ha nllOll i01l5

lura Gifity
convenience
CONTENTS
M AR C H 2 00'
VOLUMIE II NUMBIER l
LAND MATTERS 113
LETTERS 115
RIPRAP 124
Sweet Danish design, crops climbing
the walls, suburbia frowns on aioy/ul
display, and news tidbits you can use.
Editad by Linda Mclntyr.
PRACTICE Iso
Manv DCl'eellOnS
These architecture students
earned their degrees stde by side,
but since then they have gOlle off
in many different directions.
What can other young landscape
architeCfJ learn /rom their

Edited by Daniel J08t,
Assoclata "av.
LANDSCAPES
OF COMPASSION 152
Recoining Unbroken
A cathedral offers a garden to
sex abuse victims.
By Pat ... Ornat.ln
PLANTS 166
Roots Erst
Technology dmgned to unearth
land mines can be used to
transplant trees.
By Deborah Howe, .... v.
ON THE COVER
1.".. Wl:.<h,ng/on M()IJumenl i/osmd< h,,,,,,
bt-rn ,romty and koury. /Vge 86.
C ... llli, .,,,;, .
' OM"", ..... Ii ... 1 r.,!, S"'-;,,
2 1 landsupe Arthltedlire 1009



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TECHNOLOGY 164
Planning for
Water DemallCls
Digital dota helps make better decisions_
By Jam ... L. Sipea, ASLA, and
Mickey O'B.I"n
PLANNING 174
Ring oJ Green
The retrofit 0/ a disused fai/loop
amid revitalize central Atlanta.
By Jonathan Lerner
OESIGN 180
MixeJ
What docs this xl.'riscapc garden teach us
about amscroifl g water in the desert?
By R_hel Hill, Student .... u.
. l landsupe Arehlhtture MUCH ZOot
As If It's
Always Been
Why did dejigning the
WaIhingtoll Monument groulldr have
to wait 120 years/or terrorist aUacks
to make it seem necessary?
By Ron Henderson, ASLA
86
Parenting a Garden
A seaJide garden ill Southern Caltfomia
has gone through a number 0/ changes
as the owners make it their OWI/.
By Daniel Jost,
Associate ASLA
94
DISPLAY AD INDEX 1104
BUYER'S GUIDE INDEX 1105
PRODUCT PROFILES 1116
OPINION 1120
Whar Will Save
The Subwbs?
On subdividIng McManslons
and other i mlOvaf;ve solutions
to declining suburbs.
B), Alii..". A.leff
BILITIES " ... ENDLESS!
CIRCLE III fIAOR SERY'CE
00 III
6 I lend. UptArehit.ctur. MUCM 20 ..
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Changing the Shape of Landscape Architecture
One Fount8Jn at a Time
rOlflan
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WAS ANGRY TilE LAST TIME I was on the National Mall for
anything relaced co policies. Thac was exactly cwo years ago,
when I joined che mass procesc of cens of chousands of ocher
Americansagainsc (he warln Iraq (Land Maners, March 2007).
\'{fhac adifference an election makes. TIle mood on Janu-
ary 20 was one of mass jubilation, and from my perch on the flank
of the \'\fashingron Monument, I could catch glimpses up and
down the mall. There, 1.8 million Americans-the largest crowd
this city has ever seen- stood shoulder to shoulder in the freez-
ing cold under that bright blue sky, all of us awai ting the inau-
guration ofBarack Obama as 44th pres ident of the United States.
\'\f hen our new president finally began to speak, his opening re-
marks were sobering, even challenging. He spoke of"dlis wimer
of our hardship" in a falcering economy. He told us chat "che
ground has shifted" and that we need to make hard choi ces and
prepare che nation for che demands of a new age. Lacer, waxing elo-
quent abouc our liberty, he reminded us chac people of every race
and faith "can Join in celebration auoss this magnificent mall."
But is che National Mall really magnificent? As J stood chere
on char chrilling morning, yes, "America's Front Yard" seemed a
mass gachering place like no other. After all, it's steeped in the his-
tory of our nation's capical, from Pierre L'Enfant's conception for
an axial open space st recching from the Capirol to the Potomac
River, through the McMillan Plan thar established its baroque
sense of monumental grandeur, to Martin Lmher King's "I have
a dream" speech- and Obama's inauguration.
But what aboutday-to-day use? My friends at Project for Pub-
lic Spaces (PPS) have relegated the mall to their Hall of Shame ,
charging char ic "is experienced mosc1y as a place to move
through between destinations," lacking outdoor cafes, movable
chairs, and other PPS-style amenities. And in cruch, t here may
noc be a lot for tourists to do on the mal l excepc walk from one
museum or monument co anocher.
Still, chere's a fair amount of activicy for locals along che tWO-
mile-long corridor when che weather is decent. J happen to walk
across the mall at lunch ro one or another of the adjoining ,gardens
almost every weekday, and J usually see a Frislx""{' game going on.
There's ki te flying on weekends and ball h'"J.mes in the shadow of
the \X!ashington Monument. In the summer it hosts events such
as the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and July 4 fireworks. All this
activity is the reason the grass on the mall is so patchy and the soil
so compacted.
More seriously, the mall is in need of repairs co its infrastruct ure
(see "Pall Over the Mall," April 2(07). Theseextend fur beyond re-
sodding the lawns-for example, the TIdal Basin seawall ac the
Thomas Jefferson Memorial has sunk nine inches in (he past year
and needs ro be replaced. Apparently, Obama thinks the mall is im-
porcal1( to our national idel1(ity, because he included $200 million
for it in his economic stimulus package. As I write this, Congress
hasdiminatoo that funding. Given other funding oeedssuch ascre-
ating jobs and recharging a faltering economy, should the mall be
a funding priority for the first year of the Obama administration?
~ , \ A ~ ~ ~
J. William "Bill" Thompson, PASLA
Editor / blhmnpsoll@as/a.rJrg
MARCM 20 0t LandsCipe Architecture 113
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Would You Pray in This Garden?
I
HAVE TO AGREE with your assessment of
the "prayer garden" (land Maners, Febru-
ary). Although I believe prayer isa very per-
SOtlal maner and can be done und(-rany con-
ditions (how aoom the soldiers on the frunt
line in Iraq, for insrancf'--where's their gar-
den?), r agree that a garden intended as an
invitation co pray or meditate should be 10-
mced and designed with due mnsiderarion
to its purpose. Some of the most magnifi-
cent omdoor spaces for prayer and medita-
tion are rhe simplest and most mnnecred to
nature, withom [he requisite srames, me-
morial benches, ofocherembellishmencs.
LETTE S
priest said at a retreat I attended several
years ago: Regarding prayer, there are dif-
ferent degrees. A man asked a priest, "Fa-
ther, is it acceptable to pray while I
smoke?" T he priest answered, 'why, yes,
of course.' Then the man asked, "Then is
ic all right to smoke while I pray?" The
priest answered, "Heavens, no!"
SUSAN SUDDJ IAN,
STUDENT AFFILIATE ASLA
CaPi/o/a, Ca/ij(f/"t/ia
T
HOUGH [ HAVE no particular knowl-
edge of che Diocese decision making, che
onl y racionale J can work ouc is chat che
space is about Pope J ohn Paul II, not the
9/11 Memorial forgets Landscape Quality
T
HE 911 I PENTAGON MEMORJAL("The
Pentagon Memorial Story,' January) is a
perfen example of why memorials should
never be designed and implemented until
20 to 30 years after the evem. Time and
perspective are required to translate the
event into a meaningful memorial thar
wililasr the ages.
CHARLES A. WARSINSKE, ASLA
Seatile
I
COMMEND THE DESIGN CREATIVllY of
this memorial, alchough che design
metaphors may be lost on the average vis-
itor. TIle one thing the visitors surely won'r One shining example IS the Thofncruwn
chapel in Arkansas. Thorncrown,
" When will our profession learn
how to successfully incorporate
trees into the landscape? "
with irs invisible glass walls and loca-
cion in the wtxXis, all bur disappears
inco rhe essenceof spirit chut connects
(he visicor with rhe place.
AnQ(her place I have visiced,
alone in December, was Hamilcon
Pool-a nature preserve/park just west of
miss is rhepoor-qualicy landscaping.
\'{Then J first viewed images of the
design concept III the May 2003
LI\i\I, I was impressed. The pleasing
images of shade-covered pachways
wich symbolic memorial benches
and fountains stuck in my head. I
Auscin, Texas. Ic has a natural clamshell -
shaped cave wich a somecimes dripping,
somecimesgushing wacerfall and emerald
pool chac evencually Row co che Pe<Jemales
River. Ic is about a mile hike from the
parking lor co che pool. Much like walking
a labyrinch, che woodsy walk down co che
pool starts the unwinding of mental chat-
cer, unci I, reaching che safety of the
clamshell cave, che visicor is so enchanted
with the beauty of the place, all worldly
cares evaporate.
The sense of renewal and peace that come
from quiet contemplation and praye r is
what will draw a person coa prayer garden.
Any quiec space chac makes a visitor feel
safe, protected, and yes, connected will al-
ways be a perfect place to pray.
CATHY INGHAM, ASLA
HOIIJ/on
A
s A CATIIOLIC CONVERT, it is disap-
pointing to learn of a "prayer garden
dedicated to our dear Holy Fatber that has a
location and access chat are less than ideal.
Your quote of our Lord is appropriate,
I think, and reminds me of something a
pracci ce of prayer. TIl e garden is publi c be-
cause J ohn Paul II was a publi c pont iff.
But whac if the focus were prayer? Could
a designer of che postmodem era express
che philosophy of prayer and provide for ics
practice?
TOM STURCH, ASLA
Tampa, F/(fI"ida
was chen dis.'lppoinced to see the phocos of
the completed plaza aanuary) wich virtu-
ally no green space and only scattered crees
thac offer little shade. Anyone who has
spent cime outside on a hoc D.C. summer
day knows that the lack of shade will make
a space hi ghly uninviting, especially one
comprising mostly hard surfaces.
PeltlJOI Memorial,
Ariin" ... , Vifli."
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LETTERS
This lack ofquaJiry landscaping might
be expected on a projcn with a tightly
constrained budget, but in this case $22
million was spent on the memorial. It
seems that some of chac could have
the obvious problems with its trees? Did
no one notice that many of the t rees in the
photos were dead? \Xlhy was there only
one murageous woman who played the role
of the child in this moclem retelling of The
Emperor', NewClotM while the landscape ar-
chitects played the parts of the tailors and
the emperor's murt iers?
carefully designed benches, paving pattern
dividers, and water features with their but-
tress roots placed too d ose to these objects.
The facwrs that led w the initial decl ine
and future failures of trees in this space are
evident from the first design ideas and con-
tinued through the entire process. It was
not a specification or detail flaw, not poor
been invested In sizable shade
crees to provide some immediate
design and miuoclimare benefits.
While the paperbark maples they
used afC my personal f.worite for
year-round beumy, in this space
they are undersized- noe to men-
cion that many of the individual
trees are of very low quality. When
Benjamin Forgey writes, "Youob-
" I am not talking about buying
your way into sustainability with
expensive and complicated site features
but changing construction, design,
and cultivation practices. "
maintenance, but a fundamental
lack of understanding of how trees
grow. When will we learn- and
until we do should we mnrinue to
be entrusted with rhe design of
spaces that include trees?
JAMES URBAN, FASLA
Annapolis, /IIaryl,:md
Is Sustainable Design Affordable?
Y
ES, SUSTAINAIlLE DESIGN can
be cost-effective for the average serve the wonder of the young
paperbark maples," I have to quesci on
whether he was wondering if rhe crees were
still alive. At lease a half dozen are clearly
dead in the phmos, and many appear to be
stressed, poorly branched, or of such aqual-
icy thac no landscape architect should be
selecting chern uea nursery. even if the trees
were specimens, there are not nearly
enough of them ro provide any meaningful
shade for at least another decade.
It appears that so much fOCus and budget
went into the metaphorical bench struc-
rures and complex foumain systems that rhe
simple aspect of landscape quality was left
as an afrerthought. TIlis serves as a reminder
to landscape architects that the quality of
t he plants has a tremendous
impact on how people will
view a finished project.
JEFFREY T. St..IITH, ASLA
BrJghtfJII, AlirhJgan
W
I [EN W[UQUR profession
learn how [Q successfully
incorporate trees into the
landscape? \'Vhy do we praise
ourselves for agonizing over
the details of sculptural form,
paving, lighting, and water
features while we ignore the
wake of dead and dying trees
that follows the completion of
so many designs?
How can this magazine tell
the "story" aOOut the Pentagon
Memorial without discussing
Thank goodness for the unnamed
woman with the insight to realize her hus-
band's tret: might die. In one of their few
smart arboriculrural decisions, the design
team wisely implemented a dramatic re-
duction in the number of (Tees. One hun-
dred more crees in thiS space would have
created a [Tee canopy with serious light
competition shortly after plaming, setting
up many of the conditions that contributed
ro the fuilureofDan Kiley's NCNB Plaza in
't'lmpa, Florida.
On opening day, most (Tees were highly
stressed with nearly 20 percent of dle trees in
the phomsdead ordying. The trees that do
survive will likely push over or displace the
home owner and the commercial develop-
erCGreen House in the City," January). I
am not calking about buying your way
Into sustainability wlth expensive and
complicated site features but changing
construction, design, and cultivation prac-
tices. This staTts wirh ground breaking
and dealing with compacted structural fill
and perched water rabIes and extends co
proper plant selection and creating a habi-
tat for beneficial organisms. And how
about designing landscape ecosystems that
will not need commercial fertilizers or pes-
tic ides? Now that is sustainable.
JEFF SI-IIMONSKI
i\liallli
S
[NCE 1993, my practice
has focused on resource-
efficient landscapes. I promote
the use of native and adapted
plants and incorporate water
conservation, low pest icide
and fertilizer use, and wildlife
habi tat in virtually every proj-
ect. Sometimes dients ask for
these, and sometimes they do
not even notice.
The great majority of my
projects are middle-class res-
idences. I have developed a
market niche for this type of
landscape design, and my
clients largely select me be-
cause they know I use t hese
techniques. They are happy
MUCH 20n Landsnp. Architecture 117
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LETTERS
to have landscapes that look good while
only being irrigated once or twice a month
during the summer, a rarity in our region.
This approach has kept my practice
profitable for almost i 6 years. Increasing-
ly, other landscape architects (and even
landscape designers) consult with me on
plant selection and design.
MICHAEL PARKEY, ASLA
Dallas
W
E RUN UP AGAINST THIS ISSUE time
and again with both commercial devel-
opers and home owners. Our most effective
tack is to have information available about
the long-term savings and reduced impact
on the environment. Ifhomeownersorde-
velopers can put a dollar benefit to the
added COSt, they will be more likely to ap-
prove the design. As we work in thedesen,
water savings are a no-brainer for us. W/e
have been doing it here for years. That
doesn't mean there isn't room for education
and improvement, though. Anyone who
has any great ideas on sel ling the concept to
developers, I' d love to hear them!
ROB PARKER, ASLA
Palm Dmrr, Cali/(I1"lIia
O
FTEN PEOPLE THINK ABOUT "afford-
ability" in entirely the wrong way. A lot
of green roof projects, for example, are ru-
ined by effons to save money on installa-
tion (using inexperienced firms based on
low bids) or maintenance (not doing it at
all or relying on low-cost contmctors who
aren't fami liar with the particulars of a
green roof).
In too many projects, on roofs or at
grade, "design" eats up the lion's share of
the resources w the detriment of the long-
term health of the landscape. By "design"
I mean putting conceptual aesthetics ahead
of what will actually work on the site.
In this context "bad design" could mean
allocating too many resources to upscale
materials and accessories and not enough to
soil analysis and preparation. It could mean
a swath ofhardscape dotted with tree boxes
that look cool but are too small to give roots
enough air and water. It could mean speci-
fYing a manicured lawn for an area that will
see high traffi<: but not thinking through
how to prevent soil compaction. It could
mean specifying the wrong plants for the
site's soil or conditions be<:au5e they have the
right "look" (or perhaps are "native" accord-
ing to a broad definition).
It could also mean expressing these bad
ideas in beamiful, bil lable-hour-intensive
"Sustainability should not be a
gimmick. It should be among
the first principles of creating
or restoring a landscape."
renderings that capture a cl ient's imagi na-
t ion withom addressing potential trade-
olrs or long-term COSts.
111ese kinds of problems are the resul t of
near-term thinking, which should be anath-
ema to peopleaeating landscapes-which
are, after all, systems comprising living
things. Susrainability should not be agim-
mick, a goal for a subset of earnest design-
ers, or a line item to be potentially "value
engineered" our of a project. It should be
among the first principles of creating or
restoring a landscape.
LINDA I\.ICINTYRF
If/ashillgIOIl, D.C.
I
AM A SENIOR STUDENT oflandscape ar-
chitecture at {he University ofR hode Is-
land. "1l1TOughout the fall semester my stu-
dio designed a sustainable homestead in
whi ch we were to incorporate as many sus-
tainable elements as we could practically
fit into the design. Elements such as solar
panels, wind turbines , rain gardens, cis-
terns, gardens for growing food, and com-
posting were common among all the de-
signs. As it was a student project, we were
given no budget, but I think we ap-
proached it very realistically. In your edito-
rial you quoted a landscape architect say-
ing, "It"s not practical for everyone to put
in a $35,000 wind turbine," and I com-
pletely agree. These things are expensive
and nO[ everyone can afford them.
This brings me to the issue of whether
small-scale sustainable projects are for land-
scape architects or landscape designers.
Having worked with landscape contractors!
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20 I LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
LETTERS
designers [ would have to lean toward
them on this one or leave it to the home
owners. Simple things like composcing, re-
planting your lawn, and growing your own
food in vegemble gardens are a great Start-
ing block for any home owner to be more
sustainable. Rain barrels aft another op-
tion for slISwinabil it)' in the average home.
There is a market in "greening" the
home landscape. However, landscape af-
"Is sustainability affordable?
Yes-not the major elements
but the small things that can
start this world toward being
'green' and allow future
generations to live here."
chicecture, co me, is more chan small-scale
home landscapes. So my answer (Q che ri-
de "IsSuscainabilicy Affordable?" is yes-
not the major elements buc [he small
things chac can scarr chis world toward be-
ing "green" and allow future genemt ions
to live here.
KYLE DEUTSCH
Unil'CTIily ()f Rhode IJft/nd
Don't Ruin This Hisloric Landscape to
Accommodale Ihe Car
I
FOUND MYSELF WISHI NG to know
more about the grocery situation cited in
Daniel Jost 's article "Degrees of Preserva-
tion" Uanuary). The owners of Thomas
Church's home offourdecades can be com-
mended for their (temporary) willingness
to live without a parking space. I wonder
if they will eventually be willing or able to
adapt to this situation: I suspect that there
are places to buy perishables within walk-
ing distance, and by the evidence of the
trolley in one image, public transjxmat ion
may get them closer to the door than their
automobile. Europeans, even those of up-
per classes, use carts to carry items over
cobbled streets, and many live pretty de-
l:ent lives withom owning a car at all. (And
here in the United States, people who live
in the exurbs deal with the transportation
of ice cream by keeping a cooler in the car.)
The Damkrogers have an opportunity
not only to preserve an important garden
intact, but also to take a step toward alcer-
Ing {he unsusminable lifesryle that has
grown up around the automobile. I truly
hope they are able to avoid the iron IC si m-
ation of deliberately purchasing a historic
property only to destroy it to al:commo-
date a car!
ZOE EDGECOMB, ASSOCIATE ASLA
Charloffest'i/le. Virginia
Royston Amphitheater Remembered
F
INDI NG so MANY R.EFERENCES to the
San Francisco Bay Area in cheJanuary
LAM reminds me how fortunate we are
here to have such a bounty of professional
approaches to our landscape environment.
\'7henever r am on che Universicy of Cali-
fornia, Berkeley, campus, I make it a point
co prowl che lobbies of che College of En-
vironmencal Design to encouncer student
projects chat give me hope ehac new profes-
sionals will concinue to keep and improve
our wonderful surroundings. The former
Deparcmenc of Ornamenml Horticulture
indeed!
One minor correccion: The Royston
Amphicheaceron page 50 isae che Univer-
sity of California, Santa Cruz, nO[ Santa
Clara. Over 40 years ago r packtxl wich och-
ers on those benches, chen rose ae che words
of speakers on 1960s causes. r crossed that
stone "s eage" to accepe my diploma. r
wacched screakers dart ouc from che red-
wood trees at graduat ions a few years later.
In the 21 st century the Quarry (as it is lo-
cally known because behind che seage is a
former limestone pit) continues to host
events official and ad hoc.
BRUCE HOLGERS
Santa Cmz, Ca/ij()7'"llia
Pro Bono Landscape Architecture
I
N LAND MAITERS (October) you fea-
tured Grant Jones, FASLA, and his work in
giving back to his community and asked
whether other landscape architects were
working pro bono these d1YS. r wanted to
share widl you some of the things my firm
is doing. Even though we are small, we do
get our firm engaged in various pro bono
INIRltlI SltlllY II LlIDStAPllICHllltlS
ili III SlillllW, WISHIIiIII,
212-111-2#4 IIX 212-111-2215
MARCN 2009 Landscape Architecture 121
22 1 LendIClp.Arehlt.etur. IIUC" 1011
!MEIIIlI gCIID IIWISIlPE IIrYiliftTd
ill EYE slIEn IW. WlSlllml. DC
111111-14 FAX 1111111115
projects every year to giw back, (0 partici-
jXlte and engage with community on a local
level, and as IlT of our educuionaJ process
(to better understand (he relati ons hip
betv.'tetl ecology, an, and construction).
Our most recenr project is a native habi-
tat lrain garden for a local elementary
school that is 100 percent sustainable in-
duding zero waste (hnp:lfdixie.uboolrdill
gartk,J.blogspot.coml). It wi ll celebrate irs
one-year annive rsary rhis December.
Everyone in our office got invol ved in de-
sign, communication, and PR presenra-
[ions; community, school , and school dis-
tfiCt outreach; funding; organization and
construction of rhe community weekend
workdays; compi ling an educational sus-
[ainability binder for rhe reachers to use for
outdoor classrooms; locating salvaged ma-
terials (the pavers were all recycled from
our marerials room and from some local
projecr sires); and designing dl(' educarion-
al blog for rhe school's use. \VIe also are us-
ing rhe project internally as a research case
study project to rest warer conservarion
principles, soil healrh principles, and soon
(including some of the susrainable si res ini-
tiative metrics),
These projects and a few orhers on our
web si re (ll 'lllu;npdw.fOm) in rhe giving
back" section are nor of a grand scale, bur
if we can inspire orhers to imi tate our ac-
rions, enrich our local environments, or, as
in rhe case of t his school, inspire learning
environments that hi g hli glH reg ional
beaut y and habitat. then it is a big plus in
my mind.
APRIL PHILIPS. AS]"""
APRil PHILIPS DESIGN WORKS INC.
S(II/!aIiIO. California
Due Credit
M
ATHEWS NIELSEN IS delighted to see
the Hudson River Park (January).
\VIe have a correnion: On page 64, the
piece stares char Hudson Ri,'er Park is 10-
cared across FDR Drive. Instead Hudson
River Park is in fact located across from rhe
West Side H ighway/ New York State
Roure9A.
Also, I uuuch rhe project credits.
PROJECT CREDITS: Owner. Hudson Rl\'er
Park Trust, New York City. Prime landscape
architect: Mat hews Nielsen LandSGlpe Ar-
chitects PC, New York City. Civil and struc
tural engilteefS: \Veidlinger Associates, New
York Ciry. MEl': Wesler Cohen, Amityville,
New York. Marineengineen: Halcrow, New
York Ci t y. lighting design: Fisher Marantz
Swne, New York City. Irrigation design:
Northern Designs LlC, North Haven,
Connecticut. Sculptor: Mark Gibian,
Brooklyn, New York.
ERIKA AIESE
MATIIEWS NIELSEN
LANDSCAPE ARCl-ltTECTS
Ntw Fork
Water Odyssey'
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Odyssey' " aquatic playground equipment, is
the wortd's leading designer and manufacturer
of specialty equipment and syst ems for
architectural and illteractive water features.
fountain People design personnel work wit.h
Architects. landscape Arcllitects, Aquatic
Consultants, and end users around tile
world to develop new innovative wet play
environments and equipment.

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A sfifrlllff irrealllnr look (/
tl tl
BY L I N D A '\l c l ,\:Tr Il E
O
ANISI I lANDSC..APE ARCI nITCf
Kristine Jensen won the fifth
Rosa Barba European Landscape
Award for her Nicolai Kulrurcenrer
DANISH MODERN
steel play against t he greenery and
t he mellow brick of neighboring
buildings. At night the space comes
alive with a Aamboyant neon display
on a building adjacent to the stage,
Grounds for Play, and More
Denmark park scores f um/Jean award.
project , which transformed an un-
inviting school playground in the city of Kolding into an arrracriw
mul tifunctional cultural space. The award, honoring thehest land-
scape projects built in Europe owr the past four years, was present-
ed last autumn at the European Landscape Biennial in Barcelona.
The project comprises a lawn and garden for playing and relax-
ation, a circular stage, a terrace for patrons of neighboring cafes,
and a multifunctional square. Industrial materials such as Cor-"Ien
and [he zones within the space are loosely outlined with glowing
whi te t hermoplastic dots.
