Landscape Architecture - 2009 August

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VGI.U"""
AUGUST 99 •
2009 NU"":BER 8
LAND
MATTERS
LETTERS RIPRAP
118
120
117
Spiral gyrations, art in the landscape (architecture firm), a branch edifice in Central Park, and sculptures still standing Infire-ravaged Austraha
Edited by Linda Mcintyre DESIGN
126
Catch tile Wave

A redesigned entry puna at the National Aquarium in Baltimore spices up the city's Inner Harbor and brings the aquarium's mission out Into the site.
By Daniel Jost, ASLA URBAN PARKS
IS6
Lost Space Park

Can good deJign make anything out 0/ a leftouerbi: 0/ land next to a truck route?
By GWeneth International Newman; Leigh, ASLA
TEC;HNOLOGY
142 Hidden Resourres
It's time/or a sustainable approach to groundwater resources.

By James L. Sipes, ASLA RESIDENTIAL DESIGNlso
Stepping to the Shore

An island off the Washington coast I> the Jetting/or a woodland garden.
By Clair Enlow
ON TH[ COVER
Pout Pavi/i<)nFoml in Napa \Tnlk'j~Cohlo",ia, won an ASUl Honor A",,,rd ill the Residenual DeSIgn category, page 78.
Pb()l{)gt"d/,h
e. Ja.HlN
Schmid,
Landscape Architecture
AUGU ST l009
IS6 11:1eNeA'! Generation

PRACTICE
Boo.z;-1104
Of Your Firm
One owner 14ysout the steps for ensuring that your practice wlll continue after you retire.
By James A. van Sweden, GREEN ROOFS
FASLA
Professional
2009 AS LA Awards
Edited by Stephanie Stubbs
PRODUCT DISPLAY BUYER'S CRITIC
PROFILES AD I'NDEX INDEX
1106 1108 1109
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High -Maintenance Superstar

0/ Sciences is a stunning/eat 0/ design.
By Linda Mc:lntyre
Thames Washout
Kienast Vogt's landscape design largely fails London'!; Tate Modem Art Museum
By Mark Hinshaw
The green roof on the Caltfomia Academy
What does it take to keep this new icon ready for its close-up?
Landscape
Arc hltectllr",
AUG U S T 2009
archltecture
OF OF THE MAGAZINE THE AMERICAN SOCIETY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
laqdscape
J. Wilham Thompson,
ED ITO R
FASLA I bthompson@asl(J,.org
MANAGING
EDITOR
Lisa Speckhardt I lspeckhardt@(lsla.org

I cJncgee@usla.org I rljoH@a.sZa.org
Christopher McGee
ART DIRECTOR
Daniel Jost, ASLA

WRITER/EDITOR
Lisa Schultz
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
I lschultz@asla.org
EDITORS
CONTRIBUTING
Jane Roy Brown; Lake Douglas, ASLA Diane Hellekson, ASLA; Peter Jacobs, FASLA Frank Edgerton Martin; Linda McIntyre E. Lynn Miller, FASLA; James L. Sipes, ASLA Kim Sorvig; James Urban, FASLA
PLEASE E·MAIL COMMENrs TO APPItO""IAT~ STAFF MEMBEIt OR SEND VIA u.S. MAIL TO 636 EYE STREET NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20001-3738
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COMMITTEE
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Architecture
AUGUST
2009
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AU GUst
2009
ASLA
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
PRESIDENT
AngeL. D. Dye, FASLA
PRES ID E NT·E LECT
Gar)' D. Scott,
IMMEDIAfE PAST
FASLA
PIRESIDENt
Pe .... y Howarrl , FASLA

VICE PRESIDENTS
Pamela M_ Blough, ASLA Gary A. Brown , FASLA _T"1"1")'L. Clements, ASLA Brian J. Dougherty, F,\$Ll\ J ouathau Mueller. FASLA Thomus R. Tavel!;i, FASLA
E)(ECUTI!VE VICE PRESIDENT
alley C. Somorvi lle

SECRETARY
Mary L. Hanson, Gerald
Honorary
ASLA
TREASURER
P. Beaulreu
TRUSTEES
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Ellis L. Au tun.ez , I"A$LA Caron Beard, ASI.A Humer L. Beckham, ASLI Donald E. Beuson , ASLA Ronald A" Bevans , ASl~A Andrew C. N. Bowden, ASLA ,I eff C aster, FASLA Ryan C. Co llins , ASLA Susan Crook, ..ISLA Lvnn M. Crump, ASLA Edward G, Czyscon , ASLA Chad D. Danos, A~LA Bruce John Davies, ilS1..I Cheistophei- J. D"lIa Vedova , ASLA Thomas ll. Doolitrle , ASLA Melissa M. Evans, ASLA Thomas A. Hall, ASLA Fay" B. Harwell, FAS1.1\ Alan Hoops, ASLI Andrew Kaufman, ASLA Corl R. Kelemen, FJISLA Shawn T. Kelly, ASJ~A Christophfol' Kent, ASLA Matthe~v D. Lanpston: ASLA David L. Lycke , ASJ~A Micha"l P. McGarll"y, ASLA Jim Mihan, ASLA Grc"ory A. Miller, ASLA J acl, R. Phillips, ASI.11 Stephen P. Pluukard , FASLA Hichard H, Powell, ASLA Terry W. Ryan, F1\SLA J effrey A. Sargent , ASLA Eric H. Sauer, ASLil Horst Snhach, FJISLA Lori Eddie Sehauche , ASLA Glen Schmidt, FASLA Debra M. Schwah , .\SLA Colgate M, Searle JJ, FASL.\ Sco u L. Siefker, A SLJI Ari s W, S talis , il Sl~il Michael S. Stanley, ASLA .leff'rey A. Townsend, ASLA David H. Walters, AST~A Vanessa 'Warren, !ISLA Lee Weintraub, FASLA William P. Winslow, FASLA
LAF REPIUSENTATIVES
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STUDENT !tEPR~SENTATIVE
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PA'R LIAM E NTARIAN
ASLA
Donald
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121
Landscape
Architecture
AU GUst
2009
In Search ota Good, Cheap Green Roof
How can we progress sprinkled
beyond
a few high-profile
green roofs
W
building
here and there in a few of our ci ties? Scale is what will service. If they are really storm water runoff and the heat island effect, we green roofs on big-box stores on the urban
HAT WILL THE FUroRE OF GREEN ROOFS LOOK LIK_E?

Will
jt
make green roofs work as an ecosystem

to ameliorate
be some variation
on the "starchirecr"
green roof
at. the California Aca.demy OfS.ciences (CAS.), above, mul. ciplied many times over? Probably not. Sure, it's stunning, but the CAS roof is Correct me if I'm wrong, but I any irrigation beyond plant
need whole ci ry blocks that are green roofed corner to corner. We need lots of rnulriacre fringe. What will it take for these to happen? are offering incentives for buildings the city We also need low-cost, installers who know But if green
also relatively high maintenance. mostly self-sustainmg-not establishment,
A few local governments
always thought
the point of green roofs was that they would be needing nor weeding, mowmg, or fertilizi ng. The CAS roof,
with roofs that soak up rain and keep it from overloading sewer system. That's part of the solution. foolproof systems put in by experienced mass-production
however, has a pop-up sprinkler
system that, given San Francisco's hand
green roofs because (hat is the core of their business. roofs become a streamlined, ed to greening Landscape architects
to
dry seasons, will probably have to be used m perperuiry, And part~ ly because of the plant choices, [he roof must be frequently weeded and fertilized. No question, green-roof
encerprise dedicat-
America's rooftops, will designers then have a role? who continue through to have a role in the future the drawwho get sethe techhappens enough
"scarchieecrure" has its place in codays

movement is still that this country. Doubtless green roofs many Americans But we for what
will be those who have proved they are up to the job. With green
environment,
because the green-roof
roofs, a lot seems

rious about
fall
the cracks between Landscape architects
just gaining a foothold are unaware
in
ing board and the final produce this project nology, test their products, on the Job site-and of an opportunity learning curve worth
that such systems even exist. So it's important
type will have to learn about and pay attention architects

to what
these early "demonstration" should also understand there to promote
be
eye-catching. projects
that demonstration
are mainly
afterward. for landscape
Do green roofs present
the genre, not to serve as prototypes
to make that kind of
will be built in the future. Take the Chicago ample.
the time and effort;>
City Hall green roof as another famous exvisited it.
I have
personally
It
ss stunnmg
and inspiringand other insects
like a patch of Midwestern with wildflowers amid the rail, waving
prairie perched above the city, abloom with dragonflies it has garnered but its has
and buzzing
grasses. The exposure
<{7,\A~f~
J. William
"Bill"
/ Thompson,
done a great deal to bring attention million price tag disqualifies
to the genre,
$ 2.5
FASLA
it, too, as a model co be emulated.
Editor
bthompson@asla.org
117
A UG'U 51
ZDD9
ILandscape Arcbitecture
II
Tulum, Mexico
Kudos for Carl Steinitl's Sketches
PICKED UP MY JUNE COPY of Landscape . Architecture and immediately homed in on the cover sketch ofTulum. My first rhought; Tba': a Stemiiz ink drawing. Sure enough, there was a lengthy, beautifully illustrated article laying Out Cad Steinitzs techniques of quickly sketching landscapes. His piece brought back fond memories of our infor.mal session with brush and ink at the Harvard Graduate School of Design at the end of my Loeb Fellowship. As he so astutely observed, my future was not in that medium. I'U never forget the pityi ng look he gave me as he stood over my hastily drawn landscape. Thanks to LA.. for giving us Sceinirz's M "Sketches from the Road" and allowing us co see more of his beautiful artwork and, more important, seehow he te-aches chersthe techo niques required to record images while on the run. Stein irz, in addition to his art and writings, continues [Q make significant contributions in the fields oflandscape architecture and landscape ecology via one of his star studenrs, David Hulse at the University ofOregon, and many others I've had the privilege to work with here in the Pacific Northwest.
MIKE HOUCK, HONORARY ASLA
, , Thanks for teaching others the techniques required to record images while on the run. ,
Inspired to Blog
~SPJRED. BY THE LATEST,~SSUEof LAM ( The DIrt on Blogging, June), I am starci ng up a new blog about design, technology, and where they intersect. See
http://designpI1lJtech.wo-rdprers.{I)m.
FRANK}. VARRO, STUDENT ASLA
University
0/ MaJsachllsettJ, Amherst
Restore the NatiOJIB I Mall? You Bet YoUlr Life
Urban
Greenspuces lnstitute
Portland, Oregon I have circulated your wonderful work in "Sketches from the Road" to my graduate students in my summer graduate class on landscape interpretation. Bravo, Carl! Fanrastic work that IS inspiring to all our students and better faculty out there. Departmens
EAR CARL,
0/ Landscape A rcbitearae
Architecture
JON RODlEK,
FASLA
& Urban Planning, TexaJ A&M University

AU GUst 2009
in the June 20 edition of The lVashingtfJJl Post compelled me finally to respond [Q a letter in th e June issue of Land.cape Architecture. Your March edition's land Matters column dealt with the administration's proposed $200 million grant from the economic stimulus package to pay to refurbish the National Mall in Wasbingron, D.C. Jeffrey Williams, Student ASLA, a student at Virginia Tech, writes in your June issue in regard to the congressional decision to eliminate (hat funding: "With many highly skilled citizens unable to find decent -paying work, the restoration of the National Mall is a luxury." True, too many highly skilled citizens are now without employment. But Willianls
N ARTIQE
fdils to consider that many more less-skilled Americans are also without jobs. On June 20, The Wasbington Post published unemployment figures for Washington, D.C. The overall Jobless rate for the District reached 10_7 percent in May, a figure surpassing the national average. That pain is not equally shared. According to the Post article, "In the District, the gap can be seen ward by ward. In April, in the largely afAuenr and white Ward 3, the unemployment rate was 2.5 percent, according to the Brookings Institution. In the predominantly poor and black Ward 8, the rate was 23.3 percent." Those funds dedicated to refurbishing the National Mall would not simply have rebuilt a venerable landscape but also helped to rebuild lives and families decimated by local job loss. Digging, resodding, paving-these are [asks ideally suited to reemploy the less-ski.lled workers of our city By virtue of its constitutional designation as a "district" instead of a state, Washington, D.c., is allowed no congressional representation (although Congress has seen fit to view us as a state for raxacion purposes), so it was easy for various senarors and representatives to frame this decision as a frivolous, aesthetic issue and remove fundi ng in an overwhelming display of "frugali ty." Invesrmenr in landscape development needs to be viewed not merely through the lens of aesthetic appeal or suiredness to popular recreational need but by an examination of its contribution to a wider social good.
DEANNA SHANTZ
\VaJhington, D.C.
lsi
Landscape
A slightly irregular look a
BY LINDA
MCINTYRE
GOLDEN li DO
~I
Design by the Numbers

A Il.K: garden willJwomotewildflower learning through math.
OOTED IN NATURE AND NUMBERS,.
(he design of a proposed new building at the British National Wildflower Centre, run by environmental charity Landlife, takes its cue from the math found in nature. The new building, designed by U.K. firm Ian Simpson Architects, will stand inside the center's walled garden on the edge of the 35~acre Victorian Court Hey Park near Liverpool in England.
Contact 201
A domed multifunctional space for exhibitions and child-centered learning activities and a curved rammed-earth wing housing a children's classroom, a staff room, and rooms for seed cleaning, sowing, and storage will make up the two main parts of the building. Armed with the client's brief, the architects had to "connect wildflowers with education and mathematical and scientific learning," says project architect Ernst Ter Horst. They chose to work with the Fibonacci sequence, the underlying math found in many natural structures. Looking like a daisy disk of flowers, the lightweight and waterproofdomed structure will have some 300 colored or iridesLinda Mcintyre at
eeoc circular petal-like reflectors arranged in Fibonacci spirals on the outside, During the day, light will bounce off the "petals" and in through lenses, lighting up the timber-framed interior. Night lighting will make the metal petals glow. At 263 feet long, the curved Fibonaccispiral rammed-earth wall will embrace the edge of the existing wildflower garden. "We didn't want the building to be too imposing," says Horst, "or in stark contrast to the flower beds. Because that's the most important thing about the whole center. In a way we wanted the building to be like a flower in amongst the flower beds."
-ROBERT
i
SUCH
i m c i n iy t e
s s ts etg,
Landscape
Architecture
AU GUst
2009
RIPRAP
MIXED USE
Arts, Design and Fine

Baton Rouge landscape architeas make their office space work ouertime as a gallery for loca/artists.
W
V
ESTERN SOCIETY may be tipping toward a posrcapiralist future. Today, however, it takes a large measure of cold, hard capital to put on an an exhibit. One landscape architecrure firm in Bacon Rouge, Louisiana, is helping our in these
hard times by multi tasking its work space as a gallery for local artists. While traditional galleries rely on the sale of an to pay the tent, Gallery 635 at Joseph Furr Design Studio provides a space for local artists co exhi bi r their work at a very low cost. "We make a living as landscape architects; offering chis space to the local arts community not only supPOrtS the artists themselves bur helps get the public downtown after hours," says Joseph Furr, ASLA. And attracting people downtown is central to the North Boule-
vard Town Square project that Furr's office is currently working on with the Baton Rouge Downtown Development District. This confluence of inreresrs is also apparent in the initial exhibit at Gallery 635, "Seeing the landscape Breathe," a series of large-format digital photographic montage prints on canvas by Cat Marshall. Marshall is a professor of landscape architecture at Louisiana State University, and her photographic work is an extension of her professional work. By digitally manipulating still photographs of various forest comm unities in Louisiana, she has formed layered images that combine different scales, degrees of sharpness, blurring, and opacity. This structural recompositron mimics human interactions with the material world and permits the viewer to engage the image in ways that evoke lived experience. Marshall's artistic inquiry prDvides a rich cross-pollination into the professional field of landscape architecture in the qualitative understanding and manipulation of space. The next exhibit, "Graffiti by the YardUrban Art Commercialized and Decontexrualized," is scheduled for late summer and will feature a large original work by local graffiti artists. It will be divided into a grid of three-foot squares with the pieces sold to the highest bidders.
-JENNIFER ZEU, ASLA
ISITO.RS TO THE Cantor Roof Garden at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art might be surprised by what they find up there for the next few months: an enormous tangle of metallic branches. Whar looks like the galvanized detritus from a hurricane in Central Park is the latest in artist Roxy Paine's "Dendroid" series of natural ist ic sculptures rendered in industrial materials. Maelstrom, the biggest of the Dendroids to dare, is 130 feet long and 45 feet wide, filling up most of the roof garden space, and 29 feet high. The Brobdingnagian scale is both awe inspiring and appropriate to the installation's backdrop of
221 Landscape Architecture
AUGUst
PIPE DREAM
'Maelstrom' at the Met

A museum installation serves as a unique roof garden.
Central Park and the high-rise buildings beyond. That mix of naturalism and artifice also plays out visually in rhe piece itself-in phocographs the form appears organic, but up dose the industrial origin of the materials comes to the fore. Paine, who hand welded the seven-ton piece in his upstate New York studio with a crew of six, says he wanted the work to evoke five states simultaneously: a downed forest destroyed by an uncontrollable force, the dmrning and malevolent force itself, the idea of "treeness," a pipeline run amok, and a mental storm such as a seizure. The installation is on view through October 25.
2009
FEAT OF CLAY
Survivors: Public Art Edition

