Results of the 3rd annual HALS Challenge, Documenting the American Latino Landscape, were announced at the HALS Meeting of the Phoenix, Arizona ASLA Annual Meeting and Expo on Saturday, September 29, 2012. Sponsored by the National Park Service, cash prizes were awarded to the top 3 submissions. This challenge has resulted in many valuable donations to the HALS collection.
National Endowment for the Arts releases funding guidelines for Our Town
Grants ranging from $25,000 to $200,000 available to support creative placemaking projects
On October 11, 2012, the NEA will post guidelines and application materials for Our Town, the agency’s primary creative placemaking grants program. Pending availability of funding, grants will range from $25,000 to $200,000.
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MAP-21 and Landscape Architects – Learn about changes to transportation programs that will impact your projects.
Please join us on Thursday, October 18th @ 2:00pm EST for a webinar: Staying Active on Active Transportation: Implementing MAP-21 for Landscape Architects.
The Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) has initiated a public comment period for revisions to the 2009 Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks, the underlying document for the most comprehensive set of voluntary, national guidelines ever developed for sustainable landscapes. Performance, which is measured by the benchmarks, serve as the basis for certifying the SITES pilot projects, 11 of which have achieved that goal. Many more continue to pursue this distinction.
Join Charles Birnbaum and Ann Komara for the signing of their new book Lawrence Halprin’s Skyline Park at the ASLA Bookstore on Sunday from 12:30 to 2:00. (You can see HALS documentation “in action,” as the book incorporates some of the drawings done before the park was demolished)
Below is a list of some of the sessions at the Annual Meeting that may be of interest to landscape architects practicing transportation planning and design.
We also hope to see you at the Landscape Architecture and Transportation PPN meeting on Sunday, September 30th from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. in the EXPO. We will review the results of our PPN membership survey and develop an action plan to address our three most important issues. Come learn how you can participate in The Field and join the discussion on topics of interest to our members on LinkedIn.
This year’s recipient of the ASLA Medal is Cornelia Hahn Oberlander a woman whose work in Canada and the United States has inspired many by incorporate nature and natural systems in to the built environment. Continue reading
The Federal Highway Administration is beginning to conduct a second round of web-based conversations on Context Sensitive Solutions. This is an excellent opportunity for LA and Transportation PPN members to participate in developing national policies related to transportation.
Balancing time at work with time at home is challenging especially when events in one or the other create additional stress. The Women in Landscape Architecture PPN had an opportunity to chat with Susan Hatchell, FASLA, PLA, and current ASLA President, about a work/life balance issue last month in response to a request from a member for information on maternity leave policies in the landscape architecture industry.
With the 2012 Annual Meeting in the Southwest this month, we wanted to highlight a project from the region, Mather Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
The Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) has announced eight projects that have achieved certification under the nation’s most comprehensive rating system for the sustainable design, construction and maintenance of built landscapes. These projects, as part of a group of 150 projects participating in an extensive, two-year pilot program, have applied the SITES guidelines and met the requirements for certification.
The newly certified projects include the Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden in Durham, NC; Cleveland’s Public Garden, Cleveland; Cornell University’s Mann Library Entrance in Ithaca, NY; Hunts Point Landing, an urban park in the Bronx, NY; Meadow Lake and the Main Parking Lot at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle IL; the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens in Escondido, CA; the commercial SWT Design Campus in St. Louis; and the residential Victoria Garden Mews in Santa Barbara, CA.
Thanks to the work of ASLA members and our active transportation partners 48 out of 50
states have chosen to keep Recreational Trails funding for 2013.
The ASLA Annual Meeting & Expo will be here before we know it in Phoenix, Arizona from September 29 – October 1.
Here is a list of Historic Landscape Preservation related meetings, field sessions, and education sessions.
This year ASLA 2012 will override traditional focuses with field sessions in the Southwest landscape and education sessions keenly geared towards the landscape as a designed environment.
Take a look at your business card. How do you identify yourself as a landscape architect? RLA? LLA? CLA? How about PLA?