In her presentation,Jensen cited as inspiration a quote from 18th-
cenrury architect Marc-Antoine Laugier, who said of designing IXll"ks
(and cities), "Regulari ty and strangeness are needed, corresponden-
ces and antitheses, accidents that vary the picture, great order to the
details, but confusion, clashing, and tumult in the whole:
C.ntact linda Mc i ntyre at ImCI"tJft @ dS/J Oft
24 1 LandscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
WHERE INNOVATION COMES TO LI FE
Jlih
landscape
structures'
Evos;" our unique playsystem for kids 5 to 12+ years old, now has a companion for kids ages 2 to 5 called Weevos:"
Evos and Weevos toget her offer age-appropriate challenges that f lex kids' muscl es and stret ch t heir imaginations.
What's more, we build each wi t h environment ally preferable mat erials and practi ces. To learn more about how
Evos and Weevos enhance children's lives while honoring the environment, visit playlsi.com/ad/ evQs-weevos.
BETTER PLAYGROUNDS. BETTER WORLD.'
Cl 2009 Landscape Structures Inc.
CIACLE 12' ON A.;.OA SElMCE CARO OR 00 10
VERTICAL VEGGIES
Crops as High as an Elephant's Eye
In d(!U!11tOWtl L A. , urban fanners are climbing tbewalls.
W
TTl-! THE AMBITIOUSGOALofending hunger within ourgen-
erarion, Los Angeles-based nonprofit Urban Farming seeks to
fit] every wmseJ metropolitan nook with edible crops. Ies efforts
typically have focused on reinventing vacant lots as open-
access community gardens, bue a new initiative cakes citified agricul-
ture to new heights. Making use of existing technology, Urhm Faml-
Students plant winter crops at the Miguel
Contreras learning Complex, a downtown
high school, left. Architect Robin Osler
designed the installations, below, to be eye
catching as well lIS horticulturally correct.
ing's Food Chain Project sracks tomatoes,
broccoli, and mher edibles in six-foot-
tall interconnected containers, scaling
walls at fuur locations in L A.'s Central
City East- the area aifenionately known to locals as Skid Row.
The system is the brainchild of Rochester, New York's Green
l iving Technologies. Originally developed as a pitched-roof as-
sembly to complement the company's expertise in greening Aat
roofS, the modular arrangement was adapted to vert ical installa-
tions both indoors and Out with a minimum of mcxlification. fn-
stalled with an automated irrigation system designed by Robin
Osler of Elms lie Osler Architect, the vertical vegetable gardens
were clad in reqrcled sminless steel rather than the usual aluminum.
The August 2008 inaugural plantings were well developed to
weather the summer heat, dlOugh fuwre crops will enjoy a full life
cycle in situ.
Landscape A rchiteclure Magazine Goes Digital
The proj ect'S first sites-the \'V'ein-
gart Center, the Rainbow Apartments,
the l.A. Regional Food Bank, and the
Miguel Contreras l earning Complex-
all promise to bring food directly to the
folks who most need if. Alter training,
local residents and students, all of whom
are encouraged to sample-and share-
the frui ts of their iaoors, tend the cmps.
S
UBSCRIBERS AND MEMBERS of the American Society of landsupe Architects will soon hawe the
option of reading their magazine in a digital format. Zinio.com, a global online publishing and
distribution company, will begin offering b n d s c . ~ Anhituwre magazine on its site in April,
in concert with National landscape Architedure Month.
Digital issues of LAM will be searchable and search engine optimized,
increasing the magazine's usefulness for research and archiving. Interac
live and multimedia capabilities will also be embedded in the digital is
sues, allowing readers to link directly to relate-d online information.
Digital subscriptions may be purchased for $44.25 per year and single
issues may be purchased for $5.25 each. Members and subscribers with
email accounts on file with ASLA will receive the April issue in digital
format for free. Current members and subscribers may choose to receive the magazine in digital
format when it is time to renew their membership or subscription. In addition, linio will archive
past issues of LAM going back to May 2006 and offer them for single-copy purchase.
The new digital LAM will be featured under both the Home and Garden and the Trade Magazines
categories on the Zinio web site, increasing the Yisibility of the magazine-and the profession-
to prospective readers.
26 1 LandscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
This unfenered access is at dle heart
of Urban Farming's mission. Offering
Fresh Food for che People without pre-
condi t ion is central to its et hos, and
making use of the cicy's unlimited
headroom expands on thac notion. Ac-
cording to Program Director J oyce
L'Ipinsky, "People can just walk up and
harvest and eat the food. TIley"re not re-
quired to work on the garden to bene-
fit. You just rake the food if you need it.
'nlere's not hing to steal."'
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Freedom 0/ expresJion not
incl"ded ill the bylaws.
I
N TRADITIONAL Hindu
culture, akolam isan in-
tricate geometric design,
temporarily inscribed at
[he threshold [Q [he home.
Fleetingly formed of rice
flour, the kolam is intend-
ed co invite and welcome
guests and gOCK! fortune.
Bur in rhe rigidly con-
erolled culrure of a Norch-
ern Virginia sulxlivision, a
kolam can be an invitation
forconcroversy and a linch-
Balasubramanian trod a less confrontational
path: With great reluctance, he obscured the
kolam wtth numerous coats of black paint
pin forargumencs about religious expression.
L1sc year Ram Balasubramanian adorned
the driveway of his home widl a brilliant
red and white ko!am, part of a traditional
coming-of-age feee for his 14-year-old son.
Rain was expected for dle day of dle cere-
mony, so rhe design was rendered in paint
racher than flour. The South Villages
Homeowners Association, however, felt the
kolam conflicted with its vision of subur-
ban harmony. It demanded that Balasubra-
manian remove the design and imposed a
$10 fine for each day that it remained. Re-
luctant toedipse t he potent symbol, Bala-
subramanian kept the kolam, and the fees
rapidly accrued to t he maximum of $900.
Hoping to avoid conflict , Balasubra-
man ian spoke to his neighbors; an infor-
mal survey of20 residents indicated unan-
imous suppOrt, but the association was
unmoved. Although he isn't a man who
seeks the spotlight, local and national me-
dia caught wind of the controversy, and
Balasubramanian found himself at the cen-
ter of an outsized controversy. "'It was all
one innocent step after the ocher, which
created a much bigger issue," he said.
Home owners and their associations
have clashed in court over religious sym-
bols ranging from mezuzahs to unapproved
Christmas displays. Bur in spite of numer-
ous offers of pro bono legal services, Bala-
subramanian trod a less confrontational
path: With great reluctance, he obscured
the kolam with numerous coats of black
paint. Though disappointed, he was phi lo-
sophical about the outcome. "\'Ue have a lot
of compromises because of the totally di\'erse
culture here:' he reflected. "At the same
time, we do not want to be looked upon as
troublemakers." TIle homeowners' associa-
tion was less inclined to bend, remaining
steadfast in its demand that Balasubraman-
ian pay the $900 penalty for his unautho-
rized expression of piety.
- JOSH UA GRAY
Ram Balasubramanian covered his celebratory kolam under pressnre from his home owners' association.
28 1 LandscapeArchitecture fIIA_C H ZOOI
MISSION: COMPETfliON
Go [or lhe . .. Green
IFLA announces details of2009
stlldent design COlltest and mils
for sub",issiollJ.
L
ANOSCAPE ARCNITECTlIRE students interest-
ed in two of our current national obses-
sions-green jobs and infrastructure-
can get a jump on the working world with the
International Federation of landscape Archi-
tects IIFLAI annual student design competi-
tion. The theme of this )"ear's contest, held
in conjunction with IFLA's 46th World Con-
gren in Brazil , is "Green Infrastructure:
Landscape, Infra -
structure, and Peo-
ple for Tomorrow."
The competition is
open to indiiduals
sssss
46th IFLA W O R L O ~
CONGRESS
or groups of up to five . Winners, who will
receive cash prizes as well as certificates,
will be announced at a ceremon)" during
the October conference in Rio de Janeiro.
The deadline for entries is August 18.
IFLA is also seeking multimedia submis-
sions from practitioners, academics, and
students on green infrastructure. Submis
sions can take the fOml of experimental
design projects and critiques, research,
written or photographic essa)"s, digital ani
mations, or films. The deadline for submis
sions is March 31. For details, vi sit
www.46IFLA2009.com.br.
TOP JOB
Landscape
Ar'chitecture
Deemed One of This
Year's Greal Careers
T
NE MAGAZINE U.S. News ~ n d World Re-
pori, in its annual sUrYe}', named land
snpe architecture one of 2009's best
careers, citing the profession's satisfying
mix of artistry and science and low ower
head for wannabe entrepreneurs. San},
landscape architects, according to the arti -
cle, should consider specializing in ecolog
ical restoration or worlling in China.
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W
E ALl TOOK THE SAM.E w<xxly plane
and site engineering classes rogerher.
Side by side we spent late nigh ts in the
smdio at Cornell Uni versity, hovering
over drawings that were duc the follow-
ing morning. Bur today, approximately four
years after we graduated with our bachelor's de-
grees, we've gone in very different directions-
bmh professionally and geographically.
What are the first few years in the profession
like for recent landscape architecture graduates?
[ decided to ask myoId classmates. While most
are still working in (he field, [he sore of work
they do isquite varied. And a few people are no
longer working at design firms at all. One is now
a JXlITncr in a catering business, another works at
a donor's office, and a few people are pmeticing
or studying related fields.
TIuough the miracles of modern technology
(aka Facebook), J was able co leave messages with
everyone in my studio mhort. I asked them to
tell me about the paths they have taken since
graduation and t he lessons they've learned along
the way {hat might be helpful for {his year's
gmduating class. Eleven people responded, and
t his is what t hey wrote.
These Illildscape lli'chitecture students earned their degrees side by side,
but since then they have "one off in 111llilV different directions,
b ,
What Cllil other young landscape lli'chitects learn fro111 their experiences?
Edited by Daniel Jost, Associate ASLA
Yoen WORK AS A
CAD MONKEY HELPS
YOU E A l ~ N YOCR
EMPLOYER' S TRUST.
Sarah Donato
HOK t San Francisco
M
y JOB HUNT BEGAN during my fi-
nal semester of senior year. r was ob-
sessed with fashioning the most amazing
lX>rtfuli o---one that would show the world
that I was an edgy, skillful young designer
with tons of ambit ion and creativity. I spent
a lot of time thinking about color palettes
3 0 I LiindscapeArchitecture fIIUC H 20U
and what shape it would take. Looking back
on the hundreds ofhours-nQ[ to mention
dollars-I spent, I now realize t hat my fo-
cus was completely misguided. I was so
concerned wit h making something that
looked cool t hat I lost sight of the purpose
of a portfolio: to highlight your best work
and show your technical skills.
During my final months in school, I
wrore letters, made phooecalls to principals,
and dragged my overrhought portfolio all
over New York City. My asserti veness paid
off. I ended up with three job offers, and I
accepted a job with the HOK Planning
Group. Only three days after graduat ion, I
began my new professional career.
You might say I starred out as a CAD
monkey, but it reall y wasn't as bad as it
sounds. Alt hough my work consisted pri-
marily of noncreative AutoCAD and Pho-
toshop work, moving bet ween t he t WO
programs as frequent ly as possible allowed
me to never feel trapped or pigeonholed.
This work was the first step in earning my
employer's trust, and, eventually, I earned
the right todo more creative work as well.
By creative work, r mean anything from
new CAD details to final plant and materi-
al select ions to conceptual design.
l l le concept ual design phase is refresh-
ingly very similar to t he process we used in
coll eh>e, where a layer of trace and diagrams
site furnishin s for a Lifetime
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finally manifest into a cohesi ve and
grounded desi g n direction. However,
there was cerrain vocabulary that was nev-
er included in my education- and I' m
ralkingabour basics. [ didn't know the dif-
ference between schematics, design devel -
opment, and constl1Jction documents. At
first , it seemed like people were constanr-
Iy speaking in code and using acronyms fit
for the CIA, not a design finn. I asked ques-
tions and kept my ears open all the time,
and eventually I learned how to talk the
talk. However, it would have been helpful
if some of this office terminology was in-
troduced in swdio classes or at least in our
professional practice class.
Afterspending tWO years in I-IOK's New
York office, I decided m move to San Fran-
cisco. My boyfriend, who was also a land-
scape architecture major at Cornell , is a
San Fmncisco native. l uckily for me, HOK
has many offi ces throughout the United
States, including a successful location in
San Francisco. They offered financial assis-
tance in my move and allowed me about
four weeks to travel before starting my
new job. Staying with the same company
made [he transition to a new city much
easier. Starting at the San Francisco office
I was new, but not foreign . I already knew
some of the people I was working with and
the company's CAD standards and profes-
sional protocol.
I have been working at the San Fmncis-
co office for close to two years now. Work-
ing here has allowed me to realize what had
been lacking in my career; I was suddenly
32 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIUC H 20U
"I asked questions and kept
my ears open all the time,
and eventually I learned
how to talk the talk."
a part of a ream that made me excited m
come to the office and intemct. \'hen en-
tering the field, you must be discerning
about your future work environment. After
all, you will spend more time with your
coworkers than with any other people in
your life. Fostering relationships with the
people you work with will give you the
motivation to work m your full potential
and will ultimately advance your career.
l ife at I-IOK is dynamic. My roles at the
office include consultant coordination,
gmding, drafting a sketch into AumCAD,
conceptual design, and fielding a myriad
of cl ient requests. Some days are gone in a
single heartbeat- rushing to submit a
progress set of drawings or anxiously coax-
ing the color plotter to hurry up and spit
out a rendering before someone leaves [he
office for a client presemation. Other days
are more leisurely, spent in in-house de-
sign meetings , researching t he latest in
skate stops, or assessing a project's t EED
(leadership in Energy and Environmemal
Design) status.
I no longer discredi t the seemingly or-
dinary task of designing the score joints of
a sidewalk or an expansive stretch of a cor-
porate surface lot. I love my work because
I own my work, and I appreciate the op-
portunity to make an impact on other
people's lives.
"DON'T WORRY
Iv YOU CAN' T FIl\D
A JOB IN LA1, l])SCA PE
AHCHrmCTl;RE
IMMEDIATELY. "
Stephanie Webster
CECil GROUP' Boston
1
1-1 AD BEEN INTENT on becoming a
!andscapearchitect since my junior year
of hi gh school. It was my dream job--no
other field of work blended my imerests
so well. Bur a year and a half after gradua-
tion, I was working in retail.
T.1.king a numbet offine arts classes dur-
ing my last semester had left little time to
gather my work into a portfolio or look for
a job during my final semester. After grad-
uation, I headed home to Syracuse to re-
sume work at a clot hing store, where r had
been a seasonal employee. I thought this
was an ideal arrangemenr at the t ime. I
could live at home rent free (thanks, Mom
and Dad) and dewlop my portfolio so that
I could land a job at a dynamic firm that I
really wanted to be a part of.
However, the portfolio ended up on the
back burner as I moved up the ladder at the
clothing store. A year passed, and I found
myself traveling across the country to train
employees and support new stores. They
began tmining me for a management (X>Si-
tion. r was honored but also concerned-
was this how I was going to spend my life?
Then, suddenly, I had a word-of-moUth
opportunity to interview at a well-respected
central New York fi rm. I dusted off my
portfolio and readjusted my focus: My goal
was to work as a landscape architect , and
that had not changed despite the sidetmck
in retail. The interviews went well, and I
received many compliments on my strong
work samples. However, they kept me on
the fence for mont hs.
l l le firm was concerned with my !ackof
CAD experience in an office sett ing, and
they S<1.id they didnt have the resources to
train me. While I was at Cornell, I had
worked a number of summer jobs and in-
ternships that I thought would prove valu-
able in getting a job. I worked at a land-
scaping nursery to learn plams; for a
nonprofit in Boston that manages urban
wildlife areas, community gardens, and
outreach programs for inner-city youth;
and even for a fledgling landscape archi-
tecture firm dOing administrative and
marketing tasks. But for them this was all
overshadowed by my lack of experience as
aCADintem.
\'V'hil e they tried to decide whether to
hire me, I decided to refocus my job search.
Maybe someone else would value my oth-
er experiences more. I cold-called a couple
of "dream firms" that were working on en-
gaging, complex projecrs. I even arranged
a few office visits in Boston (which I envi-
sioned as a mecca of design and planning)
to learn about these offices and how they
funcrioned.
As luck would have it, a small, yet very
busy, planning and design firm named rhe
Cecil Group in Boston was looking for an
enrry-Ievellandscape designer ar rhe rime.
They wanted someone with a design-
heavy background, and my fine arts con-
centration fit the bill. Being a small office,
chey also wanted someone who could be
flexible and help OUt with various tasks
when ochers were stretched. I was exci red
about the opporrunity [Q work with ot her
types of professionals, and a steep learning
curve didn't scare me. \'7hile they told me
"One landscape arcMect
I met had actually
taken eight years
before returning to
the practice."
it would have been ideal to have a stronger
background in CAD, the principals at the
Cecil Group also saw my lack of office ex-
perience as an opportunity: They could
train me to create conscruction drawings
and plans in their own style. A year and a
half after graduating, I finally had the
chance to work in my own field.
The Central New York firm eventually
offered me the position as well, bm I chose
to move to Boston for che design environ-
ment chat promised a larger range of proj-
ects. Since starting at the Cecil Group, I've
worked on design development for rransit-
oriented pedestrian improvements, land-
scapeconsrruccion drawings for an old mill
complex being renovated into condos, and
site layouts and renderings for several wa-
terfronr parks. I' ve also attended a handful
of public meecings to faci litate and lead
group discussions, mosc recently for a vil-
lage master plan in Rhode Island chat our
firm has been working on. Occasionally J"II
assist with site analysis, area calculat ions,
and graphics support for the planners. I've
become quite comfortable working in
CAD, and I've been able to bring the plant
knowledge I developed at school and
working in the nursery to numerous plant-
ing plans.
Looking back on my job search, one
thing that did surprise me was that none of
the firms J spoke with were nonplussed by
mystint in retail. A few principals I spoke
with mentioned that there were others in
their offices who had taken a less conven-
tional route into the profession. One land-
scape architect I met had actually caken
eight years before returning to the prac-
rice. So my advice for new graduates is
don't worry if you can't find a job in land-
scape architecture immediately.
"ltWORMATIONAL
INTERVIEWS ARE
INTERVIEWS. "
Linda Ciesielski
GRADUATE STUDENT t Boston
I
WOULD REC01 .. rMEND using the sum-
mer after graduacion to do something
unconventional; you will not have the
rime once you begin work. Four weeks af-
ter graduation, I was teaching conversa-
tional English in China. Through Bridges
for Education, a program that organizes
language camps for teenagers in a number
of countries, I had che chance co learn
about another culture and see places I
miglu never have seen otherwise.
Before I wem [Q China, I began looking
inca offices in Porrland, Oregon. I wanred
to learn from and be a part of the city syn-
onymous with green building and
thoughtful planning. I also wanced co live
someplace where I did not need a car,
which would be difficult if I scayed in
\'7estern New York. I put a lot of time into
my portfolio in May, June, and August.
The last semester at school was demand-
ing,and I found I didn't have enough time
to scan projects and refine work. Creating
a portfolio is a project in itself. I didn't set
a deadline for myself-so I definitely spent
too much time on perfecting rhe format
and [he graphics- but I wanted it to be
the best I could make it. I knew it would
be my foot in the door in a city where I
had no connections. Then I began calling
MUCH 20 n LlInd&caPIIArcbitllCturll 1 33
PRACTICE
offices and sending off cover letters and
copies of my (X>rrfolio.
By Seprcmber, I'd landed two interviews
in Portland. I flew out for a week, scayed
with relatives, and called nearly every land-
scape architecture or planning office in
(Own and asked for an office visit. By play-
ing the "out-of-towner" card, I was able to
visit fi ve additional offices for information-
al imerviews. Informational interviews are
imcrvi{"ws. Even if an office is currently not
hiring, it may be in che furure. From these
informational meetings, I was pulled aside
and offered rwopositions if! was still look-
ing for work in a few months. Afrer chis
trip, I also had twO concrete job offers from
my more formal interviews. I wok one and
moved to Portland in OCtober.
I learned a great deal in the first cwo
months. [ have to thank Professor Marv
Adelman for his sire-grading courses ac
Cornell, because r was soon encrusced wirh
34 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIUC H 20U
doing most of rhe grading at the offi<:e. I
was working in a seven-person firm, whi<:h
provided che opportuniry (Q learn many
differenc casks; J wasn'c simply a CAD
monkey. I was able codesign, grade, build
models, visir sires, and meee wich diems
and subconsulrams.
Bue afrer a few monrhs, r began co feel
restless. From school, I was used co learn-
ing new rhings every day- bur rhis was
nor happening at work. Socially, ehe small
office was also Ii miring. I was the youngest
by 10 years. Being in a new ciey wirh old-
er coworkers was isolating and was one of
the factors that prompted my move to t he
Bay Area the following summer, where
several friends were living.
I was hired by a firm focused on plan-
ning and urban design with a number of
smarteariy and mid-20s staff. Staff makes
such a difference! I was persuaded to join
the office because at the second interview,
I met the entire staff and learned their
backgrounds. I was also able to speak to a
young sraff member on my own after the
meeting. I t was the beSt interview experi-
ence I have ever had, and it won me over.
I persuaded them to give me five weeks
unti I my starr date, then, for a few weeks
in July, J worked on my friend's furm in
Maine. It was great to be physically en-
gaged with the earth again. It seems nat-
ural to be outside working in the summer;
I wish I had stayed longer!
At the planning office, I did agrear deal
of research and writing. J enjoyed the change
from construction documents, and J liked
being at the from ofa project, creating the
framework for how something could pro-
ceed later. However, J was often frustrated
"Being in a new
with older coworkers
was isolating and was
one of the factors that
prompted my move."
by planners' design naivete-bike paths
traversing 20 percent grades, inadequate
s{XK:e fOr trees, or infrasrrunure chat would
likely require great site disturbance. I
missed builders and figuring om how to
work with the puzzle of the landSl"ape.
J also realized how limited we are as de-
signers. Policy has by far the greatest im-
pact on the landscape. As designers, we can
create and improve places, but these dis-
parate parts don't necessarily make a
whole. I think this finally resonated for me
in California- but it naturally grew oue
of extensive rra\'eI and work experiences in
....:.
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, 24' tria"i/WJ sides. 0!>tr0r1
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the United States and abroad. In unincor-
lx>rated counties throughout Californias
dry Central Valley, subdivisions spring up
on agricultural soils, often equipped with
large fountains and oversized infrastruc-
ture. It is obscene--and s.-ully it happens
allover. The scale oflandscape abuse across
the United States and most of the world is
something that designers working on indi-
vidual projects cant fix.
Last full I began graduate school for a
master of city planning at the Massachu-
settS Institute of Technology, focusing on
environmental polICY and planning. In or-
der to see policy change, a great challenge
lies in connecting people to theirenviron-
ment. My intention is toenhancedialogue
around natural resources and link local
knowledge to policy through partiCipato-
ry media and storytelling.
To those JUSt emering the job market,
I'd encourage you to rake chances, follow
your convictions, and express your WIll-
ingness to learn new things. L1.ndscape ar-
chitecture teaches systems thinking, and r
am grateful for my education.
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MUCH 2009 Landscape Architecture 135
"ALL OF TI-lE
KJ'JOWLEDGE YOU NEED
TO REALLY GROW CA1'\f'T
BE LEARNED TflHOuCI r
PRACl']CE ALONE. "
Josh Egnatz, AffUlate
ASLA
MICHAEL VAN VUKENBURGH ASSOCIATES'
New York
A
s I APPROACHED GRADUATION,
with the specer of student loan pay-
ments on the horizon, there was Ercle
doubt in my mind I wanted and needed
to find a paying job right away. Immedi-
ately after graduation, I worked for Egnatz
Associates, my father's archirecmre office
in central Massachusetts, doing site lay-
outs, grading, and garden design. \Vhi[e
[he work was rewarding, r realized that to
participate in my preferred type and scope
of work, I needed to work in a landscape
architen's office.
In rhe fall, I visited landscape architec-
ture firms and dropped off resumes and
electronic portfolios. J interviewed with
firms in Boston and New York, one of
which was Michael Van Valkenburgh As-
sociates ( MVVA), a New York City firm
whose design ethos and office culture
36 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIUC H 20U
seemed likeagoud fit for me. After a hand-
ful of interviews, I was ollerecl a job. In De-
cember I moved to Lower Manhatcan and
scarred work in their New York office as a
junior designer.
Over the past three years, I have worked
on at leasc 30 projectS, 10 of which I am
closely involved with. These projects in-
clude public parks, campus landscapes, and
private residences. They range in size from
a 2,500-square-foot garden for an elemen-
tary school to an SO-acre waterfront park.
From preparing RFQs to perfonning punch
list inspections , I have contributed to all
phases of project development, and I look
forward to this summer when several more
of these proj ects will be in the ground.
The work has been rigorous. 111ere is a
sense of urgency with every task I perform,
which supports a steep learning curve and
rapid professional growth. It is humbling to
look back at when I starred at MVVA, build-
ing mooelsand creat ing miniature (fees, to
what my responsibi lities have become in
three very quick years. Since January 2008,
I"ve been aseniordesigner,and while I con-
tinue to build design and presentation moo-
els, I also manage an institutional project ,
lead the pn:xiuction of design/construct ion
documents, perform construction observa-
tion, and prepare proj ect prop<l5als.