Stunning sculptures endure in a ravaged Australian landscape.
OR MANY YEARS, the whimsical and distinctive artworks found within the dense forest of Bruno Torts's Art and Sculpture Garden charmed and intrigued visitors from around the world. Located in Marysville, 60 miles outside Melbourne, Australia, [he artworks were an evolving village of life-size ceramic figures amid gnarled tree roars, soaring trunks, and fields of tree ferns. Many of the pieces were inspired by the landscape. On the forest floor, a head wearing scuba gear rose from a crack in the earth. Warty faces peered out of mossy srumps. Children huddled together in play beneath [he towering fronds of a tree fern. The garden wasn't so much an exhibition as a discovery of another world within the landscape of the woodland floor. On the evening of February 7,2009, a tirestorm raged through Marysville, carrying with it the force of 1,500 Hiroshimasized atomic bombs. The inferno killed 39
of the cown's 500 residents, razed nearly 400 buildings, and destroyed more than 370,000 acres of land. The incineration of the sculpture garden appeared to have demolished 13 years of hard work and dedication by Torfs-there were l5 pieces on display when the garden opened in 1996; by 2009, the collection numbered 135.
But thanks to the heat-enduring properties of clay,about half of the terra-cotta sculptures survived the blaze. Most of the damage caused to rhesculptures was due to falling trees and debris. Andrew Kade, Torfs's sonin-law, was struck by how the newly stark landscape amplified the tone of the remaining pieces. "The sad ones seemed sadder.The contemplative ones appeared to be deeper III thought and carried heavier burdens." To see the sculpture garden now is to witness a blackened and naked landscape filled with ceramic ghosts, their hiding places exposed, the scorched expressions unsettling. Torts has begun the process of cleanup, repair, and rebuilding, aided by family, friends, Staff,and an array of volunteers. He's hopeful the sculpture garden's return will rejuvenate the community. "We want to restore the garden as quickly as possible," he says. "If we can bring people back co Marysville soon, this will bring much-needed hope to the community. It is going to be a difficult and challenging time, but everyone from the town I have spoken to has a lot of optimism despite losing so much. We will recover." For more information about Bruno 'Iorfss Art and Sculpture Garden and the rebuilding efforrs, visit www.hmnosart.wm.
~GWENETH NEWMAN LEIGH,
ASLA INTERNATIONAL
Before th e fires, top, the seuIptu res ba sked in a syIvan seMing. B uteve n in the aftermal.h of the flames, here, many of the statues remain, burned but unbowed •.
Et tu, LAM?
undscape Architecture magazine is now on Twitter! We'll be using it to tell you what we're working on and get your snggestions.
https:J/twitter.com/landarchmag
AUGUst
2009
ODAY, BAlTIMORE'S
Inner Harbor
is a popular destination for locals and tourists alike. On weekends the area is filled with people-scrowds so thick that it's often hard to move. But it hasn't always been this way. Elliot Rhodeside, PASLA, remembers what the harbor was like 40 ye'dfSago, before the visionary master plan developed by Wallace McHarg Roberts & Todcl (now \1VR.T) was realized. As a Student at the University of Pennsylvania in rhe late 1960s, Rhodeside participated in a studio project in Baltimore led by David A. Wallace, William H. Roberts, PASLA, and Ian McHarg. The
Pier 3 at the Baltimore Inner Harbor was transformed from a barrenplaza, below, to, a Iwelier space with a signature pavem ent, left. The ban ds of color are rathe r thic k, making them. more dramatic from above than when you are walking through the sit.e.
A redesigned entry plaza at the National Aquarium in Balimore spices up the city's Inner Harbor and brings the aquarium's mission out into the site. By Daniel Jost, ASLA
AUGUst 2009
DESIG
The project is located in the middle 01 Baltimore's Inner Harbor, abore, which has become an Ice n of wate rfrontrevita lization. Apia n by Rhodeside & Harwell, left, shows the new design for Pier 3: IAI edstiog building,. National Aquarium io Baltimore; IBI new addition; ICI new ticket booth; {DI shade structure; lEI bus drop-off; IFI COol ta I Reg! 0 n exh ibil; s IGI Piedmont Region exhibit; IHI MOllotain Region exbibit; and III map of Chesapeake Bay Watershed in paving ..
waterfront was run down then, dark and dreary with views of the water hidden by dilapidated warehouses. Rhodeside remembers delving inro the site's history and speaking to community members about their hopes for the harbor's future. The studio was a powerful learning experience that helped shape Rhodeside's understanding of urban design. Over (he years, he would often come back to the Inner Harbor and marvel at the transformation that made Baltimore a model for waterfronts around the world. So when his Alexandria, Virginia-based firm Rhodeside & Harwell won the contract to redesign Pier 3 here, it was an unusually personal victory. "We competed very hard for that project," he remembers. "Finally getting a chance to do real design for a place I studied in school was extraordinary," Pier 3 is one of the most prominent 10-
cations on the Inner Harbor; it is one of rwo piers occupied by the Nacional Aquarium in Baltimore. The aquarium, which opened in 1981, is Maryland's most visited tourist attraction and the most popular aquarium on the East Coast, drawing more than l.6 million visitors each year. The original building, designed by Cambridge Seven Associates, has become ao icon of modern architecture. However, the entry plaza Cambridge Seven designed was considerably less successful. Because the aquarium is so popular, visitors have to purchase their tickets outside and wait until the time primed on their tickets to enter. The original plaza was a field of empty pavement with few trees co shade visitors, so it did not make a very comforcable or interesting waiting room. "In the summer, it was pretty rough for visitors out in the sun," remembers Jack Cover, the general curator for the aquarium. "And (the space) didn't really talk about our mission." The aquarium hired Rhodeside & Harwell about 10 years ago as parr of a larger building expansion project. The firm worked closely with (he aquarium staffand architects from Chermayeff Sollogub & Poole (founded by three former partners of Cambridge Seven Associates) to develop a cohesive vision for the site. They faced a number of challenges. In 1904, debris from
Plant List
Coastal Region TREES Pinus mada • Loblolly pine SItlWBS BacchMs hallmifo/ia • Easle rn bacchsns Clethra a/nito/ia • Coastal sweetpe Dperbus h /lex gfabra 'N' 9 fa' • In kbefry /lex verticil/ata 'Red Sprite' • Winterberry Myrica ceritera 'Lu ral • Wax myrtle P;ERENNIALS Liairis spicata • 0 ense blazi ng star Solidago sempervirens • Seaside goldenrod Typila angus/itolia • Narrowl eal cana I GRASSES Spartina altemiflora • Smooth cordg rass Spar/ina cynosuroides. Big wrdg rass Spartina palens· Saltmeadow co rdgrass Piedmont Region tREES Acer mbrum • Red maple Gilionanthus virg/ilicus. White fringetree Magnolia fraseri· Mo u nla in magnol ia Magnolia virginiana var. virginiana • Northern soo elbay magnol i a Nyssa sylvalica var, bit/om. Swamp tupelo SHRUBS Ceptralanlhus occidenlalis· Common butlonbush /lax decidua 'Fnc h 's Golden' • Possu mllaw Itea 'IIrginica 'Henry's Gamel' • Virginia s'weetspire Rhododendron maximum. Greallaurel Rhododendron viscosum • Swam p azal ea Rosa paluslJis. swamp rose RubiJS allegneniensis • Allegheny blackberry Vaccinium corymbosum • Hig hb ush bl uebery Viburnum acerifoliulTI· Mapleleaf viburnum VibumUITIdentatum • Southern arrowwood PERENNIALS/FERNS A risaema Inpi1yllulTI • Jac k in the puIpil Cimiclfuga racemosa • B!ack b u gbane Erylhronlum albldum • While lawnlily Dnoe/ea sans/bllis • Sensitive Iern Dsmunda cinnamomea • Cinnamon lern PodopllJllulTI pel/a1U1TI• Mayapple
Exhibits spill out from the new building, abore and below, and into the .Iandseape, interpreting Maryland's Coastal and Piedmont regions.
a major fire had been used to backfill the sire, so the soils were seriously compromised and all planting areas would require new soil. Also, they had to work around a complex collection of underground uciliry lines chat service the aquarium. Today, Pier 3 has been renamed the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Waterfront Park. A new design, completed in 2006, brings the aquarium's mission of environmental education and stewardship out into the site by interpreting Maryland's native ecosystems and using sustainable design principles whenever possible. One of the most distinctive features of the new plaza is its wavy paving. Most of the
landscape improvements made to Baltimore's Inner Harbor over the years have been fairly simple in their design. The ground plane has generally not made any strong artistic statements; instead, large fields of red brick pavement are usually used to rie the harbor together as a disrricc. "We wanted a paving pattern that would be the signature for the pier," says Rhod esi de. The firm designed undulating bands of pavementmeant to suggest ripples or waves=-rhar alrernate between light and dark gray_ TIle paving covers much of che pier, including a bus drop-off zone, and flows into the lobby oftbe aquarium's new glass addition. As the paving is flowing in, the exhibits seem to be spilling out. The planting areas within the plaza show a cross section of Maryland's ecosystems, from the sale marshes along the coastal plain co the piedmont to
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Asarum canadense • Canad ian wi Idgi nger Darella cordifolia • HearUea I 108m!lowe r BOG PLANTS Ins versicolor. H ar1 eq u i n b luerlag Junws erfusus • Com mo n nsh Pel/andra virginica. Green arrow arum Pan/ederia cordata • Pickerelweed
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the Allegheny Mountains. As you approach the aq uarium, the elevations of the planters rise subtly to interpret the elevations of these areas, building up to a threestory waterfall inside the building with tanks showing native aquatic life. Though the plaza's context is not allowed to dictate (he design, it also wasn't ignored. The landscape architects use a 20foot-wide, red-brick promenade, which matches those rhroughour the harbor, to frame the pier. And where an existing brick path bisected the plaza, curting it in half, they have woven in red brick among the wavy forms. This solution highlights (he path without dividing the plaza visually The outdoor exhibits representing the ecosystems are nor very large-s-ic was irn-
An e _hibit with a sma II wale r feature lnterprets the mountains along t.he western edge of Ihe Chesapeake Bay Watershed, above. The design originally included a cobblestone edge on tree pits to keep people from walking thrOllgh; however, this was 1101 imple· mented, an.d shortly after the plaza was com· plefed, the plants were roped off, below. While thls treatment works for the larger are" s with ta lie r vegelatio n, it looks so mewha t c hm ky su nou ndi ng the bee pits.
"n
porcam to keep the paved areas spacious for people milling around-but they are packed with many different species. 'TIl in steel retaining walls painted green provide support along the edge of the planting areas closest to the building. The
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Muuntain Region TREES A melanchier arbarea • Common serJi ceb erry Cereis canadensis • Easlern redbud Comus 'lorida 'Cloud Nine' • Flowering dogwood &J1ite) Juniperus virginlana • Eastern redcedar Oxydendrum arIJoreum • Sourwood Pinus strobus 'Fastigi ala' • Eastern l'Iflite pi ne Querms coccres • S ca rlBt oak SHRUBS Alnus serm/ala • Hazel alde r Complonia peregrina • Sweellern Fothergilla major. Mo unlai n wllchal d er Hamamelis virginfana • American wi tch hazel Hydrangea ariJorescens • Wi Id hydra ngea Juniperus virginiana 'Si~Jer Spreader' • SiI'ler Spreader eastern redcedar Kalmia lalitolia • Mountain laurel L eecceoe fontalles/ana • Hig hla 11 d doghob bl e Lindera benzDli1 • Nor1he rn spicebush Sassafras albidum • Sassafras Vibumum aeenfollum. Mapleleaf viburnum PE.RENNIALS/FERNS Osmunda einnamamea. Cinmmon fern Polysbchum aeroslfetwides • Christmas fern Aster divariealU5 • Wh ite wooel aster Asler lae'lis. Smooth bl us asl·er Smilaeina racemosa • False Solomon's seal GRBUND ClWER& Heuchera americana • Ame rica n al umrool Hypen'cum denstl/arum • Bushy Sl. Johnswort Phlox su/)ulala • Moss pili ox Rhus aromaHca 'Gm-Low' • Fragranl sumac Tiare/fa cordifolia var, m//lila • Heafilealloamllower GRASSES ChasmImlhfum lalifolium. Indian woodoats Tree Pits TREES Betula nigra 'H eli lage' • Heritage river bi rch Platanus x aeentolia' Bloodgoo d' • Lo 11 don pia 11 etree IJR(JUND OOV:ms Garex {Jensy/vanica • Penmylvan ia sedge [Mope museari· Big btueli Iytu rI
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landscape architects chose steel so they could make the walls as chin as possible to emphasize the idea char each area is a slice of a different ecosystem. However, this keeps them from acting as seat walls. A:; part of rhe design process, "we went to natural areas and took photographs," says Kev111Fisher, ASiA, prOject manager for Rhodeside & Harwell. But icwas not always possible to reproduce these environments wholesale. Certain species such as hemlock
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that have a significant presence in the mouncai ns nearby could not survive on this site, which is very hot and exposed, and were eventually removed from the planting lise However, a few species were considered so important to the aquarium's mission chat the aquarium would be willing ro replace them on a regular basis. For example, the aquarium is involved in restoring salt marshes in Chesapeake Bay and wants to interpret this within the landscape. However, Spartina atternijlfJra needs very specific seasonal conditions to grow that were impossible co replicate here, so it is replanted every year. A number of small water features are 10cared within the planti ng areas.'TIle mouncain area has me most significant featureThe plaza must aceommodate large groups 01 visitors arriving by bus, as shown above. Empty isla nds in the bu s d ro p-off we re des igned so large groups couldeollect there salely~ While they may be functional, they create a somewhat a ustere entrY 10r visito rs e nlering the space Irom the street (see plan on page 281. The Ian dsca pe arc hitects used th in stee I wa IIs a 10 ng th e rea r ed ge of the pia nte rs, right.
a small pond and a waterfall that pours over man-made boulders. In the piedmont, the water fearure is not actually visible on a dry day. It isa bog, created by putting an impermeable liner under a small area planted with iris, arrowweed, and ocher plants, "Normally we wouldn't do something like that," says Fisher. "It would be coo hard for a client to maintain, bur these people maintain all sorts of water systems."
In fact, the plantings also require a lot of maintenance. "Like the exhibits inside, the mini environments require hand care," says Rhodeside. "We needed someone who was knowledgeable-noe just a maintenance contractor. We were pleased thac the aquarium brought on Christa Partain co serve as the horticulturist for the outside area" Signage within the exhibits reaches people about the natural. environments and
321
AUGUst
2009
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A granite map shows the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, above. The map was designed digitally by Rhodeside & Harwell, who worked with a granite company to determine what oplio ns were ava ila ble fo r fin is hes and stal nless steel iosets. The darker are a th at connote s the wate rshed an d the Iighte r a rea su rro ulld ing it were acta ally created from two different stones. A cllmputer·guided high· power wate r jet wa S u sed til' cut the stones, and then they were pieced tllgether like a pun:le. The map was integrated with a marker ffllm the National Geodetic Survey, which is set at the center·of the compass rose, right.
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tries to encourage visitors to use native plants in their own landscapes. As one sign explains, one of the main advantages of using native plants in the landscape is that they attract native birds and insects. For such small pockets of vegetation, the plantings in this plaza are attracting a surprising amount of wildlife. When Landscape Architecture visited, monarch butterfly caterpillars were chewing on some milkweed and two ducks were nesting in one of the beds. According ro Partain, approximately 46 different bird species have been sighted in the area. "There was also a snake down here in the 5"partina bed," says Partain. "One of the herpetologists grabbed it and scarred talking about snakes with [he kids." In addition to the birds, the blueberries and serviceberries attract a differem sort of hungry animal: the aquarium staffer. "We fight over these things," says Partain,
Using native planes is only one of the ways the designers have tried to make this landscape more sustainable. Benches along the edges of the pier and tables and chairs in a small cafe area contain large amounts of recycled steel. The archi ceccs ineluded a green roof on a small pare of the addition, and runoff from other parts of [he aquarium building is captured and scored in a ciscern, then used to irrigate the plantings in the park. Some of the surface runoff from the plaza is also directed into planting areas where it can be filtered before spilling our into the harbor. Sustainability facrored strongly imo the selection and detailing of the pavers. Rhodeside & Harwell worked with Hanover Architectural Products to create a custom paver chat would draw on the green tint in the glass of the new building. The paver's matrixes include locally quarried scone and industrial byproducts such as fly ash (created when coal is burned for power generation) and lamp black (a pigment created by burning oil, tar, or resin). The pavers are see on an aggregate bed, which allows maintenance crews to take them out and reuse rhern when accessing utilities below. Finally, they were produced within 50
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miles of the site, so transportation emrssions (and cosrs) were reduced. Some strategies commonly used to make a site more sustainable were not possible here. Because of the site's urban COntext and the historic nature of the granite bulkhead, the landscape architects wouldn't have gOtten very Edrproposing a new wetland edge. "Something like porous paving would have required excavating and removing what was under the pier, and we would have created a problem someplace else," says Faye Harwell, .FASLA. But they cornrniued to doing what was possible. "If we can convince a client to do something that is green oriented, we do that gesture, even if it's a small gesture. The more of chose small gestures we integrate into our design, che closer we get to sus rainabiliry. " And through exhibits such as a Chesapeake Bay Watershed map within the paving, they are reaching the general public to demand more. I" J
PROJECTCREDRS Landscape architect Rhodeside & Harwell, Alexandria, Virginia (Elliot Rhodeside, PASLA, and Faye Harwell,
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PASLA, principals in charge; Kevin Fisher, ASLA, project manager; Brad Garner, ASLA; Ed Harnrn, ASLA; Mark Masralerz, ASLA). Architect {new additionl: Chermayeff SoUogub & Poole Inc. (now Chermayeff & Poole Inc.), Boston (Bobby Poole, project architect). Architecl{originat buiklingl:Cambridge Seven Associates, Cambridge, Massachusetts. CillilengJneer: ] oh nson, M irm iran & Thompson, Sparks, Maryland (Gary Miller). lITigation design: Lynch & Associates, Annapolis, Maryland. Mechanical, elec1ricat, plumbing, and cistern design: Altieri Sebor Wieber, Norwalk, Connecticur. Graphics and signage~ Chermayeff & Geismar Inc., New York. lighting de.sign: Quentin 1110mas Associates Inc., Douglaston, New York. Environmental consultant N arural Logic, Chevy Chase, Maryland. Urbantree consuitatrt: James Urban, FASL\, Annapolis, Maryland. General comractor: Aqua-Venture, Baltimore. Paving contractor: Interlocking Paving, Baltimore. Landscapeontractor: Outc side Unlimited, Hampstead, Maryland. Site furniture: Landscape Forms, Kalamazoo, Michigan. ~st paving: Hanover Architectural Products, Hanover, Pennsylvaniasranite mapfabrication:Cold Spring Granite, Cold Sprmg, Minnesota.
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ANY OF US ARE FAMIlLAR with
those awkward green slivers left over from infill developrnenr and infrastructure upgrades. What remains are grassy remnants devoid of any real purpose or function, often traversed bur rarely occupied. Three years ago this was the case at the Raglan Street Parkland. The small wedge of lawn in Port Melbourne, Australia, could be described in two words: lost space. The parkland occurs at a curious junction, sandwiched between tWOresidential streets and a noisy five-lane truck route. Before irs redesign, there were only a dilapidated picket fence and a mature eucalyptus ro buffer (he constant noise and fumes of (he truck route. The mai n function of the area was as a shortcut for cyclists and pedestrians to residential backscreets. The city government decided rhar such "lost" space could be convened into a neighborhood park. Bur in view of its small size and traffic-
LOST SPACE PARK

