chis sentence: "We challenge

height of about 25 feet, the paperbark maple trees will provide ample shade.

when a family steeri ng committee on the memorial was established in November 2001, its membership was evenly split between relatives of military and civilian victims, and the civilian representation was evenly divided into those whose relatives were in the plane and inside the Pentagon.

Spurred in pare by Rumsfelds sense of urgency, the Pentagon acted with alacrity to set up a process_ The team that had been supervising the staged renovation of the Pentagon since the early 1990s-PenRen, in military jargon-would oversee the memorial's construction. But, because PenRen was now burdened with the extra task of rebuilding the segments destroyed during the attack, responsibility for the competition was assigned to the Army Corps of Engi neers. Carol Anderson-Ausera, a landscape architect by training and a l o-year Corps

veteran, was appointed to be the hands-on organizer of the competieion. Anderson-Austra, on the job by September 17-talk about quick reacrionl-c-was by temperament and experience a believer in collaboration and public participation. For [he Pentagon project, this translated into close cooperation with the families.

Thus commenced an effective but in some ways very unmilitarylike process for a memorial that ended up on the nation's primary military reservation. The first task, of course, was to persuade an impatient secretary of defense [hat more time was needed-a lor more, as it turned out. Dozens of meetings large and small were required in the early months simply to clear che way through a bureaucratic labyrinth of federal agencies with

Gravel Pave System

and Finished Gravel

Age Line: 1.21 Parallel

Siai nl eS5 Steel Strips Set

Fbl5h w,ith Gravel Surface

Age Wall: Poured in

Place Concrete

.. ~ .. r_.~· .-.~--

you co create a memorial that translates this terrible tragedy into a place of solace, peace, and healing." (A lively summation of what the families did not want, not available to the contestants, comes from Anderson-Ausrra: "no flames,

no planes, no fiags, no soldiers, no angels, and no naked ladies.")

A two-stage inrernational competition, open to all, with no entry fee and JUSt a few reasonable restrictions as to design (prohibiting excessive height,

enclosed rooms, and ancillary interpretative facilities) was announced in

July 2002, with a dead-

line of barely two months,

on the first anniversary of

the arrack. By late September, 1,126 quali tying entries, coming from people in every

.' - ..

Planting Benn

American state and more chan 50 different counrries, had been set up in hallways, galleries, and nooks and crannies around the National Building Museum in downtown Washington. Design

professionals-one architect, tWO landscape architects (Walter Hood of the U niversi ry of California, Berkeley, and Roger Martin, FASLA, professor emeritus at the U niversi ty of Minnesota), two artists, and an architecture curatormade up a majority of the l l-person jury, which also included two former defense secretaries, a wife of a former chairman of theJoimChiefs of Staff, and rwo family members.

In culling six finalists this jury appears genuinely to have taken ro heart the

'.

: \

s ,

:'

spirit of the Family

.,.

;., ,., .. , Birth Year

Memorial Unit

The memorial is arranged in "age lines," top, correspo nd i ng to th e ,b irth yea r,s of the victim s, A sectional drawing, here, demonstrates the m eticulou s I aye ri ng req n ired to sta b il ize tile land and hold the memorial units.

.~." .

Co n crete Ped esta I

183

Engineered Fill

Statement. The many entries that included exhortative "flames, planes," and the like were culled, and despite notable differences, the designs of the six finalists shared a tone of restraint and undemonstrative intensity.

None deployed conventional national iconography or figurative sculpture. Allm some way emphasized qualities of a well-ordered landscape. And all used design elements and the site itself to help provoke strong responses withOut directly telling visitors what to think or feel.

Washington landscape architect Jeff Lee, FASLA, who later would become part of the design/build construction team for the memorial, describes the second-stage presentations to the jury and family members as "almost like being in a church or a mosque or a temple, J LISt because of the spirituality each designer brought to the presentation."