I am in the process of taking the L'Ind-
scape Architecture Reg ist rat ion Exam.
One of my short-term professional
goals is to become licensed, and I
am fortunate to be working for a
firm that has placed an emphasis on
exposing me to the wide range of
knowledge needed fur this exam.
But all of the knowledge you need
to really grow in thIS profess1On
cant be learned t hrough practice
alone. To expand my knowledge, I
have found myself dedicating a
considerable amount offree time to
reviewing profess1Onal journals.
Also, I've continued to explore the
bui ltenvironmem. Frequent week-
end safaris into the mountains to
climb, hike, ski, Of golfarean inte-
gral parr of my life. T he flood of
smells, textures, and colors renews
my spirit and encourages me to be
a bener designer.
My most pleasant surprise about
chis profession is learning how lib-
erated the individl1al is to follow his or her
own track- so long as that individual is
fueled by desire, educat ion, work ethic,
and character. As this arricle shows, there
are many roads one can cake in this field ,
and I am chus far th rilled with the ones I
have taken.
"'THERE'S u SUALLY
NOT A HANDBOOK ...
Btl I' THAT ALSO
MEANS YOU IlA VE
OPPOHTUNl11ES TO
IMPROVE TrnNCS."
John Knowlton
OEHME, VAN SWEDEN & ASSOCIATES'
Washington, D.C.
W
IllLE IN COLLEGE I was aware of
some common complaints against
landscape architects. I often heard people
related to (he profession saying, "land-
scape architects donr even know their
plants .. This rang in my head as if they
were saying landscape architects are igno-
rant, barely even knowing the basics of
theirowfl profession. I knew I didn't want
to be that guy.
I took my firs t jobatasmall tomedium-
sized design/ build compafly in northern
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New Jersey, where [ had interned the sum-
mer before graduating. I was anxious to get
out from behind my srudiodesk, and I knew
this job would give me hands-on experience
in rhe daily operations of construction.
Overnight, I became a manager in the
(ompany-designing residential land-
scapes, meeting wirh cliems, estimacing
jobs, supervising crews, and coordinating
rhe scheduling. [n school [ assumed chat
whatever company [ worked for would
have all their processes perfected so chac
things would run smoothly ... however,
this is not always the case. In myexperi-
ence, companies don 'r have everything fig-
ured our, and there is usually nor a hand-
book available telling you how (0
accomplish casks chac will be required.
Bue chac also means chac you will have
opportunities to improve things. For in-
seance, every mornmg we were responSI-
ble for geccing all checrews loaded up wich
38 1 LiindscapeArchitecture MUC H 20U
che supplies and cools chey would need for
rhe day. To do rhis, I needed to know who
would be working wirh whom and what
chey would be doing. This sounds easy
enough, but che schedule was nowhere to
be found- ir was aU in my boss's head! I
ofcen found myselffruscraced and lacking
any understanding of whac needed co be
with
--
accomplished. Tn an effort co puc us all on
rhe same page, I devised a plan and boughr
a large dry-erase board, dividing ir inco a
nve-week calendar where we could noce
rhe crews and our schedule. This way any-
one looking ar rhe board could easily un-
derstand whac was co be accomplished on
any given day.
"'"Oain. Dpop'
_ Products.LLC
---
4l9-2O'l'-tni
"At both companies, n
took some time to learn
what elements of design
pleased each boss."
Working at a design/build company
was an invaluable experience because J was
able to experiment with different plams,
seeing [hem grow and someti mes die. I
was also able to develop a well-rounded
sense of landscape architecture, learning
nor only design, bur how [0 estimate JObs,
write proposals, work with cliems, and
handle accounting.
But after cwo years in [he design/bui ld
sector, I felt it was time to move on (0 a pro-
fessional design firm. With [he helpand en-
couragement of my wife, J tackled what felt
like the daunting [ask of putting a \xmfo-
lio together and applying for a job. From
{he rime J had been in school, [he thought
ofconstrllctinga \xmfuli o had intimidated
me, mostly because I wasn't confident re-
.garding what one should even look like.
After wait ing some months and going
through interviews, I accepted a job offer
with Oehme, van Sweden & Associates in
Washington, D.C., in August 2006. (A
bit of advice for those moving to a new
ci ty- be sure to ask for your moving ex-
penses to be reimbursed.)
Working in a professional fi rm was a bit
imimidating at first because I had not used
AutoCAD since school and I only had one
semester of tmining. Also, at both compa-
nies, it took some time to learn what ele-
ments of design pleased each boss. At first,
we had signifimntly different perceptions
of how spaces should look and function and
what's involved in the general design
process. r have found the best way to over-
come these diffilUlties IS to design "through
your boss's eye ...
My final word of advice for currem Stu-
dents is to leam and master the many skills
a landscape architect is required to know.
Take the time to understand what is being
taught. Learn how to draw and use line
weights. Master grading, know your plants,
and develop an understanding of general
construction techniques and processes.
"E VENTUALLY, I FOL-:'\lJ)
THE RlCHT FIT. '"
Rebecca Francisco
CHILD CARE RESOURCE' Chittenden County,
Vermont
S
INeE GR.ADUATI NG from college, [
have worked for a few landscape ar-
chitecture firms looking for the right fit,
but found it hard to find a position that al-
lowed me tocominue working with all the
skills and design interests J had developed
throughout my studies. Eventually, r
found the right fit outside a fi rm, in the
nonprofit sector. r have completed two
AmericoTJ)S terms of service with the Ver-
mom Youth Conservation Corps, and I am
now working for Child Care Resource in
Chinenden County, Vermont.
MUCH 2009 Landscape Architecture 139
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Rebecca FrlIncisco
visiting Paris
r found it easy [Q find a job right our of
college. I spell( a few weeks polishing up
my portfolio, sent it out, and soon had a
number of offers. I am really good with
compurerprogmmssuch as AuroCAD, GIS,
and Phoroshop, whICh made me a desir-
able candidate. However, being good at
something doesn't guarantee you'll like it.
J think it is extremely easy [Q get pigeon-
"I chose to change fields
to get back to the aspects
of landscape architecture
I originally loved."
holed early on In your career and very hard
roget out of that. \'Qhen you are limited to
one task for months on end, it can be very
frustrating , and I found it hard to stay in-
vested when the only challenge was the
long hours (at one firm I often worked 50
to 60 hours per week).
I chose to change fields to get back to the
aspects of landscape architecture l original-
ly loved: working with real people in the
communities they care about and effect ing
change that will help create stronger and
more beautiful communities. I now work
primarily in community organizing and
education and coordinate service learning
projects and an educational b'ardening pro-
gram. The one aspect of my education that
has most affened who I am [Oday was
working wi th rea.! stakeholders on real proj-
ens. Geni ng m know communi ty mem-
bers and helping them to anain what they
need and wam in their mmmunities has
become the ultimate goal of my caret'r.
Although my title IS no longer landscape
architect, I still feel thar I am very much a
parr of the fi el d. My advice for recent grnd-
uares: To be successful you have to swim in
a stream that is going in the direnion you
need to go. Jr'sokay to l{:t go of your idea of
what you had planned for yourself if It is
not taking YOll wh{:re you want [0 go.
To cominue along the path [ have starr-
ed , I am considering graduate school to
study public administrnrion. I hope to ex-
pand my capabi lities [0 influence the pub-
li c sector and instigate positive change in
the communities I work in.
"THE SIMPLEST PATH
l S ' I ~ r ALWAYS THE BEST. "
Jon Ernsberger
NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF PARKS &
RECREATION' New York
A
s I APPROACHED GRADUATION, I
had a number of worries. \'V'ill I like
{he "reality" oflandscape archi tecture? Do
I real ly know anything useful ? rf I commit
to a job, will I have time or energy left for
anything el se ? (Like being in a rock band,
for instance,. ,)
I knew that I was done with school. I
was sick of studying and writing papers ,
and r liked the idea of getting something
physical ly accomplished. Also, there was
something almost blissful in the thought
that when you come home from work, no
matter what, rhe rest of the day belongs to
you. Beyond that r didn't really know what
I wanted.
I was rescued bya professor of mine who
is also a one-man firm. He needed an assis-
tant, and getting that job was prerry sim-
ple. I never even created a resume. Bur the
simplest path isn't always the best. At that
job, I spent halfof my time doing unimag-
inative CADlPhotoshop work and the oth-
er half doing construnion on a "gret'n" ad-
dition to my boss's home. \'V'hile my CAD
skills wert improving, I just wasn't excited
by what I was working on, and I wondered
COfICLE os ON READR SERVICE CoV'ID OR GO TO IiTTP '11NF0 .HOTIMS.COf,t/23<9' 1I5
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636 m SlRm NW. WASHIN61ON. DC 100013736
101B9B1444 fAX 1018981185
MARCN 2009 Landscape Architecture 141
PRACTICE
if I really was cm om for land-
scape archicffmrt'.
I needed a change, so r decid-
ed to leave Irhacaand explore the
\'(fese Coast. I flew co Vancouver
and took a train down rhe coast,
stopping at various cities on the
way. While I enjoyed rhisadvcn-
rure, I did not fall in love with
any of the places ' saw on my
travels. Discournged, I moved in
with my parents in Endicott,
New York, hoping co "recollect
myself," as they say.
I had some rapport with a
smal l landscaping business
where I had worked as a laborer
during summer breaks , and
they took me on as onc of cwo landscape
desi gners. Here, I worked on a number of
fun projects, bue chere was rarely anyone
around ro reach me anything. At times, r
was all bur making things up on rhe fly
and crossing my fingers. There was so
much J didn't know how ro do, and chere
was a lor of pressure co deliver steady work
ro che labor side of che business.
I made some preccy bad mistakes chere.
One rime J called for six cubic yards of soil
when the job needed more like 26. On the
same job chey gOt cheir Bobcac stuck in a
swampy area that I had failed rowam chern
about, and our company had to rent more
equipment co gec it our. For a differenc
client, J gOt huscled precty good. The job
had promised to be the biggest of the sea-
son. I spent a great deal of time on the de-
sign, meeting wich the clients a numberof
times, but we never got the job. Instead,
the cl ients took all my design ideas and
chen hired someone else. My bosses were
all very understanding. Buc ac che end of
the season events coincided to take me in a
different direction. \'{fork naturally comes
ro a close with the onset of che cold for che
landscape team, and it was a good time to
CUt loose gracefully.
A friend invi ted me to sublet a room in
NYC for a short time until the true tenant
ret urned. I thought J was staying for only
a few months, so J got a job at an art store,
thinking it would be a short-term t hing.
42 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
"One pleasant surprise was
that after less than a year
with Parks, I was actually
designing something-
a pocket playground
in Greenwich Village."
However, che ocher tenant never came
back co claim che room, so I Stayed, and
nine months later, I found myself still
working at t he art store.
I scarced ro chink about geccing a more
permanent job. After t his lengthy break
from landscape architecture r was nervous
about ret urning to the scene. r wondered
what an employer would think of this hia-
tus, and I was worried that my skills had
already begun rodull with time.
Two and a half years after graduacing I
wrote my first resume. 'nuough a former
college classmate I got an interview wi t h a
giant firm that J am glad rejected me. The
rejection was mutual. Then during a
miniature reunion at a bar in Manhattan,
I learned about openings at the NYC De-
partment of Parks & Recreation. I liked
the idea of designing parks and play-
grounds, and J knew several people work-
ing t here already. I was interested!
J believe my friend may have worked a
little magic behind the curtain. She must
have cold her manager that I play guicar and
a liccle abouc my musical caste, because he
had her ask me if r could supply some gui -
car cablature for a Nirvana song wich my re-
sume. I'm nor sure if chis really helped me
gec an interview, but I chink ic was my pon:-
folio that secured t he job. r d created a new
portfolio mixing projeccs from school chat
showed my interescs with projects from che
landscaping company t hat showed my
practical abilicies. My interviewer Sttmf([
genuinely interested in what I was showing
him, and r ve been working here since.
One pleasant surprise was that after less
chan a year wi t h Parks, I was actually de-
signing something-a pocket playground
in Greenwich Village. Being the project
manager/designer meanc I would be re-
sponsible for everything from conceptual
design ro bid documents. In Parks a lot of
people have ro approve your design. You
have co be flexible and willing co explore a
lot of alternatives. Somet imes what you
think is a great idea is waved aside, which
can be frustrating . But ultimacely I found
that the design is changed for the better
most of the time. r m grateful ro be in a
posi tion where J can get hel p and guid-
ance from those who have been here longer
than J have.
And while rm currently not in a rock
band, J have time to wri te and play music
frequently, My workload varies, but some-
times I come home from work and find
that a significant portion of the day does
indeed belong to me,
My GRADliATE
EDUCATfON HELPED ME
ESTABLISH A NICHE.
Jeannette Compton,
Associate ASLA
NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF PARKS &
RECREATION' Hew York
I
GRADUATED A SEMESTER EARLIER
than most of my classmates and went
straight to grad s<:hool at Cornell's Urban
Horticulture Institute, focusing on sus-
minable urban design, Earning a master's
degree at the same school where I'd goaen
my bachelor's degree allowed me co really
hit the ground running, I already had an
adviser and a good idea of what my thesis
would be focused on: the scormwater ben-
efits of green roof design,
I finished up my thesis in August 2006,
A month later, I started a full-time job at
the New York City Department of Parks &
Recreation as a landscape architect intern.
While having a master's degree didn't pay
off right away- I came in at the same time
and rate as those with bachelor's degrees in
the class below mt'--the experiences it pro-
vided have since benefited me greatly. Hav-
ing an understanding of stormwater man-
agement and green roof design based in
("(-search allowed me to rake responsibility
for additional projectS beyond my design
assignments. \'<'hen the mayor's office put
together a task force on stormwater man-
agement, [was able to participate in a valu-
able way. TocIay, I am the project manager/
fellow for Parks's partnership with the De-
sign TTlist for Public Space to create "H igh
Performance Landscape Guidelines,"
"Once people know you
are passionate and willing
to put in the time, more
opportunities will follow."
which will encourage New York City to
take a more holistic and systems-based ap-
proach to creating parks. I also research
ways to increase the sustainability of ongo-
ing projects, and I am an active member of
various committees, including Parks's
green roof committee, its Sustainability
Group, and the mayor's Climate Change
Policy Group. This is all thanks to my
graduate education.
My first few months at Parks were pret-
ty typical. I spent them putting cogedlfr
contract documents for other designers,
but soon afterward ' was in charge of two
construction projeccs for a designer who
had left, and' quickly took on smaller de-
sign projectS as well. Parks is unique in that
there are many smaller projects that
younger designers can tackle and learn all
the steps in the design process. , expected
th IS, but , was surprised by how much de-
signers can infuse their own personal in-
terests into a projecr (within the parame-
ters of the project, of course), My own
emphasis on natural plantings, sustainable
materials, and storm water management
can be seen throughout my designs. This
opportunity for exploration seems unusu-
al compared co many private firms.
One project that I am particu-
larly proud of was my work for the
Schoolyards m Playgrounds Initia-
tive known as PlaNYC I worked
with the scudent council at Public
School 138 in the South Bronx to
do site analysis, taught che kids
about plant selection so they could
chex>se their own planes, and gave
[hem a "budget" of points co de-
termine what type of play equip-
ment they would like. Within this
design I also incorporated other
priorities ofPlaNYC such as direct-
ing S[Qrmwater to continuous tree
pits and increasing canopy cover
and shading, The project ended up
being the first co be completed un-
der the initiative, and the mayor
attended the ribbon cutting.
Of course I"ve made a few mis-
takes along the way. One of the
most imJXlrtant lessons you will
learn in an office is the value of spell
check. Once, I missed a typo on a
shop drawing, and that resulted in
an eight-foot granite monument
MUCH 20 n LlInd&caPIIArcbitllcturll 1 43
being installed with the word "Swedlish"
instead of Swedish. The funny part was
somehow rhe Swedish consulate found OUt
that Sweden was mentioned and wanted to
arrend rhe ribbon curting. \VJe managed to
have an engraving company come in and
fix the erching in situ, bur I will proofread
very carefully rhe nexr rime I wrire some-
thing in granite.
I've also learned how lirrie can be cov-
ered in school. It is impossible to learn
everything about site construct ion in col-
lege. You gec a basic understanding, bur a
working knowledge of materials and con-
struction comes with time and experience.
I know I have a long way to go, and I am
constantly talking with people who have
been doing this work for a long time and
learning from them.
That said, some things have changed
over the years. Don't feel sheepish when
people who "have been in this business
since before you were born" tell you chat
something must be done a parricular way.
Sustainable design is a paradigm shift in
construction, and it is your job to be an ad-
vocate for ic JUst make sure you really
know what you are talking about. Explain
your reasoning, and, if you can, use case
studies of other places where your idea has
worked. Design decisions that come from
nowhere often come to the chopping
block. If you can justify your designs or
new ideas, and present them in a way that
44 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
is meaningful to your audience, you will
generally be more sllccessful.
Also, go beyond rhe call of dury. I was
able to earn my current position by volun-
teering beyond what was reqllired of me.
I served on a number of commitrees and
actually functioned in my current cirie in
a volunreer capaciry prior to getting the
promorion. Once people know you are
passionate and willing to puc in rhe rime,
more opportunities will follow.
"MY INTERl'<ATIONAL
EXPERlENCE HELPED
GHEATLY L'< GETTJNG
A JOB. "
Craig Johnson
EDAW/ AECOM DENVER
M
y INTRODUCfJON to the workplace
began overseas. During my last se-
mester, I studied abroad on a research fel-
lowship with the Singapore National Parks
Department. 111e fellowship morphed into
an extended trip throughout Southeast
Asia, where I hada wealth of wonderful ex-
periences. Before going overseas, I was not
mentally prepared to work at a firm or
think aoom applying for a job, bur after six
months in Southeast Asia, I came back
with a desire to look for a job in landscape
architecture and earn some money. I also
came home with an interest in
staying dose to f.unily and friends,
something that I had not really
felt important beforehand.
, spem aOOm four months ap-
plying to various jobs, living with
my parentS in Colorado Springs,
Colorado. In college, I'd studied
ooth landscape architecture and
planning, and ' was looking fora
Job where I could lise all of my
skills. I tapped into the alumni
network and searched for posi-
tions online. I also had to make a
portfolio, which I had not needed
for class or any previous jobs. ,
didn't spend too mllch time on
my portfolio, and I am a bit
ashamed to admit chat I did the
whole thing in PowerPoinr.
My international experien<:e
helped greatly in getting a job; I
found a lor of firms were looking for people
interested in working or lIVing overseas. ,
ended up caking a job ar rhe Dem'er office
of EDAW. J chose EDAW because the finn
was dose to home, yet sri II worked on many
internarional projects.
J have worked at EDAW for rhe past chree
years. I was blessed wirh having an unbe-
lievable mentor. This boss capped into my
international incerests-sending me co sites
on five different continents-and gave me
the opportunity to grow and develop as a
designer, planner, and project manager on
projeccs ranging from a 35-acrecampus re-
design to a 3 5,000-acre ci tywide concepcu-
al plan. Despite che varied scales and geog-
raphies, a cypical project for me progresses
from an existing conditions phase to a sce-
narios phase to a final concept plan.
111e mosrdefining and fulfilling project
that I have worked on is in Rwanda. This
project has won two Colorado ASLA
Awards and just recently won a Daniel
Burnham Award, which is given by the
American Planning Association for e x c e l ~
lence in comprehensive planning. My role
was project planner in charge of collecting
and analyzing existing condi tion dara,
drafting the land plan and public participa-
tion strategy, and providing policy recom-
mendations related to land development. J
developed a tight connection with my fel-
low consultants--engineers, archi tects,
and economists-and together we have
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been able to tea<:h a graduate-level class,
present at conferences, and Start a lecture
series in Denver. Through this projeer, [
fed I am starring to find a niche working in
developing countries and emerging mar-
kets. I am developing connenions and get-
ring experience that is helping me pursue
more work in this niche.
However, whenever a new summer intern
works in rheofficc, I am constamly aware of
the computer skills that 1 did not learn in
college and have not had a chance to learn
on the job. Even being away from college
for three years, I feel in some as\X""CtS like an
aging dinos.'lUr and have been a bie frustrat-
ed with how difficult it is co learn new pro-
grams while working full time. I have told
myself chac r would go back to school when
r full into a rut at work, but the rues have
luckily been quite shallow, and after three
years at EDAW, J still find my work co be
stimulating and deeply engaging.
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46 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
HOW I BECfuvlE A
wnnER AT LAM. ..
Daniel Jost.
Associate ASLA
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE'
Washington, D.C.
S
O HOW DID I END UP writing for
Landscape Architecfllre magazine? I ask
myself that question somet imes. Let's JUSt
say it's not what I imagined right after grad-
uation. At that time, [ was intent on mov-
ing oo<:k to my hometown, Buffalo, New
York, and being a parr of irs ever-elusive
renaissaoce.1 did abun<:h of part-time work
there. But five months after graduating,
wirh a number of successful inrerviews un-
der my belt bur no one actively hiring full-
time enny-leveJ lands<:ape designers, J de-
cided to test the waters elsewhere.
J posred my resume on ASLA's J ob Li nk
and e-mailed wver leners, resumes, and
porrfol ios co a number of firms with open-
ings. Almost immediately, J starred get-
ting phone mils, and three different mm-
panies agreed to fly me out to interview
with their firms. I doubt I would have the
same experien<:e nxlay. These were boom
times, right at the height of the housing
bubble, and there was actually a shortage
of young landsmpe architects nationally.
After getting offers from all three mm-
panies, I took a position in Las Vegas ar a
17 -person lands<:ape architecture firm. My
interview there had left me impressed. It
seemed to have the most di verse sraff and
proiens, including master planning work
for a bird-viewing preserve on rhe sire of an
old sewage treatment plant. And the prin-
cipal really looked me in rheeye, which at
the time I took as a sign of honesty.
I would soon find Out that rhe man was
an avid poker player. Certain things that
were promised during the interview nev-
er materialized. He said the firm was in
the process of adding vision and dental
coverage co their insurance, which never
happened . He'd promised to pay for a
plants identification cl ass that would let
me familiarize myself with desert planrs,
Shade
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p.,.
(jly of Mj""j_
,,,,,Jut jv/"tiv"j j",,' www.shadesystemsinc.com
but a week or two after arriving, ic ba'ame
clear chac chis was not going co happen ei-
{her. He had also promised me an active
role in the bird preserve project. Through
a liule bitof grandstanding, J managed to
make him follow through on chis parcicu-
lar promise, and that's probably the only
reason J Stayed {here for the nexc cwo and
a half years.
The ext remely flexible work schedule
didn't hurr either. For chose companies tOO
cheap or not able to offer bener benefits,
its a great way ro inspire employee loyal-
ty. \VIe were allowed to arrive anytime be-
fore 9:00, and if we worked late Monday
through Thursday, we could take a half
day on Friday or perhaps not come in at
all, as long as we met our 40 hours. This
schedule was great for taking weekend
trips to visit friends also living in western
ci ties, and it was really good for taking
night classes. I could usually leave a little
earl ier on a day I had a class and make up
for it the following day. It also allowed me
to break into freelance writing.
Initially, work at the office was really
boring, as I sjX:nt the first six months doing
nothing bur redlines and plugging hand
drawings into AutoCAD. 'was finding lit-
tle reward in my work and I was deprr--ssec\
with che style of development in Las Ve-
gas, which surrounds every communicy
and every individual home with a six-foot
concrete block wall. As a firm, we didn'c
have any concrol over chis; we were jusc
there to throw a few shrubs in from of the
wall. Day co day, chis made up the majori-
ty of my work.
MARCN 2009 Landscape Architecture 147
48 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
IMfRICIN SOCIHY Of IINOSllPf IRCHIHC1S
636 m mfH NW. WISHIN61ON.
1018981144 fIX 1018981185
PRACTICE
Eventually, 1 would be able to playa ma-
jor role in a number of more interesting
projectS as a projen manager and assistant
project manager. However, my early dis-
satisfaction with work led me to pursue
other methods of creative exprc-ssion. After
I read a Crit ic at Large piece comparing
Pafe Andre Cirrocn co the Luxembourg
Gardens, two places ' had visited on a Stu-
dio trip to Paris, , wrote a lener to the ed-
itors of Landscape Archilectllre magazine,
poinring our rhe flawed methods of evalu-
ating a park's use found in that article. The
lenerwas published in Apri12006. J wrote
"My early dissatisfaction
w ~ h work in a design
office led me to pursue
other methods of
creative expression."
a second Ictrer after Bill Thompson's Land
Matters column decried the state of writ-
ing in landscape architecrure, following
the death ofJane Jacobs. In rhe lener J not-
ed that I would be interested in writing
somet hing for the magazine. Using my
first lerrer as a wriring sample, I convinced
him to let me try writing for the magazine
in my spare time. The fact that they didnt
have any ocher wricers living in las Vegas
also didnt hurt me.
l 11e first article I completed was a piece
looking at a comroversialnew law that pro-
hibited feeding the homeless in las Vegas
parks. I researched this scory on my lunch
hour, on the weekend, and on rhe Friday af-
ternoons I had off-speaking with home-
less people and advocates and reviewing
tapes from a public meeting. The editing
process on this piece was a litde painful for
me, and I remember having a long talk
with my housemate about whether J should
try to fight various edits made. He con-
vinced me to only challenge three edits that
affected the veracity of {he are ide. T bey
were willing ro make these changes, and it
was exci t ing [0 see the areide published in
November 2006. Six months later, I had
anO[her article published.