Can good design make anything out of a leftover bit of land next to a truck route? By Gweneth Newman Leigh, International ASLA
congested location, was this space best "found" as a neighborhood park---or should it have even been "found" at all? The broader history of the area provided some insight into why such a conversion was even attempted. Developed in the 19205, parts of Port Melbourne followed Ebenezer Howard's Garden City move-
merit by arranging houses around a series of public open spaces. During the past decade, Port Melbourne has been subject to rigorous urban renewal, and Raglan Srreer=-che site of public housing since the 1960s-was drawn into this process. By 2005, three concrete multistory walk-ups were replaced by an ecofriendly public! private mix. Due co the larger footprint of the new housing complex, a significant amount of open space disappeared. The city decided that establishing a proper neighborhood park seemed the best way co compensate for this loss of green space. Inserting a neighborhood park here, at the tip of the new housing development, at the elbow of tWOSHeets, feels more of an afterthought rather than an integrated part of Raglan's redevelopment. Given the transitory history of the space, it's unclear why the focus was ro reignite the location as a park rather than upgrade it as a public thoroughfare.
Using an undulating timber wall to .butfer noise, top, the finn Site Office converted a smaU green lawn next to a truck .route into a neighborhood park. The noise wall faces five la nes of traffic a long Ingles Street, above. Timber wa s u sed to referenc e the pa ling lenc e often used a ro und Australia n residences. 361 Landscape Architecture
AUGUst 2009
URBAN
'PARKS
The Melbourne-based landscape architecture firm Site Office (u!WW.sitcojfice.({)1IZ.au) sought to domesticate the space through careful design and the insertion of a handful of amenities. The most obvious is 31 noise wall that wraps its way around the site in an undulating fashion, with timber slats rising to a high point of 10 feet in the middle and tapering co tWOfeet along either end. Such a fOrm allows the wall to effectively define the spatial qualities of the park wirhout severing it from the immediate urban fabric. Space for gatherings is found where the wall is highest, whereas the lowest points along the ends allow visual connections to be made along the park edges, providing clear sight lines co surrounding foorpachs. Consisting of a doubleclad assembly, the wall was designed on screw piles rather than continuous strip footing to avoid damaging the roots of (he large mature eucalyptus on sire. Timber was selected because of its allusion to the paling fence that borders many Australian residential blocks. Behind the wall grows a wildflower garden, accompanied by a timber deck that sweeps upward from the adjacent sidewalk and ere-aresan elevated plinth for garher-
lOgs. Where a less arnbit ious designer might have installed a traditional picnic bench, there is instead a 20-foot-long cable with accompanying square stools arn.. anged in a random fashion, Above the seating area is a shade structure that incorporates a series of laserCut perforated panels intended, according to Chris Sawyer, director of Site Office, "to create a tablecloth Out of shadows." Given the exposure of the site, does the noise walJ dampen the nonstop din of the truck route? Noise walls aren't usually recommended for residential areas. Blocking sound requires walls that tend to be visually intrusive and contextually isolating. Sire Office recognized this challenge and responded with a structure whose function wasn't to completely elirninace noise but to decrease its impact in areas where it mattered most and "to move away from the standard noise wall to something that was more sculptural," said Sawyer.
The timber wall, top, provides the most pro· tection by the seating area and tapers at the ends to maintain sight lines to adjacent foot· paths. Park objectives included seating, shade, and noise attenuation, above, to be de signed at a scale that pro moted both safety and flexibility of use. In 2005, after the new Raglan Street housing complex wascomplet· ed but betoT1! tlte park was redesigned, left, the park contended nol only with heavy traffic but also with contrasting resid entia I a rrangemenis along Raglan Street and Esplanade East.
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Site Office worked with acoustic engineers in experimenting with several wall ,configurations.
During the design process, Site Office worked with acoustic engineers in experimenting with several different wall configurations. Each was tested for effectiveness in meeting the state government's noise standards for residences, which defined levels at 63 decibels (dEA).Prior to irs redevelopment, noise levels on the site measured between 66 and 70 dBA (the sound of a vacuum cleaner). Sawyer claimed that the final design would bring noise attenuation down to 58 dBA (the sound of a sewing machine) behind the highest point of the wall, where the seating and shelter are located. When Landscape A'rchitecture visited the site, it wasn't immediately obvious that the noise wall actually reduces the traffic noise much, though it clearly protects users from the visual pollution of the truck route. Dwayne Carter, coordinaror of park services for the ci ty, admi ned that no
The park was completed in 2007, top. The wall was designed on screw pile s rathe r Iha n conlin DOU s strip footing to avoid damage 10 Ihe existing eucalyptus. Site Office worked wilh acouslic engineers 10 model a variezy ot diflerenl wa II. configuratio us befo·re choosing a more sculptural wall, right.
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ih e varying si~e aDd spa ci Dg of th e perto rati ODSin th esh ade structu re ca st a "sh ade la ee" tab! ecloth 0 Dto the picnic area below.
acoustic measurements have been taken since the completion of the park but feels certain chat the noise has been somewhat attenuated.
·If You Bul'ld It, Will They Come?
Although the park was positioned so that it could be accessed by people from Ragland Street as well as conier Esplanade
East, it was obvious from calking to the residents that those on Raglan Street (where the affordable housing was located) claimed most ownership over the space. "It's an improvement over what was there previously," said one resident from Esplanade East. But did she use the park? "Oh no--i've gOt my own barbecue and a nice backyard." Residents of Raglan Street cold a different story Said one resident, "I enJoy just going down there and sitting with friends. We don't have a yard or barbecue here, so irs handy to go to the park" Carter believes the addition of the park has been beneficial to those on Raglan Street. "The area is used extensively by the
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AU GUst
2009
housing commission community, primarily during the weekends." Since its redevelopment, maintaining the park has also become easier. "The site does not act as a dumping ground for residential debris as it once did, as [he community has embraced the site as their own," commented Carter. One Raglan Street resident, Paulina Nookura, was on her way to work at the small convenience score a few blocks down when I asked her about the park. Her response was full of enthusiasm, "I go there nearly every day. I sit by the barbecue and chat with friends. The fence doesn't do much for the noise, but it does hide the traffic. It's JUSta great place co hang Out." Apparendy not everyone in the neighborhood agrees. As I wandered the site on a sunny Thursday afternoon this past May, I noticed the wall had weathered into a dull gray and 1S dotted with graffiti; some could argue this may add co its domestic feel. Nestled behind the wall grew native flax, swamp goodenia, tufted bluebell, bidgee-widgee, angled lobelia, and chocolate lily cascading over one another. The
Was it worth taking such an undesirable site and converting H into a neighborhood park?
battle scars of graffiti and carvings along the length of the picnic table reaffirmed the popularity of its use. But where were all the people? At the time I arrived, there was an elderly man sitting upright on one of the stools, dozing. A few pedestrians and a cyclist cur through the park. On Raglan Street, residents were working on cars and young workers were coming home from jobs, and a few people talked outside 00 their cell phones, wandering along the triangular green lawn directly io from of the complex. TIle fact that people from the Raglan
Street complex were walking their dogs and talking on their cell phones along the triangle of green lawn in front of the apartments ~noc 10 the park, JUSta minute's walk away-was revealing. So was it worth taking such an undesirable site and convening it into a neighborhood park) Site Office was successful in taking the difficult space and inserting a design whose site elements and materials responded well to the scale of the community. The positive feedback from residents and their claims of use reaffirmed this, despite the traffic noise. These residents dearly needed some sore of outdoor retreat to compensate for the lack of it in their units. But it's unclear whether this sliver of "lost" space was the best one co rransform---or whether the empty green wedge of lawn directly in front of the Raglan Street complex would have been better. I, I
Gweneth Newman Leigh, International ASLA.' IS a lanrhcape archited living in Canberra, Australia, Contact her at gwenethJeigh@
gmail.com ..
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ther hired a dowser to.help determine the best location ro conscruct a well. A dowser, or water witch, uses a forked stick called a divining rod to locate underground water. Dowsing is not based upon any known sciemific laws, and the experts will tell you that it doesn't work, but for my grandfather, it was better than just guessing about the location of groundwater. Groundwater is a hidden resource, and to learn more about chis resource we have to rely on more than our five senses. Fortunately for landscape architects, we don't have to resort to dowsing to gain a better understanding of groundwater. Groundwater mapping and modeling help make decisions about how to manage water resources in terms of both water q uali ty and water quantity.
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HIDDE,N RESOURCES
It's time for a sustainable approach to groundwater resources. By Jam,es L. Sipe's, ASLA
Groundwater is one of the nation's most critical natural resources. Groundwater is the largest source of usable water storage in this country, containing more water than all reservoirs and lakes combined excluding the Great lakes. According to scientists, an estimated one million cubic miles
The groundwater resources of Lic,king County
in central Ohio include specific wens as well as th e potentia I waler yield of areas withi n th e county in terms of gallons per minute.
of groundwater is located within one-half mile of the land surface. Only a very small percentage of groundwater is accessible and can be used for human activiries. Most cities meet their needs for water by withdrawing it from the nearest river, lake, or reservoir, but many depend upon groundwater as well. \'{!ater is already in short supply in many parts of the United States, and it is only going to get worse. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), groundwater is the source of about 40 percent of the water used for public supply and provides drinking water for more than 97 percent of the rural population in this country. Between 30 and 40 percent of the water used for the agricultural industry comes from groundwater. landscape architects need to understand groundwater if they are going to continue to make good decisions abour sustainable resources.
How Landscape Architects Working with Groundwater Resources
Are
landscape architecture firm MSI Design, which has offices in Orlando, Florida; Pasadena, California; and Columbus, Ohio; was involved in rwo pro jeers where groundwater concerns had to be addressed. The Big Darby Accord Watershed Plan provides a comprehensive long-term land-use plan for protecting 55,000 acres of the Big Darby Watershed in Franklin COUnty, which is JUStwest of the city of Columbus. The Accord Plan cakes a proactive approach to managing development and ensuring the protection and improvernenc of water quality and aquatic habitat in the watershed. MSI developed three alternative plans ror the area, and these were analyzed to determine which was best at balancing human needs with the environmental requirements. H y-
The potentiometric sulface of the Lower Dakota Aquifer, above left,rep resents the level to whit h water will rise, while the potential, drawdow!1, above right, a cone-shaped depression caused by wells pumping large amounts of water, can wind up lowering the water level in an aquifer or reducing water quality. A map shows a cross section 01 a potent'iometric s ulface a nd flowing wells of the Lower Dakota Aquifer, below.
drological modeling was used to evaluate the potential impacts of proposed land-use changes on natural resources. The J ames Clarkson Envi ronrnental Discovery Center, another MSJ project, is parr of a 90-acre site located within Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority's 2,215-acre Indian Springs Metropark in Southeast Michigan" The Discovery Center focuses on the exploration and celebration of the natural environment. The
Metropark is situated at the headwaters of the Huron River, and interpreting the area's hydrology is an important pare of the planning approach. For the project, water is pumped from an underground aquifer and used for temperature control. Once the water is pumped through the building, it rerurns to the surrounding site, supplying the nearby wetlands and ponds. During summer months the water is piped to an adjacent "spray zone," where it is collected and used for irrigation at an adjacent golf course. One of the more dramatic examples of the need for understanding groundwater resources is the Gilbert and Mosley project in Wichita, Kansas. Designers and planners with the city cook an innovative approach to addressing groundwater contamination. 'TIle contamination was discovered during routine testing of the groundwater in the downtown area, and a six-square-mile area was found to be toxic. The Environmental Protection Agency considered placi ng the site on its Superfund List until the city of Wichita agreed to accept responsibility The impact upon public health, the environment, and the local economy would have been devastating ifSuperfund status had been assigned. Much of downtown Wichita would have turned into a ghost town. To start the process of cleaning up the groundwater, the city constructed the Wichita
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Area Treatment, Education, and Remediation Center, which serves as both a treatment system and an environmental education center for the community. The project COSt pproximately $22.6 million to coma plete. It included a 3,OOO-sguare-foot groundwater treatment building and a 6,300-square-foot environmental education center.
The L.ower Dakota Aquifer is a major source of water for westerlliowa. The map, above right, shows th e elevation of the a q IIHer, Hydrological data is collected from wells in the area andentered into a statewide database Ihid is used to model changes to the aquifer. The Lower Dakota Aquiter"s capacity is measured in gallons per minute pe r foot, abo ve feft.
Early on, recognizing that it was not feasible to restore the aquifer to drinking water standards in a timely manner, the city decided to focus on containing the contamination at higher levels and implementing more obtainable remediation goals. Extensive groundwater modeling was conducted to determine where to install extraction wells and develop the most
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TECHNOLOGY
efficient pumping system to pull water from the aquifer. Since the groundwater treatment system began operating in December 2002, It deans on average approximately 1.2 million gallons of contaminated water each day. Although this may sound as if a lot of water ISbeing treated, experts estimate that at this rate it could take up to 50 years to clean up the contaminated groundwater. The site improvements were incorporated into an existing park-s-Herman Hill Park-r-and an emphasis was placed on aesthetics and environmental sustainabiliry, Water from the fish observation area overflows into a constructed creek that
.~.---------------------
meanders through the site before running rnro the Arkansas River.
Protecting the Resources
In recent years we have developed an undersranding that groundwater and surface water are fundamentally interconnected and are integral components of the hydrologic cycle. In spite of that, most laws governing groundwater Issues are based on this notion that groundwater and surface water have nothing to do with each other. In most parts of the country, surface water is governed by doctrines of riparian law or prior appropriation. Groundwater has traditionally been treated as a common resource, wirh virtually no restrictions on accessing the water. If you can afford to pay someone to drill a well and you happen to hit water, yon can do whatever you want with it.
Modeling Tools
ANY OFTHEDIGITAL OOLS T USED model to groundwater have been developed over
groundwater recharge and discharge, while STRMDEPL08 used to calculate stream·flow is depletion from wells. The Department of Defense's Groundwa· ter Modeling System IGMS)is one of the most sophisticated groundwater modeling programs a.vailable. GMSis a comprehensive software package for developing computer simulations of groundwater problems. It provides tools for every phase of a groundwater simulation including site characterization, model development, post·processing, cali· bration, and v·isualization. The current ver· sion of OMSprovides an interface for popular programs such as MODFlOW, ODPATH, M MT3D, RT3D,FEMWATER, SEEP2D. and The GMSinterface is separated into several modules; these modules contain tools that allow manipulation and model creation from different data types. Of these, the Map modof ule provides a suite of tools that are proba· bly of most interest to landscape architects. The Risk Analysis Wizard is another tool that should be beneficial to landscape architects. It is used to quantify the risk of a contami· nant exceeding critical levels in groundwater or the risk of a capture zone. Many ground· water models are starting to incorporate GIS data since the technology helps create more accurate and robust models, and GMScan use GISor CADdata.
the years by the United States Geological Survey fUSGsl. Mo5t of the modules for groundwater modeling can be downloaded free of charge, but many of these programs were wriHen in the FORTRAN computer langu age and are not all that user friendly. For· tunately many of the newer programs have graphic interfaces that make the modeling programs much easier to use. MODFlOW, eveloped by the USGS,is curd rently the most widely used numerical model for analyzing groundwater flow problems in
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the country. flow from wells, recharge zones, evapotranspiratio n, dra in s, and riverbeds and creeks can be simulated. MODFLOW·2005is a current version that can be used to address such issues as water availability and sustainability, interaction groundwater and surface water, seawater in· trusion, and remediation of contaminated groundwater. ModelMuse is a graphical lnterface for MODfLOW·2005. WhAEM2000 is a groundwater flow model designed to delineate zones and map proteclion areas. The program was developed by the EPAand is used to support many of the E.PA's water planning and management in itiatiYes. PU LSEis used to estimate
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We have gotten to a point where the unregulated pumping of groundwater is no longer a viable option. In many partS of the COUntry,groundwater is being withdrawn at rates that are not sustainable, and the result is a degradation of water quality and quantity. The water level in aquifers is being lowered, and because we keep digging deeper and deeper wells to access the water, the water quantity is further depleted. In coastal areas, intensive pumping of fresh groundwater has caused saltwater to seep into freshwater aquifers. Groundwater is also critical fur the environmental health of rivers, wetlands, and estuaries rhroughour the country. Groundwater withdrawals can result in reduced flows to streams and alter wetland hydrology. Changes in stream flow have important implications for water and flood management, irrigation, and planning. There are hundreds of examples across the COUntrywhere groundwater is threatened. The California Departrnenr of Health Services reported two years ago that more than 300 public supply sources and an equalIy large number of private home owner wells were conrarn ioated and should not be used. In portions of the Southwest, Northeast, and Midwest, arsenic occurs naturally in groundwater at levels that exceed drinking water standards, and many municipalities are now debating whether to build treatment plants or reservoirs. Either will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, approximately one-third of Arizona water systems exceed the level set for arseruc poisorung. One long-term impact of the 1.988 drought in the Midwest is that many aquifers were overpumped by farmers seeking to save their crops and their way of life. Arkansas residents use groundwater to meet approximately 93 percent of their water needs. That is a major problem because aquifers in the
eastern part of the state are no longer recharged at the same rate as ill the past.
Data at the Local Level
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The King County IWashingfunl Groundwater Protection Program defines five groundwater management areas, above. lssaquah Creek Valley, below, which is located east of downtown Seattle, is one of the groundwater management areas defined in the King County Groundwater Protection Program. This map shows the susceptibility of areas within the manage· ment area to groundwater contamination. Areas with a high susceptibility need a greater level of protection.
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Groundwater manah>ememdecisions are made at the state level, not at the federal level. State and local agencies manage water resources and collect and analyze local data. Each state produces a report about groundwater within its borders. For landscape architects, the best source of groundwater information is from the state, counties, or regional water districts. Many states are usi ng interactive maps for sharing groundwater information. For example, the Kenrocky Geological Survey (KGS) Interactive Groundwater-Quality Data Map displays groundwaterquality data for Kentucky. Users can choose from a list of32 layers co display including geology, watershed boundaries, roads, orrhophorography, and sinkholes. There are seven types of information about groundwater, including water well and spring record search, water well and spring location map service, groundwater-quality data search, graphical groundwater-qual i cy comparison service, groundwaterquality data map service, karst potential index map service, and the KGS water research home page. Counries acrossthe country are also implementing their own groundwater policies. For example, in 2001, the King County Council in Washingron state created the Groundwater Protection Program co provide management, policy, and technical experrise to help protect the quality and quantity of the groundwater resources in the counry One objective of the program is to help local comm uni ties iden tify groundwater protection needs and ro integrate groundwater issues with other local planning efforts, such as growth management plans. King County uses an interactive map that enables visitors co select and query groundwater information through web-based maps and geographically based software.
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TECHNOLOGY
Data at the National Level
Louisiana Aquifer Recharge Potential
Dam about groundwater has been collected in the United States for decades. One responsibility of the USGS1$ to assess the quantity and quality of the nation's water supplies. The USGSNational Water Information System (NWIS)contains water data for the nation. USGShas offices around the COUntry, nd these a offices collect local data and conduct studies in a particular area as part of NWIS. The groundwater database contains records from about 850,000 wells, and data h,"15 been collected for more than 100 years. Measurements are commonly recorded at five- to 60minute intervals and transmitted to the NWIS database every one to four hours. The Ground- Water Database includes more than 850,000 records of wells, springs, resr holes, tunnels, drains, and excavations. Each well location includes informacion such as latitude and longitude, well depth, and aquifer. This information is available online through USGS'sNWIS Web Interface. The Regional Aquifer-System Analysis Program was initiated in 1977 as a response to droughts during char year. Compurer models were used codevelop estimates of current and future water availability for aquifers and provide a baseline for future studies. The National Water-Quality Assessment Program was developed by the USGSin 1991 to derermi ne the condition of our nation's streams, rivers,and groundwater. The Ground Water AtLaJ of the United States, developed by the USGS,includes the location and the hydrologic and geologic characteristics of the principal aquifers throughout the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It consistsof an introductory chapter and 13 descriptive chapters, each covering a multisrate region of the country. The atlas provides basic informarion that IS useful for larger planning projects but should not be used for site-specific design projects. TIle data is sim ply too general for detailed site design. The USGSalso has geosparial information
Recharge Potential
None Low
Moderate High
The aquifer recharge potential of each area in the state is defined as none, low, moderate, or high. Ideally, denser development would occur within the areas with the lowest recharge poten1tial.Areas with high recharge potential should implement best management practices such as lOW-densitydevelopment, rain gardens, pervious malerial, and 0 percent stormwater runoff.
on aquifers and other water resources for use with GISprograms. The GISdata includes informacion on aquifers, dams, groundwarer climate .responsenetwork, hydrologic units, surface water sampling sites, streamflow stations, water use, and general hydrography data. Groundwater maps, which are often prepared by state water departments or by the USGSat a national level, show several types of data, including the expected yield of a particular drilled well; well depth; aquifer rype; depth to bedrock; naturally occurring, inorganic chemicals; and groundwater geology. Groundwater maps are primarily defined using geologic contacts and hydrogeologic divides. Groundwater maps typically use USGStopographic maps as a base, and they include significant natural and man-made features such as roads, streams and rivers, lakes, and buildings. These maps are generated from well log and drilling reports, bedrock information, and geologic and hydrogeologic data.
Groundwater M:odeling
Landscape architects need to understand the basic fundamentals of groundwater
modeling to know what these models show and how we should use the information. A groundwater model is intended co represent a sirnpli fied version of the processes and characteristics of a groundwater system. It is only within recent decades that scientists have developed modeling techniques for estimating (he amount of groundwater stored underground. Groundwater modeIs can be used throughout all phases of the design and planning process. The first step in the modeling process is to construct a conceptual model that describes the groundwater system. A concepmal groundwater model can be used co understand the extent of a groundwater system. The next step is co take this description and express it in a mathematical model. The tWOmodels contain the same information, but the mathematical model expresses the information as a set of equations. The ability to measure specific parameters of a groundwater system via mathematical models means you can calculate changes that occur. Analytical models can be used to evalu-
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ate the physical characteristics ofa groundwater system. Landscape architects can lise these types of models to better understand the impact that design and planning decisions have ujXJnthe groundwater. The real key ro effective analytical models is to ensure there is sufficient data to accurately predict what will happen in a gi veri situation. Different sets of simplifying assmnptions will result in different model results. See the "Modeling Tools" sidebar, page 46, for a brief overview of groundwater modeling processes. Most landscape architects may not need to become expertS at modeling groundwater, but being able to use existing maps and data as part of the planning process will enable us to make better design and planning decisions. At a master plan level, groundwater modeling helps us understand where to plan for green spaces to help protect and recharge aquifers. When designing a new reservoir in Choctaw COUnty, Mississippi, my firm needed to know whether we could pull enough water from a nearby aquifer to actually fill the
lake. We still aren't sure if we are designing one of the prettiest lakes in Mississippi or the biggest mud hole 111 the South. That is worth knowing, don't you think? If we plan on continuing to promote susrainabiiiry, we need to take a holistic view of fresh water that recognizes that surface water and groundwater are connected and should be treated as a single resource.
•• Kentucky Geological Survey Interactive Groundwater-Quality Dara Map, kgsmap,
uky.etbtlwehsilelKGSWaterQuallviewer.a.sp
• The National Adas-c-Princrpal Aquife rs , unau: nationalailas. gov!maplayers, hlml? openChapters= chpwater#chpwaJer • National Water-QualIty Assessment Program, watCl:usgs.gov!l1awqa •• PULSE, water.usgs.govlogw!pube •• STRMDEPL08 computer program, mi.
Ja1lltJ· L. Sipes, ASLiI., is a senior assoaate fw EDA W in Atlanta and founding principal of Sand County Sttldios in Seattle.
Resou'rces
water.1IJgJ.gov!so/twarelgr(!lIndwaterhtt7lu1epIOS :. USGS Groundwater Publications, water. mgs.gw!ogw!pubs..html •• USGS Groundwater Watch, grOltndwater watch. tlJgJ.gw
• USGS Ground-Water Data for the Nation (NWIS), waterdata.1JSgs.gwlnwis!gw •• USGS Ground-Water Software Model Muse, tuate« lisgs.gwlnrpl gwsoftware! Model
• CSMOS Ground-Water Modeling Software, www.epa.govladalnmoslmode!J.html • The Department ofDefeose Groundwater Modeling System (GMS), chl.erck.llJace.
MIIse!Mode!MlIse.ht1lll
• USGS Water Resources Applications Software Model Viewer, water.llJgs.gov!nrp!
army. mill gms (gi-hinllink_redim.t. cgi? link~ znooos6s • Ground Water Atlas of the United Staes, pubs, flSgS. lJl;! a!ha 730 gh
• EPA'sWellhead Analytic Element Model (WhAEM) 2000, UJulw.ehIjreeware. com!
gWIoftware!mocklviewer! ModeNieuJCr.btml
• USGS Water Resources Ground Water Software, water. IlJgS,gov!s oftwa re! lists!
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An island off the \Vashington coast is the setting for a