This is exactly the spirit in which Beckman and Kaseman, the ultimate winners, had approached the competition. Each had earned a master's degree in architecture from Co.lumbia University in the spring of2001, and each was working in N ew York on the morni ng of Septern ber 11 of that year. As Beckman putS it, "We lived through the events of that day, we were part of the endless crowds that had to walk 100 blocks to get home that day, and we lived through the long aftermath." When the Pentagon competition was announced, she says, "We knew this was our opportunity to give something back. We thought, 'Even though this may not get more than 1.0 seconds of attention, this is what we can do as professionals." During July and August of 2002 Beckman and Kaseman spent many of their evenings discussing the design in a small restaurant just below their tiny apartment in Manhattan. "There was lots of talk, lots of sketching, and tears, roo," Kaseman recalls.

The product of these discussions was a design made up of just a few rightly interwoven elements-an austere field of gravel on which a series of identical, benchlike "memorial units" are systematically dispersed, one for each of the 184 individuals killed

in the attack. The units themselves are deceptively simple, consisting of a 14-foot-Iong piece of stainless steel, inlayed on the cop with thin slabs of granite and cantilevered to hover above a narrow band of slowly flowing water. What ties these elegant forms indelibly co the site and the day of the attack is their arrangement-they are placed in parallel lines set at the precise angle of the airliner's path as it approached [he Pentagon at 530 miles per hour, and the lines are organized by dates of birth , from the youngest vicri m to [he oldest. In an apt subtlety, when honori ng vier irns who came in on the plane, the cantilevered slabs face inward, coward the Pentagon, and for those who perished inside (he building, they face outward, toward the western sky.

Construction, feft, of the $22 million memorial took a bit more than two years to complete. On the day of the dedication, above, family members were the fi rst visitors to tou r the memoria I. Th e poo Is of moving water; opposite, are lit at night, a nd the tops are sheathed with thin slabs of gra nite.

~!hen honoring victims who came in on the plane, the cantilevered slabs face inward, toward the Pentagon, and for those who perished inside the building, they face outward, toward the western sky.

The Kaseman-Beckman design did not arouse the kind of hostile, highly focused opposi tron rhar has faced almost all prominent memorial proposals in Washington for the past half century. The reasons for this quiet reception are conjecrural. Among them, surely, are the lingering post-9fII mood that tended to mute criticism on a whole range of public issues; the location of the memorial on the Pentagon grounds, distant from the symbolic core of monuments of the National Mall; the fittingness of the memorial design to the specific site of the attack; and, not least, the exceptional aesthetic and emotive qualities of the design. For the latter tWO reasons, especially, the competitionwinning design had very little trouble being approved by the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission, often twO of the most treacherous obstacles along the memorial route.

Approval is one thing. Money, however, is another. Tucked into the Defense Authorization Act of 2002, which provided legal permission to build the memorial, was a sentence allowing the secretary of defense co "accept monetary conrribucions"-meaning,

in effect, that like most major memorials in and around Washington in the postWorld War II era, this one was to be privately financed. This came as a surprise to many of rhe Pentagon families. So, too, did the amount of money that would be requrred. In the early days, there was loose talk about $200,000, which rapidly escalared to $2 million. In the end, the construction budget settled npon was $22 million. Even so, recalls Pentagon Fund chairman Laychak, "Everybody had this expectation that, 'Oh, the money will JUSt come running in." Eventually, however, the fund was able to gear up to the task-c-one of ItS high-percentage techniques in soliciting important corpomte donors, Laychak recounts, was "to SIt across the desk and have a family member make the 'ask.' If they said no to a family member, then we JUSt moved on." Enough people said yes to get construction going by June 2006. In addition, as of last November, the fund also had raised $9 million of its $10 million goal for a maintenance endowment, an important, oft-overlooked need.

