Archinect - News

Sam Lubell on cultural institutions’ newfound embrace of landscape architecture

2024-04-23T18:30:00-04:00

[...] such projects have fundamentally transformed in recent years, reflecting, among other things, seismic shifts in both museums’ priorities and the profession of landscape architecture, as well as a surge in interest in outdoor space because of the pandemic. The first rule: don’t dare call them gardens. These are sophisticated landscapes integrating — and enhancing — institutions’ missions while also encouraging education, sustainability and a much-needed sense of civic welcome.

Sam Lubell of the New York Times talks to Walter Hood, William Fain, and Kate Orff for a survey focused on the expanding role of landscape architecture in major American cultural sector projects.

He says: "The ascension of landscape in the museum world shows no signs of abating." Projects of note include the Hirshhorn Museum’s debated Hiroshi Sugimoto-led sculpture garden redesign, Studio-MLAand Frederick Fisher and Partners’ work for the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, and the forthcoming Calder Gardens in Philadelphia from Piet Oudolf and Herzog & de Meuron.

"Museums are places where you can say something about the culture. Where we can begin to vet some of these things that we don’t want to talk about. It goes back to the idea of these being the new civic spaces, where honest conversations can be had," Walter Hood told him. (A look at his firm's contributions to the new International African American Museum in South Carolina by Moody Nolan and Pei Cobb Freed can be found ...

Congress moves closer to passing law funding recreation spaces in underserved communities

2024-04-11T11:46:00-04:00

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Outdoors for All Act, which seeks to address the lack of adequate recreation space in underserved communities. The bill, which is yet to pass the U.S. Senate, would establish a dedicated source of funding for the existing Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program.

Overseen by the National Park Service, this program funds the delivery of new parks, the renovation of existing recreation facilities, and the development of infrastructure to support outdoor education and public land volunteering. The program gives priority to projects in underserved communities.

Related on Archinect: ASLA New York honors state's best landscape architecture at 2024 Design Awards. Image credit: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

“Research confirms what our bodies and nature already understand — more time in outdoor spaces increases well-being,” said Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO of the American Society of Landscape Architects, which has advocated for the bill...

Tulane launches dual degree creating a new pathway for students, informed by design, science and engineering

2024-04-09T12:01:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Tulane School of Architecture, an Archinect Partner School

As climate change and extreme weather continue to impact communities around the world, the need for professionals skilled in the fields of landscape architecture, architecture, engineering, and planning is growing. In response, the Tulane School of Architecture (TuSA), in partnership with the Tulane School of Science and Engineering (SSE), has launched a new graduate dual degree – the Master of Landscape Architecture and Master of Science in River-Coastal Science and Engineering.

The new Landscape Architecture and Engineering program creates a pathway for students interested in pursuing a career in landscape architecture, informed by a strong background in science, and in engineering, with high design abilities focused on environmental and social issues. This unique program is sure to attract students from across the globe due to its singular and clear interdisciplinary education, not offered i...

10 new architectural landscapes & outdoor spaces we liked this week

2024-04-06T08:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Outdoors.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ 10K Hill South in Washington, D.C., by MA | Morris Adjmi Architects

↑ Powell Residence in Palm Springs, CA, by Studio AR&D Architects

↑ Greenwich Village School Green Roof—PS41 in New York, NY, by MBB Architects; Photo: Charles de Vaivre

↑ LAND Community Center in Xi'an, China, by Atelier Ping Jiang | EID Arch; Landscape: GZ.S.P.I. LANDSCAPE DESIGN CO.,LTD; Photo: EID Arch

↑ Long Island Estate Main House in East Hampton, NY, by BMA Architects

↑ Liminal House in West Vancouver, Canada, by Mcleod Bovell Modern Houses; Landscape: Botanica Design; Photo: Hufton + Crow

↑ The Wizard of Oz | KINCANG Modern Pre-School in Shaoxing...

