With this post, The Dirt initiates a new bi-weekly feature highlighting news stories from around the Web on landscape architecture. For more LA in the News, check out LAND, ASLA’s newsletter. If you see others you’d like included, please email us at info@asla.org.
Top 10 Gardening Innovations – Sunset Magazine, 3/25/13
“[Walter] Hood’s landscapes are boldly contemporary in style and material but highly functional. The grassy sculpture garden he designed for the modernist remodel of San Francisco’s de Young Museum includes giant ceramic apples, which beckon children to clamber on them. To create Lafayette Square Park in Oakland, Hood added a barbecue area and lawn berms angled to catch the sun.” (Slide 2, Urban parklets)
“When you hear the delighted squeals of children splashing in the trickling streams of Vista Hermosa Natural Park, see families picnicking on a lawn, or inhale the aromatic scents of white sage and coyote bush while strolling trails that feel like they’re in the foothills, you soon realize: In the great battle of L.A. sprawl versus livable green space, landscape architect Mia Lehrer is gaining serious ground.” (Slide 7, Upcycling public spaces)
“Martino first became captivated with the untamed desert as a teenager, when he led horseback rides outside a ranch for at-risk boys. The gnarly opuntias, towering saguaros, and sprays of delicate wildflowers he and his little band trotted through were all growing strong in the harsh sun and attracting the predators and pollinators that fed on them. ‘Desert plants are iconic,’ he says. And like native plants everywhere, they ‘represent the state of the art of evolution of a place.’” (Slide 8, Prizing native plants)
Building Resilience – Metropolis Magazine, 3/27/13
“We have an opportunity here step up to the plate and play an important role in enhancing and creating the social capital that makes our communities and our society resilient. While I love and value aesthetics and believe fervently that beauty matters, our work as urban designers and landscape architects is more than a matter of creating artful places. We can, and should, learn to design to increase social connectedness. What would that look like?”
Andrea Cochran, FASLA, Makes a Place – Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, 4/2/13
“In my experience, the professions of architecture and landscape architecture are tremendously rewarding. The financial compensation with regard to the level of education required continues to be a concern, especially compared to other professions. However, I would not trade my life with anyone and I look forward to continuing to work well past the typical age for retirement because I am passionate about what I do. I wonder how many other professionals can say that. I am always learning and experimenting with new ideas and that keeps me engaged and excited.”
ASLA Launches National Landscape Architecture Month – Planetizen, 4/2/13
“Landscape architects will join across the country during the month of April to educate the public as to how their profession promotes Healthy Living Through Design. They’ll hold public events showcasing just what can be done through hands-on work with the public, speaking engagements, and design charrettes.”
Let California Be California – The New York Times Magazine, 4/5/13
“If ever you should decide to redo your garden, sooner or later you’ll likely hear someone say, ‘Be sure to stay true to the surroundings.’ It is one of those stock phrases that architects and decorators often use to suggest that the garden’s design shouldn’t veer far from the style of the home and interior, or that native plants and local aesthetics should be embraced. But for Lisa Gimmy, ASLA, a landscape architect who has spent the last 20 years designing gardens around Southern California, the idea of staying true to your surroundings goes far deeper. For her, garden design is a matter of seamlessly integrating inside and out, lifestyle and landscape — and her solutions have yielded gardens that are livable above all else.”