"A blessing in disguise" is Kaseman's view of the fund-raising

The apparently simple design was a devil to build.

delays. "As the money came in, we were able to use it for the research efforr." As it turned out, industry was not quite ready for the memorial unit as it originally had been envisioned by the young architects. (Kaseman was 30 when the competition was announced, and Beckman, 29.) The designers' original choice of a material for the benches was cast, clear-anodized aluminum char would be easil y mass produced, bur in trial after trial, the casting process went awry, as the units would bend and twist unpredictably. After a year's experimentation, the material changed from aluminum to stainless steel, and the lower half of the unit containing the pool, built-in light and drain units, and connections to external underground water and electrical supply channels was made of extra-strong precast concrete.

Some of the adjustments to rhe design were easier than others.

The number of trees was reduced substantially, from 184 (one per memorial unit) ro 85, after a woman at a family briefing

861

asked: "What if my husband's tree dies?" Beckman and her partner "saw the point and immediately agreed," she says, and, in any case, their intent was "to have a consistent amount of shade, so the field did not require a one-to-one relacionsh ip." The increased visual openness of the field was an enhancement as well, she believes. Likewise, six paved "crossways" running parallel co the time lines were added after many consultations with the U. S. Access Board, result ing in a major im provement for vis icors who would be impeded by the field's gravel surface, Even the gravel was altered during these consultations to make it a bit more stable. The subtle point is that in chis, as in much else, the design was able to bend but did not break.

Overall, the tightly conceived, apparently simple design was a devil to build. "The beauty of the design is its simplicity, bur it was very, very, very difficult-it had to be put together with the precision of a SW1SS watch over two acres of land," comments land-

You search the sky, reflect, and feel.

scape archirect Lee, whose firm, Lee + Papa and Associates, partnered with the construction company of Balfour Beatty to win the Pentagon's design/ build COntract for the memorial.

To illustrate: The sloping, unstable land on which the memorial was to be built had itself to be rebuilt completely in layers up to seven feet deep. The underground water supply system had to be calibrated to an extreme degree of precision. Controlled from an underground facility obscured

by surface plantings on the south side of the memorial, water is pumped at an even pace to fountains both neat and fur, requiring five different zones for pressure ad justments. "It was like building 184 fountains," observes Lee, "with all of them singing the exact same rune.' (Q.{S Collaborative of Sam a Cruz, California, did the founrain work, one of some 30 subcontractors on the job.)

the other side of a 12-lane interstate highway. The walk through a grim, 600-foot-long tunnel under the pavmg IS dreary, to say the least, and in the dark of night frightening.

However, after several visits, I am confident in concluding that being there richly repays the effort of getting there. The memorial IS beautiful. Its visual rhythms are peaceful and do offer solace, but of an edgy kind. You hear the crunch of your steps on

the cinnamon gravel, the buzz of automobile traffic on nearby roads, the sofe water song all around, and the roar ofjerliners not high above. The world outside surrounds, beckons, and threatens. You observe the wonder of the young paperbark maples and stoop to read a name on one of the stunning "benches" but cannot bring yourself to sit. You walk among the winglike forms. You face the Pentagons long limestone walL You search the sky, reflect, and feel,

Freelance writer Benjamin F(irgey is the former long-time architecture critic of The Washington Post.

PROJECT CREDITS Concept design: KBAS, Philadelphia (Keith Kaseman and Julie Beckman). Design/buHd: Balfour Beatty Construction, Fairfax, Virginia. Landscape architect/architect of record: Lee + Papa and Associates Inc, Washington, D_C. Civil and stmt>turalengineering: Alpha Corporation, Dulles, Virginia. MJElp engineering: Syska Hennessy Group, Fairfax, Virginia. Fountain system design: Q.{S Collaborative, Santa Cruz, California.

