image: Via Tsuji via Flickr
When PPN members were asked about their favorite designed spaces, the top 5 answers spanned very different time periods, styles, and settings, from a linear urban park set atop an elevated railway to an iconic house placed in nature like few other structures. Check out the top 5 below, and read what our members had to say about what makes these favorite locations so spectacular.
1. The Champs-Elysées
image: Yann Caradec via Flickr
“Are you kidding? Have you been there? It is a place where people become part of the landscape. The cafés spill out on to the streets. Every tiny detail regarding aesthetics has been attended to. The experience of walking the corridor is entertaining. There are things to do and people to watch. There is no hurry. There are no fears for safety. The buildings create enclosure and they have continuity of architecture. The plant material has a delicateness to it. There are magnificent focal points.”
“It reflects the best of human intention and craft, from the grand overview to the elegant details.”
“Monumental, urbane, fun.”
2. Fallingwater
image: Rob Williams via Flickr
“It will take your breath away and open up your mind to possibilities. It also shows people what modern and clean lines can be, without being plain and dull.”
“Perfect integration of architecture and the landscape.”
“Perfect marriage of shelter, sculpture, and landscape.”
3. Golden Gate Park
image: Alexandra Hay
“Because it is one of the first major city parks, and it shows what can be done if people plan for and then protect our open space. The price of open space is eternal vigilance.”
“For the scale, multiple active and passive uses, cultural interests.”
“All the different elements within the park: the gardens, pathways, buildings, science center. It offers a wide variety of uses in one of the most beautiful cities!”
4. The High Line
image: Alexandra Hay
“Let’s spend big bucks on public spaces!!!! It is worth it.”
“Unique, modern, popular, inspirational, influential.”
“It is an exciting and easy space for every person’s level of interest and abilities.”
5. Versailles
image: Kaitlyn E. Hay
“The scale, detail, and history are important, as there will never be anything privately designed like it and the fact that it is now a public space is important.”
“Because it’s just so fast, but so exact. All the proportions are amazing.”
“Grandeur and detail in one location. Opulent, beautiful, amazing.”
At the start of 2013, a questionnaire was sent out to members of ASLA’s Professional Practice Networks (PPNs). The theme: favorite spaces. As you can imagine, responses were varied, and included many insightful comments and suggestions. Synopses of the survey results were originally shared in LAND over the course of 2013, and we are now re-posting this information here on The Field. For the latest updates on the results of the 2014 PPN Survey—focusing on members’ career paths in landscape architecture—see LAND‘s PPN News section.