Last fall, ASLA approved the Universal Designation Policy, which encourages all licensed landscape architects to use the post nominal letters “PLA” after their names. As an abbreviation of the title “professional landscape architect,” PLA allows potential clients and the general public to better identify licensed landscape architects.
Until now, there has been no uniform way for a licensed (or registered) landscape architect to indicate that he or she is licensed. Many use RLA, LLA, PLA, LA, or CLA to signify licensure. Those who have not yet been licensed often use MLA or BLA. Some landscape architects licensed in more than one state face choosing between LLA and RLA.
M. Paul Friedberg, FASLA has transitioned into the digital age and urges other older professionals to find the freedom he has discovered.
He has practiced landscape architecture for 54 years and has designed many memorable places such as Pershing Park in Washington, DC. He has seen the tools of the profession transformed from hand drawings, watercolors and slide rules to the use of calculators and digitally produced drawings. He started our conversation by stating “You’re talking to a dinosaur.” He is an octogenarian landscape architect who is using CAD for his professional work. Here are Paul’s viewpoints on his use of technology in practice based on two extended conversations with him.
Phoenix, AZ offers another conference opportunity for those interested in the design of therapeutic facilities and healing landscapes:
The HEALTHCARE DESIGN Conference is the premier event devoted to how the design of responsibly built environments directly impact the safety, operation, clinical outcomes, and financial success of healthcare facilities now and into the future. With over 4100 participants at the 2011 HEATHCARE DESIGN Conference, this is the industry’s best-attended conference where attendees can earn up to 24 continuing education credits, network with peers, and influence the direction of the industry as it advances into the future.
There are a number of sessions related to the field of landscape architecture.
HALS received 20 short form historical report entries for the 2012 HALS Challenge: Documenting the American Latino Landscape.
Sponsored by HALS, cash prizes will again be awarded to the top three submissions. Results will be announced at the Phoenix September 2012 ASLA Annual Meeting and Expo during the HALS Meeting.
Good luck to this year’s competitors and thank you for contributing such wonderful documentation projects to the HALS Collection at the Library of Congress!
Field Session Focus: Therapeutic Gardens for Healing and Respite (FS003)
ASLA 2012, Phoenix, AZ
When: Friday, September 28, 7am-4pm
Leaders/Speakers; Seth Placko, Naomi Sachs, Jena Ponti Jauchius, Rick Spalenka, and Kristina Floor
PDH Credits: 5.5
Organized by Phoenix landscape architects with a special interest in outdoor healing environments, this tour focuses on five healing gardens, including designs by ASLA Award recipients Kris Floor, FASLA and Christy Ten Eyck, FASLA. Experience how these gardens enhance well-being, not only for healing patients, but also for their families and caregivers. Tour destinations include gardens at BannerGoodSamaritanHospital, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, ScottsdaleHealthcareThompsonPeakHospital, BannerGatewayHospital, and MercyGilbertHospital.
As the current chair of the Healthcare and Therapeutic Design PPN, I was contacted by a writer from the Bakersfield Californian newspaper who was writing an article on one of Bakersfield Mercy Hospital’s new healthcare gardens. Please take a look at the article to discover what is happening in Bakersfield. Healthcare gardens are replacing dehumanizing concrete entryways.
by: Rick Spalenka
On my twenty minute walk to work through the streets of downtown Seattle in the morning, I came across an adorable and very well-trained Spaniel with her owner. She kept exactly to her owner’s side; no pulling on the leash, no jumping on strangers, no barking at pedestrians. She sat at the intersection patiently waiting for the traffic signal to change and continue her journey through the concrete wilderness. Being impressed that this owner obviously took the time to train his dog well, I witnessed the inevitable doggie squat and deposit — and then the pair just kept on walking. No doggie bag, no pooper-scooper, no acknowledgement that they littered the sidewalk. Unfortunately, this is a common scene in less crowded streets that lack the social pressure of the many eyes of passers-by. “So what’s the big deal?” you might be thinking, and “How does this relate to urban landscapes and design?” Great questions. Let’s build the case starting with that first question.