The memorIal benches are

lit dramatically at nigbt, opposite. Close collaboration

with the U.S. Access Board

made the memorial more

access ib Ie to visitors in

wheelchairs, below.

r, LTHOUGH THE MEMORIAL that Beckman and Kaseman J.--. designed (and supervised throughout construction) clearly

derives much of its emotive power from the setting, the site does come with a distinct disadvantage. Getting to it is not easy or pleasant. If you arrive via the Pentagon Metro Station, you face a long walk between the massive south parking lot and the most displeasing of the building's Jive sides---each more than 900 feet long-spoiled by all manner of gimcrack additions. Arriving by car is worse. Even on weekends, when there are hundreds of parking SPOtS empty in the Pentagon lot, you are forced by security precautions co park elsewhere-namely, in a commercial garage on

187

N THE MISSION DISTRICT of San Francisco, it's known fondly as the "house with the rurbine." The 60-foo't generator sticks up above the modern, three-story structure, its three blades turning with a low "whoosh-whooshwhoosh" day and night. The owner, contractor Robin Wilson, calls it "La Casa Verde" and is slowly tailoring the

cutting-edge 2007 "Idea House" for Slime! magazine into a more comfortable space for her and her yOllng daughter.

The project-the brainchild of Wilson, architect John Lurn, and Arterra Landscape Architects-is packed with the latest green practice technology and bold design ideas. Indeed, that's very much the idea of the Idea Houses. But, as Vera Gates with Arterra said recently in a phone interview, "There are lots of ideas about sustainabiliry our there, bur they have to be evaluated for each project and be cost-effective. It's not practical for everyone to puc in a $35,000 wi nd rurbi ne or expensive water catchment system with cisterns."

Because Gates and Lum waived their design fees and materials were donated to the project (for exposure in Sunse: magazine), cost-basis analysis-and practicality-of La Casa Verde's susrainability elements is difficult to determine. In addition, systems

The main first·floor terrace, right, was transformed from a walled garden to a lush, tropical sanctuary. Wooden planks from the old fence, below, were recycled in the new fence behind the tiled fountain.

881

"There are lots of ideas about sustainability out there, but they have to be evaluated for each project and be cost -effective. It' s not practical for everyone."

monitoring has been SpOtty because labor COStS ran high and bills were not paid; disgruntled subcontractors removed some system components. Sense: insisted that all donated materials be used in the house, and thus change orders and tensions between the designers and the owner (who funccioned as her own general contractor) ran high. Although Wilson initially tried for LEED (Leadership 10 Energy and Environmental Design) certification, because of these complications she aban-

STR.EET

doned it. In the end, however, the Mission house provides some useful lessons about susrainabilicy and design.

Though technically a "renovation," only the tWO outer walls of the old structure remained after demolition on the 50-foot by 70- foot corner Ioc, The concrete slabs of the original first-floor garden were taken Out and the ground was excavated eight feet to accommodate tWO large cisterns for catching rainwater and the lO-footsqLl,"lIe concrete base of the turbine. The original plan called fur rainwater stored in the cisterns to be tied into a recycling system for water in the house and fed into a drip irrigation system for the garden and terraces. Solar and thermal panels on the roof provide 80 percent of the hoc water for the house with a boiler as backup. Cutting-edge lighting and audio control systems in the house further CUt down energy consumption. Other sustainabiliry features include spray-form insulation, whole-

house fans, a radiant floor heating system, reused lumber, recycled glass cOlffiCertops, energy-saving lighting, and a living roofas natural insulation.

Wilson and Lums bold overall

plan for the 3,OOO-square-foot house called for an unusual allocation of space. The living room, dining room, and kitchen

were planned fur the third floor to rake advantage of (he open cicy

views; two bedrooms, two baths, and a study were designed on the second floor; and, to accommodate Wilson's desire for indoor and ourdoor pools, the first

floor was created as a spa/retreat area with folding glass doors that r open the room completely to the ::: newly designed garden. The three 0:

:n levels are united with a striking

glass and steel staircase, the spine of (he building.