Meanwhile, while life at work was im-
proving, our company was nO[ prepared for
the housing bus. When [ was first hired,
more than 80 percent of om work was for
residential developers, and more than half
of that was for a single company. My fi rm
laid off twO people only 10 months aft('r I
started. After that, there was a mass exodus
from the company as it became clear t hat
there was nO[ enough work to go around .
By the fall of 2007, the company was less
than half of its previous size, and we had
moved to smaller quareers. It seemed like
a good time to apply to grad schools.
last spring, my hours were reduced to 36
hours per week, so I started looking into
more articles in IA1/dscape Architecfllrt as a
way to earn a little extra money. Mean-
while I had bttn accepted into a numberof
master's of landscape architecture (M.LA)
programs. \When planning a visit to Vir-
ginia to check OUt a campus where I had
applied, I decided it might be nice toactu-
ally meet the person who was editing my
work. To this point, I had never met Bill
Thompson, PASLA, the editor; I had never
even talked with him on {he phone. All of
our interaction had taken place via e-mail.
So I e-mailed him with [he idea of meet ing
for lunch.
Somehow, [he trip ended up being an
interview. I had not been rotallyconvinced
by my recent visits ro the MLA programs
where I'd bttn accepted. If I was going to
pay for more schooling, I was looking for
something research based that would al-
low me ro act ually contribute some sort of
knowledge to the profession, and none of
t he programs [hat were offering me any fi-
nancial aid seemed ro fit the bill. So, when
Thompson offered me the job, I accepted.
This new job has been a challengi ng
change of pace, but I love the chance to
travel, see landscapes, and interview inter-
esting people. I get to choose most of my
own assignments with the caveat that
whenever I travel any significant dist ance,
I need to find at least two articles ro write
based on that trip. Writing during the day
and on a deadl ine has bttn a little rough,
but I think it was the righ t move.
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IMfRICIH SOCIHY Of IAHOSCAPf IRCHlUm
636 m mfH NW. WISHIN6lON. DC
1018981444 fIX 1010901105
MUCH 2009 Landscape Architecture 149
50 I LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
IMfRICIH SOCIHY Of IIHOS[lPf IRCHilmS
636 m S1RfH HW. WISHIH6lOH.
1 0 1 8 9 8 1 U ~ fIX 1018981185
PRACTICE
SHIFIlNG FOCGS:
FROM GOLl' COLllSE TO
RESIDEN'"I1AL DES1CN.
Cameron Spi es
SUlMAN AND COLE DESIGN ASSOCIATES'
San Francisco
M
YCONCENTRATION was golf course
design, and I was fai rl y convinced
about that career path. JUSt prior to grad-
uation from Cornell's landscape architec-
ture department in che spring of 2005, r
explored an internship with Tom Dook, a
Cornell alum who isago1f course architect
in Michigan. The plan was [Q attend rhe
internship in t he summer after graduation
and see what opportunities it would ere-
ace. Unfort unately, I was not awarded en-
trance into the progrnm, so I focused my
sights elsewhere.
Due ro a limited number of jobs in rhe
very tight-knit and esoteric field of golf
course design, r applied to a number of
more typical landscape archi te<:ture firms,
primarily on t he \'{1est Coast (I grew up in
Pord and). I looked toward Seat tle , San
Francisco, and San Diego.
While I looked for work, I moved back
to Poniand and stumbled into a summer
job wi t h a previous freelance client in-
stalling a plant ing plan at their residence
in Lake Oswego, Oregon, an affluent sub-
urb. I was able to be very hands on that
summer and oversaw a crew of workers. A
large portion of it was trial and error, and
it was a massive learning experience. [ was
able to make some money being outdoors
and doing what I wanted w do while [ in-
terviewed and sought longer-term work in
ocher cities.
That work opened my eyc-s to rhe world
of residential design, which I had rrivial-
ized while in school. Being outdoors, inter-
acting physically with plants and rhe crew,
and geuing a litde dirty was exhausting,
bur totall y gratifying. I ended lip taking a
job with Suzman and Cole Design Associ-
ates(SCDA), which is primarily a high-end
residential dc-sign fi rm, and began my new
life in San Francisco.
The immediate benefit of working at a
residential firm was the opjXJrtunity to do
actual design work early. The level of detail
required for the kind of work SCDA was
doing left numerous bits of design for an
enrry-Ievel designer such as myself. I d id a
fuir amount of grunt work on a daily basis
and found myself picking up redlines
much of the time, but I relished the im-
pressive number of design problems {hat
were thrown my way. The market in which
we primarily worked was unlike any oth-
er in the world, being home to some of the
world's wealthiest people, and often bud-
gets were nO[ even discussed. This meant
we had ultimate freedom when choosing
materials, and designs could be less con-
servative from a spending standpoint.
The economic situation has definitely
affected our office, though, and we ve seen
work drop off drast ically. Smaller to
midmnge jobs have gone by the wayside,
and we find ourselves depending on the
big fish.
It is amazing to look back on my ini tial
summer plam insmllation If1 Portland
through the lens of someone who's spent
three years in the profession. These three
years have availed me with skins and knowl-
edge that leave me slightly embarrassed
abom some of the decisions I made on that
particular job. I am just glad that the client
is happy with the work. I guess it's all just
part of the formative experience, though,
and ultimately it has taught me that in such
a complex and interesting profession then' is
always something to learn.
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MARCN 2009 Landscape Architecture I 51
T
ERRJE liGHT STANDS outside Oak-
land's srunning new modem cathedral
in a firsr-of-irs-kind garden {hat hon-
ors victims of clergy
sexual abuse. She was
abused by a priest at age 7.
"It's a really small, im-
A cathedral offers a
garden to sex abuse
victims.
By Peter Ornstein
sure we bring healing co people who are in
need of ie, even if we were the cause ofir," he
says. "Having this garden on (he campus
says we are serious about our
desire to help in your heal-
ing process on whatever lev-
eL As (his cathedral will be
portant physical represen-
tation of a horrific thing
[hat happened in many
places," she wId CNN.
i l l ~
around for 500 years, so wil!
{hac garden as a place of
healing and hope,"
]11
11le CatholicChurch was
rocked earlier this decade by
allegarionsof children being
sexually abused by priests, with scores ofvic-
rims filing lawsuits against their alleged
abusers. The church was accused of cover-
ing up the abuse for decades by sending of-
fending priests to adler parishes.
She says the garden's
centerpiece, a symbolic low
S[Qne sculpture that's broken, is fitt ing for
those whose lives were shatfered by priests.
"The energy that the artist pm {into the
project} was [his circular swne trying co
pull itself to become unbroken. That is our
journey. That is what we try to do every
day- try to be unbroken."
The garden is placed near a wall of the
Cathedral of Christ rhe Light, which was
consecrated September 25, 2008.
Two low-curved benches bracket the
sculprure, one facing toward rhe cathedral,
the other facing away. nle benches are sur-
rounded by hedges.
The bench placemellf is deliberate and
takes into acCOUIl{ (he feelings and needs of
abuse victims.Those who choose not to
face the cat hedral end up facing a small
lake across the st reet.
Father Paul Minnihan, the provost of
t he cathedral, says it was impormnt to have
the garden- for the victims, and for the
church to atone for the sins of its past.
"Part of the churchs mission is to make
111e church wound up paying hundreds
of millions of dollars in settlements. Some
priests wem to jail; adlers resigned. Pope
Benedict XVI in J uly 2008 apologized co
victi ms and called the abuse "evil."
At the garden's dedication on October
11, Allen Vigneron, bishop of Oakland,
For the first time, the Catholic Church has offered a garden that honon wictims of clergy sex abuse, top. Benches flank a stone sculpture, above.
52 1 LandscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
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LANDSCAPES
OF COMPASSION
once again offered rhe church's apology.
"To rhe hurts of SO many innocents, we
preferred rhe darkness to rhe light. And
for that, I again make he-.mfelr apologies ro
all vi([im survivors. As it says on rhe
plaqur'S at rhe emries, ' Wle remember and
we affi rm: never rI,f,'ain.
Light, who has Ix:en a vocal advocate for
abuse viccims for many years, says gening
the garden built was not an easy process.
"W/e gOt silence; then we got passed
around," she says.
She says Barbara Flannery, the former
chancellor of the diocese who became
rhe church's point person on helping
victims, advocated for the garden
ro rhe bishop.
"He thought it was a good
idea. But it 's d ifferent from 'It's
The simlMe design, top, calls to mind
fradurn .nd h e J l i ~ Terrie Light, I
yictim of se.nl.buse, H)" the bro-
ken rock, right. represents the . II.It
tered lives of wictim . The , arden, MID .. ,
is meant to be a quiet, contemplatiwe space.
Existing
in-ground ___
lights
hi.ting
pawinc
Memorial
plaque
Concrete
planter wall
Elistinc
iandKape
!
.
.
~
I
I
I
!
!
,
;
!
i
a good idea' (0 'Here's the people to meet
with to make it happen,'" she says. "\"'\1hen
we finally met with the archite<:t, things
really <:hanged.
"He really undersnxxl what we were cry-
ing to accomplish and put together some
architects to create this garden that he
thought would give us what we wanted-
a place not inside the church for people to
mme and (Onnen to their spirituality."
Why outside?
"There are people who want (0 go into a
<:hurch who cannot. It's t()() painful, tOO
emotionally traumatizing;' she says. "111ere
are other people who are ambivalent- who
The garden is not
,,,hat survivors had
originally em'isioncd-
a lush. English gmden
with flowers and trees.
But they mc pleased
with the outcome.
want to be there and do not want to be
there. ll1is gives them the option."'
The garden is not what survivors had
originally envisioned- a lush, English
garden with flowers and trees. But they are
pleased with the outcome.
"It's a very simple space," Light says.
Most victims of abuse in the Oakland
area favored the garden; a few opposed it,
feeling that it implied closure to a prob-
lem that still exists.
Minnihan says the church has sought "to
bring back healing and wholeness and work
with those who are survivors" since the scan-
daL 'nle garden is emblematic of that.
"\"'\1e wanted to have a place respectful of
their needs and their wishes," he says.
Reprinted with permission from CNN.
PROJECT CREDITS DesignarchiteclJ1andscape
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MUCH 2009 Landscape Architecture I 55
A
NEW TECHNOU:X;Y HAS EVOLVED
in the green induscry--bare-l'OU{
transplanting. Previ ously,
landsrape crews had (0 con-
tend with the high proba-
bility oflosing a tree once it was
laboriously transplanted. Now,
rhe (relatively) new air-spade
technology of bare-root trans-
planting enables crews to re-
move a tree from the ground
whi Ie keeping intact roughly 95
percent of the cree's TOOt system.
This method greacly improves
the probability that rhe cree will
survive the move.
A Revolution in the Making
Air-spade technology was initially devel-
oped tounearch land mines in war zones.
In che lace 19LJOs, the technology was
introduced to the tree indusClY and
promoted mainly to diagnose and
creat root problems. Using an air
spade- a nozzled, compressed-air
hose-an arborist can locace the origi-
nal trunk flare of a tree planted tOO deeply,
reduce compaction in a tree's root zone, or
reveal girdling rootS that may be threacen-
ing a tree's healch.
To demonstmte what bare-root tmns-
ROOTS FIRST
Teclmology designed
to move a Japanese maple
( Acer palmalllm) from a
very tight spot, he decid-
ed to see ifhe could use
his air spade not JUSt
to investigate sub-
grade rooting con-
ditions, but co un-
eanh the tree's root
mass entirely. He
figured once the foot
system was shed of
soil, the root mass would
be relatively lightweight
and far less susceptible co
the kmd of roO! shearing
that can cake place when asoi l
root bal l is moved. He proceed-
ed to blow soil om of che tree pit,
pick up the (much lighcer) tree with
his com pan mility loader,and move
it toOl new location on the property.
\With che nee thriving (Cxlay, Fur-
gal now uses his air spade for crans-
plants whenever possible.
For che workshop, Furgal and Foti
chose se\'eral trees to move, selecting each
according to the lesson it might illustrate.
Foci- an advocate for imitating nature in
cree planting and cultivation- selected
the seed-grownjlllllPel"/ls t,'lrglllialla (east-
ern red cedar) to show how a noncultivat- planting entails, the Massachusetts Ar-
borists Associacion held a special work-
shop for industry professionals in
Aub'UStat Nonser Fam1,a tree nursery
to unearth land mines carl be in \Westford, Massachuserrs, owned
ed tree's roocs grow and to test how well
it might withstand the stress of air-
spade tmnsplantation.
Then, the arborisrs chose to spade
and move matching [win cm-leafed by Matt Foti.
Nearly 100 arborists, landscape ar-
chitects, landscape contmctors, and de-
signers gathered at the nursery to witness
and discuss the bare-root transplanting of
a cedar (Cedrm) tree.
The workshop'S featured speaker was
Mike Furgal , who developed a method
seveml years ago to tmnsplant bare-root
trees using an air spade. Furgal is experi-
enced with using the technology for orna-
mental tree transplanting, and he gave a
slide show demonstration to explai n his
met hods. Furgal and Foci 's goal for the
56 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
used to transplant trees.
By Deborah Howe, ASlA
workshop was to educate attendees about
the benefits to trees when transplanting
using the new met hod and to promote this
new crend in tree-tmnsplant technology.
Existing Technology, New Use
At the workshop, Furgal explained how he
came to use his air spade for transplanting.
\'hen faced several years ago with having
European white birch (Betll/a pelldll/a
"Gracilis'). Birch, of course, is well -known
for being a fall digging hazard. As is typ-
ical pmctice, Foti had his crew hydrate the
trees a few clays prior in prepamtion for the
transplanting. In che cool of early morn-
ing, before the workshop began, Foti's
crew dug the first birch with a 40-inch tree
spade. \When they finished their work, two
hours later, the tree's leaves had complete-
ly wilted and its health was in serious de-
cline. By day's end, the tree's leaves were
withering. The arborists determined that
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58 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_C H 2001
An air spade is used to excavate a 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple (Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood' l,
from its original site. The maple is lifted out of its location after being excavated
by the air spade, bew", Note the breadth and density of the root mass,
it would not survive the excavarion and
move, and ir was sell[ to the chipper.
In contrast, the second birch was air
spaded during the workshop in rhe heat
of midday. With an eight-foot-diamerer
root mass, the (fee was lifted by a Bobcat,
relocated, and then replanted, wirhour
evidence of wi Iring. Two weeks later, rhe
transplanted birch remained settled in its
new location wirhout sign of srress.
The crowning achievement of rhe
workshop, however, was rhe relocation of
an IS-foot <Bloodgood' Japanese maple
(Arn' pa/mafllfll 'Bloodgood'), which had
grown tOO large for its currenr location.
Again, rhe crew hydrated the nee prior
to the excavation and mo\'e. TIle day be-
fore the demonstration workshop, Furgal
and Foci's crews air spaded the tree's rootS,
sprayed them with water, and covered them
with wet burlap. On the day of the work-
shop, a crew trans)XJrted the maple by truck
to Nonset Farm and ploced it shortly atTer
noon in its new location in Fotis nursery.
They backfilled and welled the planting,
then flooded it. Despite the hot, sunny
weather and exposed location, noc a single
leaf on the tree wilted.
Standard Methods
Currently, arborists use two standard meth-
ods for moving large trees. Ar,guably, the
more )XJpular IS the balled and burlapped
(B&I3) method, which uses a backhoe and
then a fork to di g the trees root ball, which
IS then tightly wrapped in burlap and drum
laced for tranS)XJrt and planting. Some ar-
borists double burlap the ball to help ensure
its stability during transport, as rootS en-
cased in soil are susceptible to breakage
when pressure is PUt on the root bull during
lilTing and moving. The size of the root ball
is determined by the size of the tree and the
equipment available to move it.
Al ternatively, a tree may be moved by a
mechanical tree srode, which is a hydraulic
machine with a set of curved blades that
spread to grab at a wide area of soi! around a
tree's trunk. As {he bladesdescend-slic ing
through soil and roors- the aperture
formed by their 10wer)XJints closes, form ing
a cone-shaped root ball under the tree. The
tree and its root bal l are then lifted from the
hole with the hydraulic arm and moved,
still held by spade "bucket: to its new loca-
tion. It is plamed in a hole dug earlier by
the same spade; the srode operator simply
lowers rll(' spade and root ball imo the wait-
ing hole, then releases and retracts ell(' spade
blades so the tree can be leveled and the fOO(
ball backfilled and watered in.
Both methods rely on the formula di-
ameter at breast height (OBI I), which al-
lows 10 inches of root-mass diameter for
every inch of trunk caliper. This ratio is
considered the accepted standard for deter-
mining what the minimum diameter of a
root ball should be.
BaB VIS. Tree Spade
\Xlhen transplanting trees, an arborists
goal is to preserve the greatest number of
roots withi n the accepted standard. The
more roots that can be saved, the shorter

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Once removed from its original planting site, the maple is transported b, truck. Its trunk is sup-
ported with ha, bales; wet burlap will cover its roots, and a tarp will be tied over its crown.
the time it rakes for a transplanted tree to
adjust co its new site and begin co PUt on
visible new growth.
Using the B&B method to move a tree
offers a number of major benefits. For ex-
ample, an arborist can "cuscomize" the
dig and retrieve a larger root mass than
he might with a tree spade, should the
cree require ic. l:'lking the tree's weight,
its transportability, and the size of the
truck and equipmenc into account, he can
dig a fairly wide-diameter root ball based
on that particular trees requirements.
An additional benefit is that an arborist
can make clean root CUtS before burlap-
ping the tree for transpon. Clean CUtS en-
hance the trees ability to recowr from the
move and to sproUt new fibrous roots.
Hand digging is expensive, though,
given the labor requirements fordoing it
properly. Depending on site and soil con-
ditions, even the on-site move of a B&B
tree might take a crew of tWO or three
men more than a day to complete.
Tree spades, on the other hand, have
their own benefits. For starters, a tree
spade saws time, given the efficiency of
the g rab-and- lift process. \'{then used
properly, and with attention to the accept-
ed standard ratio of tree caliper to root-
mass diameter, a tree spade excels at the
tradi t ionally labor-intensive process of
digging and installing a tree, thus cutting
labor COStS dramatically. 111e on-site move
of a tree using a tree spade can take tWO ar-
borisrs a couple of hours-much less than
the amount of time it takes three laborers
to finish the same task for a B&B tree.
Also, a tree spade simplifies the digging
and cranspon processes and makes tree
storage and transport more space efficient.
But tree spades do have their disad-
vantages. As the largest tree spade has a
spread of 96 inches , trees with a OBH
larger than 9 feet 6 inches should not be
moved with one. Rocky or rough soils
may prevent their use in places. \'{that's
more, the equi pment is quite expensive.
Tree-spade blades also glaze the sides
of the root ball, and tree spades cannot
make clean root CUtS, tending instead to
tear the tree's roots. Both of these factors
lengdlen the period of transplant shock
and root reestablishment .
Evaluating the Air Spade
\X1ith an air spade, almost all of the root
mass survives the excavation and move.
Furgal estimates that a bare-root speci-
men may retain 80 to 95 percent of its
root mass, as opposed to 30 percent for
one dug by hand or with a mechanical
tree spade. Minimizing harm to the root
mass minimizes transplant shock and, as
a result, the air-spaded rree needs a shoner
establishment phase when the tree is plant-
ed in its new location.
While hand digging is apt to be the
slowest and most expensive transplanting
methoo, it is not so dear which of the oth-
er two methods COStS less. Air-spade trans-
planting, whICh takes longer than tree
spading, may still be less expensive than
tree spading oc-cause the equipment WStS
tend to be much lower.
Furgal, who has done most of his trans-
planting from one job location to another,
believes the COSt of an on-site, bare-root
transplant is halfof what it might COSt to use
a tree spade because more heavy equipment
is needed with the tree spade. However, the
need to movea tree from one job site to an-
other may change chac equation somewhat.
Opportunities for Growth
To date, Furgal has moved mainly orna-
menral specimens of Japanese maple, cher-
ry, cedar, false cedar, stewarria, birch, and
pine trees. However, he noted chatas he de-
velops the method and opportunities arise,
he will learn what ocher types of trees tol-
erace being moved.
Foti , who had seen Furgal's phocosof air-
spade transplants, was intrigued by the idea
of bare-root trnnsplantation and became a
convert to che method shortly before host-
ing cheworkshop. Describing somecretS he
has transplanted since che workshop, he
says, "Every cree I've bare rooted--even in
full leaf- has shown absolutely no sign of
trnnsplant shock, even in late summer, ear-
ly autumn weather."' He anticipates using
the method in all sorts of situacions where a
tree spade might place d-.e root system at
too much risk, yet hand digging might be
impractical or tOO expensive.
Furgal points out thac while noc every
tree is a candidate for bare root ing with an
air spade, the technique can, in certain cir-
cumstances, be an option ror moving a plant
that might otherwise be inaccessible or im-
movable when using ocher equipment.
"Ie's really, really important to deal with
the soil issues each cree meets. When you
move a tree from one place to another, bare
rooting it lets you introduce the tree to the
sicesoils ofics new locacion," he adds. "\Vhen
you plam B&B, you may be dealing with
one soil type in the root ball and a different
one in the planting location. Roms don't
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62 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIUC H 20U
Tips for Success When Transplanting Trees with an Air Spade
.... Hydrate the tree's roots thoroughly before excavating it. According to Ma" Foti and
Mike Furral-certified arborim who recently hosted a demonstration of bare-root
transplanting-it's important to water the tree deeply 72 hours prior to its scheduled
move. Soil type will affeel the timing of watering, Clay soil blows out best when it is damp;
sandy soil blows out best when it has drained a bit.
.... Asuss the tree's belowgrade strudure as thoroughly as possible before detennining
where to put the trench. The standard 10 to 12 inches of rootball diameter per caliper
inch should be taken as a minimum. Go as far out from the trunk as possible to dig your
trench. Furgal starts his trench at the drip line; if he doesn't find roots there, he moves
inward toward the tree until he does find roots, and then he scribes his trench line.
Foti doubles the standard rootball diameter and checks the root system by hand digging
to see if he needs to dig his trench farther out or farther in.
.... Keep roots as moist as possible during digging and moving, as the air spade may cause
some root drying. Hydrating before the spading process will lessen stress.
.... Plant the tree at the same grade as in its original location. The new planting hole will
not have to be very deep; don't dig any deeper than necessary. The tree will show you its
requirements.
.... Backfill with the soil excavated from the new planting hole. Some soil amendment may
be fine, though Furgal prefers not to amend backfill much. Foti adds a hydrogel to the
backfill to maintain moisture levels during reestablishment. He also advocates a light ap
plication of highphosphorus, rootenhancing fertilizer to promote root growth.
.... Build a soil well at the new planting's edge.
.... Immediately after backfilling, flood the welled planting with water to eliminate
air pockets.
.... Continue to irrigate the tree through the growing season to ensure its establishment.
lf)'Ou use drip irrigation, be sure to place the lines out around the drip line of the tree,
rather than at its trunk. The roots will search oulward for water and help anchor the tree.
.... Assess the conditions, and stake the tree at your discretion. Furgat does not advocate
staking. though it may be useful if you've placed the tree in an especially windy or exposed
location.
.... Aftercare is most critical to the success of this transplanting method and may make
the difference between a tree that continues to thrive and one that fails. Adequate mois
ture is probably the single most important ingredient in successful maintenance.
For those trees that can
be moved bare root, the
simplicity of the process,
the preservation of root
mass, and the resuKing cost
savings make a compelling
argument for doing so.
like to move from one type of soil toanmh-
er, and that can hamper root growth. With
bare-root transplants, chac's nO( an issue."
As Foci and Furgal use [he air spade [Q
move more crees, they will be looking co
see how other species- chose that presenc
fall digging hazards or may be ocherwise
deemed temperamental- react co being
moved in chis way. Early indicat ions from
rhe work chac Furgal has done show [he
potential for success in moving "cricky"
crees using an air spade, without {he mor-
rality thac comes from hand digging or
cree-spade transplantation.
For chose trees that can be moved bare
root , the simplicity of the process, [he
preselVation of root mass, and the resulting
cost savings make a compelling argument
for doing so. Where previously rhe remedy
for a poorly located specimen might have
been [Q cut it down and plant new, now
landscape crews have the opportunity to
move that tree and see it thrive in a new lo-
cation. TIle air spade is a "U1tting-edge" rev-
olution in tree transplantation.
Deborah Hmue, ASLA .. is a registered landscape
architect with a partimlar interest in w(lrxiy
plallfs. In nearly 20 yean (If professional expe-
riena, her WJrk has ral/ged from large-JCdle Pltb-
lic projeitS (inrlllding Boston's Central Artery
streetsCdjJe rest(JYation) to priwte residi!lltial dnd
imtitlltional planning. design, and landscape-
lIIanagemellf plallJ. She cowritfj a blog alx)IIt
landrcape architfftllral practice anddesign iW/fJ
on www.takingplace.net.Shecanbereached
at dhowe@lighthallco.com.
Reprinted with permission from Alllerican
NlIrseryman, December I, 2(X)8.
PAC KAGES
UNMATCHED D URABI LITY
DIAMOND
CIFlCLE 201 Cf.I RE.ADeR SERVK:E CARl 00 ooTO IfITf>JIINFO.HOTlMS.C0WZJ,49, 2!'l7
landscape Architecture Magazine
Goes D i ~ t a l .