WEISS/MANFREDI’s Longwood Gardens overhaul in Pennsylvania to open November

2024-03-28T10:57:00-04:00

Pennsylvania’s Longwood Gardens has released an update of an overhaul of its horticultural campus by WEISS/MANFREDI which will open in November 2024. Titled 'Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience,' and designed in collaboration with Reed Hilderbrand, the project is described by the venue as “the most ambitious revitalization in a century of America’s greatest center for horticultural display.”

West Conservatory. Image credit: WEISS/MANFREDI with Reed Hilderbrand for Longwood Gardens

Currently under construction, the project sees 17 acres on the Longwood Gardens site transformed into a visitor experience to host exhibitions, programs, and events. At the core of the scheme is a 32,000-square-foot conservatory designed by WEISS/MANFREDI as a “living and breathing glass house” with walls and roofs that open and close in response to the weather. The conservatory contains gardens, pools, and fountains designed by Reed Hilderbrand.

Aerial view of construction. Image credit: Bancroft ...

LA’s Wilmington Waterfront Promenade opens after Sasaki landscape overhaul

2024-02-29T12:24:00-05:00

The Wilmington Waterfront Promenade in Los Angeles has opened to the public following an extensive public landscape project by Sasaki Associates. The park seeks to improve public waterfront access near the Port of Los Angeles and expands on the 30-acre Wilmington Waterfront Park that Sasaki completed in 2011.

Image credit: Barrett Doherty

The new promenade, designed by Sasaki and Studio-MLA, is described by the team as “the first opportunity for the community to reconnect with the waterfront.” Among the spaces designed as part of the promenade is ‘The Landing,’ which sits at the highest point of the park, doubling as a spot for a future bridge. Meanwhile, the ‘Upland Walkways’ consists of a series of meandering paths landscaped with coastal planting.

Image credit: Barrett Doherty

‘The Bluff’ consists of a large, flexible open lawn intended to host community events, while the ‘Tidal Steps’ is described as a “dynamic water's ...

New digital guide documents African American cultural landscapes

2024-02-07T15:19:00-05:00

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) just launched a brand new initiative called the What’s Out There Guide to African American Cultural Landscapes. So far, the digital guide documents over 140 sites associated with African American culture lifeways as well as nearly 30 biographies and is part of the foundation's four-year-old Race and Space program.

The TCLF says the production of the guide required some rethinking of its four existing categorizations of cultural landscapes. Nine themes (Enslavement, Impacts of African Cultures on the American Landscape, The Underground Railroad, Reconstruction, The Civil Rights Movement, Education, Public Accommodations, Commemoration and Healing, and Elevating Designers and Shapers) were created to reconstrue them into their proper contexts.

This will be of value to future research endeavors, the TCLF says, while equally helpful in promoting the stewardship of the sites, both of which are related to its organizational mission to "connect peop...

MAD Architects completes ‘train station in the forest’ in China

2024-02-07T13:38:00-05:00

MAD Architects has completed their overhaul of the Jiaxing Train Station in China, described by the firm as a “train station in the forest.” Located in the city of Jiaxing, 60 miles southwest of Shanghai, the project included the replacement of an outdated train station that occupied the site from 1995 to 2019.

Image credit: Lu Bing

Image credit: AC

MAD’s approach saw the full-scale recreation of an original 1907 station that stood on the site alongside a “floating” metal roof above an expanded site. In order to reconstruct the old station, the firm collaborated with architectural experts and scholars to analyze a large amount of historical data, with the 210,000 red and green bricks used to construct the station made of mud sourced from the nearby South Lake.

Image credit: CreatAR Images

Image credit: AC

Surrounding the reconstructed station, MAD sought to create a complex “more humane and efficient than its predecessor.” The interior of the new hub maintains a dialogue with the recrea...

Water landscape design experts Fluidity are hiring in Los Angeles

2024-01-24T13:28:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Studio Director at Doug Aitken Workshop, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Project Manager at Fluidity Design Consultants.