The focal point of the main firsrfloor garden is a fountain. Water

The landscape challenge was to do as much as possible to reach sustainability goals in such small spaces-the main garde n, the second-floor root garden, the thirdfloor wra paro nnd deck, a nd the green .roof_

spills off the eight-foot tiled wall in a Cor-Ten steel trough and in co a pool that flows under a small raised sundeck and into another rectangular pool by the dining area. Locally made Heath riles are used. Planters around the pools are filled with lush vegetation, helping fulfill the owner's desire for a "tropical garden," but in fact the plancs-Albizia jlllibrissinJ Chamd:erops h1fmiliJ, La1tl71S nobiliJ; LooenmIla, Pennisemm saaceum, Rosmarinss officinalis, and bam boo----were specifically chosen by Gates co do well with the graywater from the recycling system. The water continually circulates

through the fountain and pools to keep it oxygenated for

fish. Because of San Francisco's fog and mist, waterevaporation from the pools is minor, Gates says, and doesn't interfere with the sustainabiliry goals of the project.

When the house was guned and rebuilt, Wilson refashioned what had been her office space into a separate, 1,150- square-foot rental apart-

ment with its own

second-floor terrace over the garage of the main house. As with the first-floor garden, Gates created interest and made efficient use of the small space in the small terrace possible with overlapping "layers." Here, a six-foot by lO-foot "sun dock"-a place like a giant lounge chair co sit and read the morning paper-floars a foot above the main deck area with irs own seating area. Planters on the deck are filled with edible plants such as alpine strawberries and apple and lemon trees and herbs such as rosemary.

A deck over the waler channel, top, provides additional relaxation space in the main garden. Sustainable design elements in Ih e house in elude two e islerns to calch rai nwater, left, a wind turbine, and solar and thermal panels, above, that are providing 80 percent ·of the household's hot water needs.

To maximize living area on the third floor, the outdoor space is confined to a narrow terrace that IS protected by a plastic windscreen that runs three-fourths of the way around the building. Here, Gates decided to use planters at window level with native grasses. A twofoot, windowed slit in the roof also provides a peek at some of the grasses on the green roof. As with the plantings on the other terraces, Gates's intention was to irrigate the green roof of the house with recycled graywater because she believes that roofs of dried, brown grasses (thanks to California's dry climate) are unattractive and a fire risk. When I visited the house, however, much of the vegetation everywhere was brown. The graywacer irrigation system was not working; the plumber removed the valves because of disputed bills.

The water eate:hment lower, opposite, was nne 01 the mute successful design elements in the main garden. La Casa Verde (below, belore renuvation, a nd right, after re nov atln n I only retai ne d tWuul its outer walls after the redesign. New San Francisco sidewalk re.gulations allow for gardens as long as

a six-foot walkway., below right, is maintained. The new S'idewalk features permeable pavers framed by bambuo and oatiYe grasse.s.

On the exterior of the building, Gates replaced small, two-foot by three-foot sidewalk tree planters with a six-foot-deep garden of native shrubs and palm trees rhat runs the length of the house on rhe north side. A narrower strip of bamboo occupies the west side. San Francisco's new sidewalk regulations permit gardens of any size as long as a six-foot walkway for pedestrians is maintained. Permeable pavers were used on rhe sidewalks to reduce srormwater runoff.

Though working on the Idea House (which opened for public viewing 111 late 2007) was a trying experience, LW11 and Gates sharpened their ide-as about what works-and doesn't work=.in sustainable design.

"For me, the 60-fOot turbine was too big, too tall, too nOISY," says lum. "In this dense urban environment, I would have preferred

Working on the Idea House sharpened their ideas about what works-and doesn't work-in sustainable design.

something more discreet, a roof-mounted system of some kind that would have avoided the big pole in the backyard."

For Vera Gates and her colleagues at Arrerra, the green eightfoot cower they designed for the main garden was one of the most successful aspects of their landscape plan, and it attracted a lot of atrencion from visitors to the house. The interior of the steel mesh cower is filled with layers of stone, soil, and moss, and the succulents and alpine strawberries growing on the sides and top of the tower, fed by rainwater, are thriving at La Casa Verde. It is something, says Gates, that many people can imagine having in their own backyards or terraces, no matter how small.