In conceIt with National Landscape
Architechlre Month, our April issue
will be the first issue
made available
in digital format.
Please see our
mention in Rip
Rap on page 26.
MUCH 2009 Landscape Architecture 163
TECHNOLOGY
O
Et.lAND FOR WATER is a spreading prob-
lem across the Uniced States. The Govern-
ment A<:coumabiliryOfficc projcns chat as
many as 46 srates will face water shortages
within five years because of a combination
of rismg temperatures, drought, population
growt h, urban sprawl, and waste.
Droughts and conflicts over water issues have
Ix--en a common occurrence in rhe Somhwesrcver
since people settled in the region, bue now other
parcs of rhe Uniced Scates are experiencing rhe
same problems. The Southeast has always been
considct'(--d a warer-rich pan of the country, bur
[huc perception is quickly changing. The 2007
drought was the worst to hie the Southeast In
more than a cenmry. Ie extended over most of Ten-
nessee, Alabama,and [he nonhern half of Georgia,
as wei] as parcsofNorrh and South Carolina, Ken-
tucky, and Virginia. More than a quarter of the
Southeast was covered by an "exceptional"
drought, which is the National \'Veather Service's
worst drought category.
Tn October 2007, Georgia scate officials warned
that lake lanier, the primary source of water for
Atlanta, was within three months of being deplet-
ed. TIle city of Atlanta proposed piping in addi-
tional sources of water from the Tennessee River or
even pumping in seawater from the Atlantic coast.
-
64 1 LandscapeArchitecture fIIUC H 20U
PLANNING FOR WATER DEMANDS
Digital data belps make better decisions.
By James l. Sipes, ASlA, and Mickey O'Brien
Georgia legislators considered modifYing the state's boundary with
Tennessee to pull water from the Tennessee River. Thecity of Chat -
tanooga, Tennessee, responded by sending 2,000 !:xxtles of water
delivered to the Georgia Scate Capitol, in essence saying dlis was al l
the Tennessee water Georgia was going to get.
A year later, even though there was an abundance of water in
rivers and reservoirs downstream, lake Lanier was still 13 feet be-
low its full fXJOllevel, and many Atlanta residents are concerned
about future water issues. Most water experts have criticized the
The National Weather Service's Precipitation Analysis can be used to
understand water availability in Texas. The map at left shows the depar
ture from the norm iu the average amouut of raiufall for the ~ e a r to date.
The map at top shows the amount of precipitation in the state over a
sevenday period starting January I, 2009. The map above shows the
total amount of precipitation for the year to date.
ArcGIS 9-The Complete Geographic Information System
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has offered software and extensions to the American Society of landscape
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offering makes it possible for ASlA members to purchase powerful GIS
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f inding the closest facil ity, or defining service
areas based on t ravel t ime.
CAD/GIS Interoperabili t y: Use
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"""""- """" "' ,.,.,. .. ,...., , ... ,,,,_ ..... ,, .. ... ,.; ... , .. . ;"
.,.., . ,,- "' .... ,....'"'-.. .... .. .,."""- ,,- . ,
...._._,. "' ...... ... ,_' t ... , .. -"'eo- _ .", ,," ... __ ___ .'
. _ ""' ................ " d' ... __ ,, ........ __ ,
region for its "total fajlure of planning" that
led to ies dependence on lake lanier.
Landsmpe architects address these types
of water resources in a wide range of proj-
ects by encouraging suseainable practices.
Regional planning projects, including nae-
ural resource management, community
planning, and watershed planning, need to
consider water resources. EDAW iscurrent-
ly working with the state of Georgia to de-
velop a staeewide waeer resource plan, and
ehese eypes of projeccs are becoming more
commonplace. \'Vater disericts such as ehe
Sc. Johns Waeer Diserict in Fl orida are de-
veloping similar plans, and landscape ar-
chitects are an imporeane pare of ehe team.
While some communities have taken a
policy approach, limiting developmene
based on proof of available water supplies,
other communities have turned to creative
planning solutions.
Planning Efforts to Address
The Problem
Ie may be surprising, bue the Unieed Scates
lacks a coordinated policy to ensure thae
water resources are protected and that we
will have ehe water needed for future gen-
erations. But even with the lack of coordi-
nation, there is no shortage of efforts to
manage our water resources. There are
more chan 80 federal drought-related pro-
grams and literally hundreds of other pro-
grams from staees and nonprofit organiza-
With data from the National Weather Service's
Precipitation Analysis, the series of maps,
and opposite, shows the amount of
precipitation in the United States for a variety
of time frames beginning January 1, 2009.
The map at right shows the amount of
precipitation for the entire year.
66 1 LandscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
tions. These programs have an impact on
water availabiliey for cities, rural commu-
nities, and development projectS that land-
s<."apearchitects may be involved with. The
one ching these programs all seem to agree
on is that mmprehensive water conserva-
tion planning has the potential to improve
waeerqualieyand in-scream flow levels,de-
creast the need for new capital investments,
reduce vulnerability to drought, and pro-
cect valuable cultural and natural resources.
The National Drought Policy Commis-
sion proposed the foundaeions of a naeion-
al drought policy that would incl ude all of
the various drought programs. The intent
of the national drought policy is to use the
resources of the federal government to sup-
pore but not supplant nor interfere with
staee, regional, local, tribal, and personal
effores to reduce droughe impacts. The
drought poliqr favors preparedness over in-
surance, insurance over relief, and incen-

rives over regularion. This IXJlll1' requires a
shift from the current emphasis on drought
relief and requires a more furward-looki ng
planning approach. Although at first
glance a national drought IXJli cy may seem
beyond the realm of landscape architecture,
the recent droughts in the SourllCaSt Unit-
ed Scates have had a significant impact on
firms in the area. Without available water,
for example, growth in the Atlanta area
came coa standstill,and all landscape proj-
eees were canceled. \Vhile the federal gov-
ernment is working on a national drought
policy, individual states are establishing
their own policies. Georgias Comprehen-
sive Scatewide \Vater Management Plan is
similar co che programs many scates have
implemented. Georgia's plan is intended
to guide the state in managing water re-
sources in a sustainable manner, and it lays
OUt statewide policies, management prac-
tices, and guidance for regional planning.
The provisions of this plan are intended to
guide river basin and aquifer management
plans and regional water-planning efforts,
and they will have an impact all the way
down to the local planning level.
At rhe stare level, though, water resoun:e
planning varies considerably. In the South-
east, Somh Carolina, North C1.rolina, Vir-
ginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky all
have drought plans chat emphasize re -
sponse. Georgia's drought plan emphasizes
mitigation. Florida delegates drought
planning co local authorities. AsofOccober
2006, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi ,
Arkansas, and Louisiana were all states
without a drought plan. At a more local
level, a watershed-based planning approo.ch
can help communities make bener deci-
sions on watershed restoration priorities
and make the most ouc oflimited funding
and staffing resources. Many communities
are implementing watershed management
plans that include recommendations for
scormwater management programs, cotal
maximum daily load, source water protec-
tion, watershed improvement, land use,
and basin-specific strategies. Landscape ar-
chitects have an opportunity to work with
water resource orgal11zaCions co mtegrate
watershed management plans with com-
prehensive plans and other long-term plan-
ning efforts.
Tools for Green Infrastructure
Site Design
At the site level, landscape architects are im-
plementing design solmions fur green in-
frastruaure scormwater management such
as low-impact development and water-
sensitive urban design. Best management
praaice (I3MP) tools that result in a more sus-
tainable approo.ch co water management in-
clude but are not limited co COllStttlCted wet-
lands, biofiltration, rain gardens,cisterns and
water reuse, ecoroofS or green roofS, stream
daylighting, and perme-Jble paving. m,fPs
can help achieve gools such as improving
water qualiry, reducing water demand, and
maintaining predevelopment condicions
oneta project has been implemented.
Developing a bener understanding of
precipitation and drought- regardless of
whecher it is for a national , scate, or local
level- will enable landscape architects
and planners to make beccer decisions
about how to protect water resources. This
knowledge wil! also help government
agencies, private inscitutions, and stake-
holders make more informed decisions
about risk-based policies and actions to
MUCH 20 n LlInd&caPIIArcbitllcturll 1 67
TECHNOLOGY
mitigate che dangers posed by floods and
drough ts. landscapearchi te<:c$ may not be
able to prevent droughts, but we can cer-
tainly help develop alte rnative water
sources, introduce water-efficient planning
approaches, and help establ ish effcnive
and affordable redundancy in water sys-
tems. For example, one approach would be
co deve10pmmmunity and regional parks
in aquifer rccharge areas [0 minimize
scormwaccr runoff from paved surfaces.
Changes in temperarure, precipitation
panerns, and snowmelt have significant
impans on our water resources. In Geor-
gia, for example, wuceroriginuces primari-
ly as rainfall, and the srace experiences lit-
ric month ly Of seasonal variations in
rainfall, so (here is a relatively unifonn dis-
tribution of precipitation throughout rhe
year. According to the National Weather
Service, more than 50 crillion gallons of
water ful l over Georgia each year, so being
able to understand when and where the
rainfull hits could help the state manage
fururewater needs. EDAW is working with
the state to determine where to develop
reservoirs, establish protect ion zones, and
encourage or limit growth in accordance
with anticiroted available water.
Tools for Water Resource
Analysis
rt is difficult to predict future changes in
regional precipitation patterns and to
identify areas where drought is a priority,
but there are digital tools that realistically
generate forecasts across the United States
Data from the National Climatic Data Center
was used to produce the map at top right,
which shows some of the more than 12,000
weather stations scaHered around the United
States. The map second from top shows precip
itation and weather stations in the Southeast.
The map second from bottom shows the annual
rainfall in the United States for 2008. The map
bottom right shows U.S. precipitation for 2008
through the month of April. On the opposite
page, the top map shows the annual amount
of snowfall for 2008, while at bottom the
U.S. Drought Monitor can be used to research
areas that are more susceptible to drought.
68 1 LandscapeArchitecture fIIUC H 20U
wich seasons and geographic area, For ex-
ample, continuous, national-scale precipi-
ration estimates are available through {he
Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service
(AI-IPS), a web-based suite of forecast cools
that are part of the National Weather Ser-
vi ce"s Climate, \'{facer, and \'{feather Ser-
vi ces. AHPS products are developed using
sophisticated compmer models and large
amounts of data from multiple sources, in-
cluding automaced gauges, geostacionary
sacellites, Doppler radars, weather obser-
vation stacions, and the Advanced \'{feath-
er Interactive Processing Syscem. AHPS
tools ca n be used to model floods or
droughts and make predictions from hours
to months in advance. AI-IPS nor
The AI-IPS web sice also includes maps
of individual river basins as well as points
along the river for which information is
available. The maps provide information
on impactsofhigh water or flood, impacts
of low stage or level, agricultural impacts,
shorc-cerm and long-term hydrologic fore-
castS, water supply forecasts, documented
drought conditions, and potential drought
areas. This informacion can be plugged
into water modeling programs to deter-
mine areas mosc vulnerable w flooding or
droughcs. Ic can also be used w help deter-
mine che types of micigation measures thac
may be needed, such as where shoreline
stabilizacion may be necessary or where
only makes predictionsaboutfu-
ture events, but it also includes
historic dara thac allows us to see
pasc trends of water availabilicy.
\Xfhen determining long-term
future growth, understanding
these patcerns helps determine
where potencial growth should
occur or be limited based on
u.s.
water availability.
AI IPS allows users w view a
national composite map or w
zoom into regions, states, and
county-level areas over multiple

--
,0


0 1 ..
7
-
o DOAbnotmaIyOry
o 01 Drought . MoI:Iomlte
02 Drought severe
03 Crought Exlrtme
D4 Drought Exc:ept;ooaI
Orowh' ImD8ct T"d!II' ;
rJ [)eIjneal" domintnl impa(:U
A"' AgricuI1unol (crops. pastures.
gr1ll$$lands)
H Hydrological (wa1ef)
Drought MonJIor focUW$ on conditiotI$.
Local cond;r;t)n$ may vary. se. 1&xt summary
overflow areas may help reduce flooding
downstream.
Data from AI-IPS can also be downloaded
in a shapefile format for use with GIS pro-
grams or in a KMZ format for use With
Google Earth, a popular geospatial brows-
er. This data is updated every 15 mimltes,
so you can be assured of having the most
current hydrologic informacion available.
The National Weacher Service (N\XfS)
provides hydrologic forecasts for almost
4,000 locations across the United States.
These forecasts are developed by N\XfS's
River Forecasr Centers and distributed to
field offices for various uses. The River
Forecast Centers use che best available fore-
castS fur futllre precipitation amounts giv-
en the constraints of current hydrometeo-
rological science.
Information products produced by the
National Drollght Mitigation Center
(NOMC) come from many sources and
perspectives, ranging from numerous
drought indices to a national-scale web site
for reporting and cracking impacts of
drought. NOMC produces a weekly U.S.
Drought Monitor thac depicts areas of the
United States thac are exper iencing
drought. Being able to determine areas
thac are particularly susceptible co droughc
is useful for landscape architects working
Decembe r 30, 2008
Volki ....... EST
C7
I
time periods, including for the
previous day and preci pitation
wtals over the past seven, 14,
30, or 60 days. Archived data is
available back to 200S with
monthly estimates of departure
from normal and percent of nor-
mal precipitation. There are also
links w historic data going back
decades.
kxforeQl$I$/.9/&m&nt$. Released Wednesday, December 31, 200B
http://drought.unteduJdm
Author. em" Ftx:hs, N.tJo,,-, 0t0u11h1 Mltlg.11on c.,,/w
MUCH 20 n LlInd&caPIIArcbit ll cturll 1 69
TECHNOLOGY
on large development projects. For exam-
ple, in these areas, spending more money
on drought-tolerant plams, cisterns to
catch rainfall, and catch basins [0 can:h and
hold scormwarer may be good decisions in
rhe long Tun.
The Climate Data Online site provides
access to an annual summary of monthly
temperature means, depanures from nor-
mal, and extremes; heating and cooling
degree data; and precipitation totals, de-
partures from normal, and extremes. A
monthly rally of rain days, snow days, and
days within selected temperature thresh-
olds is also included. Prices for the data
range from $2 Foran individual station to
$300 for an annual fee that allows you ac-
cess [Q all online informacion.
The National Climatic Data Center
(NCDC) is the world's largesracrivean:hive
of climate and weather-related data and in-
formacion. NCrx: operaces che \'{1orld Data
10 I LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
Drought Severity Index by Division
Weekly Value lor Period Ending OEC 27. 2008
-4.0 01 less (Extreme Drought)
D -3.0 to -39 (Severe Drought)
0 -2.0 to -29 (Moderate Drought)
0 -1.9 to + 1.9{Near
+2.0 to +29 (Unusoal MOOst
+3.0 to +391yery MoOst Spell)
+4.0 and above (EKlremely Moist)
Center for Meteorology in Asheville, North
Carolina, and the \'{1orld Data Center for
Paleoclimatology, which is located in Boul-
der, Colorado. NCrx: products are based in
large part on land-based observations that
contain meteorological elements such as
cemperature,dew point, relative humidity,
precipitation, snowfall, snow depth, wind
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The Drought Severity Index, opposite,
indicates the amount of moisture in a
given area compared to normal condi-
tions. The map at right shows the total
snowfall for the Milwaukee area for a
four-dar period in february 2008.
speed, wind direnion, cloud iness,
visibility, atmospheric pressure,
evaporation, soil temperatures, and
w('atheroccurrences such as hail, fog,
and thunder.
There are a number of products
available from NCIX that may be of
interest to landscape architects. S ' I O I ~
st(lrms Acrau the Nati(ln is an atlas that
includes information such as the fre-
quency and dimensions of snow-
storms, weathe r conditions and
damages associated with heavy
snowstorms, as well as descriptions
of some recent major events. The fn-
tegrated Surface Dataset provides hourly,
synoptic, and some daily summary data for
approximately 12,000 worldwide weath-
er stations. NCDCs GIS Divisional Data
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that perfectly fits your lifestylt:.
provides data on current u.S. temperature,
precipitation, and droughts. fnformation
about snow is important because for many
areas snowmelt is a major source of water.
Communities that depend upon
snowmelt (0 till reservoirs are likely
to experience severe droughts if t he
amountof snowfal l is much less than
norma!' Landscape architens need
to get involved wi th helping these
communities make decisions about
how to implement conservation
measures and manage resources be-
fore a drought hits.
U.S. Snowfall Maps IS a web-based
proclun aVailable from NCIX. T he
data is extraned from a meteorologi-
cal database from the U.S. C{X)pera-
tive Observer Network (COOP).
COOPconsisrsof alx>ut 8,000 stations
operated by state universities, State or
federal agencies, and private organiza-
[ions. The earliest clata is from 1886,
and it is organiztxl by month.
Data on snow IS available from the
National Operational Hyd rologic
Remote Sensing Center. It provides infor-
mation on snow COVef, snow dept h, average
snowfa!!, snowfall rotal the past 24 hours,
and more. fnfonnation from raclars,gauges,
MARCN 2009 Landscape Architecture I 71
Snow De pt h
:!OOIl - UI - UI 01$
TECHNOLOGY
and s.1.tell icts is combined to provide fairly
accurate estimates of precipitation. NWS
says chat the dataset is one of the best
sources of timely, high-resolution precipi-
ration infOrmation available. It does warn,
though, that users need (0 understand there
are more than 10,000 precipitation gauges
scatTered across the coumry, and these col-
lect data 24n, and the information on rhe
web is updated three times per day, at ap-
proximately 9:30 AM, 12:30 PM, and 4:30
PM Eastern Standard lime.
_.- NCOC also produces rhe Climate Atlas of
the United States, a CD-ROM that provides
archived cl imate maps of rhe Uni ced
Statts, including Alaska and Hawaii, for
the years between L96! and 1990. Users
can map climate data such as temperature,
precipitation, wind, pressure, mean per-
cenrage ofvisibiliry,and record maximum
heating degree days, jusr to name a few of
rhe many possibiliries. TIle dara can also be
e.3II ~ ~ ...... "" .... ' ...... ". , .. . . . is .., ... ..., ... ,, .. ..
,-
exporred into ESRl's suire of GIS rools so
you can creare your own maps.
\\lith more a<:curate informat ion, land-
scape archirects, planners, and other deci-
sion makers can make berrer decisions
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT 4
Salary Range: $77 ,063 - $127,770
The Miami-Dade County Park and Recreation Department is
seeking an outstanding landscape architectural professional
committed to building healthier, more livable communities. The
department is one of the largest urban par!<: systems in the United
States with over 250 parks and an o n g ~ n g $790 million capital
program. The selected applicant will be responsible for managing
the landscape architectural design of park projects through a
professional staff of registered landscape architects and support
staff, developing al1d implementing design criteria standards with
emphasis on green building technology, and acting as design
criteria professional for design/buik! development projects.
Applicants must have a bachelor's degree in landscape
architecture with six years of professional landscape architectural
experience and must possess a state of Florida landscape
architect license.
Miami-Dade County offers excellent benefits that include full
medicaJ, dental, vision, life, and disability n surance; a 457 pretax
savings plan; flexible spending accounts; 13 paid holklays;
vacation and sick leave; employer-paid membefship in the Florida
retirem6!lt system; professionaJ development ; and a tuition
relmoorsement program.
Applicants must apply online by Aprl13, 2009, at
www.miamidade.gov/jobs.
The job opening number is 8191 .
VISIT W(B SITE
12 1 LandscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
Snow data is a,ailable from se,eral sources,
including the National Operational Hydrologic
Remote Sensing Center. The map .bore shows
the snow depth on Janual)' 1, 2009, for the
Northeast United States.
about more responsible si te design and wa-
ter resources. That wi ll be critical as we try
to meet the needs of the next generation.
The world's population is expected to ex-
pand to more than three billion people by
2050, and scientists are concerned that our
water resources will not be able toaccom-
modate this mass of people. Landscape ar-
chitects need to take a leadership role in
how we manage water resources, and this
includes determining where ro bui ld new
reservoirs, developi ng more water-efficient
cities, and helping implement pol1Ciesand
procedures at the local, regional, and stare
level to promote smarr decisions about wa-
ter and other natural resources.
The future effects of climate change on
warer t"(""SOllfCes in rhis country will dqx:nd
in large parr on the pol icies we establish
and the warershed planning approaches we
implement ro help protect these resources.
\'{fater conservation is one of the highest
priorities in helping ro ensure we are able
to balance human needs wirh environmen-
tal requirements, bur conservation alone
wil l nor solve the water supply challenges.
Large reclamation projects enhanced set-
tl ement of western states, but these were
developed prior ro the implementation of
environmental regulations, so they are
much more difficul t codevelop than in the
past. Desalination is not a viable option in
most places because it COStS 10 times more
than traditional surface water treatment.
Regardless of what approach we take to
ensure there is adequate water for future
generations, landscape architects will play
a major part in the process. The bener we
understand the problems and the opportu-
nities, the bener the decisi ons we wlil
make about water resources.
James L. Sipes, IISLA, iJ a senior associate for
l:'DII W- AECOAI in Atlanta and fof/l/{J;ngpnn-
dfW/ of Sand COllllty SflIdi(IJ ill Seattle. Mickey
O'Brien, d IdlldJcapearrhitKl dnd /d1/dplaf/f/et;
is a smior associate with l:'DA W- AECOM.
Resources
Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Serv-
ice, www//ws.//Ma.govlohlahps
Climate Data Online, cdo.llcdc.lloaa.gw
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Georgia's Comprehensi ve Statewide
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National Climatic Data Center,
IlJIllW. noaa.gov
National Drought Mitigation Center,
drought.lm/.edtl
National Drought Policy Commission,
govlnfo.library.lll1t,edtd drollghtl}inalreportl
fidlreportlreportd/Md, htm
National Operational Hydrologic Re-
mote Sensing Center, wlIIw.nohrsc.f1Ma.gov
National \\leather Sen'ice, IVl IIW,fIWS.
f/Ma.gov
National Weacher Service Precipita-
tion Analysis Site, 11IWI1,.srh.f/Ma.govl
t/asharelprecip _analysis_flf:lI'.php
Tracking Precipitacion Across che
N acion, sd. f(Xh-drrhive. fletl A rrhivelsci. geo.
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U.S. Droughc Monicor,
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MUCH 2009 Landscape Architecture 173
D
ECADES OF IIEADWNG suburban
expansion have made Atlanta a fa-
mously dysfunct ional metropolis.
But an infrastructure project called
the Beltl ine could playa powerful
role in reversing that. It will convert an ir-
regular loop of railroad rights-of-way, av-
eraging three miles from the city's center,
into a 22-mile trail-and-transit greenway.
The route links 45 neighborhoods and a
similar number of parks; one third of the
14 1 LandscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
RING OF GREEN
The retrofit of a disLLsed
rail loop could revitalize
central Atlanta.
By Jonathan Lerner
Built originally to shunt freight around the city
center, most of the Beltline corridor is now
abandoned and an obstacle to circulation.
parks will be newly builL All this could
easily take 25 years [0 complete, but it is
definitely moving forward . Now, at the
level of playgrounds and paving and
plants, it needs to be designed.
Atlanta originated in 1837 as a railroad
hub. By the end of that century the town
was choking on train traffic. The segments
of the BeltLine were built to relieve conges-
tion by shunting freight around what was
then the city's outer edge. 111ecity long ago
spread beyond it, and most of the Beltl ine
is abandoned. Lined with thousands of
acres of mainly disused industrial buildings
and waste ground, ir is now a fenced-off,
kudzu-choked eyesore, a barrier between
neighborhoods-bur a potential bonanza,
Irs reinvention is intended co concentrate
people and acti vity back coward Aclanra's
core-already a measurable trend- while
providing the infi ll , linkages, and ameni-
ries they will require. Central among rhose
amenities will be as many as 1,300 acres of
new parks and green space, including and
adjacent ro the rail corridor.
The design hurdles are enormous, be-
ginning wirh rhe rerrain. Unlike Aclanea's
main rail lines and arterial streets, which
generally follow the ridges of the region's
piedmont ropography, rhe BeltLine cran-
sects the copography via numerous sreep
trenches and embankments and dozens of
bridges and tunnels. Some of its 48 street
crossings are at grade, but for many, notes
RyanJenkins, ASLA, a landscape architect
wi t h Tunnell-Spangler-\'<7alsh and Associ-
ates who is working on several of the parks,
"creating the vertical circulation from the
corridor either up or down ... is going to be
a key driver in the landscape architecture
design ." Another challenge is t hat the
riglH-of-way varies in width from 30 to
200 feef. "Everybody wanes a piece of if.
There are mul t iple advocacy groups, for
anything from arboretums to art to func-
tional t ransportation," says landscape ar-
chi tect Eric Bishop ofEDAW, who de-
signed another new park. 'There's a lot of
The towen of downtown are wisible from man)'
points on the BeliUne [AI. Some existing
industrial buildings on the corridor (BI hawe
been conwerled for residential use, but most
are derelict Ie and DI. A few sections of
the corridor still carry freight trains [EI.