woodland garden. By Clair Enlow· IlOlography by steve Dubinsky
seclusion and the scenery and wanted to enjoy it and share it with guests. They brought Broadhurst, who had designed the landscape for their previous home in Seattle, to review the site from the air. Broadhurst's work began with a plan that includes a rebuilt and expanded main house, a garage, and a gueSt cottage. The geology of the shore limits development in a very natural way. Because the bedrock comes so near the surface around the bay, septic systems are not easy to site and limited in capacity. Wells must not be overdrawn, or seawater begins to seep 1l1. There are other limits [Q development, including a very aggressively enforced shoreline
and the lapping of small wavesare often the only sounds. Lopez is oneof the San Juans, a constellation of islands inside Washington stare's marine waters. White peaks of the Olympics in the distance and the passage of the occasional orca whale or kayak complete the scene. This vastness is the final destination for the landscape sequence at the San Juan House, which sits very near the land's edge above a small beach. Paul Broadhurst, ASIA, of Paul R. Broadhurst + Associates, has based his design for the site on the understanding that this reward should nor be rushed. In fan, it is best
ROM A BAYSIDE CUFF near the foot of Lopez Island, the low screechof an eagle
when discovered after a walk in the woods. The site has irs own story, and the closeness of trees and memories provides the forest yin to the yang of the cliffand water scenery. Broadhurst points to one of the larger evergreens on the site, where a large winch is embedded in the bark-a tribute, he says, to the ingenuity of the former owners, who hauled their provisions up from the water. Still reachable only by ferry, Lopez has long been a refuge for artists and independentminded settlers such as the two women who had made a life for themselves here. The new owners, who divide their time between Lopez and the Baja Peninsula in Mexico, were drawn to the place by the peaceful
Plantings at San Juan House blend in seamlessly with the breathtaking natural landscape and island scenery in Washington state. 501 Landscape Architecture
AU GUst 2009
ordinance and a nature conservancy as far as the eye can see on one side of (he bay. Respecting these conditions, care was taken to make use of rhe existing house and garden footprint and to heal (he forest floor outside the building and walkway parameters. The septic field is located under a "meadow" thar lies inside the edges of the compound. The sire narrative begins with the enclosure in the forest and ends with release on the shore. The looped driveway approach to the site is upThe plan for the landscape, right, brings the forest understory and midstory through the compound at the back of the house, while the waterside is designed to accommodate furnishings and gatherings., top. Native plants and rock work edge the spa,
above.
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Omamentals are largelY confined to the gardens that lie inside two fenced enelesures, spilling o lit 0 nly slightly fo r 5pa re sea so na Ico 10 r.
land and to one side of the compound. A small paved arbor court stands beside the garage, providing an arrival point and setting up the entry sequence. From there, stepped pavers seem poised JUStabove the
forest floor, descending lightly into the newly constructed woodland and the entry to the house. Before reaching the door, 11 footpath departs to go around the wails, passing the en-
dosed garden above before Joining the expansive waterside patio and its variouscourts. Either choice-into the fr-ontdoor and the light-flooded interior or around to the other side of the house-leads to a sudden encounter with water, sky, and shore. The experience of breaking through to a de-aring in the woods IS augmented by the sensation of arriving at the edge of 11 precipice. As a designer, Broadhurst is obsessed with the margins between built and unbuilt, structure and chaos. This shows in his handling of the concrete steps and pathways through the forest. The large, etched pavers are molded to order in four forms------flat, edge, right and left cornersand placed over poured concrete foundation with reveals so that they seem to float above the chaos of the ground. Br-oadhurst has done more than heal the ground next to the buildings, where the forest path leads down to the house. Soil was
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On the upland side of the house as shown, in the plan, below right, where the slope between driveway and front door is traversed, paved steps Seem to float above the furest floor, right, and the nativepJantings,
top right, blend with the island environment. The landscape is intimately
conoected 10 the forest surruundlngs, preserving midstory plants and providing a nelwork of paths through the site, abore.
and the bright, open view on the other. Broadhurst also paid respect (Q the legacy of "the ladies," as he calls the original owners, enclosing a vegetable and cutting garden in a more permanent stone wall precisely where their deer-proof wire fence and garden had been. The pebble mosaic squares of their patio now pave the landing on the steep path to the beach. The traditional gardening areas desired by (he owners (including the original owners' reinvented vegetable garden) are walled off from the rest of the landscape. In this way, the built environment is rightly controlled so that the woodland areas can be more clearly at one with the native surroundings. HO Broadhurst, who came to the Pacific North~ west from his native England on a fellowship and stayed to study and design upscale residential b'lli"~
AUGUst 2009
WOODL\ND WALK
dens in the Seattle area, has never lost his fascination with rhe natural environment of the mounrains, the Columbia Gorge, and the coast. He has made a special study of the Northwest plant palette, adapting it to complement the decidedly modernist lines of his pathways and hardscapes. To make a point that applies perfectly to the San Juan House, he likes to quote Gercrude jekyll: "This is hardly the place for bearded irises!" As influences, he counts Thomas Church, luis Barragan-c-and Alice Waters. When he dined at her famous restaurant in Berkeley, California, Chez Panisse, "The menu communicated to me where J was and the time of year. " Broadhurst finds that native plants are perfect communicators. Having corralled specialized areas for growing cutting flowers and vegetables, he gave the rest of the site at the San Juan House over to native plants. Some-a-che tall Douglas firs, sinewy rnadronas, and rampant salal, for instance-swere already established and had only to become part of tile composition. But he specified more than 25 native species in the design. The exceptions are a strategic scarcering of geranium, allium, and milkweed char drifts our from the enclosures and along level paths as if volunteering among the native planes. These choices-s-a common thread in Broadhurst's practice-s-are based on science as well as aesthetics. "What are the niches (ecologically) we are creating in our built landscapes?" he asks, rherorically "What plants can best fill these spaces?" He might have chosen any available epimedium for the forest Boor. Instead, "\fallrot/veria (bexandra) fills exactly the same ecological niche." By deliberately drawi ng connections between popular commercial plants and species that are native to the Paci fic Northwest, Broadhurst shows how a native plant palette can be applied to a design framework of drifting ground cover, softly mounding rnidsrory planes, and low trees -aU under the iconic evergreens. L·_ L
Clair Enloui
is a freelance writer
in Seattle.
Paul R. Broadhurst + Associates, Seattle. Arch.itect~ Jodie Carrol. Stonemason and hard surface contractor: Michael Scharnberg.
P ROJ ECT C RE 0 ITS Landscape designer:
AMHICAN SOCIHY Of lANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS SlRHl NW, WASHINGTON. DC 20001-3736 202-0g0-2444 • fAX 202·090-2285 • WWWASLA.UKo 636
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The other day, I realized that despite our constant use of the term to describe best practices, we designers seldom think about how sustainability applies to the continued existence of our firms. Yet we've devoted so much energy and time to establishing these businesses, most of us motivated by more than JUSt profit. We long ago accepted the responsibility of maintaining a Staff, taking on the burden of "mouths to feed." Why is it so difficult to cake the next step? It is particularly difficult to think about the future now, when times are tough everywhere and JUStthe thought of next month's payroll can seem overwhelming for business owners. Consider this: What if next month comes and you aren't there to sign the checks' Will the life of your firm end when you die or retire, or will another generation of partners chart a course for the future' Of course, you may decide not to keep your name on the door, co let your legacy live on in memory only. As individual designers, A. E. Bye and Dan Kiley continue to inspire, even though no offices exist to maintain their influence directly. And large firms like WRT and EDAW moved forward briskly after the founding partners withdrew from active practice. I have always enjoyed the business side of the profession, but even I didn't stare thinking about succession planning until I reached the age of 60. By that rime my partner, Wolfgang Oehme, FASlA, was nearly 65. Despite having reached an age where most people are already looking forward to retirement, we were far from slowing down. Fortunately, both of us were in good health and loved our work. More than 35 years ago, Wolfgang and I based our firm on a signature style. We decided 10 years ago that we wanted our legacy, the New American Garden Style, to live on within the firm we created. My own experience demonstrates that the effort of planning for a future without me
USTAINABILITY. 561 Landscape Architecture
AUGUst 2009
One owner lays out the steps for ensuring that your practice will continue after you retire. By James A. van Sweden, FASlA
and Wolfgang at the helm has benefired my firm, my partners, and me.
Proactive or Reactive?
TIle ultimate benefic of succession planning is maximizing return on your investment. Planning isn't just a matter of retirement. \'{1hatwould happen to your business ifyou became disabled, if your partner died or decided to pursue a different Gitter? Sucressron planning includes preparation for unexpected events. A comprehensive successionplan would explore and address all of these concerns. Preparing for them in ad-
vance protects you and your business from having to make reactive decisions. I've admitted thar even I came lare to the game in terms of planning for tbe furure, A concrete facedrew my attention to the matter. Many years ago, Wolfgang and I had taken OUt what are called "key man" insurance policies. These policies insure a firm's continued operation should something happen to the parrners. Always aware of the bottom line, I nor iced that eventually the premiums would reach an unsustainable level. So Wolfgang and I agreed that each of us would retire at age
P R ACT ICE
77 (which is three ye--drsway for me) and a consult with the firm thereafter. That decision set off a lengthy process of deciding how the firm would continue after we were no longer at the helm. The only thing Wolfgang and I ever argued about was plant names, and I recognize that this made planning for the furore of Oehme, van Sweden & Associates easier, Difficult decisions had to be made about who would take on leadership roles, how choseroleswere defined, and when the transfer would occur. And putting these decisions off wouldn't have made the process easier.
An Office Project Li'ke Any Other
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AMERI CAN SOCI ElY OF LANDSCAPE ARCH IT[CIS
Consider succession planning an office project like any other. The first step is to assernble a team of people who have the skills and knowledge to make it happen. Realize chat meetings are parc of the process and revisions will occur JUSt as they do during che design process. A good set ofJegal documents is as valuable to rhe succession planning process as weil-prepared construction documents are co a build out, Your partners and prospective partners are obviously indispensable in-house team members. I have long said chat Wolfgang and I are not geniuses individually, but together we balanced each other in cerms of both skills and personaliry. Ideally, parrners should balance each other; however, we were aware thac the second generation of partners would scrike a different equilibrium. \'V' e se leered several ca nd id aces fo r partnership-all equally qualified, each one an excellent designer who had proven again and again, over 10 to 15 years of working with us, that he or she could get a job done right. Here, I must resort to another analogy: marriage. The period in which your prospective parrners are considering a long-term alliance with you is an engagement of sorts. Like planning a wedding, the very process of planning for succession reveals differences of opinion, perception, and expectation. For example, you will d isclose financial details you have never shared WIth employees before. And the process of commitring arrangements to wriring and
clarifying relationships reveals differences in perception. Encourage candidates to hire their own attorneys and ro think for themselves. Don't be offended when you are not perceived as a knight in shining armor by every employee you approach. Some may reject your partnership offer. Remember, it Isn't personal; it's business. Outside consultants are critically important to the team, A good attorney with experience in succession planning is essential. An estate planner is a wise addition to the cearn,
Talk with other CEOs who have gone through the process and use your team of advisers to help in defining the ownership transition plan.
Together, these advisers can explain the succession planning process and can help assure that your plan legally,profitably, and af"fordably considers your needs and objectives. Ac OvS our team included partners and prospective partners, attorneys, tax advisers, and our chief financial officer, whose background and training included succession planning and estate management. She helped us understand that we needed both a plan and a strategy. We discussed different exit strategies, roles, evolution of the firm, and the timetable of the transfer of control. Together, we assessed the advantages and disadvantages of different plans in terms of taxes and insurance and determined which options best met our goals.
Ownership What's Transit.ion:
in It for You?
Owner compensation depends on the financial health of your firm and your retirement preferences. For example, do you want to retire completely or transition to an advisory role? Do you Wish to retain a percentage of the firm's ownership? What are the tax and estate planning implications of a one-time payout versus compensation throughout your lifetime? Your options
AMERltAN SOtlETY OF LANOS[APE AR[H IU[TS 636 EYESlRHT NW. WASHIN&TDN,O[ 20001·3736 202·090·24 ••• FAX 202·090·2285 • Www.ASlA.OHE
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PRACTICE
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will be dictated by a combination of rhe role you wish to play in the firm's future and the overall financial picture of your business. The best advice is co talk. with other CEOs who have gone through the process, gather lots of informacion from reliable sources, and use your team of advisers to help YOLl navigate the following in defining the ownership transition plan: - Assist current leaders in the development of personal transition plans that will meet their financial and retirement objectives. - Conduct a valuation of the firm co determine the current market value and stock price. - Evaluate several options for financing the transition over a period of time. - Create buy/sell and stockholders' agreements.
- Develop exi t strategies that correspond with the firm's overall strategic plan. - Define an implementation schedule (tirneline) for the ownership and leadership transitions. If you, like every other firm owner I've
spoken with lately,are experiencing a downrum in your business, don't use that as an excuse not to plan. As a general rule, forecast and plan three to five years Ollt. When you reach that milestone you can decide whether or not it makes sense to implement the plan.
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Occasionally you will revise your plan. Just as you might perform a posroccupancy evaluation, you should periodically revisit and update your decisions in light of unexpected developments. Needs change over time. As designers we know that a good plan accommodates change.
Cultivating Successors: Leadership Transition
Working side by side with your employees in the office is not adequate training.
valuable experience in speaking and presentation ..Everyone benefits as a result. Learning what works and what doesn't and learning how to talk before large and small groups are valuable skills. In addition, committing staff to presentations recognizes their design talents and contributions. Working side by side with your employees in the office is not adequate rraining. Take them with you when you leave the office. At OvS we have a tradition of bringing staff into the field for planting, and these are days everyone looks forward to and learns from. Invite associates to accompany you co talks and lectures, introduce them to people, and allow them co make their own connections. People will
It 1S important to note the succession planning process involves both ownership transition and leadership transition. Ownership transition addresses the legal and financial issues, while leadership transition addresses how a firm conducts its business and manages its operation after the founding principals step back from a managerial role. Start grooming your employees early on. Long before I teamed with Wolfgang, I learned the many benefits of putting even junior staff members directly before the clienr, allowing them co present their own portion of the work. Doing so not only adds a sense of urgency and personal accountability to the task at hand but also provides
approach a Junior Staffmember abour ideas and prospects they won't dare ask you about. Assign writing rasks to more junior Staff,and encourage them to accept invitations to speak on their own. Not everyone has to be good at everything; however, it 1S important to identify the areas in which people excel and to encourage them to further develop those talents. While professional education reqUJremenrs have increased over the years, don't m 1SS the opporrunity to playa role in cult ivacing Staffmembers' knowledge and taste. Encourage them to travel and to take photographs of what they see. Invite other landscape architects and designers into the office to present their work and to talk about their design philosophy. At OvS, we have learned from professionals as disparate as Penelope Hobhouse and Martha Schwartz, ASLA. Not every landscape architect has the personality, the capacity, or the desire to lead a firm. Whether hiring from outside or promoting from within, what sets potencial pareners apart from other equally talented designers is their entrepreneurial
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spirit-and by that I mean their desire to extend their creativity beyond the realm of design and into the business itself. The ability to identify potential areas of expansion and growth, an enthusiasm for marketing and promotion, and an insrincrive networking ability are key characteristics of potential firm leaders. Designers with an
Developing leaders for future generations is far more complex than developing an ownership plan.
entrepreneurial outlook will cake as much interest in building the business as they do in building a project. In most offices, partnership potential is displayed over years of successful project management. In essence, every project is a microcosm of the business irself. A project manager has to monitor budget, scheduling, and time while dealing successfullywith the clienr, the architecr, and other members of che design ream. When the project is complete and profitable, a potential leader will be eager to spread the word about the project and suscain the relationships established over the course of the work. Using one project as a springboard [Q rhe next is the way business is built and maintained. A beautiful design delivered on time and within budget is a significant achievement, and employees who deliver or contribute to that outcome are essenrial. What sets the entrepreneurial employee apart is his or her ability to use one project to gee another either by promoting a similar project to a new client or by winni ng a new job with the same diem, architect, or engineer. Developing leaders for future generations is far more complex than developing an ownership plan. Thinking about making roday's employee tomorrow's partner
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means actively pursuing change. Perhaps this is why so many owners put off thinking about the future of their firm. It means forging alliances across generations whose experiences and outlook are necessarily different from your own. Ultimately, it means giving up COntrol. Considering the future leadership of the next generation includes idenrifying who takes the helm. Lisa E. Delplace, ASLA, was selected by her fellow principals, including Sheila Brady, FASLi\; Eric Groft, ASLA;. m yself; and Wolfgang, for the role and responsibility of chief executive officer. \'Vhen making this selection, we considered who best understood the culture of the firm and who could balance our long-term goals and objectives with OLII legacy ofsusrainable development while creating value for our customers, investors, and employees.
Your Legacy, Your Way
Considering how late in the game we began, we were fortunate to have completed the project well before Wolfgang or I neared retirement. When I needed surgery in 2003, I could focus on my recovery withour worrying unduly about the office, safe in the knowledge that whatever happened we had a plan for it. At the same time, the work of the finn went on smoothly, and our diems didn't suffer due to our failure to confront the future in a timely manner. Succession planning cakes time but is well worrh the effort. Our process took years and is still evolving. Recently, we became a woman-owned enterprise. This office project took us JUSt a few months. Our effort was streamlined by the fact chat our team was in place-v-parcners, attorney, and chief financial officer. We had already ironed Out many of the issues involved. The benefits are felt throughout the ranks. When employees know that a succession plan is in place, it quells anxiety. Many of the most frightening "what if" scenarios have already been considered and are no longer the sruff of coffee break speculation. Valuable staff members are more likely to smy and more likely to consider a future at a firm chat is thinking about its future. ~;_,J, James A. Nan Sueden, FASLA. is a found.ing principal arid the p"esident of Oehme, uan Sweden & AJJ(){.iates zn WtlJhinl:,J"/.on, D.C.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF lANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 636 EYE STREET NW. WASHIN&TON, DC 20001-3736 202-098-2444 • FAX 202-090-2285 • WWWASlA.OHE
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GREEN
ROOFS
HIGH-MAl NTENANCE SUPERSTAR

The green roof on the California Acaderny of Sciences is a stunning feat of design, What does it take to keep this new icon ready for its close-up? By Linda Mcintyre
HE CALIFORNIA Academy of Sciences' new Renzo Piano-designed home in Golden Gate Park is crowned by what must be the world's most famous green roof It's certainly the most fashionable, having won seemingly unanimous rave reviews from critics (including the 2009 ASLA Awards jury) as well as props from the public. It's one of the most visible, with rolling topography that makes it eye-popping even to viewers at grade. And it's beautiful, as we witnessed during a visit in April-deeply and thickly green, dotted with blossoms, buzzing with insects and birds, a slice of nature rhar fits perfectly into (he surrounding landscape yet exudes an orherworldliness worthy of (he next Star Trek movie. As wi th any celebrity, (hough, the stunning images of this lush, undulating roof
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don't reveal what's behind the scenes to produce rhe seemingly (1 effortless gorgeousness. The difficulty wasn't only lifting up a piece of the Golden Gate Park landscape and sliding the Academy underneath it. Keeping this icon of landscape starchirecrure producing oohs and aaahs, day in and day Out, is a full-time job. Of course, designing it was no small ft'J.t either. The process began in 1999, at decade after the original Academy, at hodgepodge of a dozen buildings built over a span of 85 years, was severely damaged in the Lorna Prieta earthquake (the
complex was razed in 2004). The Academy's board commissioned six architects to propose designs for a new building on the site. Plano's ethereal wavy line drawing and vision of a building deeply connected to the surrounding landscape-it's unusually open and rnmspment for a museum-scarried the day over ambitious models by other firms.
HE ROOF, with its domes echoing the
seven hills on which the city was built _ and reflecting the exhibition spaces below, was a structural challenge in itself. How were the layers of the green roof assembly, including the granular growing medium, going to stay in place? Usually, in a low-profile assembly such as this six-inch-deep one (as opposed to a
Renzo Piano's squiggles, top, ea plu red the [magioali 00 of th e Academy's board. The original Academy, right, comprised a
c In ster of ne oclassica I buildings,
while the new building, above, sils more comforlab Iy in Golden Gate .Park and ils surrounding landscape. 661 Landscape Architecture
AUGUst 2009
complicated roof garden with deep soil that can sustai n shrubs and trees), plugs or cuttings of hardy succulent plants are planted in coarse growing medium spread like topsoil over a fairly flae roof. As they grow and their root systems develop, the plants "knit" the assembly together, contributing to its physical stability and waterprocessing function. In some situations, such as when high winds are an issue, biodegradable mats or horciculrural glue helps to hold the system in place while the plants grow in. These domes, however, made stability more problematic. They also presented an extra challenge with regard to drainage, always an issue on a green roof-the land-
Hakhes on the hills and the atrium, above, upen automatically, complicating the irrigation
5C heduJe. Jh e g,reen roof is vis ible to visitors at grade, below, and the building's facade empha·
s ize s bolh tfanspa re ncy and reu se Iin the form of a panel from the original compound).
scare architects were concerned that coo much water might accumulate at the botrom of the slopes. Further complicating matters was [he need to preserve the integrity of the waterproofing membrane, which, accord ing to John Loomis, ASlA, a principal at SWA Group in Sausalito, did not allow for connections, pins, curbs, or cleats to help give the assembly above the membrane purchase.
An approach developed by SWA fearuring drain intercepts in concentric circles was nixed by Piano as aesthetically unacceptable. SOSWA devised a network of24foot-square narrow linear gabions filled with black basalt stone to hold the medium, drainage boards, and filter fabric in place while allowing water from rain and irrigation to drai n through rhe system. Intersections and sloped areas were bolstered with rebar, and polyester cord strap "suspenders," the same material used to secure containers on ships, help to hold the srrucrure in place. The gabions, which extend over the flat areas of the roof as well as the domes, also serve as ad hoc footpaths for maintenance crews and researchers.
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Iinsulation, above, was laid over the membrane, a,lale-breaking decision thai made the design more challenging" A grid of gabions, above right, strengthened with rebar at intersections, aids draInage and hel ps kee p the a ssembly in pia ce, Synlh elie straps, ,ight, provid e additional stability. Design detaUs, below, had to accommodate the com plex to of stru du reo FiIter fa bric, bottom right, keeps fin e pa riie les f,om the growing medium out of the drainage boards, preservlng their performance. A.layer of gnwing medium was spread in the voids of the grid, bottom left; the biodegradable trays hold additional medium and plants.
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GREEN ROOFS
Modular trays might have worked as a means to install plants on the domes in a stable fashion, but the black plastic grid look that characrerizes many of these green roof applications was completely at odds with this high-style project. So Paul Kepbatt, a restoration ecologist whose firm helped to develop a native plant palette for the roof, and a group of researchers developed a biodegradable green roof module. These 17 -inch-square tmys are made of coa waste product from coconut cultivation in the Philippines, held together with narural latex. They hold three inches of growing medium, treated with mycorrhizal fungi to jump-scare root growth, and sit on three additional inches of medium spread OUt in the large sguares delineated by the gabions.
conuc fiber,
Plants were pregrown in about 50,000 of the trays at Kephart's Rana Creek N ursery before being transported to the roof, where an additional, shallower network of gab ions was constructed to hold the medium and trays in place on the steepest slopes, about 60 degrees. The biodegradability, however, made it important to keep to the construction schedule so that
The green roof has been extremely
popular
with visitors, even rating a mention in the