"We were, however, less successful with the narrow, six-inchwide green railing we designed leading co the second-floor terrace," she says. "It wasn't maintainable. Ir would have to be at lease a foot wide to receive enough rainwater co survive without some kind of irrigation system.

"Bur perhaps the biggest lesson we learned in working on a sustainable project like this one was co maintain a degree of flexibility and creativity on sire," she continues. "We never imagined we would be able co do anything with the house's old fence, but when it came down we looked at the boards and found a way to use them in the new fence design. You have co be willing to change a design rather than stick to the original plan."

Owner-concracror Robin Wilson is still adjusting to her new house. She rented tile apartment to a friend and has decided to turn the second- and third-floor terraces into vegetable and herb gardens. Enamored with her wind turbine, which she says produces 400 kilowatts of electricity per month, or about a third of

The second·floor apartment terrace, top left, had a young, bolder de.sign statement than the serene main garden, opposite, and the sparse, narrow thi rd·fl oor Ie rra ce, fop right, with its plastic wi ndscreen and pi anler of grasses. Designers experimented with a green railing, right, that leads to the second ·floo r terra ce, bot it p roved to be too d iffic 0 It to maintai n.

the needs of the house and apartment, Wilson has formed a new company called WhirligIg to help spread wind technology rhroughout the Bay Area.

Louise Levathes, who is enrotled in tbe MLA program at Virginul Teb, writes about aft and design for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications.

PROJ ECT CREDITS Landscape architect: Anerra Landscape Architects, San Francisco (Vera Gates, Gretchen Whi trier, Student Affiliate ASLA, SCOtt Yarnell). Architect:]ohn Lum Architecture, San Francisco. Builder: Meridian Builders & Developers, San Francisco. Interior design:] ohn Lum Architecture, San Francisco. Green mechanical design: Meridian Builders & Developers, San Francisco, and Sustainable Spaces, San Francisco.

BOOKS

.... ,..

WILLIAM N. MORGAN . - .'

Earth Architecture: From Ancient to Modern, by William N. Morgan; Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2008; 208 pages, $34.95.

Reviewed by Kim Sorvig

TENSIONS SURROUND earthen construction-the mistaken belief that. earth building IS primitive, versus the enduring susrainabiliry of the technique, In landscape architecture, earth construction is often reduced to "grading and drainage"; the use of adobe or similar walls in the landscape remains unfamiliar. Yet earth building features strongly in the great gardens of Japan, China, the Middle East, and parts of Europe, not JUSt Latin America or Africa.

The great value of William Morgan's book is that it presents a cross section of earthworks, not only through history and across the world, bur also spanning most conceivable purposes of construction. As the introduction by Joe Brown, FASLA, of EDAW points out, Morgan ignores petry differences between archirecrure, landscape architecture, and engineering-e-discincrions unknown to ancient builders, and annoyances to modern ones-in crearing an inclusive view of earthen consrruccion. (A

notable omission is the artistic 1970s "earthworks" movement of Michael Heiser or Robert Smi thson, and similarly artistic serpent mounds of the prehistoric Eastern United Scates. Those" fine-an" earthworks are well documented in other books, however, and Morgan had to draw the line somewhere co condense a collection of hundreds of exam pies i nro a book featuring only 90.)

The oldest of Morgan's examples goes back 6,500 years to underground homes in the Negev, in Israel; the most modern (other than unbuilt fururiscir projects, which are also well represented in earth building) is an upscale private residence built in 2003. Geographically, examples are located from Cambodia's tropics to Iceland, from Viking fons to Machu Picchu and Djenne (in Mali, Mrica). Many of the places are mmous (Avebury, Villa d'Este, the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Kacsura Imperial Gardens). UNESCO \'Uorld Heritage sites abound, as do famous architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and even Frank Gehry, Bur vernacular and prehistoric efforts are equally represented, and so are such easily overlooked uses of massive earthwork as the interstate highway system or Dutch polder reclamation projects. Morgan also includes several projects where earthmovi ng has been impressive bur destructive, careless of rhe earth itself.