The role, based in Los Angeles, calls for an individual to “coordinate and manage the firm’s relationship as the sub-consultant to the prime design lead on projects.” Among the requirements for the role are a professional degree in architecture, landscape architecture, or design management, 3-7 years of professional experience, and a history of writing and reviewing design contracts.

Grand Park, Los Angeles, CA by Fluidity Design Consultants. Photo: Jim Simmons.

Why the role interests us

The open role at Fluidity offers us the opportunity to highlight a firm specializing in water feature design and engineering that has previously been featured in our editorial. In August of last year, for instance, we reported on the firm’s collaboration with...

Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Associati unveil France’s pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka behind curtain facade

2024-01-12T14:46:00-05:00

A team comprising Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Associati has unveiled their design for France’s national pavilion at World Expo Osaka 2025.

Titled ‘Theatrum Naturae,’ meaning ‘Theatre of Nature,’ the pavilion is inspired by France’s natural landscapes, with a “looping narrative path” that suggests “new entanglements between humans and other forms of life in our cities.”

Image credit: Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Associati

The pavilion features a single pathway that guides visitors through three experiences: Ascent, Discovery of Nature, and Return to the Ground. The experience begins with a staircase that winds to form an observation balcony. The staircase weaves in and out of the pavilion’s porous curtain facade, offering views of the building’s interior before culminating at a heavily vegetated terrace.

Image credit: Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Associati

“The French Pavilion invites visitors to enter the theater of life,” said Coldefy founding partner Thomas Coldefy about the scheme. “Both actors...

Cobe opens The Opera Park island in Copenhagen's inner harbor

2023-11-21T17:52:00-05:00

Cobe has completed work on a new outdoor concert space for Copenhagen they say will lend a rich cultural and green balance to the outcrop of new development in the city’s inner harbor area that has been reproduced in abundance over the past two decades.

The artificial island space is dubbed The Opera Park and was constructed on a 231,000-square-foot plot adjacent to the Royal Danish Opera House. It serves as its visual counterpoint and is accessed via a landscaped bridge connector covered by a glass walkway.

The Opera Park. Image: Francisco Tirado

Cobe’s Founder, Dan Stubbergaard, says: “The Opera Park is a place where nature comes first amidst Copenhagen’s bustling urban development. With its six gardens, winding paths, and carefully crafted viewpoints, the project seizes elements of Copenhagen’s historical, romantic gardens to tackle today’s challenges such as decline in biodiversity and water management. As you stroll through the park, you get the feeling of having left the city ...

Studio Gang, SCAPE complete work on transformative $61 million Tom Lee Park in Memphis

2023-11-06T15:35:00-05:00

Studio Gang and SCAPE have shared new photos following the completion of work on their $61 million Tom Lee Park redevelopment project in Memphis, Tennessee.

The 31-acre riverfront space puts Memphis squarely in league with a host of contemporary restorative urban green space projects slated for other major American cities, including San Francisco's new Presidio Tunnel Tops and the partially completed Freshkills Park in Staten Island.

Its ecological restoration work and accessibility to the residents of one of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods make it an instant industry standard-bearer. The project creates a connection between downtown and the Mississippi River, also providing new ADA-approved access at three different points for the first time.

Image © Tom Harris

Studio head Jeanne Gang says: “Insights and input from the Memphis community were essential to this project from the very beginning, to make sure the park’s programming reflects how Memphians from across the city ...

Henning Larsen designs Europe's largest mass timber logistics center for Bestseller

2023-10-26T17:39:00-04:00

Henning Larsen has revealed designs for a new mass timber logistics center project in Lelystad on Flevopolder Island, the Netherlands.

The project includes a restaurant with roof garden and terrace for employees and boasts several sustainable credentials, including the retention of 40% of the 70-acre total site for landscaping and wildlife habitats. Another 10% increase in its overall biodiversity will also be achieved through its realization. The firm says its construction is driven by circular economy principles and the desire to create a fairer working environment tied to reduced emissions.