gossip column of a local newspaper.
the modules
did not break clown before
being placed on the roof While the outlines of the trays were visible during our visit, they were clearly breaking down. Incleed, says Loom is, a few
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months after installation a small leak required that a few trays be removed for rePaJr. The bottom of the trays had virtually disappeared and the plants had developed six-inch root systems.
Low Maintenance? Not Quite
The true test of a design comes after the glamour shots and awards ceremonies. TIle ongoing demands of this roof are, and will continue to be, especially high because of its complicated terrain, high visibility, and constant stream of visitors with high expectations. Most of the responsibility for maintaining the roofs star power fiJls to Alan Good, the Academy's landscape exhibits supervisor. He and a colleague oversee the tWOand a half acres of planted roof, along with about five acres of grounds. A commercial landscape crew helps with weeding (weeds are hand pulled, not zapped with chemicals) and general mowand-blow-related tasks three times a week, and a volunteer corps is being trained in weed identification to provide additional help. The roof gets frequent irrigation
(with nonpotable water). The Rain Masrer irrigation system IS designed wi th popup heads and rotary nozzles, auromated via software that controls the amount of water based on weather conditions (a weather station IS parr of the system) that influence evapotranspiration. Pelletized organic fertilizer is occasionally broadcast by hand. The roof's complex design makes growing plants up there much more difficult. "The modeling of the domes, and how they interact with the wind, is a new problem," says Good. "I'm dealing with desiccation, which affects plants and establishment, which then affects erosion." Microclimares ate always an important factor on green roofs, perhaps the most important element that determines which plants will grow where. For example, areas around the airhandling systems are dry, making it difficult to keep plants alive. The domes over the rain forest and planetarium exhibit spaces are fitted with circular skylights that open by sensors during the day to release moisture and let fresh air in. "If we have one of these crazy hundred-
degree days with a big wind, we can't water until after nine at night because there is an automatic lock on the sprinkler system," says Good. "Maybe we could have laid a subsurface irrigation system 111 those areas. We're using rotators on the rest of the roof; they work fine in the flat areas but they're not good in the wind." Good wishes that these variations had been addressed in the design of the irrigation system; trying to remedy the situation after the fact has been difficult (see "Advice for Designers of Green Roofs," page 72). Good's concern about the plants is understandable since a uniform cover is a big part of the design prograrn-c-Piano's sustainabiliry objectives did not include those tWOfacts ofhorticulrural Iife,succession and seasonality, and visitors come prepared to be wowed by the roof. Their expectations can be pretty specific: A movie in the planetarium shows images of the roof shot after a big seeding of California poppies, but since the other plantS have eseablished the poppies can't self-seed in the dense cover. So Good plugged about 1,500 poppies from
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srubs, hoping to add color and diversity and give visitors what they came to see. Keeping rhe plant palette diverse, in keeping with the Academy's habitat objeccives, has been tough. A lot of care went inro choosing ehe planes that comprise most of the roof's cover (an exhibition garden around the observation deck was planted with a broader array of native species to give visitors a treat and cake advanrage of a protected microclimate). Frank Almeda, a senior bocanisr at (he Academy, and Kephart tested about 30 species on the roof of the old Academy before demolirion, looking for California natives chat could stand up to the harsh condiricos on the roofand provide habicac. They also had
to look good-r-an early mock-up frightened the architect with its unkempt appearance, says Loomis. Four perennials and five annual wildflowers made the CUt(see "Plant List," page 75). About a year and a half after the plants were installed on the roof, however, their distribution was hardly tqUJ valent. One of the perennials, Prunella vulgaris, had taken over about 70 percent of the roof. Armeri« maritima and Sedem spatbltlifolium were barely in evidence. To some extent this kind of variability is the norm on green roofs. In this case, the growing medium might have played a role: The urea content in rhe growing medium was very high. Kephart told us
The hills have made for a challenging horllc_d· tural environment; some rnicroclimates proven more hospitable than others. have
chat was not consistent with Rana Creek's specification and was the result of a substitution by a contractor. Such glitches are common on green roofs-since few standards exist, most media are not reseed, and not all installers understand the particular characteristics of growing medium as opposed to soil. The decision to use natives raised the bar on maintenance. Because nacive plants at grade have been billed by many advocates as low or no maintenance, some mistakenly think they offer an easy solution
E ASKED ALANGOOD, the landscape exhibits supervisor at the
wind effect on the hills, and some thermal rnodeling on what happens with the wind on a sunny day. The constant wind on the southern and western ends of this roof is creating cornpletely different water needs in certain zones, and those WOllerneeds were not addressed in the way the (irrigation systern wasJlaid out.
California Acaderny of Sciences, what advice he has for designers about thinking long·tenni while sorne is specific to
this unique place, much of it applies to green roofs across the board and, indeed, landseapes in general.
Consider Maintenance
in the Design
project
"One thing that's a constant when you talk with operations and maintenance staff on any architectural these Yell' basic simple daily infrastructure actly where I would start if I had input atthe have pallets of organic fertilizer is, where do I plug in rny drill, where d.o I get waterneeds that escape the big·picture designers' thinking. That is ex-
ADVICE FOR DESIGNERS OF GREEN ROOFS

,
!
I'rn looking at products like Hydrasorb and different polyrners to mix in with the soil. There are enyironmen· tal concerns about what happens if those get into the water system, and how to apply it after the fact and so on. I'm trying to address these issues with fine tuning, but these are clurnsy tools."
beginning of a project. I
Th ink About Com posting th e Trimm ings

Because biomass doesn't break down quickly in green roof growing rnediurn, trirnrnings of pruned or dormant plants have to be taken off the roof by hand and thrown ·away. "What I'd like to do if I had the tirne and the space is to set up a cornposting operation on the ground
sitting on a 'loading dock that's four
floors away from me, and I have to get it up here by hand •.That's a ;huge rnaintenance cost. If we had a full·s.ize freight eleyator that carne right up to the roof, we could be much more ambitious."
!
Anticipate
Microclimate
Effects on the Design
I floor so we could cart the waste off the roof, cornpost 1 back up," says Good.
it, and bring it
"The designer should have done a wire·frarned computer model of the
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on green roofs. In most cases, nothing could be farther from the rrurh=-using natives immensely complicates the tusk of establishing a stable plant community on a roof and the quick cover essential to Stop weeds from colonizing exposed areas. While some rough analogues to a rooftop situacion exist in nacure in some regions, careful sciencebased analysis (such as the research and testing that were carried Ollt on this project) IS required to choose an appropriate plant palette, and the mature roof will almost certainly need irrigation and frequent intervention (as on this roof). Simple, thin green roofs planted primarily with hardy succulents, while not no maintenance, usually don't need irrigation and, if weeded and monitored during the
establishment period, don't need a lot of maintenance after the first year or two. On this roof, although the plants were selected for relatively low water and nutrient requirernencs, the demand for 2417 1365
good looks means that the irrigation and fertilization will continue into the foreseeable future. "My operating principle is that the irrigation is going to have to be consranr,"
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says Good. "The amount of water is going to derermi ne the num ber of species we get and the amount of color. If you let it go for tWOdays, even in April, there will be a lot of dieback; the leaves will shrivel up. So if we want to (tweak the irriganon to) get rid of some of the moss, and let some of the Prunella die back in the hot summer months, it's tricky. People will ask, 'What's wrong with the roof?" Good and others at the Academy hope to educate the public about the true nature of the California landscape and gradually move away from the year-round lush green imperative, but that's a long-term plan, None of this is co say that native planrs should never be used on a green roof. But they should be chosen with care and used with the knowledge tharadditional maintenance will be required. This approach seems to work best when the plant palette serves a well-defined set ofobjectives rarher than a hazy desire for ecological correctness. At the Academy, the roof and its landscape of native plants serve the insrirueion's dual mission of education and research. In
Plant List
HESE PlANTS were seleded
to comprise the main plant palette, based on lolera nee of ha rsh rooftop conditio ns,low null;· ent and water requirements, ground· hugging height, habitat value for local animals and insects, and year-round visual. interest. The list was winnowed from a bigger group of abo ut 30 species tested on the roof of the old Academy before it was d;emolished. Perennials Armeria maritima ssp. cafifornica • California seapink Fragaria chi/oensis I Beach slrawbet.ry Prunella yu/garis ssp. hooker;' SeIfheaI'
I
Sedum spathulifolium Broad leaf stu necrop Annuals
addition to the education provided to the visiting public through rours and inrerpretive signs, rhe comings and goings of flora and fauna are closely monitored. Students from San Francisco Srare University are taking monthly samples of insect life, and high school and college interns are working with the Academy's botanist to monitor an empty test plot on the roof's west side to track what plant species show LIpon the roof without intervention. Eventually Academy researchers hope to introduce the threatened San Bruno elfin and Bay checkerspot butterflies to the habitat on the roof; the exhibition garden was designed with a lot of larval host plants such as Asclepias /aJt:icu/ariJ, but they take a couple of years to mature before they become useful to the butterflies"
&0 How Green Is that Roof?
Eschschol:da califomica • California. poppy Lasthenia californica I California goldfields

Layia platyglossa • Coastal tidytips
Lupinus bicolor· Miniature lupine Plantago erect» I Dotseed plantain
Piano has talked at length about his naturebased inspirations for the Academy building -the "spider web" glass-and-metal ceiling of the atrium, the "leafiike" quality of the solar panels that limn the edge of the
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GREEN ROOFS
root-s-and the importance of its sustainable features, including the use of a lor of recycled materials in construction and the recycling of most of the demolition material. And, of course, there's that roof. The roof makes a significant contribution to the building's ecological bona fides. It's certainly the most obv ious and literal "green" element. It gave a big boost to the project team's successful effort to secure LEED Platinum certification, earning points for storrnwater management (the roof was designed to retain almost all of the rain that fills on the building; any runoff is directed co infiltration beds); water efficiency (the plants are irrigated by an efficient system with nonporable water); energy savings (the green roof is estimated to keep the interior about 10 degrees cooler than a conventional roof would); sound attenuation (the roof is estimated to deflect high-frequency sound and reduce low-frequency sound by 40 decibels); reduction in urban heat island effect; and habitat. Environmentalists might raise questions like these: - How green can new construction, led by a designer jeering in from Italy, possibly be) - Does it matter if materials are recycled and biodegradable, like the coconut fiber in the modules, if they have to be shipped halfway around the world? - Will one roof's worth of native plants make a meaningful contribution to wildlife habitat? - Wouldn't a Hat, thin green roof, planted with drough t-resistanr succulents, be more ecologically virtuous than a starchicectural, plane-stressing domescape planted with relatively fragile, thirsty natives? And arguments can be made on the other side" This was not a greenfield project, for example-s-the building's footprint is smaller than that of its predecessor (at 400,000 square feet, it's 20 percent bigger but much of it is underground, so the site has an additional acre of parkland). And for all of the outsize claims about the roof's susrainabiliry, design matters in the effurt to sell sustainabiliry, at least for now. Some of us mighr think longingly about the number of extensive green roofs that could
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AMERICAN SUCIETY UF lANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 636 EYE STRm NW, WASHINHUN, UC 20001·3736 2U2-090-2444 • FAX 202-090-2205 • WWW.ASlA.UHE
761
AU GUST 2009
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TENSILE
SCULPTURE
LOCATION: San Franelseu INSTALLED: Autumn 2007 SIZE: 2.S acres planted out of 4.5 acres total roof space OEPTH: Six inches of growing medium IIhree inches loose laid, three inches in planting trays
PLANTS: About 50,000 trays; four perennials and five annual wildflowers M ETHOD: Tbree·inch·deep, 17-lneh-square, pregrown biodegradable trays COST: $28 per square foot including the membrane and root barrier IRRIGATION: Yes, with nonpotable water MAXIMUM SLOPE: 60 degrees MAINTENANCE: Constant, by Academy staff and landscape contractor; organic fe rtil izer and hand pu IIi ng of weeds
have been built for the millions spem on this project. Most people, however, are nor there yet, as a lac of research and writing about green roofs has made dear to me. This green roof has captured the imaginations of many people, and for all its scar quality, it is a functional Iandscape. It's not a consumer product or a marketing scheme. If chis one-of-a-kind project convinces a few more people co accept, even agitate for, green roofs on a mass scale, it was well worth che cost. I' J
CIRCLE 317 ON REA:DER SERVICE CARD OR GO TO HTTP,mNFO.HOTIMS.C0Ml2:l486·317
Riprap edit()rand [omler Landscape Architecture staffwriter Linda McIntyre has an abiding
interest in both beautiful and homely green roofs.

PROJ ECT CRE Din: Client: California
Acade-
my of Sciences,San Francisco. Project manager! owner representative: DR Young Associates, San Rafael, California. Architecture: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa, Italy; Srantec, San Francisco. Structura.l, HVAC,and LEEDconsultant: Amp, San Francisco. Laudscape architecture: SWA Group, Sausalito, California. Civil engineering: Rutherford & Chekene, San Francisco. Ecology consultant: Rana Creek, Carmel Valley, California. lmi· gation consultant: Martin Dickson, Palo Cedro, California. General contractor: Webcor Builders, San Mateo, California. Landseape contractor: Jensen Corporation, San Jose, Calitornia.
CIRCLE 1'" ON READER SERVICE CARD OR GO TO HTTP"IINFO.HOTIMS.COM!2:l488-r'"
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PROFESSIONAL AWARDS JURY
considered nearly 600 entries-the largest number in ASLA. history-from around the world, and selected 49 projects for recognition in General Design, Analysis and Planning, Residentiali Design, Communications, and Resean:h. The awards ceremony will take place at the ASLA Annual Meeting in Chicago on September 21. The panel was chaired by Mar.k Rios, FASLA, of Rios Clementi Hale Studios in Los Angeles, and composed of Vladimir Ojurovic, International ASLA, of Vladimir Djurovic Landscape Architecture in Broumana, lebanonj Sam Grawe of Dwell magazine in San Francisco; linda Jewell, fASLA, of the University of California at BerkeleYj Mario Nievera, ASLA, of Mario Nievera Design Inc. in Palm Beach, Floridaj Peter lindsay Schaudt, FASLA, of Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Arch~tecls inChicagoj Sunny Scully, FASLA, of Lewis Scully Gionet landscape Architecture in Washington, D.C.; Elizabeth "Boo" Thomas, ASLA, of the Center for Planning Ext:ellence in Baton Rouge, lOUisiana; and Peter Walkeri fASLA, of Peter Walker and Partners Landscape Architedure in Berkeley, California. William H. Tishler, fASLA,. of the University of Wi.sconsinin Madison, joined the panel to select the landmark Award-PepsiCo World Headquarters-which will be featured in a future· article in Landscape Art:hitecfure. Overthe coming year; Landscape Architecture will feature 2009 award winners that have not already been covered by the magaz.ine.The following pages include brief descriptions of the award winners. Goto page U9 to see products that were used in the award-winning projects.
General Design Category

GENERAL DESIGN, Award of Excellence HOWJton
BUFFAID BAYOU PROMENADE,

SWA Group,
HOILSl'on
phere that contrasts with the abundant green plantings along the bayou. Commissioned artwork frames each park portal, giving visitors a symbolic link between the city's arts district and its historic channel. "By capturing open space under a labyrinth of highways, the landscape architect has made the intimidating unineimidaring," the jurors said. "It sends a great message for the future of parks." G,ENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award New York
New York
HE BUFFALO BAYOU PROMENADE connects Houston's downtown core to a river park through what was once a neglected and near-impossible mess of freeways and bridges, The landscape architect for this project converted a trash-soaked eyesore into 3,000 linear feet of urban park, adding 23 acres of parkland to the inner city and providing a prominent gateway to downtown Houston. Extensive regrading of the site enabled the team to lay back slopes, thereby improving views into the park while also reducing the impact of erosion and improving floodwater conveyance. A system of stair- and ramp-connecting points at each roadway crossing provides safe, convenient, and frequent access opportunities. LED lights incorporated into stairway railings wash the ground plane, offering an urban atmos801
TEARDROP PARI\:,
-------
Michael Van ValkenJmrgh Associates Inc.,
rn
HE CLIENT POR TEARDROP PARK, a l.S-acre public park in Lower Manhattan's Battery Park City, wanted a unique natural play environment to build upon nearby recreational opportunities, contribute to a family-friendly neighborhood identity, and meet strict sustainabiliryguidelines, The landscape architect served as the prime consultant for this multidisciplinary effort, which features [he "Marsh," steeply sloped planted areas, groves of trees, the "Water
Play" rocks, and the stone "Reading Circle." The park's green credentials include fully organic manufactured soils and maintenance regimes as well as using treated graywater from the adjacent LEED Gold-rated Solaire Building and capturing stormwarer runoff to suppI y all of the parks irrigation needs. Additionally, stone used throughout the park, including the 27-foot-high, 168-foot-Iong stacked bluestone "Ice-Water Wall," was quarried within a 500-mile radius. A largely native plant palette creates excellent habitat for migrating birds and effectively jump-starts natural ecologies on a site composed of biologically inert fill. "A true urban oasis," said the jurors. "The landscape architect has made a very bold gesture on an almost impossible site." (See "Abstract Realism," LAM, February 2007.) GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award Boston
MACA_LLENBU1LDING,soudtBoston
Lrutdworks Studio Inc.,
HE lEED GOLD-CERTIFIED MACAllEN BUILDING demonstrates the seamless blending of cutting-edge urban architecture/ landscape architecture and a razor-sharp environmental agenda. Situated between South Boston and an expansive field of infrastructure, the 12-story residential condominium with ground-level retail development and its landscape are entirely new construction on a l.4 ... cre a site that previously was an asphalt parking lot. The landscape scope, which blankets the site, is three tiered. First, at the ground-level entry, a public court replete with tree planting, new lighting, and a composition of paving materials connects the Macallen Building to its nearest neighbor. The second tier, atop the parking garage, holds an occupiable garden and pool landscape for the residents. A radically sloping, 60-foot by 240-foot green-roof landscape of droughttolerant sedurns and native grasses makes up the third tier. Chief among the client's objectives for this infill project was to achieve the highest levels of sustainabiliry, a principle that each landscape layer addresses in its own way. "This project takes humble materials and makes them sing," the jurors said. Honor Award
GENERAL DESIGN,
Tierra Design (S) Pte Lsd., Singapore
CHANGI AIRPORT TERMINAL 3 INTERlOR LANDSCAPE, Singapore

HE LANDSCAPE ARCHITEcr
introduced a large-scale vertical planting evoking a Southeast Asian equatorial rain forest inco Singapore's Changi Terminal 3 interior to soften an otherwise cavernous industrial building. In plan, this woven tapestry of 10,000 living plants divides the megabuilding into land-side/air-side sections. The la-story in rerior space cen ters four functional levels on a huge, skylighted atrium, the base of which is the arrival hall. The wall spans 1,000 feet of the 1,300-foot-10ng building, and its 50-foot heigh t helps scale down the tall interior space. The structure for the green tapestry is a system of cantilevered I-beams and stainless steel cable with planting troughs at every 10 feet. Perpendicular to the tapestry on the arrival-level floor are wide planters with a variety of massed ground covers and majestic Liuistona cbinensis (Chinese fun palms). Four 60-foot-tall by 20-foot-wide water features, made from shredded glass panels lam mated to stainless steel plates, complement the wall of green. 'The plant selections are different and wonderful," noted the jurors.
GENERAL DESIGN,
Honor Award
THE MUSEIJ1\{OF MODERN ART ROOF GARDEN, Nett! York

Ken Smith Landscape Architect,
New York
said. "Graphic design at a city scale." (See"Ulterior Exterior," LAM, November 2005.)
GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award
. new viewing roof garden atop the Taniguchi Building at the Museum of Modern Art marks a contemporary addition to the museum's landscape spaces. In addition to a relatively modest construction budget, the landscape design commission came with an exisring roofsrrurrure with a 25-pound-per-square-foot live load. Additionally, the museum requested that the landscape architect incorporate black-and-white gravel that it had already purchased. The designers used the notions of sim ulaeed nature and camouflage theories to generate the roof garden forms, which were born from the pattern of a skateboarder's camouflage pants. The material palette includes natural crushed stone, recycled glass, and recycled rubber mulch, as wen as fiberglass grating, artificial. boxwood plants, foam headers, and artificial rocks. The design, which also draws inspiration from Japanese dry Zen gardens, is both rooted in tradition and contemporary in spirit and form. "We love the paintedgrates," the jurors
IGHLY VISIBLE FROM MIDTOWN MANHATTAN on high, tills
ORANGE COUNTY GREAT PARK, Irvine, Calijorllw. WORKSHOPWEST Ken Smith Landscape Architect,
New York and Irvine, California
OBSERVATION BALLOON PREVIEW PARK
.,. HE GREAT PARK PROJECT encompasses 1,347 acres that will
become the heart of future districts for living, commerce, and lifelong learning on the former El Taro Marine Air Station in Orange County, California. Part of the development plan is a 27 -acre Preview Park, which serves as a visitor center and prororyping area for the Great Park. Anchored by an orange, 3D-person observation balloon that rises 500 feet for a commanding view, the Preview Park introduces severalprototypes for the orange groves, stonework, and plantings that will eventually fill the entire park. The Preview Park also is actively programmed with concerts, dances, workshops, and other special events to build regional support and to give neighbors a voice in the park's design process. The master plan emphasizes long-
term sustainability via energy production and conservation, recycling, native and xeric plantings, neighborhood connections, community gardens, park-once-spend-the-day transit, and education programs. "Adopting the graphic language of an airfield in a fresh, contemporary way is absolutely the most dramatic thing that could be done," said the jurors, GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award
CHONGAE CANAL SOURCE POINT PARK: SUNKEN STONE GARDEN, Seoul, Korea
.[\i]ikyoung Kim Design, Brookline, Ma.ssachu.setts
rn
HE CHONGAE CANAL PROJECT forms a pan of the city of Seoul's ambitious waterway redevelopment efforr to restore a highly polluted, covered waterway. To meet the charge of an international design competition to create a symbolic representation of the future reunification of North and South Korea, the landscape architect designed two urban superblocks in Seoul's Central Business District, the main source point of the ChonGae Canal. Other blocks were de-
"This is a landmark project with great promise for the future."