The book is fully illustrated. Many photos are in color; most (though not all) are well reproduced, all good enough [0 give a clear impression of the sire they represent. Drawings and measured plans, mostly by Morgan, help explain some of the works,

961 LaDdHape Architecture JAN UARY 2009

and a map shows their spread across both hemispheres and every continent except Australia.

As in any historical overview, the descriptions of specific projects are capsules; occasionally they stray into architecrural design critiques that lose focus on the earth building aspects, bur not often. Chapters are organized by tWO categories about "program" and seven about form, a typically architectural mode of analysis that could have been expanded with more functional, ecological, and interpretive aspects. Chapter introductions could have gone further into the significance of each category but tend simply to preview the projects that follow

Morgan's book, however, transcends these minor flaws: It shows earth building as the remarkably cross-cultural activity it truly is, an ancient activity that has survived time and cultural "progress" to become a major subtheme in sustainable design today. The how-to specifics of adobe, rammed earth, terracing, or berming are readily available in print and online; the arguments for energy savings, material efficiency, and nonroxiciry don't need rehashing. By looking at a very specific interface between human ingenuity and the abiding earth, Morgan has put the built environment in

a light at once old and new. With an uncertain future for energy-intensive construction materials and methods, this overview of site-specific building could not be more timely.

Kim S orvig is an assistant pro/eHor at the school of architecture and planning at the University of New Mexico.

Green Roofs in Sustainable Landscape Design, by Steven L. Cantor; New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008; 352 pages, $48.

Reviewed by Virginia Russell, FASLA

THE TlTIE OF THIS BOOK should have been reserved for a book that is really about green roofs in sustainable landscape design. When such a book becomes available, it will substantially address regional variations in green roof design and the embodied energy and life-cycle cost of green roof components, installation, and maintenance. An investigation that ties the "fifth facade" to the building envelope, I-IVAC, and plumbing, as well as at-grade landscape, will be included. Current research and its shorrcornmgs will be summarized. Such a book will not be written or read through rose-colored glasses.

What Steven Cantor has gIven us instead begins with a brief overview of green roof vocabulary and benefi ts that are more thor-

oughly described in Nigel Dunnett and Noel Kingsbury's Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls (Timber Press, 2008). Although Cantor states that the green roof design process occurs within an integrated process of whole building design, he presents a design process that is not integrative and does not account for the role of the green roof in building systems design. MicrocIimatic design is briefly mentioned in the context of green roofs presenting an opportunity to restore habitat, and Cantor suggests that native substrate may be used "when the green roof design seeks to replicate a plant community." Readers must question that the nearly alpine, elevated landscape will suppOrt authentic replication of an atgrade habitat or that native substrate (given its properties and weight) can be used. Cantor cites the much-publicized lapwings that nested on green roofs in Switzerland as an example of successful habitat, although he may not be aware that lapwing hatchlings perished from exposure and starvation. The real book about green roofs in sustainable landscape design should devore at least one chapter to habitat restoration and specialized expertise III its design, and another chapter to describing the unique microclimate of the roof environment co assist in legitimate sustainable design.

Thrifty coverage IS given to plants, irrigation, and specifications. General recommendations for vegetation are included, bue readers will find the advice and the plant lists in Ed and Lucie Snodgrass's Green Roof Plants (Timber Press, 2007) more useful. The most critical and least understood element of the green roof profile, the growing medium, is only briefly described in the first chapter in this book. A great deal of research on growing media is available, and perhaps the next green roof book author will attend to it. Other subjects of varied opinion and uncertain sustainability are organic rnarrer, irrigation, and fertilization. Cantor mentions the debates but does not explain or resolve them. A subsection tided "Specifications" is a very good, short review of ASTM and FLL Guidelines for the Planning, Execntion, and Upkeep of Green Roof Sites (Books, Landscape A1'chiteaure, October 2005), but it does not mention FM Global or ocher relevant agencies or liability and other insurance issues specific co green roofs.

