Redlines is a collection of interviews with editors that make today's most provocative architectural publications come to life. While architecture is traditionally concerned with buildings, materials, and scale, their importance and historical impact are recorded through words, books, and images that are often organized, published, and disseminated. Redlines seeks to understand the pedagogical and design frameworks that shape this process.

In this installment we look at LA+, a biannual publication produced by the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design. Issues explore landscape architecture's interdisciplinary potential, bringing readers a rich collection of work from designers, historians, artists, geographers, psychologists, ecologists, planners, scientists, philosophers, and many more.

LA+ and other publications featured in the series are now available at Archinect Outpost, our new initiative in downtown LA’s Arts District!

What is the history of the publication?

As a discipline, landscape architecture claims to bring the sciences, arts, and humanities together, yet before LA+ there were no journals that reflected this interdisciplinary approach. We started LA+ Journal in 2014 in response to this, and also in response to the lack of truly beautifully designed and produced journals in landscape architecture. 

Who runs the publication?

Our Editor in Chief, Tatum L. Hands, runs LA+ with assistance from PennDesign’s Chair of Landscape Architecture, Richard Weller, who is the journal’s Creative Director.

How are the issues constructed?

First, we decide on the overarching theme for the issue, then we conduct a broad-ranging review of literature and ideas. From this we create a curated shortlist of interesting authors from around the world who are dealing with the theme from their own disciplinary perspectives, but in a way that speaks to our readership. So, for example, we look for elements of spatiality and design, different ways of reading cities and populations, unusual interdisciplinary collaborations, and new approaches to thinking about the environments in which we live. We invite around 80% of the authors in each issue to get a good mix of non-design disciplines and we have a very competitive open call that attracts some excellent design-based submissions. 

Is there any other medium to it but the printed object?

We hope to launch a digital version in 2019.

How often is it released?

Twice a year, spring and fall.

What does it focus on?

LA+ stands for “Landscape Architecture Plus” – our focus is on showing landscape architects and urban designers what other disciplines can contribute to critical thinking about the design of cities, systems, and public space. In addition to sourcing material from other disciplines we also foreground designers who are extending the boundaries of the profession.

How are the editors organized?

Most issues are organized and edited by the Editor in Chief and Creative Director. We do bring in specialized co-editors for certain themes and occasionally we hand off an entire issue to guest editors.

What is the long-term goal of the publication?

LA+ aims to broaden the intellectual reach of landscape architecture. We hope to inspire this new generation of landscape architects to bring more criticality to their work by finding ways into sites and projects through different disciplinary lenses. A side effect of our interdisciplinary approach is that we are also raising the profile of landscape architecture among other disciplines. Additionally, we are using the journal as a platform for events such as international design competitions and exhibitions that align with the journal’s mission.

What has been the most interesting issue in your eyes so far?

A favorite issue is # 3 LA+ TYRANNY (Spring 2016) where we explored how landscape and architecture can be used to express power, quell protest, or, sometimes, promote democracy.  We also looked at the ways in which we memorialize certain traumatic events through art and design, and the rise of technological surveillance in our urban landscapes. There’s a fascinating lineup of authors from disciplines as diverse as sociology, philosophy, semiotics, geography, history, urbanism, art, architecture, and landscape architecture.

What is the role of publications today?

As ever, journals galvanize a certain community and at their best they can orient and lead attitudes to the issues of the day. If, however, the question relates to the relationship between print and digital media we feel there is a niche for beautifully designed hard-copy. In some ways, the real thing becomes more valuable and more useful in a sea of effervescent digital information.

How involved is the affiliated academic institution?

LA+ has become an important part of the fabric of landscape architecture at PennDesign and has strong support from the school, faculty, and students. PennDesign is a great place to produce LA+ because it’s had a focus on interdisciplinarity in its approach to design since the 1950s. 

What is the most recent issue focused on?

Our most-recent issue, LA+ RISK, explores the ways in which risk shapes our behavior and impacts our experiences of designed environments. It features articles on sea level rise and resilience, ecosystems and infectious disease, the risk-averse nature of modern design education, the problems with safety-driven playground design, the role that risk plays in geopolitical life, and geoengineering the planet to stabilize climate change. Shortly we’ll be launching our spring 2018 issue, LA+ IMAGINATION, which documents the international design ideas competition we held last year where entrants were asked to design an island.

Tell us something someone would not know from just reading the publication?

Each issue takes two years from planning to publication and we have three issues in production at any given time.