Image courtesy Henning Larsen

For the design of Logistic Center West (LCW), Henning Larsen proposes constructing a wetlands network that wraps the site, supported by a high-tech irrigation system that also aids in flood mitigation and rainwater harvesting while preventing off-site contamination from commercial activities. The large 1.66 million-square-foot logistics hub is topped by a 331,022-s...

Field Operations completes North Park transformation at Freshkills Park, once world's largest landfill

2023-10-17T17:24:00-04:00

Field Operations has shared photos of their completed work on the first phase of North Park at the Freshkills Park redevelopment project for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Over the course of 30 years, what was once the world’s largest landfill will become an interconnected series of parks and open spaces spread across 750 acres on the west side of Staten Island, beginning with the newly inaugurated 21-acre segment. A pathway carved into a gently curving earthwork arc guides visitors from a new entry approach around the base of the northernmost landfill mounds, culminating in an overlook that offers views of the Main Creek wetlands and William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge. Costs for the project have been reported at $21 million.

Image: NYC Parks/Malcolm Pinckney

Visitors entering from Wild Avenue will encounter an arrangement of flowering ground swales leading northeast to a sumac-lined plateau and picnic lawn. There, a bird tower set against the water’s edge dominate...

NPR on sponge cities, Kongjian Yu, and the future of flood mitigation

2023-10-10T13:46:00-04:00

Almost all of China's medium and large cities are now susceptible to floods. And [Kongjian] Yu says 60% of them experience flooding every year. Extreme weather from climate change is exacerbating the problem. So Yu has been evangelizing a solution he calls "sponge cities." That is, urban landscapes that are softer and purposely designed to absorb more water. Gareth Doherty, an associate professor of landscape architecture at Harvard University, says the concept is revolutionary.

The contributions of Turenscape founder Kongjian Yu to the development of the so-called “Sponge City” concept date to the mid-90s, stemming from a near-death experience in his childhood home of Jinhua. He says that by the end of the decade, roughly 80% of Chinese cities will now be adequately equipped by the measures. However, just under 10% of the country's mid- to large-sized cities had any plans to implement the concept by the start of the year, according to Reuters.

The need for better stormwater strategies has since been proven in New York City and other low-lying American metros, too, with $2.6 billion worth of funding specifically included in the 2021 Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill to combat the problem. Copenhagen is seen as a world leader in the concept after experiencing a tumultuous 2011 cloudburst that led to a two-part system of expanded sewers and over 300 surface catchment projects.

Still, Yu says the reliance on concrete and technological solutions remains a...

Manhattan’s first public beachfront opens at Gansevoort Peninsula, designed by Field Operations

2023-10-05T13:34:00-04:00

The 5.5-acre Gansevoort Peninsula has opened at Hudson River Park, the first public beachfront in Manhattan. The $73 million project was designed by Field Operations and includes a large sports field, boardwalks, promenades, lawns, a picnic area, and an ecological salt marsh.

Image credit: Barret Doherty

The southern edge of the park provides direct access to the Hudson River for non-motorized boats and views of both the river, the lower Manhattan skyline, and Day’s End, a monumental, site-specific sculpture by David Hammons. The adjacent beach holds 1,200 tons of sand with beach umbrellas, Adirondack-style chairs, and a misting feature for cooling down or rinsing off sand.

Image credit: Barret Doherty

A large picnic area with tables and benches overlooks the river, while a boardwalk with a Pine Grove draws people onto the site from the adjacent esplanade before connecting with the western esplanade where Manhattan’s Thirteenth Avenue was once located. Despite its waterside location, ...

Snøhetta completes Vesterheim Commons, blending Norwegian and Midwestern cultures

2023-10-03T11:46:00-04:00

Snøhetta has completed work on the Vesterheim Commons in Decorah, Iowa. Part of Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, the new building and associated landscape seeks to “establish a new entry point and gathering space for a cultural campus.” Snøhetta served as the design architect and landscape architect for the project, with BNIM as the architect of record.