signed by local landscape architects and the Army Corps of Engineers, and the cumulative outcome is a seven-mile-long, pedestrianfocused green corridor that brings people to the historic ChonGae waterway. The ChonGae Canal Project defines the nine provinces through use of local materials and nine sources of water. Regional stone quarried from each of the nine areas, nine source points of water, and fiber-optic lights highlight this collaborative effort. "Spectacular. This is a landmark project with great promise for the future," said the jurors. GENERAL DESIGN, San Francisco Honor Award
CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,

SWA Gronp,
Sausalito. Ca.lifomia
rn
HE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES has earned LEED Platinum certification through an ambitious vision for sustainable design. Landscape architecture played a major role in the realization of the design ream's concept of "lifting up a piece of the park and putting a building under it," resulting in a two-and-ahalf-acre living roof. The roofs contours conform to rhe exhibit spaces and facilities below and romantically echo San Francisco's seven major hills. A 3,500-sqllare-foot observation deck provides access to the living roof while providing magnificent views. The new building reduces the former facility's physical footprint by one and a half acres, creating space for the new gardens that transition to adjacent mature parkland. In addition to the living roof, composed of half a million native California plants, the landscape architeet designed the new entries and the side gardens created by the new building's more compact footprint. "Ingenious," said the jurors. "A technical masterpiece-so clever and creative." (See article on page 64.)
GENERAL DESIGN,
Honor Award Monuwl"eY, Mexico
MUSEO DEL ACERO HORN03,
[1
Surfacedesign Inc.« Harari aequitectos, San Francisco
TEAM OF INTERNATIONAL DESIGNERS collaborated to transform a decomm issioned blast furnace and its 3.7 -acre brownfield site into a modern history museum dedicated to the region's rich history of steel production. The project's innovative landscape design emphasizes the physical profile of the 230-foot-long furnace structure while complementing the modern design of the new structures .. Principles of sustainabiliry are at the core of the landscape design aod include extensive and intensive use of green roofs over the museum. Additionally, all of the stormwarer runoff wirhin the site's boundaries is treated in a series of on-site treatment runnels, Aquatic plants and wetland macrophytes bioremediate and treat srorrnwarer before it enters an underground cistern, where it is stored fOr dry-season Irrigation. Two water features-a stepped canal composed of repurposed steel-processing parts over which water cascades and a misting fountain-offer a pleasant surprise fot visitors .. "This work represents a medley of great design inspirations that are applied so well throughout," said the jurors. GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award
POLY :INTERNATIONAL PLAZA,

SWA Group,
San Francisco
Gu,cmgzhou, China
OCATED IN GUANGZI-IOU, CHINA, the 140-acre Poly International Plaza site houses almost two million square feet of office aod exhibition space in the city's new exhibition and trade district. Situated between the Pearl River aod the historic Pazhou Temple Park, the site's agricultural history, the tropical climate, and the U.S. design team's aspiration to be innovative, sustainable, and modern have all converged to influence the landscape design. Consisting of two slender norrh/sourh-facing towers coupled wi-th low-rise podium buildings, the architecture is diagonally offset around a large central garden court, As part of a broad architectural plinth, the entire garden COUrt is elevated five feet to enhance the effects of cooling breezes, which also are engaged by strategically placed water features. One-third of the site landscape is developed as roof gardens, and in response to the diem's wishes, the central garden reveals a contemporary sensibility [0ward classical Chinese gardens. "Crazy beautiful," praised the jurors. "It's refined, with exquisite detailing." GENERAL DESIGN, Pudong Shanghai, China Honor Award
ZOBON CITY SCULPTURE GARDEN,
SWA Group, Lf)S Angeles
HIS SCUlPTURE GARDEN lies at the center of a 5 ,OOO-unit multifamily residential infill development in the Pudong district of Shaoghai, China. The design objective was to integrate art, landscape, ancl architecture in ways that make dense, urban living more sus minable. On a mere acre-and-a-half site, the landscape design attempts to reinterpret the urban phenomena central to the Pudong Shanghai environment by creating three distinct environments .. First, the abstraction garden mim ics the yearly floodi ng from the river with an eight-foot-tall, stacked glass cascading fountain surrounded by informal seating on a public plaza. The Cognitive Garden, in-
fused with colorful planting, white sound from a simple fountain, and raked gravel, offers residents a place of respite. Finally, the sky garden, completely surrounded on three sides by tall rowers, uses an elliptical reflecting pond to make rhe most of its slice of the sky. The jurors pronounced this "a gorgeous project. Beautifully crafted, down to the very last detail." GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award
BEllING OLYMPIC FOREST PARK, Beijillg, Chillar;]
The North Forest Park is designed as a natural reserve, while the South Forest Park creates new ecologies and is a place for public leisure, culture, and education. The project also olTers the opportunity to regenerate endangered habitats, protect local wildlife, and support plant biodiversity. And, for the first time in China, reclaimed water constitutes the main source oflandscape water for an urban park. The park's more than 90 buildings serve as prototypes for energy-saving and reuse ideas, technologies, and materials. "This will transform Beijing as Central Park did New York City," the jurors predicted. (See "Olympic Hopeful," LAM, March 2008.) GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award
Beijing Tsinghua Urban Planning and Design Institute, Beijing
HE 16-ACRE BEIJING OLThfPIC FOREST PARK, the orgaruc component of the Bei jing OJ ympic Green, is designed to make a transition from a severe urban context to a new ecosystem planned according to principles of sustainable developrnenc, Constructed for the 2008 event, its long-term target is to form a sustainable environment and a multifunctional public park. The site is divided in two by a superhighway that cuts it from east to west and creates two distinct zones.
PANHANDLE BANDSHELL,
SanFrancisco[J San. Francisco HIS BAND SHELL PROJECT is a full-scale performance stage and modular landscape constructed entirely alit of reclaimed materials. The temporary project, sponsored by the Black Rock Arts Foundation as part of its ScrapEden SF program, offers a great example of how artistic collaboration and civic engagement in proJeccs with a modest budget and scale can have a significan t and far-reaching impact. The project uses the iconic form and program of traditional band shells and was oriented to avoid acoustic impacts to the adjacent neighbors. Hundreds of community volun reers showed up to help, and virtually all the labor and services required to design and build the project were donated or volunteered. From the delivery of prefabricated components to the completion of the structure and its three-month occupation of the site, the band shell reoriented and reprogrammed rhe movement, use, and social interaction within the park. "This exemplifies bow a temporary project of modest budget and scale can transform an existing urban landscape," the jurors said.
Cl\IG Landscape At'chitect\n'e,
Iss
GENERAL DESIGN,
Honor Award
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH t'J FELLOWSHIP COURTYARD AND lV.IEMORJAL COLUMBARllJIVI, Minneapolis
Coen + Partners Inc., Minneapolis HIS PROJECT OFFERS a colum barium and fellowship courtyard as spaces of quiet beauty that embrace the urban context and encourage a shift in public thought about death and the burial ritual. The 7,200-square-foot courtyard and columbarium spacesare immediately adjacent to the city sidewalk in Minneapolis's Central Business District. The key design element is a perforated copper fence that abstracts church iconography while acting as a permeable membrane between the private and public realms. The design of the custom limestone colurnbariurn recalls the character of the historic stone church, but it is detailed and executed in a contemporary manner. The courtyard, accessed by stairs, consists of day-brick paving, linear gardens of honey locust trees and creeping thyme, and a series of custom ipe wood and stainless steel benches. A narrow, stainless steel water rill parallels the street and extends the linear form of the columbariurn wall into the courtyard. "There isn't a move to add or take away," the jurors noted.
Honor Award
GENERAL DESIGN,
West 8 + DTAH,
CROSS
SPAnINA WA'VEDECK,
Toronto m Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and loronto BETWEEN a bridge and a boardwalk, the Spadina
Wavedeck is part of a series of ti mber structures that build a coherent identity across the Toronto Central Waterfront. With playfulundulating geometry, this 6,800-square-foor wood structure offers a new, flexible public place that formerly lacked public accessat a heavily used part of the shoreline. The undulating wooden deck with carefully derailed finishes had to be structurally designed to withstand the strong wave force of the lake and any ice shifting, giving it a robust quality befitting its dockland site. The invisible parts of rhe design are equally important: The project also includes the design of new aquatic habi tat in the lake bed, where fiver stone shoals, tree logs, and embankments were installed ro provide shelter for lake fish. This important sustainable feature is subtly highlighted by night by an underwater display of 24 LED lights. "Very poetic," the jurors said. "The moves are so simple, yet accomplished." (See "Reshaping Toronto's Waterfront,·' LAM, December 2008.)
Honor Award
GENERAL DESIGN,
THE BIODESIG . INSTITUTE AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, Tempe, A,"izQlu,L
Ten Eyck Landscape Arcrnw.cts Ine., Phoenix HERE PARKING LOTS and a sterile retention basin once exist. ed, this project unites the four-acre site of a new research facility for the Biodesign Institute and creates a green gateway along a major arterial to Arizona State University. The gardens and architecture do more than just exist together: The buildings supply the desert gardens with collected rainwater and condensate, and the landscape provides comfortable outdoor gathering spaces that can help bri ng the work of the Biadesign Insci tute outdoors. The building is complemented by the sunken garden that showcases both the elevated architecture and a riparian garden below. Biology students can study the wildlife habitat of creatures attracted to the native drought-tolerant urban landscape. The design also meets multi-
modal transportation needs of pedestrians, cycl ists, and autos, as well as future bus and light-rail users, Hardscape is used sparingly, and it is permeable where possible. These significant and innovative sustainable strategies helped the project achieve Arizona's first LEED Platinum-certified status. 'The vernacular planting palette and reuse of water are raised to a more poetic level," the jurors said. GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award
Philadelphu~ , HI.S CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS, opposite Rincon Park in San Francisco, provides tWO unique outdoor social spaces: a half-acre public park and streetscape at grade and an acre of employee roof gar-
OLIN,
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS,
San Fran.cisco
rn
den on the seventh floor. Offering spectacular views, these landscapes, both over structure, are inspired by the De Still movement. The client's passion for modern art inspired the landscape architect to develop a landscape resem bli ng a Mondrian painting. The design program of the landscape at street level called for a publicly accessible park adjacent to the Embarcadero, while the garden serves as an outdoor extension of the employee dining room that extends 360 degrees around the tower, with several entrance points. The garden's plant palette is divided into five sections representing the microclimates of the United States and was selected to ensure a continuous bloom cycle from spring through autumn. Over a former industrial site, the gardens assist in managing storm water runoff and mitigating the urban heat island effect. The Jurors called this project "a beautiful tapestry of color and texture."
187
GENERAL DESIGN,
Honor Award
GENERAL DESIGN,
Honor Award
HTO.
Toronto
rJ THE DELL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF

VIRGINIA,
Cha.rlottesville, Virginia
[]
JIDlet Rosenberg + Associates (JRA), Toronto; a.'lude Cormier At'crutectes Paysagistes, Montreal; Hariri Pontarini At'chitects, Toronto
Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape At'chitects, Clw.rl.ottesville.
HIS URBAN BEACH along Toronto's waterfront carves our a seasonally adaptive public space where people can relax by the water away from downtown. Transformed from an abandoned industrial site, the site draws people to the water, enticing them with a un ique yet flexible design for passive and active uses along lake Ontario. The park consists of a boardwalk along the edge, a sand beach with tall yellow umbrellas, and sodded berms amid paved paths. Visitors go uphill through the green berms as they enter the park and then descend toward the beach and the lake, creating the sense that the ciry is left behind. Capping leaves the contaminated soils undisturbed; all the water that is used for irrigation is lake water. To revive some of the natural ecologies in the lake, fish habitats were built along the edge of the park and in the slip, using recycled concrete from the site and riprap. "The landscape architect has helped Toromo reclaim its lakefronr with strong, bold graphic moves," said the jurors. (See "Reshaping Toronto's Waterfront,'· LAM, December 2008.)
ViI:ginia HE DEll IS AN Ii-ACRE stream valley on the grounds of the University of Virginia, through which the headwaters ofa major regional watershed flow. This multifaceted collaborative project converts a neglected and overgrown low area into a beautiful retention pond surrounded by meandering walks and contemplative sitting places, It also creates a botanical garden of native Virginia plants representative of three physiographic provi nces, restores a 1,200linear-foot section of piped stream to a more naturalized profile, and provides an innovative and elegant stormwarer management system for new projects downstream. The landscape architects created a three-quarter-acre, i2~foot-deep pond and sediment forebay at the Dell capable of managing storrnwarer for several downstream pro]ens. The newly daylighted stream cascades into this precisely calibrated storm water pond. Since its opening, the new Dell park attracts many wildlife species, as well as people from the surrounding university and community neighborhood. "Brava! In an era of environmental cliches, this project is truly original," said the Jurors. (See "Making Hydrology Visible," LAM, August 2008.)
Analysis and Planning Category

ANALYSIS AND PLANNING, Award of Excellence
New Orleans New Orleans COUT ISLAND, A 62-ACRESlTE located within City Park in the heart of New Orleans, traditionally has been a bird-watching and wilderness preserve within the park. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the island's forest in 2005, destroying much of the ground-level vegetation and displacing many animal species, recovery efforts exposed the site to a massive invasion of exotic species. This project focuses on the establishment of a series of resilient infrastructures and highlights the need for reestablishing the ecological systems-as well as the educational, recreational, and cultural systems--of a site in the aftermath of a natural disaster. As pan of the strategic framework for the park's renewal, the team is working coward rhe long-term goal of removing the invasive species and re-
SCOUT ISLAND STRATEGIC PLAN,
Mossop+Michaels,
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establishing native ecosystems that will once again offer rich habicats for birds and wildlife. The jurors admired the "amazing site analysis and program providing a connection between city and park." They said, "The solutions are so beautiful and sirn ple." ANALYSIS AND PLANNING, Honor Award
Brooklyn, New Yorh, New York HE 2005 MASTER PLAN for Brooklyn Bridge Park is a landscape architect-led effort that sets forth an integrated design methodology for transforming a derelict industrial waterfront into a socially and ecologically active urban park. Firmly grounded in an undersra nd mg of th e site's challen ges (con tam III a t ion, srrucrural lim itations, isolation, extreme noise pollution, harsh winds, and blistering sun), the master plan lays the groundwork to create a new civic space on an 854cre sire that occupies 1.3 miles of Brooklyn wa-
BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK,

NIich.. el Van Valkenhul'gb a
Associates Inc.,
rn:
rerfronr, passes underneath two major bridges, and includes a series of mammoth industrial piers. A broad selection of water-oriented programs, including fishing piers, water taxi access, a marina, and a beach, has been proposed. The first phase in the design team's commission to plan, design, detail, and build the park, the master plan recommends preserving and reusing as much of the existi ng marine structure as possible, as well as introducing natural habitats. The jurors called the plan "inventive, amazingly clear, and concise."
Firmly grounded in an understanding of the site's challenges, the master plan lays the groundwork to create a new civic space on an as-acre site.
189
ANALYSIS
AND PLANNING,
Honor Award
LOS ANGELES RIVER REVITAIlZATION MASTER PLAN, Los Angeles
Mia Lehrer + Associates/Civitas Inc.lWenk Associates, Los Allgeles HE LOS ANGELES RlVER Revitalization Master Plan represents more than 10 years of river revitalization activism, bringing together public agencies and stakeholders to shape a bold vision for
runities, develop community planning frameworks based on the river, and create a river management framework. The effOrtrepresents a 25- to 50-year blueprint for implementing comprehensive improvements that would make the river one of the city's most treasured landmarks and a catalyst for a sustainable environment. "The landscape architect did a wonderful job ofpulling the river back and creating a compelling open space," the jurors said.
ANALYSIS AND PLANNING, Honor Award
transforming a 32-mile-Iong, canalized flood-control conveyanceinto a significant recreational and ecological resource. With input from all sectors of the public, 20 "Community Opportunity Areas" along the river were selected to ill usrrare what might be feasible. The master plan developed the following goals: revitalize the river and make it accessible, green the neighborhoods, capture community oppor-
CELEBRATING THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE HERITAGE OF MILLS COLLEGE, Oakland; Ca.lifornia
---
[]
RobeI1 Sahbatini, ASIA, Karen Fiene, and Vonn Mmie l\lay,
The e"f"fort re resents a 25- to SO-year lueprint th t would make the river a catalyst "for a s sta-nable environment.
San Francisco
INCE 1868, MILLSCOLLEGE leaders have shaped the campus with picturesque-era exotic and native plantings and distinguished architecture. In 2006, the college sought guidance on how to best preserve, enhance, and further develop this unique campus setting. Funded by the Getty Foundation and the college, this landscape heritage study distills the values of the college founders and how these were expressed by nationally recognized landscape archi-
tecrs and architects over 140 years. The project singles out iconic resources and recommends how to balance future development with historic preservation. It included historical research, analysis, and planning and culminated in design solutions for rwo key campus precincts A public lecture series, integrarion of the study into college courses, and publication of a book increased awareness and excitement about this study's findings and recommendations. "This is a really special place that means a lot to many, many people," the jurors noted. "The study's illustrations are captivating and the conclusions are truly elegant." ANALYSIS AND PLANNING, Honor Award
ROADSIDE CULTURAL RESOURCES ~ PRESERVATION: A GUIDE TO ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF ROADSIDE SAFETY IMPLEMENTATION PROJECTS ON THE BLUE ruDG E PARI{w"AY, North Carolin(, and Vi'1;>iJlu<
The Jaeger Company, Gaillewille, Georf,>70.
FOCUSED ON defining a method for maintaining the historic integrity of cultural resources associated with historic roadways while idencifying creative ways to implement additional safety features. The resulting guidebook outlines a process for evaluating proposed changes and their impacts on National Park Service (NPS) park toads and parkways The project landscape architect facilitated the creation of this process, and the NPS and Federal Highways Admin istration (FHWA) have since adopted it for derermin ing when current design and safety guidelines will be implemented on their projects. The guidebook's methods will continue to be evaluated and refined by NPS and FHWA as roadway improvement projects are undertaken on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The landscape architect also developed the guidebook's presentation of the Blue Ridge Parkway and its original design intent so [hat users can understand the cultural resources that may be affected by change ..The jurors called the project "a beautifully crafted study that deals with safety issues and still pre~ serves what has always been there." HIS PROJECT
ANALYSIS
AND PLANNING, Houston Houston
Honor Award
BRAYS BAYOU GREENWAY

FRAl\IJ:EWOru(,
----
rn
SWA Gronp,
TRANSFORMS flood-prevention strategies for a Texas bayou into an environmentally and culturally regenerative design and implementation strategy fur a dynamic urban greenway. This visionary framework presents multifaceted solutions that simultaneously restore the surrounding habi tat and offer urban recreation and education. It also identifies concurrent improvements planned by other entities in the bayou corridor that, as a whole, will elevate the area to national status as a large-scale, economically S1.1Stai nable, open -space destination. The project evolved from a publici private flood prevention project. It leverages the significant federal money available for recreational development as a companion to the flood-damage protection improvements. Thirty-one miles of the bayou channel were carefully inventoried, and man-made and natural systems were both documented in a mapped and linked database using GJS. Public workshops were held from one end of the corridor to the other to discuss and draw a "vision ,. and to prioritize comm un ity interest for a range of im provemenrs. The jurors called this "a monumental project thar offers a beautiful solutron." HIS PROJECT
ANALYSIS
AND PLANNING,
Honor Award
URBAN CORRIDOR PLANNING----CITY OF HOUSTON, Houston
rJ
The Planning Partnership
Limited, Toronto HIS STUDY OFFERS A STRATEGY to guide land-use and develop-
tractive, walkable, and transit-supportive urban environment. A key component of the study is exploring the potential to generate identifiable "places"within the city of Houston. "Really significant work," the j urors said. "The analysis is excellent and the illustrations are strong and understandable,"
ANALYSIS AND PLANNING, Honor Award
ment decisions along six corridors in Houston where light-mil transit is to be expanded. It defines opporturuties for community building, transit-oriented development, and urban placernaking. It breaks the mold for the city by suggesting that the public realm is key to generating the livable city and presents a comprehensive strategy for achieving it. Informed by an extensive stakeholder and community consultation process, the study details implementation ofTransit Oriented Development, a form of development that is higher density, based on high-quality design standards, and scaled to the pedestrian. It supports a mix of uses with active uses at grade, places emphasis on a high-quality pedestrian realm, and results in an at-
STABIAE ARCILi\.EOLOGICAL PARK,