Two highlighted projects, in Arkansas, are (he Clinton Library and its neighbor, the headquarters of Heifer Inremational. It is not dear why these are the only two projects described in a subsection tided "Sustainable Design" (the only explicit coverage of the ropic in the book), when both projects' green roofs were not built at the rime of writing and therefore are unproven exemplars of sustainable design.

Readers searching for concrete information about sustainable green roof design would do well to read the proceedings of the annual meetings of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (www,greenmofs.org) or the World Congress on Green Roofs (WUJW.worfdgreenroofscongrms.com). Only a few of these papers are cited in Cantor's bibliography or footnotes. This book has great photography with good captions, valid insights and cautionary notes supported by experts, useful appendixes, and many mentions of "green " aspects, bur it does not earn its title. Perhaps the American green roof industry is tOO young for a track record in sus tamable green roof design to emerge, but it IS not roo early to build the framework of metrics by which such projects will be evaluated.

Virgima L. R1IJsell, FASLA, is an associate prefessor of architectllre at the Univenity of Cincinnati.

... VANISHING. LANDSCAPES,

edited by Nadine Barth; London: Frances Lincoln Limited Publishers, 2008; 224 pages, $65. VANISHING lANDSCAP.ESls a compilation of photographs by 20 photographers from around the world aiming to record natural landscapes and how humans are atfectfng them. ~Before" photos of icebergs by Olaf Otto Becker are particularly Intriguing, as they are labeled In a way that would allow Becker or others to return and record whatever changes global warming brings. Also ,intriguing Is the deadly beauty of nickel tailings recorded by Edward Burtynsky. While there Is little actual landscape architecture or land art recorded in the booK, photos of rockfalls, Icebergs, and unintended sculptures offer creative grist for the mill.

... MR. ROSCOE'S GARDEN,

by Jyll Bradley; Chicago: Unlve.rslty of Chicago Press, 2008; 240 pages, $49.95.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, has been home to three botanic gardens, though none currently exists. This booK tells the story of those gardens and what has become of their collections since their demise, but It would have been Improved by a more logical organization of the text. The first three quarters of the book consists of full-page color photos with no captions or explanations; those are located near the end of the book, after which Is a 40-page essay and a tlmellne. The focus here Is more on people and plants than the overall landscape.

... THE WRITINGS OF WALTER BURLEY GRIFFIN,

edited by Dustin Griffin: New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008;' 474 pages, $150.

THIS IS THE FIRST complete collection of the writings of Walter .Burley Griffin, a distinguished American architect, landscape architect, and town planner probably best known for his design of Canber.ra, Australia's capital city. Influenced by Chicago's Prairie School of Architecture, Griffin was a colleague and employee of Frank Lloyd Wright. 'The book includes a. number of drawings by his wife, architect Marion Mahony Griffin, and offers unique access to the thinking of one of modernist architecture's leading figures.

JAN U A RY 2 00 ~ La ndsca pe Arc h Itectu re I 97

La 2009 01 Jan

Încărcat de

Informații document

Descriere originală:

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

La 2009 01 Jan

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

JANUARY ZOOt VOLUME 99 • NUMBER 1

LAND MATTERS 113

S-ar putea să vă placă și

La 2009 01 Jan

Încărcat de

Informații document

Descriere originală:

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

La 2009 01 Jan

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

﻿JANUARY ZOOt VOLUME 99 • NUMBER 1

LAND MATTERS 113

S-ar putea să vă placă și

JANUARY ZOOt VOLUME 99 • NUMBER 1