Image credit: Michael Grimm

The 8,000-square-foot building is marked on the street by a large wooden canopy inspired by boat designs. Off the street, a public reception lobby and event space “mirror the cozy and sheltered outdoor rooms of the surrounding park,” while upper-level galleries and a new digital production studio create spaces for showcasing art and artifacts.

Image credit: Michael Grimm

Image credit: Craig Dykers

Light is drawn into the lobby by a wood oculus above, while a flexible event space and new circulation areas create interior connections to Vesterhei...

10 firms currently hiring Landscape Architects and Designers

2023-09-29T08:09:00-04:00

Archinect's latest curated jobs roundup from Archinect Jobs highlights 10 architecture and design firms across the country with exciting Landscape Architecture opportunities.

To learn more about the various positions firms are offering, make sure to check out Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series. Also, consult our Archinect Tips collection for helpful guidance on how to get that next job.

Balmori Associates seeks a Landscape Designer
Location: New York, NY

Details: "Balmori Associates is looking for a landscape designer with a high-level of digital design skills, graphic ability to represent design ideas, and a strong understanding of space. Exceptional knowledge of 3D design software is required." Read more here.

Farm Landscape Design seeks a Landscape Architect - Project Manager and a Landscape Design Associate
Location: Shelter Island, NY

Landscape Architect - Project Manager Details: "We are currently in the process of renaming and rebranding Farm Landscape Design to better re...

Maria Villalobos Hernandez to lead IIT’s Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism

2023-09-26T11:37:00-04:00

The Illinois Institute of Technology has appointed Maria A. Villalobos Hernandez as director of its Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism program. “Villalobos is the first woman of color and first Latinx person to be a director of a College of Architecture program, and she will bring a deep-rooted sense of equity and justice to the program,” the institute said announcing the news.

Originally hailing from Venezuela, Villalobos Hernandez has “witnessed first-hand the impacts of the oil industry on local communities,” bringing her to cultivate “an approach to landscape architecture that prioritizes environmental and social justice.” Having exercised this ethos through her practice, Botanical City, Villalobos Hernandez now hopes to infuse the MLA+U program with the same spirit.

“The weight of this appointment holds resonance beyond personal achievement, as it is a great responsibility to be the inaugural Latin American Director of a program in the College,” said Villalobos Herna...

Five urban landscapes by Field Operations: Your Next Employer?

2023-09-25T11:22:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Philadelphia-based CosciaMoos Architecture, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York this week to explore the work of Field Operations.

Formerly James Corner Field operations until its name change and restructuring earlier this month, the firm has operated for almost 25 years. Today, the landscape studio has amassed a large portfolio of collaborative works with some of the world’s most well-known architecture practices, including OMA, Snøhetta, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for several positions. (UPDATE: These positions have now been filled. For other related openings, try a search on Archinect Jobs with the keyword "landscape.")

For candidates interested in applying for a role, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio’s work, we have rounded up five projects by Field Operations that exemplify the studio’s approach.

Greenpoint Landing. Image credit: Jason O'Rear

Gr...

ACSA issues joint statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion censorship in education

2023-09-21T17:39:00-04:00

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) has joined its sibling organizations in landscape architecture and planning in opposing the concerted efforts of far-right lawmakers to prevent the inclusion of race and racism topics into curricula in states including Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, South Dakota, and Virginia.

"This united declaration stands as a strong objection to the legislation that silences educators from sharing the histories of the architectural profession. Practitioners, educators, and students must be granted access to the complete narrative. Being privy to only a portion of the story significantly disadvantages us all," Mo Zell, the 2023-24 ACSA President, said in a statement.

"The boards of directors of the three organizations representing university programs and educators in architecture, landscape architecture, and planning — ACSA, CELA, and ACSP, — jointly communicate our opposition to any legislation that prevents educators from teaching and shari...