Bay of Naples, Italy
Tom Leader Studio, Berkeley, Ca.4{ornia
oI;'The analysis is exce lent and the -Ilustrations are strong and understandable .. "
TABL'lli WAS AN ANCIENT ROMAN RESORT TOWN perched on a seaside bluff that was destroyed in the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Excavating the ancient villas reveals a rich well of information, but exposure to the elements and to tourism threatens the site" The landscape architect conceived of a single, linear park to organize accessand provide visitor amenities while maintain ing the fragile ruins in situ by using scaffolds.The park would link the existing and future excavations along the old seacoast bluff and include visitor centers, trails, and open space overlooking the sea, as well as venues for entertainment. The scaffolding structures are extremely changeable and expandable, well suited to a situation like an excavation where the final configuration may be unknown. The project team resisted the urge for mini museums, relying instead on more provisional, informal tent sites for pursuit of the academic ex-
....--------LIl'/OtR ,...-
vl"mn
f>(RlimE o;ouRl t:£NIlR
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NV_o,rUM
perience of archaeology. "A knockout!" the jurors declared. "A brand new idea and the kind of innovation we need to see more of." ANALYSIS AND PLANNING, Honor Award
Kansas Kansas City, Missouri N2007, AFTER AN EF- 5 (Enhanced Fujira scale) tornado struck Greensburg, Kansas, and destroyed more than 90 percent of the town's buildings and structures, the townspeople knew that to preserve the future of the town, they needed to create a long-term vision for rebuilding. That vision came in the form of a comprehensive master planning process. They seized the opportunity to repair the destruction with a rriple-botrom-line planning approach-r-eo become socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable. The master plan document emerged directly rrom the community and represen ts the planning team's recommendations, the city's operational requirements, and input from many stakeholder groups. Due co the immediate needs of the community, the process for completing the plan was compressed into tWOphases lasting six months. Phase 1 presents the bones of the plan, while Phase 2 will deal with ongoing energy discussions, an economic development plan, and the implementation plan. "They've created standards that are pragmatic, modest, and achievable," the jurors said.
GREENSBURG SUSTAINABLE[;J COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, Greensburg,

BNINI,
ANALYSIS
AND PLANNING,
Honor Award
GEOS NET ZERO ENERGY NEIGHBORHOOD, A_rvada., Colorado

David Kahn Studio, Eldorado Springs, Colorado; Michael Tavel Al"cmtecb;, Dent>'er
rn
EOS WILL BE THE LARGEST net-zero energy, urban mixed-use neighborhood in the United States. Earth and sun power will symbiotically and completely sustain the community's energy needs and replace all fossil fuels. The 25-acre neighborhood supports 282 dwelling units and is intertwined with natural systems, srormwarerfed landscapes, and civic places. Rain and snowmelt feed street-tree rain gardens, percolation parks, plazas, and comrnuniry gardens. Urban density is optim ized for passive solar access, and a third of the site will be parks and open space. Energy is generated from groundsource hear networks and phctovolraics systems on every rooftop. The architecture uses high-performance building envelopes and super-efficient mechanical systems. The overall town plan aims to foster biocivic relationships with natural processes, neighborhood ecology, and environmental stewardship. Geos received final development approval from the city of Arvada, Colorado, and was slated to begin construction in slimmer 2009. The jurors noted this is "the first project that looks at solar in such a strong way and works with water collection. Great collaboration between the landscape architect and other designers."
Earth and sun poW'er W'illsYlDbiotically and cOlDpletely sustain the cOIDRlunity's energy needs and replace all 'fossil 'fuels ..
ANALYSIS
AND PLANNING,
Honor Awa'rd
ROCKEFELLER PARK STRATEGIC MASTER PLAN, Cleoeland.
[]
SitewOl'ks, Charlottesville, l'irginia

PLANNING EFFORT for Cleveland's Rockefeller Park introduces a layered system of design strategies that sirnulraneousl y address issues of regenerating ecological functionality, susHIS STRATEGIC
ways, redevelopment projects of various scales, needs for improved lighting, better access, and the search for culturally appropriate means to improve the health of Do an Brook. Mitigating flood problems and envisioning better approaches to regional storm water management also form core elements of the plan. Each design approach is developed co provide benefits at a variety of scales that serve both the park and the larger region. "This shows people how to dream on a larger scale," (he jurors said. ANALYSIS AND PLAN:NING, Honor Award
hoW'to dreaDl on a larger scale.

""This shoW's people
'P'P
raining cultural health, and reestablishing community vibrancy. Its purpose was to reirnagine University Circle, the park's heart, as a new gateway in the form of a healing garden set in an oak grove. The newly formed riparian garden wi 11be marked by the day lighting of Do an Brook and the reconnection to its historic scone culvert walls. The plan addresses aging physical park infrastructure, alteration of road-
A CIVIC VISION AND ACTION PLAN FOR III THE CENTRAL DELAWARE RIVER, Philadelphia
Wallace Roberts & Todd LLC,
PROCESS, til is plan advances a powerful civic vision and dearly outlines implementation strategies focusing on seven miles of the Delaware River along Philadelphia. More than 4,000 citizens helped to determine the UILT FROM A TRULY COLLECnVE
r'hiladelphia.
plan's goals through a yearlong, large-scale, open and transparent process led by the University of Pennsylvania's Project for Civic Engagement. The plan seeks to ensure environmental function and public access through the creation of 11 new parks and a riverfront greenway of more than 300 acres, ecological restoration of tbe riverbank where habitat creation is viable, a multiuse trail, and an extensive, pedestrian-friendly network of streets that includes transit and a grand civic boulevard. These improvements provide a development framework for more than 500 acres, for which design and implementation guidelines are provided to extend the urban fabric ro the river. The Jurors called the plan "very believable and effeccive. {It has} lots of small solutions presented in a very direct way-s-irs full of possibilities." ANALYSIS AND PLANNING, Honor Award
THE FLOYDS FORK GREENWAY MASTER PLAN, Louisoille, Kenfucky
Philadelphia HIS I.V1ASTERPLAN ESTABLISHES the general design direction for "the Fork," more than 3,200 acres of permanently protected parkland stretched over 19 miles on the eastern edge of Louisville, Kentucky. The plan defines a blueprint to mcrease biodiversity through habitat preservation and enhancement, improve water quality through innovative stormwater management, preserve agricultural land, and measure the regional sustainability COStS and benefits of plan proposals implemented over time ..The sheet size of the Fork-cplus its magnificent views, natural beauty, and unique history-iplaces it among the most important urban park development projects in the region, if not the whole country, today. The general public participated in an 18-month collaborative planni ng process to frame a long-term vision and lay the groundwork for this master plan. In the near term, the basic framework of community parks, trails, and other amenities will be built, and, over time as other partners join the effort, many other features and recreational amenities will be designed into the Fork. "Now is the time to get this stuff right, and here is a great example," the jurors said. ANALYSIS AND PLANNING, Honor Award
Wallaf;e Roberts & Todd LLC,
TRINITY RIVER CORRIDOR DESIGN GUIDELINES, Dallas
rn
Dallas will establish the character and measure of SUS~ tainabiliry for a nine-mile urban park, floodway, and transportation improvement project that will anchor the transformation of central Dallas into mixed-use and transit-oriented neighborhoods. The context of this project is a river channel coursing through 2,300 acres of mostly inaccessible floodway separated from the city by 35-foot-tall earthen levees. The guidelines call for 80 percent of the park area to be reserved for low-maintenance landscapes, such as recreational lakes and a for-profit parkway, that can narurally withstand flood events. The remaining 20 percent of the park-e-about 480 acres-c-is devoted to more intensively used trails and promenades, amphitheaters, play areas, and athletic fields. The combination has been calibrated to safely convey a Standard Project Flood, the equivalent of an 800-year flood event. The design team currently is working on the detailed documen ration for a $ 300 million first phase of park development to be completed in 2014. The Jurors liked the project's beautiful forms and light-handed approach. "We really hope this is implemented," they said.
HESE GUIDEUNES
Wallace Roberts & Todd LLC,
Residential Design Category

RESIDENTIAL DESIGN, Honor Award
LEE LANDSCAPE,
Calistoga, California
[1
Archit.ectLU'e, So.n,.1nseimo, Co.lifomitL HE APPROACH TO THIS NAPA VALLEYhilltop property was to have the lightest touch on the 30 acres of land as possible. The landscape architects wok special care to collect native seeds from the site prior to construction, as the risk of fire prompted them to remove dying pine trees and replant the site. The weekend house consists of four small structures that total 2,500 square feet of indoor space and
BIssen Landseape
are connected by crushed stone paths made of stone from the site. The land immediately surrounding the buildings and the elevated lap pool was planted with a naturalistic garden that was carefully designed not to look designed at all. Island plantings spaced with grasses that are cut back during fire season decrease chances for the spread of fire, while a small area of lawn ad jacent to the house acts as an additional potential fire buffer. The jurors called this project "an effortless, Zen solution creating a strong sense of place."
SOIWInu.,
STONE EDGE FARM,
California.
The jurors called this project ""an et="fortless, Zen so ution creating a strong sense 0 lace .. '" 961
At·cmt.ectLll'e, San Francisco HIS PROJECT, DESIGNED AS A RETREAT for the clients on a site adjacent to their primary residence, is composed of elegantly balanced and linked elements wirhi n a serene, uncluttered landscape. The fatm itself serves as the primary residence for the owners, who built it up over the past decade to include a commercial vineyard, an olive orchard, and an organic garden that supplies several local restaurants. In
Andt·ea Cochran
Landscape
rn
This project is composed o'F elegantly balanced and linked elements within a serene, uncluttered landscape",
2001, the owners bought an additional adjacent three and a half acres that had been a ramshackle commune. To meet the owners' desire for a simple and modern retreat, a carefully sited trilogy of structures-a celestial observatory, a spa, and a stone pyramid-are grounded by linear forms, including a reflecting pool, a raised 80~foot lap pool, and bars of olive trees. The composition floats within meadows of droughttolerant grasses, and a nearby creek prompted careJi:tlconsideration of a grading plan that would absorb potential flooding. "Captivating," the jurors pronounced. "The environmentaleftons are quietly done and done well,"
RESIDENTIAL DESIGN, Honor Award Napa Valley, California
POOL PAVILION FOREST,
Tom Leader Studio, Ber.keley, California HIS PRO)Ecr IS A REMODELING of an existing l o-acre domestic and vineyard landscape for a weekend house. The landscape architeet created one precinct for the vernacular farmhouse with its surrounding butterfly garden and a more abstract precinct for the pool and an experience. The fundamental structure is a cube-shaped underwarer grotto space in the pool, which appears to Boat on the water but acrually sits on stainless steel columns. An eight-Foot-square oculus in the grotto's ceiling is uplighted with programmable LED lights designed by a lighting artist. Facing the pool is a pavilion with an aluminumclad "box" set to one side containing changing rooms and a serving kitchen. Between the pavilion and the base of the forested slope, a pair of sear-height concrete walls frames a 30-faot-wide, 200-foot-long lavender garden designed fat srrolli ng. A central stone path leads to the base of the forested slope and reaches rhe portal of a large cave that was excavated for use as an an gallery. "Everything works, from the overall site plan to the line of the pool," said the jurors.
rn
SPECKMAN HOUSE LANDSCAPE,

St. Pa,ul, MinnBSota
Coen + Partners Inc., MiJUwapoli~ HIS PROJECT ENVELOPS an existing, 1950s modern single-family house on a generous sire with considerable topographic change tram north to south. It is a complete redesign of the entire 1.3-acre property, with its beautiful oak forest left untouched. The design program includes integration of a saltwater swimming pool and spa, multiple dining and lounging areas, and mitigation of the slope in the rear yard to create usable space. The landscape architect employed a high percentage of recycled material; for instance, the site is grounded by a circulation system of 12-inch by 24~inch white concrete pavers with recycled glass and high fly-ash content. Concrete wails, two in the front yard and two in the backyard, join a 1O'i-foot-long Cor-Ten steel wall to define spaces The planting plan eliminates invasives and employs native material that now regularly artracts wildlife to the propertys revegerared southern slope. "Fearless through all seasons," is how [he Jurors categorized this project.
RESIDENTIAL
DESIGN,
Honor Award
Seattle rJ Seattle HIS PROJECT'S SLEEK, midcenrury modern residence rests on the ground light! y and invi res an earthy counterbalance from irs landscape redesign. Facili rating privacy ar the en try and maximizing mountain views from the living spaces, the slope of the building's shed roof is lowest at the carport and expands ro create the tallest ceiling heights at the view windows. With sensitive siting,
HrLLTOP RESIDENCE,
Paul R. Broadhw'St + Associates,
the house appears modest in size but in actuality is considerably larger, because the studio is tucked beneath this level. The landscape architect engaged the architecture in more meaningful dialogue by giving coherency ro the hardscape and landscape and expanding the terrace area so that it now reads as an extension of adjacent interior space. Two moods were emphasized: rhe shady introspection of the entry and the sunlit expansiveness of the social view area. The jurors called this project "the real deal, with little inventive surprises and moves," RESIDENTIAL DESIGN, Honor Award
Two nloods were enlphasized: the shady introspection o'f the entry and the sunlit expansiveness o'fthe social view area.
'T
San Francisco San francisco HE CONCEPTIJAL BASIS of the 800-square-foot Crack Garden is to reveal the potential for beauty underlying the concrete and asphalt that are the predominant ground-plane materials of the urban landscape. By eliminating portions of the existing concrete and exposing
THE CRACK GARDEN,
CMG Landscape Ardlitecture,
rn
the soil beneath, new opportunities for a garden arise. Although minimal in scope and budget, the Crack Garden is refined in its creation of well -programmed spaces for the residents of this four-unit building. The edges of the garden are well defined by existing buildings and new fences, indudi ng a stai nless steel cable trellis that stretches continuously across the top of the fence and continues across the neighbor's garage. A Jacaranda tree adds scale, helps contain the space, and offers filtered shade and summer color. Plantings within the cracks are somewhat random, changing wi th the whims and desires of the resident gardeners, but usually include a wide range of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and decorative weeds. "Whm a wonderful idea that can be used everywhere," said the jurors. RESIDENTIAL DESIGN, Honor Award
OAK SAVANNA VINEYARDS,
Los Olivos, Calijomu).
Lutsko Assoeiat.es, San Francisco
HIS DESIGN INTERVENTION transforms a weed-choked irrigation pond-a former cattle watering hole-s-i nto a favori te loca[ion for family gatherings and vineyard events on [his 450-acre site. The landscape architect selected the pond site, surrounded by native California oaks and grasses, as the focus of a transformation that rep~ resents a new relationship to the land. Two curved concrete walls redefine the water's edge, creating an adjacent social space. A break in the walls invites visitors onto a small intimate deck that hovers just above the water's surface. Set back from the concrete walls are a se-
J;J;Each gesture the andscape architect R1ade engages helandscapein a pretty suave w-ay."
ries oflow, local fieldstone walls, defining a larger area capable of accommodating 200 guests. The low walls are connected by steps and pathways leading guests to the house and vineyard parking area, "Each gesture the landscape architect made engages the landscape in a pretty suave way," the jurors remarked. RESIDENTIAL DESIGN, Honor Award Iackson Hole, Wyomillg[:]
TWO RIVERS RESIDENCE,
Venlone Landscape Architects (VLA Inc.),
lackson, Wyoming HE INSPIRATION FOR THIS FAi\ULY RETREAT was taken from the dramatic natural beauty of its western setting and adjacent national parks and forests and expressed in the honest simplicity of forms and materials, The home si te, located at the confluence of tWO rivers, is surrounded by a diverse range of habitars-s-weclands, forest, grasslands, and a pristi ne spring creek. The building program incorporated materials reclaimed from old ranch buildings, including an 1890s stone creamery that was found in Montana and moved to the site. A pond constructed along the main entry sets the stage for the home site, and an additional pond on the west side of the house provides areas for both entertaining and quiet reflection. The patio is constructed of sand-set, regionally sourced stone, using larger srones as steps Werlands to the south of the house were restored to their original condition. The Jurors called this project "exquisite," saying, "The simplicity of the plantings and stonework sits so comfortably in this landscape."
RESIDENTIAL
DESIGN,
Honor Award Vellic.e, Califol"llia Los Angeles
Communications Category
VIENNA WAYRESIDENCE,
IJ
Mat"lnol Radziner
& Associates,
COMMUNICATIONS,
Award of Excellence
the residence within the surrounding California native landscape. The sire IS divided into thirds, rnassmg the architecture at the outer edges and the garden spaces in the middle to maximize the amount of physical and visual open space within a narrow, urban lot. The architecture and landscape create a seamless transition between the I nrerior and exterior living spaces. The element of water links a corridor of exterior spaces-swimming pool, garden roof, riparian planting-and intersects with the interior spaces at the sunken kitchen. The front garden works as a more "mature" space with simple, monochromatic, architectural plantings, while the rear garden becomes a place for children's play. The backyard planting design, which includes a lawn ofbuffulo grass, is more colorful, varied, and organically arranged. "The front elevation is so beautiful with the sumac against the black plaster," said the Jurors. "J t represents very dear thinking about landscape architecture."
HIS PROJECT FULLYJNTEGRATES
JoLA.-JOURNAL OF LANDSCAPE A"RCHITECTURE
rn
Georg D. W. Callwey GmbH & Co. KG,

HE)OURNAL OF LANDSCAPE
Mllllidt
VoLA) strives to support, stimulate, and broaden scholarship in landscape architecture and enhance the internee between academic research and professionalpractice. This peer-reviewed journal of the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (ECLAS), first published in 2006, fosters research methodologies specific to landscape archieeccure and aspires coexpand the range of communication modes for re~ search. By welcoming articles that address any aspect oflandscape architecture, the journal aims to cultivate the diverse identities of the discipline. The editors are five landscape scholars from five different European conntries: Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom.)oLA currently is published biannually in English, with quarterly publication planned for 2010. Injanuary 2009, AIKHITECTURE
100
an electronic version of the journal was launched, and online subscriprious have been made available in addition to print subscriptions. ECLAS plans a web page to supplement the journal's contents. "A must-read for today"s practitioner. Such an inspiring publication. A real contribution to the profession," said the jurors. COMMUNICATIONS, Honor Award
UP BY ROOTS: HEALTHY TREES AND SOILS IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

James Urban, FASLA, Annapolis, Maryland
p By ROOTS IS A COMPREHENSIVE BOOK written for landscape architects on the subject of soils and trees in the built environment. The jurors predict it will become the desk reference for the profession on including trees in landscape designs. The scientific knowledge of trees and soils is distilled to the most essential information and incorporated into peer-reviewed recommendations, from in itial soil analysis and design phases through the installation phase. Abundantly illustrated, Up B), Roots also will appeal to orh-
er proressions, including planners, architects, and those working in forestry. Part one presents the basics on soil science and how it relates to trees, while part two explains the "process of planning and implementing landscape designs to ensure healthy trees that can improve the quality of places where people live, work, and play." "Such a wonderful contribution to the body of knowledge for the profession. A must-have for any practitioner," the jurors enthused. "J USf packed with great, new information. ,. COMMUNICATIONS, Honor Award
THE MASTER LIST OF DESIGN PROJECTS OF THE OLMSTED FIRM 1857-1979

Lucy Lawhss, ASLA, Cal"oline Loughlin, and Lauren Meier, ASLA, Editor"s
Ol mste d·
Firm
Design Projects
HfS BOOK OFFERS A COMPREHENSIVE GU.ID.E to the work of the landscape archi recrure firm founded by Frederick Law Olmsted. Searchable by project type and location and comprising more than 6,000 jobs, this second edition includes new research, illustrations, and essays that demonstrate the importance of the Olmsted firm. The book presents inThe Master l.ist of formation in an accessible format so that the variety and geographic distribution of the work is comprehensible to diverse users. The book was published in April 2008, follow°f"lhe ing nearly two years of research, writing, editing, design, and priming by a large group of volunteer authors and editors who contributed their time, working with the staff of the National Association for Olmsted Parks and the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. The aesthetic presentation of The Afaster List was achieved by a skilled graphic designer and through the acquisi(ion of images of noteworthy Olms ted landscapes. The jurors called this project "an important volume for all landscape architects and urban planners to track and research Olmsted projects in their cities."
COMMUNICATIONS,
Honor Award
ONE DROP AT A TlMENEW RESOURCEFUL PARADIGMS AT 168 ELM AVE.

de la fletu· LLC, Elmhurst, Illinois
HIS WEB SITE DOCUMENTS a residential pilot project in Elmhurst, Illinois, with its green roof, rain barrels, porous pavement, rain gardens, gravel grass, cistern, and bioswale. It clearly demonstrates and explains sustainable rainwater, stormwarer, and runoff treatments for a home owner's landscape architecture. Hel pi ng to fill the information gap on sustainable residential projecrs, it provides a variety of helpful resources that offer accessible, in-the-ground examples demonstrating the feasibility of and confidence in sustainable landscape solutions. It also shares the lessons learned along the
way, provides merrics for the potential and observed runoff volume reductions, and explains cumulative benefits to the larger community. The web si te has provided a successful comm unicarion and feedback mechanism through e-mail inquiries, media inquiries, and requests for tours and speaking engagements by the landscape architect, as well as a steady stre-am of visitors to the pilot project. "Truly marvelous!" the jurors exclaimed. "Best of all, it demonstrates how things will really look-s-nor just drawings, but real photographs throughout the seasons." COMMUNICATIONS, ilonor Award
MICHAEL VAN VALKENBURGH ASSOCIATES: [] RECONSTRUCTING URBAN LANDSCAPES

University of Pennsylvama, School of Design, P/w"delphia
This web site docul11entsa esidential pilot project with its own green roo", ain barrels, porous pavement, rain gardens, and bioswa e.
HIS BOOK EXPLORES conceptual shifts in the work of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates as the firm moves from a languagedriven design logic to one that is largely operational, as required of postindustrial sites. The essays collected in this volume focus on the intersection between the conceptual and the technological, on the negotiations that must be made between design intent and the realities of the sites to transform them lI1tO sustainable ecologies of lasting social significance. The book is scholarly yet intended for a broad audience of designers, historians, ecologists, and environmentalists.
Although rooted in the methods oflandscape architectural criticism, its writing style was carefully crafted to be accessible to the nonspecialist reader. Each chapter in the volume is devoted to one project and includes extensive visual documentation as well as a critical interpretation of the work. .A photo essay of a built work-made of four to six full-bleed, double-page spreads-opens each chapter. "This is much more than a monograph; ir's a real case study contai ning some of the best drawings we've seen," the jurors said. COMMUNICATIONS,. Honor Award Budapest
INTERACTIVE MAPPING PROJECT,

Ujirany Group, Budapest
l3
OF TRAVELERS pass through Budapest's Nyugati Sea[jon transit hub every day. And, as 111 many modern ones, resrdents ofB udapesr tend to live isolated lives surrounded by mangers. The landscape architects created the Interactive Mapping Projectthe winning entry in a public art competition-to generate a series of temporary public art installations at Nyugati Transit Station and rwo other locations that would break down the barriers preventing individuals in an urban setting from communicating with one another. The project consisted of a large satellite map of Budapest covering the station floor and a series of stickers placed on nearby pillars. Participants used the stickers to label locations around the city they found to be noteworthy because of the location's positive or negative attriblites. Over time, the map was transformed from a simple orthophoto Into a multidimensional model that represented how people viewed the city. "Amazing and engagi ng. The ultimate in communications," the jurors said. HOUSANDS
Research Category
RESEARCH, Honor Award
RESTORATION ECOLOGY PROCESSES TO ADVANCE NATURAL IANDSCAPE DESIGN

Steven N. Handel, Honorary New Jersey ASLA,
New
rn
Brunsuncle,
HABITATS IN OUR URBAN CENTERS is difficult, challenged by highly degraded conditions; small, fragmented parcels; and political conflicts in land uses. Moreover, the potential for restoring sustainable landscapes in these degraded conditions is poorly understood. This project encompasses a wide series offield experiments on degraded urban lands to define ecological processes important to restoring natural habitats in stressful conditions. These experiments demonstrate ways that newly restored habitats can enhance ecosystem services of heavily degraded urban centers and make evident the strong interplay between a site design undergoing ecological restoration and its landscape matrix. Planning fot biodiversity and mutual relationships (seed dispersers and pollinators) will improve landscape design and ensure sustainable habitats. And because urban areas are suffi.lsed with alien species in all habitats, management and monitoring of native stands are still required to prevent alien threats. The jurors were impressed with the project's "intriguing conclusions that provide extremely useful dara for the profession, clients, and the public at large." ESTORING
Stephanie Stubbs is the flJrmer managing editlJr Df Archi recture magazine and AlArchirecr, the newsletter of the Am.erira1~institute of Anhitf'£ts. She isa freelan{e editodwritet" in Arlinbrton, Virgzma.
21st Century Security and CPTED: Designing forCrificallnfrastructure Protection and Crime Prevention, by Randall l. Atlas;
Boca Raton, Florida:

Reviewed
CRC
Press, 2008; 560 pages, $89.95.