As a way to take the pulse of the profession and gather information from the field, we will be conducting periodic surveys. We are kicking off this effort with a survey on public spaces. You often see organizations such as Project for Public Spaces, web sites like Planetizen, and magazines such as Dwell and Travel & Leisure, publish lists and rankings of the best public spaces. ASLA would like to know what the people who design these spaces think.
As summer comes to an end, we look forward to the ASLA Conference in Phoenix this coming September/October. This year includes several educational sessions and networking events particularly related to children’s outdoor environments:
Two opportunities– both with deadlines next week.
A freelance writer is writing a story on ground covers (both residential and commercial) and wants to do a phone interview this week with a landscape architect for the story.
A freelance writer is working on an article on landscape design, with a focus on parks; maybe include school (mostly college) campuses, and trail designs. The article is for Recreation Management magazine. He is fine with either interviewing you on the phone or receiving your written responses to the following questions or topics:
There is an enormous body of evidence to support the fact that exercise, fresh air, and contact with nature are important to one’s health and well-being. Those of us who have experienced the joys of playing in streams, hiking forest trails and collecting fireflies need no statistics to understand the benefits of spending time outdoors. Yet these experiences are foreign concepts for many people in urban neighborhoods, where green space is scarce and the world beyond their walls is riddled with real and perceived dangers.
American Building Today is accepting articles by landscape architects. Throughout the year, American Building Today features fresh, in-depth, and relevant stories for their readers. All ideas will be reviewed by the American Building Today editorial team and a staff member will be in contact to discuss production expectations if they wish to move forward.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Sustainability Policy was officially released on October 1, 2010 and was developed with input from a variety of federal, state, and local officials with the goal of promoting sustainable infrastructure within the water sector. The policy focuses on promoting planning processes that support sustainability, promoting community sustainability, and promoting sustainable water and wastewater systems along with the targeting of Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund assistance.
Along with EPA’s Sustainability Policy, in 2009 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the EPA formed the Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities (Partnership) to help improve access to affordable housing, expand transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. Through this partnership, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) along with EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities sponsored three pilot projects with New York, Maryland, and California to provide technical assistance and policy options to explore how their programs may be improved to encourage more sustainable development and communities.
Time flies, and it seems to fly even faster in the summer. Fall is just around the corner, and seems to be a big conference season.
Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in the number of education sessions, tours, and even keynote speakers (e.g., Dick Jackson AND Esther Sternberg in 2010) at ASLA conferences (and Healthcare Design, and Environments for Aging, etc.). I think it’s an encouraging indication of the growing interest in landscapes for human health and well-being, and also a credit to leaders and members of ASLA’s Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Professional Practice Network.
NEW DESIGN COMPETITION ANNOUNCED: Ideas sought for a new London landscape in the spirit of New York’s High Line
Registration opens tomorrow (24 July 2012) to find new ‘green’ designs for the development of London’s public spaces. The Landscape Institute, Garden Museum and Mayor of London have launched ‘A High Line for London: Green Infrastructure ideas competition for a new London landscape’. Inspired by New York’s High Line, and to be judged by a panel of experts including the founders of the High Line, entrants are being challenged to put forward innovative concepts that create imaginative new green space in the capital. The organisers are not seeking a replica of the High Line, an urban design project which has transcended the commonly-accepted role of urban parks to become one of the world’s most popular landmarks. They are looking for proposals which similarly engage communities with green infrastructure. Green infrastructure is the network of open and green spaces, including features like green roofs, designed and managed to provide benefits such as flood management, urban cooling, green transport links and ecological connectivity – an approach which can have a huge and exciting impact on the way in which we live in the capital. The winner will receive £2500 and the runner-up £500 as prize money.
Further information is available by visiting the competition website: www.landscapeinstitute.org/ideas
Recently, Congress passed, and, President Obama signed, MAP-21, a 27-month, $118 billion surface transportation bill. The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) believes that Congressional efforts to pass a bi-partisan long-term transportation bill should be applauded. However, the final surface transportation reauthorization bill signed by the President significantly scales back three vital programs that are major contributors to communities’ economic growth: Transportation Enhancements (TE), Safe Routes To School, and Recreational Trails.