Brownfields and historic resources define
the existing BeIlUne, a b t J ~ e .
interest and not a tremendous amount of
space. That's the most complicated thing
within the right-of-way." '
Nor all the issues lie within the corridor
itself. Ryan Gravel, who articulated the
BeltLine idea for his 1999 Georgia Tech
master's thesis and now pract ices urban de-
sign at Perkins+ \Vil l, voices a largerpairof
considerations. "\Vhat are the design ele-
ments that [can} tie rhis thing rogerher and
provide continuity along the route so that
it's a coherent form in the city, so that when
you see rhe BeltLine, no maner where you
are, you know what it is?"' he asks . "And
then what are the things that are special
about the BeltLine as it passes through dif-
ferent communities?" Still anQ{her overall
concern is for aesthetic quality. Of the city"s
track record on urbm-design interventions,
"We just historically settle for 'on budget
and on time, '" laments Cooper Carry land-
scape architect Peter Drey, ASLA, who
cochairs Atlanta's Metropolitan Public Art
Commission. "'Bur if you're building city
infrastructure with a notion of creating
lasting value .. . its got to be outstanding
and attractive and alluring.'"
MUCH 20 n LlInd&caPIIArcbitllcturll 115
-
Coordinating all t his is Freel Yalou ris, di -
rector of design for Atlanta Bei tLine Inc.,
chI' emiry tasked with planning and execut-
ing [he project. Yalouris, who played rhe
same mIl' for Boston's "Big Dig," is not a
designer but a former college dean and an
archaeologist whose dissertation was on JXlc-
terns of senlemem and the groWdl of cities.
"A 101: of these parks are being built in areas
where there's not a lot of development ," he
says , "so the park has got to anti cipate
what's going [Q happen around it." For the
corridor itself, he asks, "How can we ensure
through goocl desi gn that [he SeitLine in-
terfuces widl the city itself, so that if you' re
a developer we can encournge you to dlink
of the BelrLine not as your back side bur as
your front side? So thac you don't put your
dumpsters there, you don't put your park-
ing t here, you put opportunities for resi-
dents to come out into this public realm."
Yalouris notes ways in which the Bei tLine
can broadly in fl uence the citys form: mak-
ing circulation more efficient by providing
16 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_C H 2001
The corridor transects the piedmont
terrain via tunnels, embankments,
and trenches, above and left, Due
to a population trend back into the
city center, some BeItLine segments
have alread)" seen considerable in
fill construction, above right. A for
mer quarry, right, will be the dra
matic centerpiece of one new park
while also serving as a reservoir.
a new transit option; creating linkages
where the right-of-way now presents an ob-
stacle; and by looking at the streets in a
more holistic way." He says that for Bosmn,
the Big Dig, which replaced a nightmarish
elevated highway with an inviting, urban-
IStl( greenway, "pUt more conSCIousness
withl!1 the city government about side-
walks and the pedestrian realm. So there are
a lor of ancillary advantages."
An obvious strategy for establishing vi-
sual continuity within the corridor, and be-
tween it and the adjoining parks, is to use
common desi gns for benches , bollards,
paving, signage, and such. "One of the
more subtle ways is in the streetscape. How
sidewalks work. How crosswalks work;
how crosswal ks are identified,' Yalouris
says, still imagining the BeltLine's influ-
ence radiat ing into t he ci ty. Every point
where the corridor crosses a st reet 'is an en-
trance into the BeltLine. And many of
them will be how you get to the transit," he
says. We need to be able to show people
how the sidewal ks wi ll metamorphose into
the pedestrian passages. In some cases the
intersection, the crossing, needs to be
uniquely designed- there may be as many
as a dozen of those-bur for the others a
common design language will suffice." For
the tmnsi t component, the choice remains
between light rail, streetcar, or bus rapid
transit, so design of the system's stops wi ll
come later, But Yalouris suggests that these
should be small plazas with seating, infor-
mation kiosks, and art, ",gathering places,
A proposal for a linear arboretum would
divide the 8eItLine corridor into 14 "natural
neighborhoods" distinguished by their
geography, history, and urban contexts. The
transitions between them would be demarked
by groves, tree rings, or "green sculpture,"
where people go to sit, to people watch-
t hey're not necessarily wai ting fOr a train,
So here's a chance to take a utilitarian func-
tion and turn it intoa more social opportu-
nity," Gravel is concerned about the foml of
t he t ransi t line itself: "It has to be there,
MUCH 20 n LlInd&caPIIArcbitllcturll 117
but it can't be too imposing." He points to
systems elsewhere rhar "have grass plamed
berween rhe rracks so you don't end up
with this concrete swath taking up a third
of your right-of-way."
Landscape coherence and organization
widlin the BeltLine corridor could be pro-
vided by a linear arboretum proposed by
Trees Atlanta, a nonprofit dedicated to the
city's urban forest. Using native piedmont
and piedmont-adapted plantS, it would
also provide opportunities fur interpretation
and educarion. l1leconCept plan, developed
by the organization's program director, Greg
Levine, with landscape architects Shannon
Kenering, ASLA, and Greta DeMayo of
Ecos Environmental Design and landscape
architects Dennis Meyer, ASLA, and Jay
Rood, ASLA, and landscape designer Au-
drey Stout, Associate ASLA, of the Portico
Group, divides the BelrLine into 14 "nat-
ural neighborhoods delineated by their
geography, history, and adjacent urban
18 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIA_e H 2001
contexts. Some planting design
elements would be consistent
throughout, but plants would be
chosen to express each neighbor-
hood's uniqueness. For example, a
granite surface mine, the digging
of which has created spectacular
cl iffs, will be rhe centerpiece of
\'{/"estside Park, the largest of the
new parks. There, to represent
granitic OUtcrops common in this
piedmont region, plants could
include winged sumac, winged elm,
sparkleberry, and Georgia oak. The
quarry section's landscape design could
also include represemation of outcrop
plam communities from elsewhere in
North America and the world, and or-
namental rock gardens using sedums
and other fitting elements. TIle arbore-
rum concept envisions the transitions
between the 14 natural neighborhoods
clearlydemarked by groves or tree rings
or some form or "green scuipture"-
perhaps bent saplings, a traditional way-
marking device among the Creek and
Cherokee cultures indigenous to the re-
gion. TIle five portals" where the Belt-
Line crosses intetstate highways would
be made conspicuous with edge plant-
ings or arbors, and the transit stops
would likewise receive some recogniza-
ble planting treatmem.
Art could also g ive the Bei tLine a
unifying dimension, making it not just
a place toplayora waytogetaround but an
inspirational space within the city. Public
art, however, has been a matter of con-
tention in Atlanta. Many people feel it has
been poorly supported in general and in the
planning so far for this specific pro}ect. 'It"s
hard to comprehend how to fold {an} into
rheprucessofa big undertaking like this. So
it got addressed {in an early plan} with a
few cursory words and a line in a budget-
and that was it," Drey comments. In re-
sponse, the public art commission is push-
ing fora BeitLine arts master plan. "It needs
to be a physical framework that describes
the continuity of the BelrLine ... and all these
various environmental or urban chat"aner
zones. And then there needs to be some
kind of overarching vision that says art can
emerge in these areas in a number of differ-
ent ways," says Drey. He adds that among
the considerations should be how pieces
would fi.mction in both daytime and night-
[ime,and how they might relate to the his-
tory Of environment of Atlanta, "so that
artists, when they're commissioned, they
have a whole tool kit." Drey describes At-
lantaas a "low-intensi ty environment.' He
says, "TIle scale of rhe city is very diffuse ... .
Tn this kind of COntext art has to be bigger,
or visually nOisier, or in motion." He draws
a distinction between applied arc that
might serve the project perfectly well in the
form of benches or light standards and fine-
art installations that could be lasting parts
of the ci ty's "cultuml infrastructure.
Beyond landscape questions for the Belt-
Line as a whole are issues within the indi-
vidual parks alongside it. 111ese mnge from
I S5-acre Piedmont Park, an Olmsted
Brothers-designed and lately reinvigorat-
ed jewel, to spaces now little more than
neighborhood playgrounds or even empty
brownfields. Typi cal of the laner are two
small existing parks in Peoplestown, an un-
derdeveloped neighborhood that expects
mnsiderable BeltLine-driven infil!. One
touches the corridor but has almost no
streer fronrage; the other occupies a full city
block a short distance away. An adjacent
pared, ifacquired by the city, muld scarn-
lessly unify them into a 20-acre g reen
space. Bm even withom it, Ryan Jenkins's
mncept would stitch the two parks rogeth-
cr. It would reconceive the residential street
running between them for five short blocks
as a boulevard with extensive new plant-
ing, a mul t iuse trail along one side, traffic-
calming measures like bulb-outs and high-
ly visible crosswalks, and, as focal points,
gazebos inside the park at either end. This
concept reflects the pervasive concern fur in-
tegrating the Beldines green spaces into
the surrounding urban fabric.
Another consistent aspect of these
emerging new park designs is that the parks
should have dual roles. Thequarry in West-
side Park will be bmh a visual amenity and
a reservoir. [n Peoplesrown,Jenkins would
turn a dry creek trace into a linear swale for
"first-flush treatment" of srormwater. For
much larger Old Fourth Ward Park- a
low, flood- prone former industrial tract
where a creek once flowed- EDAW's Bish-
op designed a water feature centerpiece.
Technically its function is srormwatercon-
tainmem, but it was also an opportunity
for a sunken garden, a bridge, an overl ook,
and a climbing and bouldering area. 11le
PIa,. strudures, left and right, are
the main existing features of two
small parks in a neighborhood that
expects considerable BeHLinedriven
intill. A proposal would turn the
street between them into a greenway
boulevard, below, and greattr
enhance the parks' ame-nities.
parks "need to help craft a more sustain-
able future for the city, says Bishop, often
by restoring a similar functionality to the
way that land originally worked." Consid-
ering the pressure of anticipated develop-
ment, he says, 'these parks are going to
serve multiple functions. They are going
to improve the environment more than JUSt
providing open space and respite from the
daily grind."
A short prototype section of trail and
earth movi ng for Old Fourth Ward Park
have been the first tangible fragments of
the BeltLine. An Rl'"P for designing the cor-
ridor will be released soon. TIle years ahead
will reveal whether what results is JUSt a
serviceable loop of greenway and transit or
a transformative gesture of urban revital-
ization for a major American city.
Jondthan Lerner writes aboul art, architfXtllre,
a1/d plaJ/1/ing fmm his Imme liP the street from
one of the BeltLine's mdny trestles.
T
HE UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL nacure
of water in rhe desert is (00 ofren lose
in Arizona's urban "oases," where
manipulated rivers and aquifers
make it possible to import a foreign
lushness. In the Phoenix suburb of Scotts-
dale. artist Lorna Jordan's charge was to
uncover and interpret (he community's
true relationship [Q water and to provide a
responsible example of rhe beauty of xeric
landscapes. Another charge was to be a
voice for a damaged "wash "- the
dry bed of a seasonal storm channel
upon which Chaparral Park is
builc-and co interpret {he ripar-
ian systems it represents and the
water that rains upon ir.
That's a tall order for a small
kernel of a park.
Terraced Cascade, designed by
Jordan, attempts co interpret the
relationship between people and
water in the desert landscape. It is
an anistic manipulation and inter-
pretation of the wash, blended into
80 I LiindscapeArchitecture fIIUC H 20U
What does this
xeriscape garden teach
us about conserving
water in the desert?
By Rachel Hill,
Student ASLA
a larger xeriscape garden designed by Ten
Eyck landscape Architects of Phoenix as
part of a complex [hat includes Chaparral
Park and Chaparral \Vater Trea[ment
Plane Within itself, Terrdced CdSCdde is rich
in texture and movement, peaceful in the
desert sun while swirling and active in the
summer monsoon rains, Yet the nested
context of the design-a verdant greenway
and golf courses- provokes questions
about the role of water in a desert city and
our responsibility to the natural
desert systems upon which our
cities are placed.
When the city ofScotcsdale was
looking for a site on which to build
a water treatment plant and park,
it found 29 acres of land that in-
cluded a mini golf course, one of the
last pieces of open space in the city.
Twenty of the 29 acres sat in the
Aoodplain, which left only a small
area for the plant (which could not
be situated in the Aoodplain). Us-
ing a microfil[mtion plant instead
.
<
I
,
;
......... tIrnceI ............. ....,..,. autiq ........ .,.. wlticlt
..... ,. . ...................... .taM, .... TIIe_iII_
.......... elite. tt.pto. .. NII ternce ....... . ,uu.r.
.... of....., In .. ltI tuI.,. _ .. to e.oI&e II .... ribs.
5 ............ umslotll ill tile c-..ed .... .-of lite Ierr..:",
opposite '*'-. wHre rock, ,old"
b.lrftl Cldus, and doesert ".SRS sit.
M CM UDI
1
I
82 1 LiindscapeArchitecture fIIUC H 20U
... -
,--
cl .... wmr
remted c..ude Is bounded by
lhe ct.a,."a' Water Trealment
Plaid to the IIOrth, a reaideRlial
neiPborilood to the east Inot
depictedl . allll ltal field. to the
west. TIlls wlltnl .... b . H a
rich site for ilderpretilll the
presence of .IId the lise of
water ill the desert.
habI .. alld .....
' .......... slnIct. ..
-_.
........

Wat.f IIIIYflt p'"
DnM .. ,1I1I'ItII
Im_ItI:Nt,,"
T ..... cecl ."Katle
d_dntIoII p rden
M.Iti_ field,
Artbt fublre
rM'r'Kl C.u:. th!
of a land-consumptive traditional de-
sign, the city was able to condense the
area on which the plant sat and use the
rest ror Chaparral Park. The plam and
park were designed in conjunction with
each other-the process began in 2001
and finished in 2007, when Terraced
CasCdde was completed.
Chaparral Park sits near the m id-
dleof lndian Bend Wash Greenway,
which extends 12 miles before ter-
minating in the Salt River. For-
merl y a Superfund cleanup site, In-
dian Bend \'V'ash is now one of the
largest swaths of open space in the
city and is a popular recreation sys-
tem that connects Scottsdale to a net-
work of communities in metropolitan
Phoenix. It is also covered primarily in
lushly irrigated flIrf. In addition to Ter-
racedCas.ade, Chaparral Park includes a
dog park, a reservoir fishing pond, six
baseball fields, t hree soccer fields, and
two volleyball couns.
In 2002 the Scorrsdale Publi c Art
Program chose Jordan to create a piece
of land art within Ten Eyck"s xeriscape
garden. (Seattle landscape architect
Daniel \'V'interbottom, ASLA, would
coll aborate with Jordan on the concep-
mal , schematic, and design develop-
ment.) The program's directors wanted
to exemplify how people could "get rid
of lawns" and harvest rainwater" but
left the expression up to Jordan. Jordan
describes herself as an "envi ronmental
artist" and a "place maker.' It was her
first desert site, and she had a lot to learn
about water in the desert before she in-
terprned it. Jordan is from Seattle,
where water is a very different beast than
in Scottsdale. When Seattleites describe
"water' they may talk of rhe perpetual
mist of the Pacific Northwest, not the
infrequem, violem, drenching
monsoons of the Southwest-
and then the parching desert
sun that speaks of"warer" in irs
absence.
Jordan asked community
members in Scousdale to de-
scribe what "water" meant to
them in a focus group setting.
She got a list of responses that
spoke more of "drama," "tor-
rem," and "exhilaration" than
the quiet drizzle of Sean Ie rain.
She chose to focus on the wash
and the community's emotion-
al tie to stormwateras expressed
in the focus group meetings.
Jordan saw Terraced Cascade
as an opportumty to restore a
small piece of the orig i nal
desert to the wash. She sought
to reveal natural systems. 'The
desert knows how it wants to
be if we only allow it to blos-
som on its own," Jordan says.
Shealsodrew from theconnec-
tion the native Hohokam Indi-
ans had with storm water. Like
the Hohokam, Phoenix-area residents ap-
preciate the beaUty of water and recogn ize
how essential it is to life in the desert. The
difference is that modern residents do not
feel forced to be as suict in its conserva-
tion as the Hohokam were.
T
ERRACED CASCADE is accessed primari-
ly through a plaza designed by Ten
Eyck landscape Archi tects adjacent to
t he Chaparral \'{fater Treatment Plant,
which treats water from the Arizona Cll1al
for use by Scousdale residents. TIle Arizona
Canal pulls water from the Roosevel t Dam,
northeast of the city. This water used to
Row as the Salt River, which is now mos{-

An entry plaza can function as a classroom,
with metal shade structures "stretched" across
the sky over the zeroedge water feature,
abow. The greenway, below, tenninates in
the Salt Ri'er. Its lush appearance is valued
by many but water consumptive. The site for
Terraced ca$cade is still under construction
at the far right of this aerial photo.
ly a dry riverbed-and of which, ironical-
ly, Indian Bend \'{fash is a tributary far
downstream of the dam. Some of rhe canal
water is pumped directly into the park's
reservoir pond and used to irrigateChapar-
ral Park's lush fi el ds. Most of it is made
potable in the plant for Scottsdale residents.
The plant's simple architec-
ture is a neutral backdrop fur Ten
E yck's plaza and T errtKu/ Casrat!e.
Gabion burrresses along the
walls of the plant tie the build-
ing to the .garden as low h>abion
walls af<: on the sloping site and
control erosion. But the relation-
ship of Terraced Cascade to this
building, both dedimted to the
treatmem of water in the desert
in rather contradictory ways, is
unexplained and incongruous.
An elegant, cirndar, zero-
edge pool occupies the cemer of
Ten Eyck's plaza and is fed with
created water from the plant.
Etched onto the lipof the pool is
the proverb '"The frog does nor
drink up the pond in which he
lives." Etched into the concrt1:e
walls surrounding the ph17..a, be-
ing the pool, are the words
"Scottsdale Xeriscape Garden:
Demonstrati ng the Beauty of
Saving \'Vater." It seems unnec-
essary to use a literal water ele-
ment in a garden that talks of
water conservation, cons idering that the
water in the zero-eclge pool is being sacri-
ficed to the dry desert air and sun.
Jordan's design is based on the human
body. The shapes that define the landscape
are formed likea torsoand ribs, arcing over
the topography of the wash. The anthro-
pomorphic forms represent human marks
and manipulation of the landscape while
the swirling "cascades" and the vegetation
they support are the marks water makes on
it. A path textured with river rock mean-
ders through the gently rolling desert gar-
den with remnants of old vegecation,giam
eucalyptus planted a half ce ntury ago,
native mesquites, and saguaro cacti. The
MUCH 20 n LlInd&caPlIArcbitllcturll l S3
DESIGN
airy foliage of palo blanco trees (Acacia
willardiill14) lines rhe dry path chac water
takes during a Storm. J\bry Irish Wfites in
Corrin/lug illihe Deserl: A Gllide 10 Plulll Se-
leaioll alld Cart that the palo blanco's peel-
ing whitt bark is like "an ancestral scroll,
revealing the secrets of the bark beneath,"
Jorci.1n found rhis metaphor compel ling as
it reinforces her concept of nature as an au-
thor, writing upon the land.
The curved [ow walls and paths ofTen
Eyck's plaza merge into jordan's design:
The gabions intersect with various shades
of warm brown flagstone, and Ten Eyck's
linear shapes bow and widen into the plat-
forms ofTerractd C(lJ((J(/t. One path widens
into a flagslOne termee from which you can
see the course water would take during a
srorm. The terrace walls wind around
spiny ocotillo and agave [hat will sprout
fire-red blooms in [he spring. Visitors can
sits on a small piece of
the Indian Bend Wash Greenway,
which serves two functions:
a drainage corridor and a popua.r recre
ation site. In contrnt to the leulpted or flaHened
golf courses and fields of the greenway, the duign
responds to the undulations of the site.
also walk a pach chac follows the edge of
the ball fields. There, lush green rurf on
one side of the path conrrasrs with the
muted deserr soil and deserr grasses of (he
xeriscape garden on the other.
The path winds inroa depression. Kid-
ney bean-shaped formal terraces become
more obvious as che use of gab ion turns to
flagscone and rock, layered wich a cadence of
texcureand warm color. Arizona mesquites
(native co Sonoran riparian areas), brittle-
bush, and ocotillo are planted along the
path, although the xeriscaped plant choic-
es are nor fully nati\e; aloes, gopher phnt,
rosemary, and lantana line the gabion walls.
An African proverb is etched at the bot-
tom of the spiral path: "The sf(me ill the wa-
ter kl1(J1llj l1(1thillg (If the hill which lies parched
III the Slm. II \Vhen che monsoon rains hit,
stormwacer flows into and over the ter-
races, which are meant co capture rainwa-
ter, allowing it co infiltrate and nourish the
plantings. The consolidation and move-
ment of storm water is meant CO interpret
natural processes; however, the overflow-
ing water terminates in the depression,
which does not repl icate the natural Aow
and form of a wash. Rather, the terraces
"highlight movement through changes in
elevation," according to Jordan. The spiral
creates what Jordan oils an "earrh room"
using cexcure, topography, and light to
form a contemplacive space.
T
I-fE GARDEN WAS QUIET the day I visit-
ed, a Sunday afternoon last September.
People were in the adjacent dog park and
teenagers directed each other in a homemade
film next to the ball field, bur J wandered
chrough TerracedCascadealone. Alchough it
was near the end of the monsoon season,
even the skies were quiet. \Vithout rain in
che garden, the only marks of where water
usually flows were eroded areas along the
spiral path people usually walk, where wa-
ter had chosen irs own path during storms,
an impact of the Southwestern monsoons
that Jordan probably did not predicr.
Terraced Cascade is a nexus for messages
chac are complicated and concradiccory. It
can be seen on a number of levels-as a
piece of art, as a public space, as a func-
tioning piece of urban hydrology, and as
an educational instrument. Although it is
difficult to extract dear meaning, the is-
sues the park and garden raise are ones we
must confront as our desert cities contin-
ue to grow. Terraced Cascade does not re-
solve the contradictions inherent in mod-
ern desert life and water use. Rather, seen
in its nested mntext, it provokes questions
about our responsibility as residencs of this
desert landscape.
Rachel Hill, Stlldell1 ASLA, is a gradllate stll-
dent ill landscape architectllre at the Unit'ersi-
ty of Arizona.
PROJECT CREDITS CnentstorChaparralParte
City of Scottsdale Parks and Recreation,
City of Scottsdale \Vater Resources, and
Scocrsdale Public Art Program. Engineers
for water treatment plant: Black and Veatch,
Phoen ix. Architects: Swaback Partners,
Scottsdale, Arizona. landscape archited for
Chaparral Parte Ten Eyck Landscape Archi-
tects, Phoenix. Contractor, water treatment
plant constl1lction: Archer \Vestem Contrac-
tors, Phoenix. Contractor, park amenities: Bar-
ton Malow Company, Phoenix. Eco-artist
and designer of Terraced Cascade: Lorna Jor-
dan, Seattle. Consulting landscape architect:
Daniel Winterbottom, ASLA, Seattle.
HOW TO GET THERE: Chaparral Park
is located at 540 I Nonh Hayden Road,
Scottsdale, just south of East McDonald
Drive. TerracedCascadesits to the south of
the Chaparral \X'ater Treatment Plant and
can be accessed from East McDonald Drive.
MUCH 20 n LlInd&caPIIArcbitllcturll l S5
wa
T SEEMS INEVITABLE chac (he
grounds of [he \Vashington
Monumenr would someday be
like (his.
111e slight rise on which the
monument was originally erect-
ed has been sculpted into a shallow earth-
en dome. Elliptical pmhs ascend this rise
in a spatially dynamic manner chac is con-
sisrenr with (he baroque urbanism of
Pierre L'Enfam's 1791 plan !Or rhe capical
district. The 5010mh ground laid out in
repose amplifies the iconic minimalism of
the mpered obelisk.
It isas ific has always I.x:en- yet it took
more chan I 20 years. And without theac-
tacks on [he Pentagon and \Vorld Trade
Center, as well as the hi jacking ofFlighr 93 on September 11,
2001, the monument would st ill be smndi ng in an unstruc-
mred landscape, on misshapen ground, with an array of spot-
lights, makeshift strucmres, and concrete barriers (placed af-
ter the domest ic terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City) cluuering
and degrading America's t ribme [0 our first president. Because of
the 9111 attacks, however, funding emerged and the renovat ion of
the monument grounds was initiated as a security project by the
National Capital Region of the Nat ional Park $enrice and funded
by the U.S. Congress, which had, until then, rejected funding pro-
posals for t he monument grounds for more than a century.
1111' misshapen and cluttered grounds of the monument are fi nal-
ly fl'SOlved by OUN (formerly Olin Partnership) with a boldness and
8. 1
clarity that make the solution seem [0 have been obvious all along.
Yet, as with many urban landscapes, the renovation of the monu-
ment grounds was bundled into a project that was nt)[ initiated from
the idea that the design oflandscapes in cities-ewn one as promi-
nent as this-is, in and of itself, an en terprise of merit.
W hy can't rhe design of landscapes such as this be commis-
sioned without being initiated by security measures-and why
did it take 120 years and the prospect ofa terrorist destroying the
monument (or using it as a sniper's posi t ion) to complete this
landscape? \Xfhy can't we fund and construct landscapes because
they are socially, culturally, and spatially essential to great cities?
T
ilE PLAN FOR TI IEORIGINAL \Xfashingron Monument, an
1836 competi tion won by Robert Mills, included a Greek
Revival pavilion wrapping the base of an obelisk. Construc-
tion took from 1848 to 1885, as it was prolonged by financial short-
falls and t he Civil War. The effort was so challengi ng pol itically,
economically, and technically (the monument was the tallest struc-
ture in the world at the time of its completion and remained so
until it was surpassed by the Eiffel Tower) that the project ended
widl dle completion of only dle obelisk.