Balmori Associates seeks a landscape designer as the industry's award season blooms

2023-09-20T12:39:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Junior Video Editor-Producer at KPF, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an opportunity on Archinect Jobs for a Landscape Designer at Balmori Associates.

The role, based in New York City, calls for an individual to join a practice “recognized worldwide for its creative interfacing of landscape and architecture.” Among the responsibilities for the role are conducting “thorough research on site conditions, historical context, local ecology, and zoning regulations,” and developing design proposals incorporating sustainable materials, technologies, and living species.

Bilbao's Abandoibarra Master Plan by Balmori Associates. Image: Efrain Mendez / Balmori Associates

Why the role interests us

The open role for a landscape designer at Balmori Associates offers us the opportunity to reflect back on the many landscape architecture-related projects and developments recently featured in our editorial. In August,...

Acclaimed Canadian landscape architect Claude Cormier has died aged 63

2023-09-18T20:10:00-04:00

Canadian landscape architect Claude Cormier, a deeply admired figure within the country’s design community, passed away on September 15th at the age of 63 following a battle with cancer, the CBC and other outlets reported over the weekend.

The founder of CCxA was behind many of the country’s most beloved public spaces, parks, and memorial designs, including Toronto’s Berczy Park, downtown Montreal’s new The Ring installation, and the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa. A statement from the firm credited him as being a “great visionary who influenced us in surprising and powerful ways, thanks to the creative force and joie de vivre he brought to all our lives.”

The RIng, Montreal. Photo: David Boyer Photographe Inc.

Born and raised in Quebec, Cormier studied at the University of Toronto and Harvard GSD before entering practice in Montreal in 1993. Over the years, Cormier’s work received more than 100 separate awards and honors, including being named to the prestigious Ordre Natio...

James Corner Field Operations announces name change and restructuring

2023-09-11T15:53:00-04:00

James Corner Field Operations will be continuing under a newly-announced partnership renamed Field Operations after 24 years in reflection of what it says are the diversity, character, and experience of its new leadership team and staff members.

The newly branded firm announced its transition from a sole proprietorship and has named Sarah Weidner Astheimer, Richard Kennedy, and Lisa Switkin as new Partners. They join Founding Partner James Corner and new Associate Partners Megan Born, Isabel Castilla, Tatiana Choulika, Matt Grunbaum, Jayyun Jung, Veronica Rivera, Karen Tamir, and Hong Zhou in the new partnership model, which they hope continues the success built on projects such as the New York High Line and San Francisco Presidio Tunnel Tops, among many others.

“This new structure elevates some of the field’s most skilled and experienced professio...

The Cultural Landscape Foundation acquires photographer Alan Ward's archive

2023-08-31T14:19:00-04:00

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) has just announced a gift of landscape photographer and architect Alan Ward’s digital archive, a donation they say provides both the public and scholars exposure to one of the profession’s most beloved practitioners.

The Sasaki Associates principal’s bequest includes 2,500 photographs. Each will be made accessible through the Alan Ward Portfolios of Designed Landscapes section of TCLF’s website and is part of the “Related Content” holdings, which currently includes over 13,000 images depicting more than 2,600 sites across the world.

France’s iconic garden at Vaux-le-Vicomte is one recent documentary subject included in the trove, which features work from the United States and twelve other countries taken over a 50-year span. A total of 20 of 110 separate portfolios will be unveiled first as part of the launch. The TCLF says they are useful...

Walter Hood prepares to lead UC Berkeley's landscape department

2023-08-24T11:37:00-04:00

Professor Walter Hood is set to become chair of UC Berkeley's Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning (LAEP) for a two-year term beginning this fall. Berkeley describes Hood as “one of the pre-eminent American landscape designers working today,” whose projects “combine architectural and public art approaches with a concern for ecological sustainability.”

As our 2021 interview explored, Hood's education began at UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design (CED), where he obtained both his Master of Landscape Architecture and Master of Architecture in 1989, followed by an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013. Joining CED's faculty in 1993, Hood has previously held the position of LAEP department chair, serving one term, and was honored with the Woo Chair for Design Excellence from 2012 to 2022.