Hopper,
FASLA
by Leonard
HIS BOOK HIGHUGHTS the latest strategies and technology in the evolving practice of security design, Randy Atlas, an architect and criminologist, is joined by a number of respected contributors who bring their varying expertise to the book's conrent, which in itself reinforces the strength of a multidisciplinary approach to security design, a recurring theme of the book. The book is logically broken up into four distinctive pans. Part one covers basic concepts, planning, and understanding crime prevention through environrnenral design (CPTED) and its latest evolution and associated liability. Part two discusses assessing threat and risk, designing to address different threats, and a variety of national standards and codes. Parr three addresses security design responses to very specific scenarios. Part four covers measuring success and conducting a CPTED survey. 21st Century Security and CPTED avoids the "redundancy" pitfall that can detract from the effectiveness of a book with many contributors writing on a common sub jeer. Instead, the chapters are well coordinated with just enough overlap to provide a relationship between sections and smoothflowing continuity of the subject matter throughout the book. The text is complememed by ample photos, sketches, plans, and diagrams that effectively illustrate the concepts and strategies. For those readers familiar with Atlas's style of presentation, his engaging humor and common-sense approach can be found subtly integrated throughout [he book. One of the real strengths of the book is the use of bulle ted or numbered lists and surveys that clearly disseminate information in a direct and concise manner that is easily understandable. The topic summaries at the end of each section provide helpful reinforcement of the major principles and points covered. A number of specific subject areas make this book an important resource. One is the stressing of a multidisciplinary approach to site security design with all of the participants (including landscape architects) comi ng together e-arlyin the planning and design process. Another is the recognition that CPTED principles are an underlying basis for an effective approach to security design. The inclusion of sections on second-generation CPTED strategies and
104
The focus on everyday criminal activity in addition to the less likely terrorist threat provides a good balance.
offensible space (as a counterpoint to defensible space) offers unique perspectives not ofien found in books on rhis topic. As a book with a broad-spectrum approach, 21 It Century Sa"Urity and CPTED covers not only security design focused on terrorist threats against high-profile targets but also the more common criminal activity that is found in our schools, housing developments, hospitals, commercial are-as,and public gathering places. Orren overlooked when discussing security design, this type of criminal activity is more likely to occur than a terrorist act, and the concepts and strategies presented in this book can be very valuable to the majority of designers who should be integrating securiry elements and concepts into these types of projects. With the author's background as an architect, the amount of detail included on some aspectS of buildings and building systems may be more than would be considered useful from a landscape architect's perspective. However, understanding these details IS important to appreciate the roles and relationships of the various professionals in a multidisciplinary approach to security design and how the role of the landscape architect is integrated into that approach. The principles and strategies related co site design and related areas typically falling under the responsibility of the landscape architect are well presented. The book falls a bit short with the specific site design examples presented. The varied palette of site elements, natural materials, and construction details that landscape architects have at our disposal and our design experrise in how these are applied are not as well represented as they could be. The examples provided are a bit simplistic and lack the complexity and context that would berrer illustrate the points being conveyed. Overall, this is a good source of information deali ng wi th security design. In addition to the information provided in the book itself, the impressive list of references at the end of each section will be helpful for those looking to learn more about a specific topic. For the landscape architect, this book might not be a primary resource, but it would be a valuable secondary resource. The focus on addressing everyday threats and criminal activity in addition to the less likely terrorist threat provides a good balance co other books written on this subject. The book provides some unique perspectives and an evolution of fundamental principles that provoke thought and creativity
Leonard Hopper, FASLA, is a /allt/Jfape ardntea from New Y"rk City and a pmt preJident of liS LA.
I Lapdscape
Arcbilechlfe
AU GU S T 2009
Re-Creating Neighborhoods for Successful Aging, by Pauline S. Abbott, Nancy Carman,jr.u;k Carman, and Bob Srarfo, ASLA; Baltimore, Maryland, 2008; 304
pages, $38.95.
.... THE GARDENS
OF FRANK
LLOYD WRIGHT,
by Derek Fell; London: Frances Lincoln Ltd.,
Reviewed
by Claire
t.a t a n e
2009; 160 pages. $40. PHOTOGRAPHER DEREK FELL'Scaptivating images accompany dtscusston about Iconic examples of Frank Lloyd Wrlght·s work, his garden sculpture, the influence of Jens Jensen, and plants of prairie and desert. Unfot" tunately, the simplistic text lacks scholarship and focus, and Its credibility Is diminished by numerous copyedltlng rntstakes. Amateurish watercolor plans, absent scale and material detail, conflict with the author'amettculous photography. Certainly this SUbject deserves exploration, but to be usefut, all components should be of consistent quality.
.... RESILIENT PEAK Oil CITIES: RESPONDING CHANGE, TO
N2030, A MAJORITY OF BABY BOO11:ERS will have reached retirement age, and 24 percent of the U.S. population will be 65 and over. Pauline S. Abbott, Nancy Carman, Jack Carman, and Bob Scarfo, ASLA, have compiled a timely and thoughtful collaboration aiming "to initiate increased dialogue and awareness anl0ng all professionals who can playa role in re-creating our neighborhoods for the successful aging of todays and tomorrow's aging adulrs." Re-Creating Neighwrhrxxls jor Staassjul Aging is a collection of scholarly articles from academics in the fields of both public health and landscape architecture. With a growing body of research connecting the built environment with increased incidence of asthma, eczema, heart disease, and obesity, we are at a cusp of understanding the urban design implications and possibilities of bringing these distinct fields together. This book promises to be an invaluable resource for anyone working with or interested in issues surrounding aging, unillE-C.Rf AT ING versal design, and health care. As a teacher, I would recomNf1GHBOR~IOODS r-ntI! '1" cr I ~'f'I/( mend the book to students for its history cf long-rerrn care in the United States, irs rich resources relating public health to the bui It environment, and its compilations of the benefi ts of urban nature. As a community member I would recommend (he book to my city officials for making the connection between public health and the built environment and for its look at alternatives to planned retirement communities. As a practicing professional, I found the entire book informative and valuable for my work with assisted living environments and an aging population. The most important target audience for Re-Creating Neighborhoods may be city land-use planners. This book is also meaningful for anyone who is caring for an aging parent or beading coward being cared for themselves. The topic's timeliness and universal appeal suggest a potentially broad, massmarket audience that this book's cur rem format may not attract. In fact, the only disappointing aspect of the book is its limiting academic journal-like packaging. So whiJeall the authors had surprisingly concise and readable voices (no doubt also attributable to strong editing), the format does not lend itself to easily accessible information. For instance, several chapters offer illusrrative photographs and descriptive maps, but their small black-and-white format makes them difficult to interpret. I was also surprised by the very small print given rhat the topic is successful agi ng. The baby boomers mentioned often in the book will have a difficult time reading the small font. Though this current edition is costand resource-efficient, the topic's relevance and audience deserve developing universal design publishing techniques for the general population. TIle successful aging solutions this book poses will also create healthy and viable places for the rest of us. In the past few years a tiny crack has been opened inco an entire world of potential multidisciplinary research and writing topics connecting human health with the built environment. With the United States's economy restructuring irselfand the new administration redefining development strategies, there is no better time for disciplines to expand their horizons and reconnect with their greater communities: healthy and fmgi Ie,young and old, within and outside our professional fields. This book is an important resource in an evolving view of landscape architects' roles in creati ng environments. ~_;."'~_
A.ND CLIMATE
by Peter Newman,
Timothy Beatley, and Heather 166 pages, $30. THETWOLEAD AUTHORSre a professors of sustainablllty, and they bring that background to an examination of the future of cities. After proposing four possible scenarios-collapse., rurallzed, divided, and resilient city-the authors discuss their
Boyer; Washlngton,D.C .. Island Press, 2009; :
vision for resilient cities with a strong focus on transportation

.... RUIN: AMERICA,
options.
OF A VANISHING
PHOTOGRAPHS
by Brian Vanden Brink; Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 2009: 144 pages, $65.
THIS
LARGE-FORMAT
VOLUME features 120 stun-
RUIN
ning color and black-andwhite photographs of architectural ruins set in out-of-the-way, mostly rural landscapes. As such, it celebrates the picturesque melancholy of farmhouses, churches,
factories, military bases, and other structures that were built and then abandoned. An introduction by preservationist Mansfield is the only text.
A UGU SJ 2009
Claire Latanepraaires landscape anhitectttre with EIT Desigr:in Pasadena, Calijarnia, a12dteacbe:a senior d£Jignstlldio at Cal Poly Pomona.
writer Howard
Landscape Architedure
1105
u
This month features an assortment of new plants for 2009.
Euphorbia 'Tasmanian Tiger'
rr:
A Nursery,
new plant available from Heronswood Euphotbla 'Tasmanian Tiger' was discovered in a garden in Tasmania. With pale blue-green leaves edged 10 white and topped with broad heads of flowers, Tasmanian Tiger is best used in containers, according to Heronswood. Growing tWO to three feet in height and width, Tasmanian Tiger should be planted in full sun to light shade in well-drained soil. It blooms from late winter through faLL For more information, please visit www.
1.Y!1li.
Pfilotus exaltatus •Joey' exaltatus, more commonly re. ferred to as Joey, IS a new plant that can be found at Park Seed Company. A native of central Aust!"'alia,Joey is heat and drought tolerant, making it suitable for water-restricted gardens. A shore-lived herbaceous annual,Joey can be used in containers or planted in full sun and well-drained soil. Joey is fuse growing from seed and grows between 12 and 15 inches tall and 12 inches wide. It continually produces three- to four-inch-long conical spikes of feathery flowers on top of thick, silver-green foliage. The botrlebrush-shaped flower spikes are silver with a darker neon-pink color near the tips. For more information, please visit www.parkJeed.com.
Sedum 'Autumn Charm'
A tumn
beronsucod:
variant of 'Autumn Joy' sedum, 'AuCharm' is a new plant that is available from Walters Gardens. Long blooming, Aucumn Charm is easy co
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1061
~UGU ST 2009
oped at the Chicago Botanic Garden and is well suited to prairie or meadow settings. Once established, Solar Flare is drought tolerant and excellent in sandy soils and tolerant of clay soils chat are not overly wet. Solar Flare is a long-living plant that produces extensive root systems and is therefore best not disturbed once established. It 15 available from Heronswood at
UJUJUJ.
Baptisia 'Solar Flare'
aptiJia 'Solar Flare' was originally devel-
heromwood. com.
grow and only needs ordinary, well-drained soil to flourish. Autumn Charm has unique bluish-green foliage with a creamy margin and white buds that eventually open up to pale pink and then deep pink flowers. Nor only is Autumn Charm long blooming, late spring to winter, bue it also attracts bucrerflies. Aummn Charm grows 12 to 18 inches in height and the same in width and is commonly used in mixed borders, raised beds, sloping banks, and sunny perennial areas. For more information, please visit
WlUW.
Bergenis 'Pink Dragonfly'
glossy foliage and Wlth its that tumevergreen with winrer, leaves deep red Pink Dragonfly, also available from Heronswood, is a unique new Bergenia. Pink Dragonfly is a small plant, reaching only 12 inches in height and width. In spring, large rounded sprays of cherry-pink flowers bloom. A mountain native, Pink Dragonfly needs good d rainage and a location offering protection from wintry winds. Plane in full sun copart shade. For more information, please visit wunabenmsuood.tom.
waltersgarckm.com.
in the November issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine and

ft'n:w:'ll'~'I"CII
the
in the December issue.
ASLA members specify more than $140 billion in
products and services each year.

ASLA
Contact advertising@asla.org or 202-216-233510 schedule your advertising in these special issues.
AUG
us r
2009
Landscape Architectllre
1107
CRITIC
AT LARGE
(Con/mued/rom Page 120) vending booth sold other light comestibles to a queue of eager customers. But the use seems in spite of the design, rather than because of it. Certain details seem to posirively discourage use. The thickly spaced rows of trees seem wall-like. I snaked through the trunks but saw no one else doing so. Long, low, backless steel benches serve as another barrier to entry. Oddly, beyond the end of one low bench is
Looking forward to the September issue of landscape Architecture, which features

WEST HARLEM PIERS PARK This park, sbadoued by highway ooerpasses, won a 2004 ASIA M{:'ritAward for Analysis & Planning.
Accessing public space shouldn't require wending one's way through an obstacle course.
a six-inch-wide piece of paving, hardly wide enough to walk on. Yet rhere was no other easy entry point. \'V'hac were the landscape architects thinking) Movable chairs could work well here. The museum itself could offer artist-designed molded plastic chairs. Ic shouldn't be necessary to have only the currently available choices: benches seemingly intended to cause discomfort or damp grass. For any building as grand as the Tate, accessing its public space shouldn't require wending one's way through an obstacle course. And what is the purpose of walling in a space with trees, when views of colorful riverboats and breathtaking landmark buildings like St. Paul's Cathedral on the opposite bank beg for viewing? The adjacent Millennium Bridge, moreover, is a striking work of artful engineering. Its approach from the South Bank directly in front of the Tate surely calls fur a setting that adds to the drama, not conceals it. The Tate, and indeed London itself, deserves much better. Mark Hinsbau) is the director 0/ LMN Architects in Seattle and is a freqllent amtributar to Landscape Architecture.
THE STATE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Three stars in the profession-George Hargreaves, FASIA, Michael Van Valkenburgh, FASIA, andJames Corner, ASIA -_ -talk about where landscape architecture is right nou:
UNIVERSAL DESIGN
The Massachusetts state parks system has a program that makes it possible for people with disabilities to use parks more extensively.
ALSO LOOK FOR
Commentary on the American Pediatric Association's recommendation that neighhorhoods be designed so kids can walk and bike, a residence in Missouri with a restoredprairie that allous its owners to indulge their loue of horseback riding, a look at the Rome Prize, smart phone apps for landscape architects, and more...
WE WELCOME your ideas and thoughts for future issues. Please e-mail Bill Thompson, editor, at bthompson@as/a.org or Lisa Speckhardt at /speckhardt@8s/a.org.
AUG
us r
2009
Landscape Architectllre
1119
Kienast Vogfs landscape design largely fails London's Tate Modern Art MUSeUlTI. By Mark Hinshaw
THE LATE 1990s, the hulking old Bankside Power Station on N the south edge of the River Thames in London was converted into the Tate Modern Art Museum. Designed by Swiss archicects Herzog & de Meuron, the new museum shows off its mus. cular industrial provenance. The former voluminous turbine room, stripped of its machinery, serves co host massive-scale exhibitions. The interior is a masterful example of adaptive reuse. Large steel plates with exposed rivets are counterpoints to the otherwise restrained galleries displaying contemporary arc. "The new institution is a testament to anocher kind of power, the magic of arc and architecture," reads one press release.
Magical on the inside, perhaps. Outside? Not so much. Although the city has made commendable efforts over the past several decades to create a riverfront walkway, the initial complex of cultural buildings associated with the baller and symphony are 11 dreadful example of the 19605 school of architecture known as British Brutalism. These fomesslike buildings have not held up well and now look entirely worn out. The public spaces that haphazardly flow around them are dark, dank, and tawdry An allee of trees along the river for a few kilometers does partly make up for this despicable civic realm, The Power Scarion might have been enlivened by a whimsical space loaded with colors, specimen trees, performance spaces, and overlooks. Instead, landscape architects Kienast Vogt of Switzerland (the fum that the late Dieter Kienast founded) with Charles Funk Associates of the Unired Ki ngdom provided am undane, grassy forecourt interlaced with lines of closely spaced birch trees rising Out of exposed dirt. So much was missed in the space that is obvious that one has co wonder whether anyone on the design team acrually thought about it at all. One can imagine a junior landscape architect being instructed, "Just show a few lines of trees on the ground plane and call it good enough." All the kudos found in architectural reviews of the Tate do not even mention this unfortunate space. Perhaps this was an oversight but more likely an embarrassment. The Project for Public Spaces, however, has included the space in its Hall of Shame (WWw.ppJ.rJt-g! great _public _space.r!list?type_id= 2), calling it "one of the most aggravating public spaces we have ever been in .... The fact that people might use it could not have been remotely considered." Despite such criticism, the space does actually work at times--during the day, in good weather, at least. On an early spring day this year, the lawn was packed with people lounging, chatting, reading, having lunch. People of all ages, from toddlers to teenagers to the elderly, dotted rhe space, while endless screams of people scrolled by. Street musicians took turns playing along the outer railing. And a sausage vendor was doing a brisk business smack in the middle of the park. Anoth er nearby (C onunued on Page] ] 9)
120
I Landscape Architecture
~UGU Sf
2009

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c

Catch tile Wave

Lost Space Park

142 Hidden Resourres

It's time/or a sustainable approach to groundwater resources.

Stepping to the Shore

IS6 11:1eNeA'! Generation

PRODUCT DISPLAY BUYER'S CRITIC

PROFILES AD I'NDEX INDEX

1106 1108 1109

High -Maintenance Superstar

The green roof on the Caltfomia Academy

Lisa Speckhardt I lspeckhardt@(lsla.org

Daniel Jost, ASLA

CIRCLE 2C5 ON READER SERVICE CAR D OR GO TO HTTP://INFO_HOTIMS.cOMIZJ.<I9S-2jJ5

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THE MAGAZINE THE AMERICAN SOCIETY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

Ann Looper Pryor

Excems all ASTM (901

Elmemely du~b'le Sin)ng and colorfa,st.

sa e cons, ~~nt B nd llelSil til ~

• SU~IJJnmlc. product with low envnnmental jmpil~

under [he Sustainable Poeesr rnjr.iariv~ us

buod It- find truck l..A ,;"1wah

Pe .... y Howarrl , FASLA

alley C. Somorvi lle

Mary L. Hanson, Gerald

provides a WoIiIdlrtIul pI8y palene

thIItwe can use 0YeI' end ow. while still

iblatg choicn, we are

John Stecyk , Student

In Search ota Good, Cheap Green Roof

How can we progress sprinkled

HAT WILL THE FUroRE OF GREEN ROOFS LOOK LIK_E?

make green roofs work as an ecosystem

also relatively high maintenance. mostly self-sustainmg-not establishment,

A few local governments

however, has a pop-up sprinkler

system that, given San Francisco's hand

"scarchieecrure" has its place in codays

because the green-roof

roofs, a lot seems

the cracks between Landscape architects

just gaining a foothold are unaware

that such systems even exist. So it's important

type will have to learn about and pay attention architects

these early "demonstration" should also understand there to promote

afterward. for landscape

Do green roofs present

the genre, not to serve as prototypes

to make that kind of

will be built in the future. Take the Chicago ample.

the time and effort;>

City Hall green roof as another famous exvisited it.

and inspiringand other insects

like a patch of Midwestern with wildflowers amid the rail, waving

grasses. The exposure

done a great deal to bring attention million price tag disqualifies

it, too, as a model co be emulated.

Kudos for Carl Steinitl's Sketches

Restore the NatiOJIB I Mall? You Bet YoUlr Life

& Urban Planning, TexaJ A&M University

A slightly irregular look a