Subsequent unbuilt plans for the grounds include Andrew Jack-
son Downing's Monument Park, a study in ell iptical path comro-
sitions, and the McMillan Plan of 1901, which proposed a mon-
umental terrace that spanned the entire width of the National
Mall. More recently, Dan Kiley's planting propos.'li from 1965, in
association with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), struct ured
the landscape wirh orderly grids of canopy trees
and an understory of cherry rrees rhar drifred our
info [he area around rhe monument. Despire all
these grand plans, John Parsons, FASLA, the for-
mer assisrant regional dIrector of rhe Narional
Park Service who direcred rhe project, says that
"rhe pile of dirt that [he Army Corps of Engi-
neers dumped on rhe sire in 1890 was the same
pile of dirt rhar was [here until five years ago."
The new plan emerged from a hasrily con-
vened invited competition offour landscape ar-
The plan of the monument grounds from the compe-
tition, abore, shows the geometry of the paths Utat
circumnavigate and ascend the shallow earthen
dome on which the monument now stands. The let
lers correspond to photos in this article, showing the
corresponding views from those locations. The grad
ing and planting plan, left, includes localiled anom-
alies that preserve the grading around a specimen
mulberry tree southwest of the monument.
The competition $themes by (top to bottoml
Diana Salmon, Salmori Associates, with David
Childs, $OM; Arnold Associates with Tsao +
McKown; ilnd Michael van Villkenburgh Associ-
ates included securit)' screening aud a visitors
center that were later eliminated from the proj-
ed. The new grounds replace haphazard paths
and drives, bottom left, with a clear organization,
<:hitens in November 2001: Henry Arnol d ,
FASLA, with Tsao + McKown Architects;
Diana Balmori, Balmori Associates, with
David Childs,SOJl.I; L1.urie Olin, FAStA, with
Hartman/Cox Ar<:hitects; and Michael Van
Valkenburgh, PASLA. The quick-fix solution
that preceded the competition, which was
unable ro gain design review approval a( any
level, was ro install bollards at 40 inches on

center in the grass halfway up the existing
slope. It was clear, Parsons believed, that it
was necessary ro seek the expertise of nationally recognized land-
scape architects-who, ir should be noted, have rarely been the ..... ......;.) .... __ .... -.". / I
lead professionals working on the National Mall. ./ ; >::/';;1
':Architects make architecture," says Parsons, and he hoped that ..J,r
the problem of security could be solved with manipulation of the _) J
landscape rather than (he addition of structures. The invitations ;'I ---........... , vJ.l
were thereforegiwn only {Q landscape architects, who had JUSt 30 -/
days {Q deliwr the competition proposals due to the perceived -/ -
J j
urgency of the security threats. The competition resulted in a .J
close COntest between the proposals by Olin and Balmori . The
Olin scheme was selected in December 200 1 only after the Na-
t ional Park Service acted as the tiebreaker for the divided review
panel of agency representatives and blue-ribbon professionals.
The decision came down to (he preference for the landscape-based
__ 0 __
solution of Olin's over the slightly more architectural solution of
Balmori's. The project opened to the public in July 2005- more
than four years after the competition- without the security
checkpoint and underground tunnel to the base of the monu-
ment that had been part of Olin's original design (see "Invisible
Barriers," Ldl/dscdpe A rchitecfllre. September 2002).
Concurrent with the design of the \'{1ashington Monument
grounds, Olin was working on tWO similar projects. "My obelisk
.0 1
period," he laughs, included the renovation of Columbus Circle in
New York (ASLA Design Merit Award, 2006), where a traffic
roundabout was transformed into a vibrant meeting place at the
southwest comer ofCemral Park, and the renovation of the Memo-
rial m Martyrs at Targu-Jiu, Romania, a commemorative path of
sculpturesbyConsrantin Brancusi that terminates with the hillmp
sculpture The Elldless CoIllmn. \'{1ith these contemporaneous proj-
ects, Olin studied sequences of approoch and the relationship of
horizontal surfuce and vertical structure.
Olin cited Karl Popper's Opm Soeietydlld Its Enemies
in declaring one of his primary objectives in the de-
sign. He insisted that a family-or a carload of
students-visiting Washingmn, D.C., for tile first
time should be able to arrive at the monument, even
at two o'clock in the morning, and walk directly up
the hill to pat the base of the obelisk that honors the
first president. The physical aa of commemoration--
to touch the thing- was fundanlental to Olin.
Of great concern m Olin was reducing the wrtical
elements in the landscape to only two: the monu-
ment itself and the 50 flagpoles that surround it. To
achieve this, the usual cluttering array of light poles,
handrails, signs, and historical markers had to be sup-
pressed. The profusion of text that is usually present
at such sites is also reduced so one can actually con-
centrate on real things-the structures and spaces of
the site. The paths are slightly recessed into rhe
ground (0 aid the visual mnri nuiry of the
lawn and, because they are designed wi th
an accessible slope of 4.5 percent, do not
require handrails as would be necessary
with steeper paths that might directly as-
cend the hill. 111ere are no retaining walls
that require guardrails, and the installa-
tion of grOlUld-mOlinted lights eliminated
light IXJl es. Again, in an era that sttms to
celebrate adding "stuff into landscapes,
the restraint in this project is remarkable:
one monument, 50 flagpoles, three paths,
one wall, a ring of benches, and a very
shapely mound oflawn.
Olin was working on two other obelisks: Columbus
Piazz.1.San Pietro, the rurecourt to St. Pe-
ters Basilica in Vatican City. Following
the mathematical and scientific advances
of Copernicus and Galileo, among oth-
ers, the circular geometries of the Italian
Renaissance gave ,vay (0 the ovals of the
late Renaissance and the orbital ellipses of
the baroque. It is from this later period
that Pierre LEnfants plan for Americas
new capital districcemerged, and it is chis
period of geometric and spatial invention
that is the heritage of the new earthen
dome of the grounds of the Washington
Monumcnt. The geometries of the new
grounds are more sympathetic to LEnfanr's
baroque mnception of monumental D.C.
than that of the influential City Beautiful-
era McMillan Plan. The work also falls into
a continuum of notabLe monumental earth-
works such as Asplund and Lewerentz at
Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm, Swe-
den, and the work of Olin's teacher, Rich
Monument in New York, abore, and the Endlen
Column in Targu-Jiu, Romania, below, at the
same time as the Washington Monument
grounds, The security screening for entrance
into the monument remains in a small hut
11le project also incl udes about LOO trees
of mixed species chat add mass at the edges
of the grounds. 0 lins notable restoration
of Kiley's chcrry groves from the L965 plan
is a gracious gesture to hi story and a re-
minder to designers that gtxXI ideas, even
by others, are worth mming back to.
at the base of the obelisk, bottom.
F
OR THOSE INTERESTED in the - w
space-makmg potcntial of land-
scape form, the earthen plinth of the \"Xfashington Mon-
ument is to be celebrated. In an age of micrograding design,
when small teardrop-shaped earthworks reveal hydrological ac-
t ion or where obi iquely tilted pLanes activate the surface of land-
scapes, the conscruction of the \"Xfash i ngron Monument Land-
scape reenergizes the proposition that large-scale earthworks can
also create space in cities.
111e interlocking ell ipses of the paths that encircle the \"Xfash-
ington Monument remind me of the compLex urban geometries of
Haag, PASLA, at Seattle's Gas \'Vorks Park.
The design of the grounds is really a "mi-
tosis" pLan of tWO ellipses encircled by a single, Largerone. Accord-
ing toOlin, the plan of the tWO elliptical paths that ascend tothe
monument was derived by a technique that has been employed
by landscape architects for generations. After determining the
verticaL rise and a fixed accessible slope of 4.5 degrees, a length of
string was CUt and laid on a scale plan and quickly manipuLated.
The ellipses emerged out of this simple device.
The project aLso draws from the 18th-century English land-
scape design to estabLish a secure perimeter around this iconic
American structure. Below the monument, at a "setback" distance
that is safe from truck bombs, is a stone wall that encircles the
bottom of the hill and serves to prevent vehicles from approach-
ing. TIle wall is 400 feet from the monument- rather than just
the 200 feet required-so that it would nestle into the toe of the
slope. This wall, deri ved from [he ha-ha that separated
manor grounds from grazing pastures widlOU[ interrupt-
ing sweeping views across the landscape, follows the ellip-
tical paths at the base of the hill and pinches together
where the paths begin to ascend the hill. The pinching es-
tablishes a threshold that allows visitors to enter onto the
hill while keeping vehicles safely away. Olin is adept at ac-
commodating human comfort in landscapes, so it is nac
surprising that the wall, which would be uncomfortably
tall due to security height cri teria, is enhanced wi th a low,
wide curb at its base that makes the height of the wall
comfortable for sitting, especially for those watching soft-
ball games at the adjacent fields.
Nevertheless, the project's construct ion was not free of
problems. At a site meeting when the grnnite pawmem
at the base of the monument was being installed, Olin
saw that the mitered corners of the pavement failed to
meet the precise corners of the monument as required in
The elliptical paths, above, reinforce the baroque urbanism of Pierre
l'Enfanfs original plan for the city. The Washington Monument is
surrounded b)' haphazard roads and paths in an early aerial photograph,
behJw, that also shows temporary buildings on the Mall during
World War I. Ninety years later, the grounds were hardly improved.
the drawings. "How do you miss that?" TocIay, careful scrminyof
the installed pavement discloses a subtle change in pattern where
the reluctant contractor inconspicuously remedied the error.
"0 lin's design for the monument grounds, while modest,
is quite skillful,' says G. Martin Moeller, curator of the
National BUilding Museum. "Seen ftom the perimeter
of the monument gtounds, the slender ring that Olin added does
provide a minimal bur welcome visual base for the obelisk. Mean-
while, the curving ramps that lead pedestrians to the monument
itself allow fora more dignified approach than the seemingly ac-
cidental paths that preceded them:
'From the north you getacompletely natural vista- no build-
ings in sight,' says Washington, D.C, architect Robert SjXJosdler,
"jUSt landform and monument against the sky and treetops:
TIle Nacional Mall- America's from yard- is a fiercely contesr-
ed landsmpe burdened with local and national imerests. It also rep-
resents the many public landscapes thar have unnecessarily lan-
guished from inaction, rhat have been calcified by rimidiry, char
have suffered from JX>Orly scaled spaces, or that have been construct-
ed with materials that do nor endure. Here, however, is an exam-
pleof urgency giving rise roa cliem seeking expertise from accom-
plished professionals co design a long-neglected site thar also
happens to be one of the most prominent in the nation.
There may be no more noble and more challenging design
problem chan co design public spaces and landscapes in America.
It is noc the rowering office buildings, the augusr museums, rhe
domed government buildings(or the domed sportS sradiums), or
rhe houses of worship rhat constitute Americans' common ground.
If Amerimn highway and utility infrastructures are in need of re-
newal, then certainly the S<'lmecan be said for public spaces. These
surely call for the same urgency, determination, and expertise gath-
ered at the Washington Monument to accomplish in 2005 what
had languished for 120 years.
Ron Hell(lm"Oll, ASLII, is fOflndillg principal of L+ A Landscape Arrhi-
lectflre m Prot,it/CTlce, Rhode Island, alld aJ"sociate professor of landscape
arrhiuaflre al Tsinghfla Unlt-ersily m {Jeijing, China.
PROJECT CREDITS Client: National Park Service. Furtding: United
States Departmem of the Imerior. landscape architect: Olin Partner-
ship (now OUN), Philadelphia <UurieOlin, FASLA, partner; E. Al-
lan Spulecki, ASLA, and Kate john-Alder, ASLA, project landscape
archirects; Matt Chu, ASLA, Xiaodi Zheng, ASLA, Chris Grey, Bryan
Suchy, Hallie Boyce, Les Bishop, and Frank Gamier, project ceam).
Blasteonsultant Applied Research Associates Inc., Albuquerque, New
Mexico. l..Ightk1gdeslgn: Fisher MarnnrzStone, New York Structuralen-
&lneer. James Madison Cures u.c, \'qashingcon, D.C Wayfindingand
slgnageconsultant: joel Katz Design Associates, Philadelphia. Mechan-
ical, electncal, and plumbing engineer: joseph R. loring & Associates
Inc., New York Irrlgationconsultant: Lynch & Associaees Limited, An-
napolis, Maryland. Soils engineer: Mueser Rutledge Consulting En-
gineers, New York CMI engineer: Wiles Mensch Corporation, Reston,
Virginia. Architectforthecompetition: Hartman Cox, \'qashingron, D.C
Generalcontractor. Grunley-Walsh, Rockville, Maryland. MasonryCOfl-
tractor: lorton Stone, Springfield, Virginia. Planting contractor. Davey
Tree Expert Co., Chantilly, Virginia. UghUlgcontractor: Cole Light-
ing, South EI Monee, California, and MUSCO, Oskaloosa, Iowa.
GHero..., sc.1et! CeorP.
___ ... rttIe "Kiln .....
the __ of tile .. llIlnd
c ...... ..., ICc.lM.'"
foot __ ry ... 11 rillton.
USAN SUllIVAN AND CONNELL COWAN have
been rogecher for more than 20 years. They nev-
er did have any children. Instead, their relation-
ship produced a garden. "For the two of us, this
was our offspring," Sullivan says. "[The project}
was an interesting adventure into what he wants
and what I want. It was a bonding experience
thac we boch enjoyed immensely."
Sullivan is an accress, best known for her roles on Fa/con Crest
and Dhartlld & Greg. Cowan is a psychologist, author, and artist.
They live in los Angeles, but during the 1990s, they purchased
a lx."ach house near Santa Barbara, California. The house is locat-
ed on a private road that is built out with houses on only one side.
modest cottages; however, some of these homes have recently
been replaced by large mansions.
The couple's house, a modernist design from the 1960s, was
originally a mere 900 square feet-a bit too small for them-but
rather than knocking it down and scarting from scracch, chey
worked with locally based Neumann Mendro Andrulaitis Archi-
tects to remodel and expand if. In 1999, while the house was still
under construction, Van Atta Associates, a firm in nearby Santa
Barbara, was hired ro work on che surrounding landscape-a set of
gardens that it calls Two Pacific Rooms.
Van Atta Associates strives to create projects t hat are both
beautiful and sustainable. For many years, che firm has worked on
habitat restoration projecrs throughout the area. It did restoration
The front yards of these houses look out on
the Carpinteria 5.11t Marsh Reserve and the
mountains in the distance, and their back-
yards offer spectacular views of the Pacific
Ocean and the Channel Islands. The area has
long functioned as a weekend retreat wi th
Susan Sulliwan and Connell Cowan relax
work at the adjacent Carpinteria Salt Marsh
Reserve, and its design for L1goon Park, an-
other wetland restOration project that inte-
grates social spaces, won an ASLA Honor
Award in 2008. Before pursuing a career in
landscape architecture, the firms founder,
in their garden, opposite, which looks out
on the Pacific Ocean. The rear garden,
abore, called Oune Room, uses plants
natin to California's coastline.
A seaside garden in Southern California has gone through a
s
By DANIEL JOST, ASSOCIATE ASLA
The house, outlined in blue, below,
sits on a narrow lot between a
marsh ,nd the oce,n. Unlike the
rear garden, Atb Asaoeill tes
designed the interior eourtyud to
hne strong geometric forms, right.
The front entry, .bo"., hints .t the
garden beyond. P,rt. of the entry
were redesigned by Sulli"n ,nd
Cow,n after, multi stem It"
that WllS' m,jor p, rt of the V,n
Susan Van Ana, ASu.., earned a degree in environ- AHa design for that
memal studies, and she is currently writing a book 'rea, left, wlliost in , windstorm.
about gardening with California natives. Bur her
inlluences are varied-everything from gardens she visited in Japan ro nearby
Disneyland,
Residemial design makes up a little less than half of the firm's work \'{fhi Ie Van
Area's commercial and institutional cliems are expressing a greater inrerest in sus-
tainable design, she says that few of her high-end resident ial clients are asking for
it. Sullivan and Cowan were more interested than most and actually requested
some naturalistic narive plantings.
,
Main
house
..
t
..

:
" ,"
'.' ,
Bm the plantings aren't all naturalistic or native. At Two Pacific
Rooms, the garden rooms reference the two shores of the Pacific
Ocean. Zen Room, dle courtyard between the garage/guest room
and the main house, combines strong geometric forms with an
Asian flavor. Dune Room, which has views 00l to rhe Pacific Ocean,
has a more natural look with plants natiw toCalifornia's coastline.
These two rooms don't just have different looks to them; they are
experienced differently. As the firm wrote in a recent awards sub-
m ittal , one is a "space to see" and the other is a "space to be."
Zen Room
Sullivan and Cowan played a large role in imagining their new
landscape, both its major themes and its details. "One of the things
T really love about this garden is the red door," says Van Atta.
"That was their idea." The red front door, which serves as a gate
These photos show the path through the interior courtyard
before iln, improyemenh were made. above, as it was
designed b, Van AHii AS$Ociiltes. below. ilnd ilS it is toda,.
left. Since the courtyard Will constructed. the tree near
the door was lost in a windstorm and the owners hue
replaced the blilck mondo grass in the outer ring so
that the ring is now entirel, chipped slate.
to the imerior courtyard, is one of the first things
you see as you approach rhe house. Tn both the from
yard and the interior courtyard, it acts as an impor-
tant accent in the landscape.
The area in from of the house-a field of gravel edged with
plantings along rhe property lines-is beautiful in its simplicity.
As you walk over the irregularly placed pavers that lead toward the
front door, carefully positioned rocks on either side of the entrance
and a clump of bamboo provide hints of the garden beyond.
Moving through the doonvay and into the courtyard, you en-
ter through a narrow hall. The path is stmight, and the pavers are
armnged in a pattern that is more commonly fOund with flagstone
pavers than the concrete pavers used here. Two types ofbamb:>o--
one on either side of the path-obscure the wall of the garagel
guest room and screen the neighbor's fence.
As the space opens up, a narrow ring of chipped slate edged with
concrete curbing intersects the path. A small grouping of rocks in-
terrupts the ring, softening the space's strong geometric character
and acting as a counterpoint to a simple rock sculpture at its center.
The plans for the sculpture, designed by Cowan, evoked con-
siderably over the course of the project. Cowan originally imag-
ined the scul pture as a group of concrete columns with water
flowing over them, but Sullivan convinced him to go in a more
natural direction. "I didn't want to undercut Connell's creative vi-
sion, but I was worried I was going to walk by it and hate it," she
explains. So instead of concrete, Cowan chose three pieces of basalt
and arranged them so they have a familial feel. Paullindhard, a
sculptor familiar with the porous volcanic rock, helped execute
the design, setting the stones to Cowan's specifications. Pipes
were installed to produce a weeping effect.
Two myoporum trees that already grew in thi s area were pre-
served, and they flank the sculpture on eitber side. 111ese trees,
which have a sculptural character themselves, frame views along
the path. Their silvery-white trunks contrast with the dark green
and black-stemmed bamboo and the roo door. From certain van-
tage points, it appears as though one of the trees is growing up
through Cowan's sculpture; however, the trees act ually obscure
views of the sculpture as you approach it from the entry.
The Cllifornia Invasive Plants Council labels myoporum an in-
vasive, but it is not as problematic as many other species given this
title. It does not spread much vegetatively or by wind; irs primary
method of spreading is by birds eating its fruit. Van Atta says that
while she never plants the species, she decided to leave it here for a
few reasons: It 's very hard to get anything treelike to grow in that
environment; the species is planted as a screen on almost every near-
by property; her work in the nearby salt marsh involved removing
myoporum, but it was not aggressively taking oyer that environ-
ment and most of what was there was obviously planted to screen
an adjacent railroad; and the frees were old and didn't flower or
fruit much anymore, so they didnt strike her as an ongoing hazard.
An oversized glass door connects the guest bedroom to the gar-
den and turns it intoa meditative space, reminiscent of the view-
ing areas in some traditional Japanese gardens. The bedroom is
really the only place to linger within the garden; the garden is
mainly experienced as the entry procession into rhe main house.
--
As you proceed wward the house,
you walk up a stairway char bridges a refleccing pool lined wich
smooth pebbles. The fronc of the main house is cantilevered over
the reflecting Ix>ol w make che house fed as ifit is floacing on wa-
cer, an idea Cowan suggesced. The Ix>ol helped wsolveone of che
problems facing che landscape archicects-how to disguise che
fan that che main house was sticking up in the air. Though che
coctage is protected by a breakwacer, building codes required chac
che residence be raised a number of feec above sea level so high
waves can crash beneath it. Van Ana Associates also designed
Cor-Ten sceel panels chac will break away under {he pressure of a
large wave w ground (he structure
and hide its unattract ive concrete
supports.
Dune Room
At the top of the stairs, a narrow
pathway alongside the house leads to
the rear yard. There, the couple re-
quested mOfe naturalistic plantings
that reference the adjacent salt marsh
and places (0 sit and look out on the
ocean. Two terraces are connected by a
simple sand path that winds through a
bed of native plantings. Hedges near the
property line so-cen the garden and en-
close che space co make it feellikea room.
Many of the neighboring properties
have lawns in rhe backyard, a difficult feat in this soil, which is
nearly pure sand. Plaming a lawn here requires extensive reme-
diation to rhe soil and constant irrigation. Bur instead of chang-
ing rhe soil, Van Arm used native plants that would thrive in rhe
soil chac was chere and require li ttle additional wacer.
Sea pink (Anlleria maritima) highlighcs che edges of che sand
path. Farrherfrom che path, the plancings are dominated by blue
wildrye (Leynllls colldemafllS 'Canyon Prince'). Van Acta noces chac
this cultivar was actually discovered by the Santa Barbara Botan-
ic Garden on one of the Channel Islands, which are just offshore.
Other regionally native plants found within this area include
bea<:h morning glory (Cd/yslegia microstegld). maritime <:eanothus
(CruflofhflS fIIdritillllls), bea<:h sun<:up (Cdfllissonid cheirduthi!olid),
and seaside d1isy (Erigeron glaIlClis) . 111ese plants stabilize the dune
while tolerating the salty winds that blow off the ocean.
While, as Sullivan notes, the garden isnt big enough to mean-
der through, it provides a number of
outer ring to be all in the same thing. I juSt thought it would have
a cleaner look. As Van Atta remembers it, the failure of the black
mondo grass to thri ve in that environment may have also played
a role in the decision.
The look of the bamboo has also changed over the years. In
early photos of the garden, before the bamboo matured, it was
very lush; ((xlay, the lower srems of rhe bamboo are exposed. Cow-
an likes the idea of exposing the stems so that they can be lit at
night to cast interesting shadows ah'TIinst
places to sit and enjoy the outdoors. Large
floor-to-<:eiling glass doors make a reni-
linear patio, designed by the architens,
fttl like an extension of the house. The
surface of the patio IS raised to allow wa-
ter to flow beneath it. Purnishings in-
clude tWO comfortable loungers and a
table for eating outside. The furniture is
all white, and it COntrastS ni<:ely with the
gray color of the house. Four large potS
"T HE ONLY SUCCESSFUL
GARDENS ARE GARDENS THAT
BELONG TO THE PEOPLE
WHO LIVE THERE."
the wall. But the change was pre<:ipirat-
ed by other fanors. The space is quite
narrow, and when the stand of bamboo
fills in with new canes every spring, that
cms out light to the lower branches.
Eventually they d ie back and need to be
trimmed off. While the couple hi res a
gardener to do maintenan<:e on the prop-
erty once a week- mostly trimming
are used as accents. Sullivan and Cowan are cur rently planting them
with a type of restio(a group of grasslike plams native to Africa).
Van Atta Associates designed the more irregularly shaped con-
crete patio that is tucked inro the rocks at (he top of the break-
water. Here, you are able to sit and look out over the beach. A
small fireplace is protected from (he wind, making it a comfort-
able space ro catch the sunset, even as the temperature drops. 111e
surface hasasalt finish, which looks more at home in this intimate
garden than in the big-box retai l outfits throughout the South-
west where it is commonly seen. Concrete steps allow you ro de-
scend ro the beach for swimming, surfing, or a quiet walk.
Fine-Tuning by Owners
The gardens were designed and completed nearly 10 years ago,
but only recently bestowed with an Honor Award by ASLA's
Southern Californiachapter. Over that t ime there have been some
changes---changes ro the garden itself and changes to the way
that Van Ana Associates approaches sustainable design.
Some of these changes were caused by natural forces beyond any-
one's COntrol. Four trees were originally preserved in the design, bur
recently two of these were lost in a windstorm that took down trees
all along the coost. In the front yard, where one of the trees was an
important part of the design, it led Sullivan and Cowan to rethink
parts of that area. "If you moveone thing, you have to move 20 oth-
er things to make that all work," says Sull ivan. "Tt was sort of I ike
we lost our design, yet a new design came OUt of it."
