Category: News
Posted by James on 1/10/2008 6:15:00 PM
USPS Stamps
 The United States Postal Service is giving Charles and Ray Eames (and some of their designs) some face time on your mail.
The set of sixteen stamps designed by Derry Noyes (wow... you can make a living as a stamp designer?!!?) showcases the broad range of work for which the design duo are known. Coming next summer.
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Category: News
Posted by James on 1/11/2006 12:58:00 PM
...make 'em be landscape architects and librarians and such
 An article by Marty Nemko in U.S.News & World Report lays out a list of the "most–and least–rewarding careers" for 2006 in four categories: excellent, good, fair and poor. Architecture lands in the "fair" category, while landscape architecture is placed as an "excellent" career choice.
Architecture:
Many outsiders think this is a terrific, artistic career, but they don't realize how long it takes before an architect gets to design a building.
Landscape Architecture:
Because most landscape architecture projects don't have as many components as the design for a building, young landscape architects may get to design entire projects. Also, the training is shorter.
Read. Digest. Vent.
Article: U.S.News & World Report - Most–and least–rewarding careers
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Category: News
Posted by James on 12/20/2005 4:25:00 PM
Ozark chapel honored with AIA 2006 Twenty-five Year Award
 It is one thing to celebrate a new building, but it is another to look back and recognize an outstanding design that has stood the test of time. We have an award winner looking back 5 years to show you from Ireland as well, but here is a building in the US which has been awarded a 25 year award. And I am sure that the Throncrown Chapel will continue to be celebrated for some time to come.
There are not many iconic modern religious structures which come immediately to mind. Thorncrown and Lloyd Wright's Wayfarers Chapel are certainly two of the most significant modern religious buildings in the US that come to my mind. Interestingly both of the Wrightian Organic Architecture school of thought.
Architect E. Fay Jones’s unique appreciation of the site and environment are what make the Crownthorn Chapel so special. Beyond the striking structural concept it is the way that Mr. Jones made use of the tracery of the trees, the dappled light through the foliage and branches, the rooted connection to the earth and the soaring slot of sky above which make this building truly remarkable.
Link: Thorncrown Chapel
Link: AIA - Thorncrown Chapel Selected to Receive AIA 2006 Twenty-five Year Award
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Category: News
Posted by James on 12/9/2005 6:47:00 AM
BP Site Parkland / Harbourside Park wins four independant design awards
 The Former BP Site Public Parkland at North Sydney (which we featured last May) was recently awarded the 'Overall Award for Excellence' by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects New South Wales Chapter. It also won the 'Design Excellence Award' for best project in NSW, bringing the total medal count for this project to four. The project design is in the vain of the current Spanish "enviro cool" parks.
The jury stated, mcgregor+partners "clearly demonstrated an intelligent and contemporary approach to the reuse
and interpretation of an industrial site."
Link: mcgregor+partners [Thanks, Adrian!]
Link: AILA New South Wales State Awards 2005
Reference: BP Site Parkland (L+L)
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Category: News
Posted by James on 8/26/2005 10:35:00 AM
Historic Register recognizes Ludwig Mies van der Rohe campus plan
 Earlier this week we featured a Clipping regarding the reopening of IIT’s Crown Hall set for this weekend. With the most recent news of the campus's historic designation, we'll take a larger look at the IIT campus.
The National Park Service has announced that the academic campus of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in close association with landscape architect Alfred Caldwell, the design concept of pavilions within a park setting is one of the most important examples of modern planning in the United States.
"The addition of our campus to the National Register is a reflection of the historical, cultural and architectural importance of IIT within Chicago and throughout the world," said IIT President Lew Collens.
In addition to the modernist structures by Mies and other modern architects, the school has launched a recent building campaign with new buildings by Rem Koolhaas and Helmut Jahn. Eextensive landscape restoration and extension of Caldwell's original landscape of native prarie terrain has been undertaken by Peter Lindsay Schaudt Landscape Architects.
Many links to articles and photo galleries for you to enjoy along with our own brief image montage.