Archinect Feature: Othering Blackness in Design: Reflections with Walter Hood

Meanwhile, Hood's literary contributions include authoring Urban Diar...

20% of landscape architects expect to see greenhouse gas emissions budgets in future projects, ASLA survey finds

2023-08-22T17:08:00-04:00

The American Institute of Landscape Architects has published the results of a members' survey on the role of landscape architecture products in aiding decarbonization and biodiversity in the built environment. Insights were garnered from 454 landscape architects, designers, and educators out of the ASLA’s member base of approximately 15,000.

A significant 55% of respondents stated that their clients do not establish a greenhouse gas emissions budget for their projects. However, 20% foresee it as a potential future requirement. When asked about the data that would assist in accounting for emissions, 51% prioritized embodied carbon factors for materials, closely followed by 50% wanting projected carbon sequestration details for tree species specification.

Regarding accessing Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and emissions assessments, 55% advocated for a curated register of baseline data, possibly developed by ASLA or a similar body. When procuring from manufacturers, 34% of p...

Shma's rippling landscape adds to Neri&Hu-designed hotel in Zhengzhou

2023-08-21T15:21:00-04:00

Bangkok-based landscape architecture firm Shma Company Limited has introduced an elegant, small-scale landscape intervention in front of a Neri&Hu-designed hotel called Le Meridien in Zhengzhou City, China.

Image: Arch-exist

The renovation project comprises approximately 65,000 square feet of space in a densely populated area. The architects were tasked to create a hotel frontage landscape that improves the site’s overall appearance, in addition to enhancing ground parking and vehicular movement.

Image: Arch-exist

The project design pays tribute to Zhengzhou’s historical textile weaving industry through its sculptural landscape weaves and folds. A series of undulating lawn stripes represent silk being woven. The landscape and the existing building seamlessly integrate with each other. A water feature situated in front of the hotel’s lobby drop-off area serves as the main welcoming element.

Image: Arch-exist

Two colors, bronze and black, were used for the finishing of the stainless st...

Reed Hilderbrand signs on for a $22 million sculpture park at Louisville's Speed Art Museum

2023-08-15T17:54:00-04:00

A new three-acre sculpture park design for Louisville, Kentucky’s Speed Art Museum has been unveiled by Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture in a preview of the project, which is expected to host some 500,000 visitors a year after it opens in 2025.

The firm’s $22 million Speed Outdoors makeover will recreate an area surrounding the museum with native flora, a water management system, and 150 new trees in coordination with the adjacent University of Louisville and with a 13-artwork bequest from local collectors.

Image courtesy of Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture

The Museum’s Director, Raphaela Platow, said it will also instill Frederick Law Olmsted’s "dream of a Louisville connected by public parklands" while serving as a "welcoming forum for the whole community to connect with art, nature, and each other for generations to come."

Image courtesy of Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture

The sculptural work of Zaha H...

$82 million park space beneath LA's new Sixth Street Viaduct has broken ground

2023-08-09T08:00:00-04:00

Just over one year after the Sixth Street Viaduct replacement made its debut, Los Angeles city officials have commenced work on 12 acres of new park spaces at the foot of the $588-million bridge.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 5th for the $82 million project, also known as the Sixth Street Park, Arts, and River Connectivity project (PARC). Landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Jones led the design.

Previously on Archinect: Take a look at new Iwan Baan photos of LA's Sixth Street Viaduct ahead of its grand opening

The park, which sits beneath the recently completed Sixth Street Viaduct, will include seven acres of open space on the east side of the Los Angeles River in Boyle Heights and five acres of space in the Arts District on the west side.

The Boyle Heights section will feature grass fields, picnic areas, a splash pad, event space, and sports fields and courts. The Arts District section will include a new arts plaza and river gateway, which will host spaces for performances, a café, and restrooms. Construction on PARC is expected to last around two-and-a-half years.