Other things have been changed by Sullivan and Cowan to
better suit their tastes. 111e planrings in the Zen Room were orig-
inally much more complex. \'{1hen Van Atta Associates first de-
signed the area, it specified tlm."'C rings of plantings surrounding
Cowan's sculpture, not just the mondo grass and chipped stone
there today. There was originall y a ring ofscQtch moss at the base
of the sculpture, a ring of green mondo grass, and, in part of the
more defined ring where the chipped slate is today, there was
black mondo grass (OphiopogOfl 'Nigrescens'). After a few years, the
owners decided to simplify this on their own. "It was too much
in too sma!! of a space,"' explains Cowan. Also, "I wanted that
and raking-Cowan takes care of thin-
ning rhe bamboo himself. 'Theres something
meditative about thinning the bamboo, decid-
ing which canes go and which stay," rellects
Cowan. ' 1 could have somebody do it, but I
choose to do it myself.' He's even had an expert
come in ro give him a lesson.
Additionally, salr burn has been an issue
with the golden bamboo (BdNlbflSd lllldtip/ex
'Golden Goddess') in the Zen Room. The black
bamboo (Phyllosfachys nigra) seems to be less
affecred, bur it is also better pTOrened from the
winds. Van Atm says that bamboo is found on
lists for seaside planting, bur its success seems
ro depend on where it is used.
The couple is currently debating whether to
remove the remaining myoporum {rees. "' r
fought to keep those trees," explains Sullivan.
"' I wanted to keep anything that was old." But
today she wonders whether it wouldn't be nicer
ro have open views of the sculpture and the
house as you walk down the entry path. Tt's a
rough decision to make, made rougher since
they lost the other tree in that area. TIle trees
aren't ideally located, but they add a great deal
to the courryard with their contrast ing color
and the way they frame the door.
The changes in the rear garden have been
more subtle. Some things have grown bener
than ochers. According to Sullivan, there was
originally moreccanothus on the beach side and
it died off, although two patches have held on
and managed to grow. Plants have also been
added here and there. TIle agave near the fire pit
was originally planred in one of the pots on the
patio, bur Sullivan and Cowan moved it aher the
other agaves went ro seed. Salts in the air and
soi l also seem to have affected the Pacific wax
myrtle (M)'rira pacifica) used for rhe hedge-something that sur-
prised Van Arm because rhe species naturally grows along the
coost-so rhey are considering options {Q replace it. One pleasanr
surprise has been how (he sea pink has grown mgerher, som(-rhing
it is nor known for.
When LalJ(/scapt Arrhittcfllrt asked Van Ana how she felt abom
the ways that the design had changed over the years, she s.1id silt'
was comfortable with it. '11,e only successful gardens are gardens
that belong to the people who live there," she says. "Over time,
t!l('Y've fine-tuned it, which is rhe way it should be with a garden. "
She even noted a change she would make, were she designi ng
the garden today. "If I had done the project more recently, I might
have arranged [rhe reflecting pool] more like the water feature at
my office." Ar her office, a small warer feature is fed from the roof.
This curs down on the amount of city water necessary to run rhe
feature and helps to clean the roof water before it is released. "[Ar
Two Pacific Rooms] , I don't even know where the downspoucs
come down. Now that's rhe first thing I ask."
PROJECT CREDITS Client Sus.m Sullivan and Connell CO\van. land-
lape Irchitect: Van Arta Associates Inc., Santa Barbara, California
(Susan Van Ana, MiLA, principal; Michael Saochez, project man-
ager, Guillermo Gonzalez). Architect Neumann Meooro Andru-
laitis Architects LLP, Carpinteria, California (Andy Neumann,
David Mendro, Bob Pesrer). landscape contractor. Monteverde Ltnd-
SGlpe, 5.1nta Ana, California (Sandor Hadosy). General CQntrm:or:
Ch ismahoo Construction, Carpin-
teria, California (Frank Louda).
Sculpture design: Connell Cowan,
Los Angeles. Executlonl1nstaUation of
sculpture: Paul Lindhart, Art City
Studios, Ventura, California.
bttIet' till .. "eM I", the existing und soil, abol'e, 10 grow lawn, Van AHa c: hose phl nb thlt would
tllrift ill Ulese c:onditions. The sta pink and blue wildrye seem to be INrtic:ularfy hlPP)', Irerr.
BOOKS
Political Economies of Landscape Change: Places of Integra-
tive Power, ed;ted by jame L W'emut Jr., tlSLA, alld DOl/glas AI.
j ohmtOfl, !ISLA; GeoJournal Library Ser ies, vol. 89; T he
Net herlands: Springer, 2008; 22 1 pages, S 119.
Reviewed by Kim Sorvig
P
OUT/CAL ECONOMIES Of L1.NDSCAPI:: CHANCE resulted from
Landscape Futures Initiative, a 2002 to 2005 symposium se-
ries sponsored by the Landscape Archjrecture Foundation
(LAF). Focusing on megaforces (urbanization,
conncniviry, technology, population, environ-
mental threars, and politics/economics), {he ini-
tiative aimed "to redefine and rediren the
profession and prepare it to assume an informed
leadership role" as landscapes change.
Editor James L \Wescoot Jr., ASLA, starts
this volume on a high noce: "Every landscape,"
he writes, "embodies inrenseeconomicand po-
litical struggles; every Street tree, park, and cicy
scene has remarkable stories (0 tell about the fi-
nancial and political forces chat shaped them."
He noces chac landscape researchers have large-
ly ignored these stories, challenging contribu-
tors to examine their "potencial significance
for environmental design as well as social re-
search." He also discusses the book's subticle:
"Integrative Power" (from The Three Faces of
Power by futuriscs Kennech and Elise Boulding) is acommunicy-
based counterbalance to policical and economic power.
How landscapes are negotiated and funded, what role design
plays, and the pocencial for integrative results are increasingly
critical. Sadly, despite much worthwhile scholarship, none of che
essays really bring these concepts down co earth. \'{1escoat's crees-
parks-scenes specificity disappears; "landscapes" remain huge and
abstracc , "shaped" by political-economic theories and policy-
level decisions. This limits significance for designers; some con-
tributors obviously deem design irrelevant at any level below re-
gional planning. (One author's liS{ of "design " interventions scarts
with creati ng self-governance!) The Bouldings and integrative
power are scarcely referenced.
"It is a mistake co regard political economy solely as a driving
force in landscape change," states one author, "when it is also
shaped by landscapes." \'V'hy do so many make this mistake? S0-
ciety (and abstract social forces like economics or politics) cannot
exist without physical structures. \'{1hy do we (including many
contributors to this book) privilege abstractions over ecosystems,
property over place, theories over direct observation?
For social-science researchers, each essay may have value, but
the book as a whole is not hkely co redefine pragmatic landscape
planning/design inco leadership. LAF shares part of the responsi-
bility: According to the editors, the board required a sociore-
gional perspective, rejecting amore tangible proposal. Academic
102 1 Ludse&pe Architechre IUIC H ZOU
affiliations in political science, economICS, and large-scale geog-
raphy frame the book; only four of 14 contributors are landscape
architects, only one primarily a practitioner.
Why, despite the editors' attempt to get diverse opinions, is
there such a sense of shared d IChe? "Culture is too crude an expla-
nation for much of anything." "All landscapes are inherently po-
litical" (or COntested, or socially constructed). "No landscape is
local." "All landscapes are capitalist." Contributors each use dif-
ferent (unstated) definitions of "landscape," including a disem-
fa Fe, New Me\""ico,
bodied "financial landscape." Not merely
confusing: By not confronting ambiguity, we
avoid genuine analysis,
1c is ironic that for anyone rtading the book
tooay, it rt"fers happily to the stability of Wall
Street and Fannie MaelFreddie Mac, lauds "fi-
nancial instnunents" and trickle-down f(.unom-
ics, yet has no index entry on extractive industry,
the SOU-pound gorillaoflandscapechange, Po-
litical and economic changes are clearly OUtpac-
ing our understanding of landscape.
The issues raisecl in che book are well worth
thinking about. Too few landscape architeccs
do so, which partly explains the probable dis-
connect between this book and ics incended
readers.
Kim Smvig is a lalldscape archile! who lillf!j ill Sall-
A History of the Gardens of Versailles, by Michel Baridoll, frallS-
lafed by Adrienl/e Mason; Philadelphia: Unive rsity of Pennsyl-
vania Press, 2008; 3 12 pages, $55 .
Reviewed by Lake Douglas, ASlA
T
HIS WORK WIllCERTATNLY APPEAL to garden historians, but
its scholarly approoch will hold litde interest for nonacademics.
Because of the depth and complexities of the book's content, a
casual reading is inadequate to grasp the author's scholarship, and
more than one reading will be required to absorb fully what's here.
The first part is a discussion of the "State, the King, and the Gar-
dens," in which the narureof the government and political order in
France prior to the ascendancy of Louis XIV lays the foundation for
the establishment of Versailles as a conscious political statement.
\'<fhileestablishing the context of Versailles is helpful, some might
get lost in this discussion of royal relationships, romantic liaisons,
and IXllitical intrigue that preceded the 17th-centuty reign of Louis
XIV and theestab!ishmem of Versailles as his universe.
In "The Empire ofGeomerry," the aLJthordiscusses the role the
gardens at Versailles played through their inspiration, design, con-
tent, and symbolism in the advancement of scientific, cultural,
academic, and political life in France and, by extension, in \'<fest-
em Europe as well. For me, this section was the most interesting becauseofitsex-
amination of how emergi ng scientific inquiry of the late 17th century- in geom-
etry, measurement, optics, engineer ing, hydraulics, physics, and plant
sciences- was integral to the design and realization of Versailles.
There is a brief biography of Andre Le Notre and a lengthy investigation of
his "aesthetic. ' This examines Renaissance and baroque concepts of beauty as a
meansofexplaining 17th-cenrury motivations for the organization of open spaces
and how Le Notre realized these concepts through his ski llful use of perspective
and proportion and other means. This discussion of spatial and visual effects
would have been stronger with more images.
The historyofVersailJes from Louis xv to the present, including additions and
changes made by others, is interesting, parricularly in the discussion of how this
symbol of monarchy and its excesses escaped figurative decapitation and literal
destruction during the French Revolution to become symbolic of French culrural
patrimony. Unforcunately, the author's attention tocontemporary developments
dissolves after the first few decades of the 20th centu-
ry, and other t han brief discussions of postwar restora-
tion efforts and how extensive stonn damage from the
1990s has been addressed, scant information is given
aboutcomemporaryconditions. \'lhy nor, for instance,
comment on contemporary garden COStS, comparing
them with 17th-century expenditures of labor, con-
struction, and materials previously discussed? Cer-
tainly such current statistics exist, and adding them
to this historical discussion (even without arrempting
to establish financial equivalencies and make di rect
correlations) would have made this work relevant for
nxlay's landscape professionals.
The English text, while cercainly academic, has none
of the awkwardness often found in translations. End
matter includesasection offive maps (three archival maps and contemporary de-
tail plans of the Petit Pare and the Trianon), barely adequate for historical pur-
poses and disappointing in size. Also included are a developmental chronology
and a helpful glossary of French garden terms (including one new to me: Jdllf-
de-Io/(p, a ha-ha.
Comparisons between Michel Bari dons work and Ian Thompson's TheSII11
King's Gardm- l",()lIis XIV, Andre Le NOt/'"/! alld the CreatiOIl of theGardem ofVmailler
of 2006 (Landscape Architectllre, February 2007) are inevitable. While both pre-
sumably draw from the same sources, presentations and conclusions reflect dif-
ferences in the authors' backgrounds and perspectives: Bardon is a professor of
English at the University of Burgundy in France; Thompson, a landscape archi-
tect, is now a professor of landscape architecture at [he University of Newcastle
Upon Tyne in the United Kingdom. Each work has its own audience; academics
will want both. \Vhile Thompsons work appeals to dle genernl public and to
professionals because of his experience in the field and his accessible writ ing,
Baridon's work offers a thoughtful, scholarly discussion of Versailles as a vehicle
to express scientific knowledge in multiple fields and philosophical attitudes
about political authority and economic and social power. \Xlhile few of us wi ll
likely ever have professional oppormnities to include these concepts in our work
in the complexity and magnitude seen at Versailles, such larger issues should cer-
tainly inform approaches to design and inspire us to insert as much content as
possible in design solutions, regardless of scale.
Lau DOliglaJ, ASLA, teaches at UiUj Robert Reich School of Landscape Architectllre in
Batoll ROllge, Lollisiana.
... THE LAND HAS MEMORY: INDIGENOUS
KNOWLEDGE, NATIVE LANDSCAPES.
AND THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE
AMERICAN INDIAN, edited by Duane Blue
Spruce and Tanya Thrasher; Chapel Hili, North
Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press,
2009; 166 pages, 524.95.
THE LANDSCAPE SURROUNDINO
the National Museum 01 the
American Indian in Washing
ton, D.C., Is Intended by its
designers (which Include
EDAW and Jones & Jones)
to be a living exhibit that
extends the museum into
the outdoors. This book discusses the inspira-
tions for many aspects 01 the landscape deSign,
while giving additional background on how
Indigenous peoples relate to the land.
... THE INSPIRED GARDEN: TWENTY-FOUR
ARTISTS SHARE THEIR VISION,
by Judy Paolini; Rockport. Maine: Down East
Books, 2009; 160 pages, 535.
As THIS BOOK FEATURES designs by nonprofession-
als, landscape architects may not have much to
learn 'rom the designs within. However, the 'ull-
color pages 'eaturlng gardens In Maine may
capture the attention of
people Interested In the
region, and the home
owners/designers-ail
chosen 'or their artistic
backgrounds and Interests-
bring a bit 0' their specialties to their own
backyards, which may provide some Inspiration.
... THE RAIN GARDEN PLANNER,
by Te"y Wallace; Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer
Books, 2009: 96 pages, $29.99.
WRITTEN BY A LANDSCAPE DESIGNER who formerly
owned and managed her own landscape
architecture firm. The Rain
Garden Planner Is a useful
primer 'or home owners
Interested In creating their
own rain garden and 'or
professionals who might
appreciate the lists of rain
garden plants or might
want to use the book as a
tool with clients who could use Information on
maintenance.
IIUCN 2D OI ludsupeArthitechre 1 103
To obtain information al:x:lut our
advertisers' products/services:
Circle a reader service number
on the postage paid Reader's
Service card (see list at right for
reader service numbers) , or go 10
www.Bsla.org/freeinfo
-OR-
Circle the four-digit number of the
desired calegory (upper-right comer
of the reader service card). Then
detadl the card and drop it in the mail
or fax it to 1-800-571-n30. Your infor-
mation will arrive in four to six weeks.
Advertising Sales
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Washington, DC 20001-3736
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104 1 Ludsupe Architechre fII H CH zoo,
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This month features
innovations in
recreation products.
Vortex Splash pad
V
ORTEX SPLASI-IPAD PRODUCTS origi-
naced as publi c park features designed
ro bring che experience of commercial wa-
tef parks (0 communities chac could nor
enjoy access [Q chern. Vortex's products in-
clude ground-level sprinklers, water can-
nons, and other water features that are
grouped in specific sequences ro provide a
safe, fun experience to children of all ages.
Vortex has designed three specific con-
figurations of products t hac are known as
"play events." Discovery Bay combines a
series of low-impact water features espe-
cially designed for young children and
coddlers. The Adventure Bay series is
made up of larger water features and is
meam for older children and young adults.
The Action Bay series incorporates water
116 1 Landscape Architecture MUCH 2009
cannons and ocher interanive elements for
high-energy play. A user may combine el-
ements from all three series [0 serve all age
groups and activity levels.
All Splashpad play products are de-
signed in accordance with American Soci-
ety for Testing and Materials regulations
for playgrounds in publi c play areas and
are Ameri cans with Disabilities Act
friendly. For more information, please vis-
it UJUlW. t!(Jrtex -intI. rolll.
Outdoor Learning Environments
P
LAYGROUNDS ARE DESIGNED to get
kids playing outdoors, but Progressive
Playgrounds' new line of natural play
structures may get kids ewn closer m na-
rure. Outdoor Learning Environments in-
corporate narural elements such as sand,
plams, earth, and water to teach children
about their environmem.
Outdoor Learning environments are
cusmm-built. Configurations vary accord-
ing to a playground's location, climate,
budget, and targeted age range. TIley can
include vegetable gardens, slides built imo
natural hills, greenhouses, JXlnds, and dirt
t1"ails. The Botanical Misting Arbor allows
children to plant and cultivate flowers, fruits,
and vegetables. The Imeractive Grass Hill
Slide is built direcrly into a hill and includes
shade roofS, built-in underground tunnels,
and an optional water-misting system.
Outdoor Learning Environments offer a
smlCmred way for children to learn about
their environment and have nm. Because
they are custom-built, a user mn create an
elaborate namml playground or incorporate
natural elements into an existing park or
playground. For more information, please
visit WWlI'.progressivepiaygrotlflti"i. com.
Sof'Shie ld
W
HILE MOST KIDS are primarily con-
cerned about how much fun a play-
ground offers, parents and site owners need
to be assured that their playground surfaces
are safe. Sof'Shield, by SofSolutions, is a
durable, dependable playground surfacing
that prmects from falls of up to 10 feet and
lasts for years.
Made of virgin nontoxic polyvinyl,
SofShieid is lead free and safe for children
with latex allergies. The surfucing comains
a soft, impact-absorbing foam covered with
a colorful geotextile fabric. T he impact-
absorbing foam layer absorbs t he impact
from falls up to four feet; to achieve up to
a I O-fOO fall resistance, a user simply adds
more foam layers. The outer layer is per-
meable and slip resistant.
ScJfShieid comes in six colors-green,
blue, red,orange,gray,and whire-and the
modular squares of material can be arranged
to form any design or sha(X'. For more infor-
mation, please visi t UJlIIl/!.Jofso/flt;ofls.aml.
There's a
better way
to open
doors.
AmerIcan SocIety of Landscape Architects
636 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001 -3736
1-888-999-ASLA
OPINION
(Con/mild from Page 120) These promised
potential buyers the status of a McMan-
sion with rhemnveniencc ofamndomini-
urn, bm the concept felt as if it was creat-
ed more to preserve the propeny values of
larger neighboring homes than roserve rhe
needs of the community's residents.
There has been a nationwide shift to-
ward deconstruction Oed by companies
like Planet Reuse and Bu{fulo Reuse), the
surgical raking apart of homes ro salvage
[he build ing materials for reuse, but often
the building materials used in thesedevel -
opmems aren"r of good enough quality to
warrant salvaging.
[don"t have the perfect solution for how
co transform these broad swaths of su!xli-
visions, and while r ve heard much talk of
[he foreclosure tragedy, I've heard nary a
peep abom what to do abom ir.
A recem areicle in che New YIWk Times
sporred an emerging trend of kids usurp-
ing che abandoned pools of foreclosed
homes for use as cemJXlrary skace parks. (It
is imeresting chacchis was big in the 1970s,
as you can see by wacching the rad skace
documencary Dogf(!wl/ and Z-Boys,) Ie's a
Natural Soil Pavement
Going beyond PoIyPuvement is 0 revolutionory
Whether it's used (or porking lots or roods,
when you wont NOIurol Soil Povement, PoIyf'r1Yemenl is the onswer.
Stonger thon with much less mointenance
Easy 10 apply: JuS! spray it on or mix into the soil ond compod.
Visit us at www.polypavement.(om
PO Box 36339, Los Angeles, (olifornio, 90036 - Phone: 323-9542240
liS 1 Landscape Architecture MU CH 20 09
great shore-eerm stracegy for adolescent
recreacion (and for ridding neighborho<Xls
offetid JXX>ls, which often harbor West Nile
virus), though ie's nor a comprehensive so-
lucian co che problem of increasingly aoon-
POM: tie
,
doncu, ill-maintained, and more dangerous
streetscap<'S.
Bur there art' some interesting avenues to
be pursued. Parr of President Obarna's pro-
posed massive publi<: works program, for ex-
ample, is to be dedicated mclean tffh infra-
structure. lnduded in this is the intent to
weatherize (that is, make energy-efficient)
one million low-inwme homes a year.
One <:an al ready see how those in the
mnstruct ion industry mn begin to make
t he shift frum new mnstruction to home
retrunning. It's the centerpiece of The Green
Col/ar Economy: How One SO/fllioll Can Fix
all, TUJfJ Diggest Problems, the best-selling,
A I Gore- and Nancy Pelosi-endorsed book
by environmental anivist Van Jones.
Though we hear a 10( in the news about
new LEED (Leadership in Energy and En-
vironmencal Design)bui !dingsand incen-
tives for implemencing the latest green
technology, it's often the case that fixing
leaks and insulation is JUSt as effective in
reducing the carbon footprint of single-
family homes (which account forabour 18
percent of the country's carbon footprint) .
I still dream that a
self-sufficient mixed-use
neighborhood can emerge.
As people inueasingly Stay put- and
resell homes less- this retrofit strategy
makes sense. Millions of homes, not juSt
low-inwmeones, are in need of the son of
weatherization the Obama plan describes.
The nonprofit Ar<:hitenure 2030, esrab-
lished in 2002 in response to the g10b..11
warming crisis, is leading a maJor effort in
this arena with the goal of dramatically re-
ducing greenhouse gas emissions of the
buil d ing senor by <:hanging the way
buildings and developments are planned,
designed, and constructed.
And after decades of renovation obsession
that has simply gotten out ofhand, it seems
a prudent time ro swap Viking ranges for
double-paned windows and high-efficiency
nrrna<:cs. It's the perfect moment ro fix what
we'vegor. Despitetheircurrently low num-
bers, green homes typically resell for more
money chan theirwnventional WW1rerplfts.
I still dream that some major overhaul
can occur: that a self-sufficient mixed-use
neighborhood mn emerge. That three-mr-
garaged McMansions can be subdivided
into rental units with screetfront cafes,
shops, and other local businesses. I n short,
that <: reative ways are found nor JUSt to re-
habili tate these homes and communi ties,
but to keep people in chem.
Allison Ariefl is editor at large for Sunset and
the forme, editor in chief 01 Dwell f/lagazme.
She is coallthor 01 the books Prefab af/dT rai 1-
er Travel arid the edit(ff 01 !!lallY book.5 0" de-
sign (mdpojm/arm/tllre, II/dlldiflg Airstream:
The History of the Land Ya<:ht artdCheap
Hotels. She lives ill San Francisco.
From TheNew 'i'ork Ti1l/e!", January 11,2009.
2009 The New Y(ffk Times. All rights re-
served. Used by permission and protected
by the copyright laws of the United States.
The priming, mpying, redistribmion, or re-
transmission of the marerial without express
wricten permission is prohibited.
C ~ E ,,, ON RE.ODER SERVlCECNlO OR GO TO HITPJIINFO HOTlt.OS.C0W2:149 ''57
Inc" lOot Landscape Architecture 1 119
/'
"
"
On subdividing McMansions and otber innovative
solutions to declining suburbs. By Allison Arieff
F
OR A LONG TIME NOW rye been ob-
sessed with suburban and exurban
master-planned communities and
how to make them better. But as rhe
economy and the mortgage crisis just
seem [Q get worse, and gas prices continue
to plunge, the issues around housing have
changed dramatically. The problem now
isn Or really how [Q bener design homes and
communities, but rather what are we going
to do with all the homes and communities
we're left with.
In urban areas, there's rich precedent for
the transformation or reuse of abandoned
lQ[s or buildings. Vacant lots have been
converted into pocket parks, community
gardens, and fXlP-UP stofCS (or they remain
vacant, anxiously awaiting recovery and
120 I Landscape Architecture MUCH 2009
subsequent conversion inro hi gh-end of-
fice space condos). Old homes get divided
into apartments, old factories into lofts,
old warehouses inro rerail.
Projects like Manhattans High l ine
show dmt even derelict tmin tracks can be
turned into somedling as valuable to citi-
7.ens as a vibmnt public park. A brownfield
site in San Fmncisco has been cleaned up
and will house an ecoliteracy center for the
citis youth. Hey, even a dump (Fresh Kills,
on Staten Island) is undergoing a remark-
able metamorphosis into a recreation area.
But similar transformation within the
carefully delineated form of a subdivision is
not so simple. These insta-neighborhoods
were not designed or built for flexibility
or change.
So what to do with the aban-
doned houses, the houses that
were never completed, or the land
that was razed for building and
now sits empty?
Take as an analogous example
their symbiotic partner, the big-
box store. As I learned in artist J u-
lla Christensen's new book, [Jig
[J ox Reuse, when a big-box store
like \'Val -mart or Kmart outgrows
its space, it is shut down. It is, ap-
parently, cheaper to start from
scratch than ro close for renova-
tion and expansion, let alone de-
cide at rhe outset to design a store
that can easily be expanded (or
contracted, as the case may be).
So not only does a community
get a newer, bigger big box, it is
also left with quite an economic
and environmental eyesore: a va-
cant shell of a retail operation ,
tons of wasted building material ,
and a changed landscape that cant
be changed back.
The communities she's discov-
ered that have proactively ad-
dressed the massive empty shells they've
been left with are [he silver lining in Chris-
tensen's study, turning structures of any-
where from 20,000 to 280,000 square feet
into something useful: a charter school , a
health center, a chapel , a library (and, in
Austin, Minnesota, a newSpam Museum).
TIle repurposing of abandoned big-box
srores is easier to wrap one's head around:
One can envision within a single volume
(albeit a massive one) the potential to be-
come something else.
But exurban communities are a unique
challenge. The houses within them are
big, but not genemlly as bi g as, say, Victo-
rian mansions in San Francisco that can be
subdivided into apartments. So theyre not
great candidates for transformation into
multifamily rental housing.
I did visit a housing development last
year that offered "quartets:' McMansions
subdivided into four units with four sepa-
rate entrances. (Coflliflfled 011 Page 118)
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