Link: IIT
Link: Mies van der Rohe Society
Article: Chicago Sun Times - All of IIT named to historic register
Via: Archinect
Update 10/4/05:
Link: Coudal's Crown Hall page - film & photos
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Category: News
Posted by James on 7/21/2005 3:45:00 PM
Eminent landscape architect Robert Murase, FASLA, passes away
 The positioning of stone in the landscape is an ancient and sacred tradition and has always interested me - from the stone walls and megaliths in Europe - to stone gardens in Japan.
• Robert Murase
We would like to pay tribute to the life of distinguished landscape architect Robert Murase who passed away suddenly this week. An article by Randy Gragg in The Oregonian chronicles Mr. Murase's life and career.
Article: The Oregonian - Robert Murase dies at age 66
Firm: Murase Associates, Inc.
Via: The Dirt [Thank you, Dave]
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Category: News
Posted by James on 7/18/2005 10:48:00 AM
Modern planning redefined by a movie maker
 Disneyland is not regarded fondly by the architecture and design community at large with it's faux castles, jungles and streets and oversized rubber-headed rodents gallivanting about. But there is no denying the genius of the planning concepts and methods pioneered and honed by Walt Disney and his "Imagineers" and the impacts that their work has had not only on American and international cultures, but also on the design professions.
At Disneyland, designers created the first physical space conceptualized as an interactive experience using cinemagraphic story telling devices to choreograph the free movements of visitors through a three dimensional fantasy movie. Sequences of spaces and transitions were carefully planned to combine disparate elements into a cohesive whole.
An article in the LA Times talks a bit about the influence of the park on everyday places such as malls and revived downtowns, "lifestyle centers" and other places where the distinction between fantasy and reality has been blurred beyond the gated and bermed Magic Kingdom.
Article: LA Times - A Park With a Powerful Spell
Link: Wikipedia - Disneyland
Link: Disney corporate history - Disneyland
Link: Disneyland Beginnings
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Category: News
Posted by James on 7/12/2005 9:52:00 AM
American Society of Landscape Archiects 2005 Professional Award winners selected
 Thirty-three projects were seleced to receive awards from a field of over 520 entries.
"This year’s awards projects demonstrated the rising cultural relevance of responsible planning and good design across a range of scales and project types in the United States and abroad," said Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA, jury chair and principal at Reed Hilderbrand Associates Inc. "By bringing forward a compelling set of diverse projects, this jury showcased some of the successes landscape architects are having with the complex issues that arise for thoughtful design practices today, including the drive for clarity, expressiveness, rigor, and durability in design."
Link: ASLA 2005 Professional Awards
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Category: News
Posted by James on 7/8/2005 12:49:00 PM
Making a case for native and climate-appropriate plants
 We occasionally show our southern California bias... but I am not sure why the New York Times shows theirs so often.
The New York Times published an article yesterday profiling proponents of "native" plants in California, focusing on Rene Russo's crusade to promote native species... an interest we share and which we subtly display with our side bar Dudlea image. In my experience, newspapers are infamously inept in their coverage of nature and landscape, and while this article is interesting and worth reading, I find the poor reporting to be annoying. For example:
Native plants like senecio and aloe, which fill the yard in front of Andree Matton's house in Monrovia, Calif., thrive on less water than grass.
Senecio and aloe are not native even to this continent, let alone to Monrovia, California.
Article: NY Times - Flora With a Star in Its Corner
Reference: Garden/garden (L+L)
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Category: News
Posted by James on 6/28/2005 10:26:00 AM
"Form follows feminine"
 Funny how sometimes you are just not ready to seem something until you are in the right mindset. Way back in May, the New York Times Magazine published their Architecture 2005 issue which included a lengthy piece by Michael Kimmelman profiling the life and career of Brazilian modern master Oscar Niemeyer.
Our fascination this past weekend with images from Brazil has put us in the frame of mind to digest this retrospective, and we highly recommend it to you.
Article: NY Times Magazine - The Last of the Moderns
Link: Slideshow
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