A volunteer design team analyzes the site and creates a new concept for the Henry C. Lea Elementary School. © Dominic Mercier
On May 10, 2012, the Community Design Collaborative and AIA Philadelphia hosted “Transforming Urban Schoolyards,” a day-long design charrette to foster collaboration between design professionals, community groups, public agencies, students and school staff to develop design concepts for two public schoolyards in Philadelphia—including the John B. Kelly Elementary School in Germantown and the Henry C. Lea Elementary School in West Philadelphia. That same day, Mayor Michael Nutter announced that transforming schoolyards in underserved neighborhoods from paved parking lots into multi-functional outdoor spaces for learning, socializing, and play was a key goal identified by the City of Philadelphia in its Green 2015 Pilot Program.
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OLIN Partner Richard Roark delivered the keynote speech at The American Society of Landscape Architects’ 2012 Central States Conference, hosted by the Prairie Gateway Chapter in Kansas City, Missouri. In his presentation, Richard addressed the critical importance of green infrastructure in the contemporary practice of landscape architecture. His speech, “Collaborate, Create, Celebrate: The Role of Green Infrastructure in Shaping Communities,” focused on how sustainable design techniques have guided OLIN’s most notable recent projects, including the revitalization of Dilworth Plaza in Philadelphia and the studio’s award-winning entry for the Living City Design Competition in the neighborhoods of Brewerytown and North Central in Philadelphia.
“Landscape architects must recognize and understand all the ways environmental systems and utilitarian infrastructure affect and shape our communities,” said Richard. He added, “In fact, I find it ironic that these elements seem to get lost amidst the goals of creating design excellence. What’s exciting about green infrastructure design is that it encourages us to think more broadly about how these systems shape us, how utilities deliver services and treat waste, and it provides us the opportunity to design for the inclusion of natural systems.”
To learn more about OLIN’s approach to Green Infrastructure, read our journal.
As The Barnes Foundation Art Education Center in Philadelphia nears completion, the design of both the building and the landscape continues to draw significant public interest. Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane, a program on NPR affiliate WHYY, recently featured an extensive interview with architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, on the building design and OLIN Partner Laurie Olin, on the approach to landscape. The new museum will officially open to the public on May 19, 2012.
Listen to the podcast: A New Home for the Barnes Collection
© OLIN & WEISS/MANFREDI
OLIN and co-lead WEISS/MANFREDI are pleased to announce that our competition entry for the Washington Monument Grounds at Sylvan Theater has been selected by the Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service as the winner of this national competition. The selection was announced in the Washington Post.
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OLIN Guests Rhett Russo (left) and Suzanne Matthew
As part of OLIN’s monthly symposia exploring the link between theory and practice, we recently welcomed Rhett Russo and Suzanne Mathew to our April symposium. Relating to their individual professional experiences, both speakers presented on the concept of representation in landscape design.
Rhett Russo is the founder of Specific Objects, Inc., an interdisciplinary sustainable design practice based in New York, and the recipient of numerous professional awards, including the SOM Fellowship, the Van Alen Institute Dinkeloo Fellow at The American Academy in Rome, and the Young Architect’s Award from the Architectural League of New York. In his presentation, Rhett spoke about his work exploring the transmissive capacities of matter and the natural world’s ecologies, as well as the methods in which the natural world has been represented throughout history.
Suzanne Mathew, a designer at Landworks Studio in Boston, earned dual master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture and Architecture from the University of Virginia. She has also been the recipient of numerous academic honors including the Stanley and Helen Abott Award for Excellence in Landscape Architecture and the Carlo Pelliccia Fellowship. Having conducted extensive research on temporal and dynamic phenomena, Suzanne described her approach to utilizing digital parametric programs to represent and observe phenomenological processes.
Following the presentations, studio members and guests engaged in an open discussion about the processes of representation and how those processes influence the ways designers envision and realize the ephemeral qualities of landscape.
To learn more about OLIN’s continuing lecture series, click here.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (left of center) with Landscape Designer Will Belcher (left), Landscape Architect Sally Reynolds (right of center) and Senior Landscape Architect Benjamin Monette. © City of Philadelphia, Photograph by Kait Privitera
As part of National Landscape Architecture Month, the American Society of Landscape Architects and practitioners celebrated ASLA Advocacy Day on April 26, 2012 with a range of events across the nation. Groups of landscape architects gathered in parks and other public spaces to educate the public on the positive impacts landscape architecture has on communities and to celebrate the birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of American landscape architecture.
Members of OLIN participated in an event at John F. Collins Park in Philadelphia, which included speeches by Mayor Michael Nutter, Deputy Mayor for Environmental and Community Resources Michael DiBerardinis and Philadelphia Water Department Commissioner Howard Neukrug. At the event, Senior Landscape Architect Benjamin Monette, Landscape Architect Sally Reynolds and Landscape Designer Will Belcher spoke with members of the public about the ways in which landscape architecture connects the city to nature.
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The Director's Roundtable Garden at LACMA designed by OLIN in 1983
OLIN’s long-standing relationship with The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) dates back to the mid-1980s when our studio collaborated with the museum on its expansion and renovation. In addition to holding more than 150,000 works of art, LACMA maintains its legacy as a thriving cultural complex in the heart of Los Angeles by hosting numerous public events throughout the year, including its annual jazz concert series. On Friday, April 27, 2012, the museum will kick off its 21st Annual Jazz at LACMA series with an outdoor concert featuring performances by guitarist Kenny Burrell, the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra Unlimited, and a special tribute to American composer and pianist Duke Ellington. For more information about the concert series, click here.
Top: Recently planted Entry Court, which will create a lush entrance garden when plants more fully mature. Bottom: Associate Greg Burrell (left), Partner Susan Weiler (center) and Senior Landscape Architect Benjamin Monette in the Healing Garden.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland celebrated the upcoming opening of its new Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center and Sheik Zayed Tower with a dedication ceremony on April 12, 2012. The new facility, scheduled to open on May 1, 2012, includes OLIN’s designs for the Entry Court Gardens, the Western Courtyard Gardens, the Phipps Courtyard and the Little Prince Garden, which provide a welcoming and caring environment to advance the healing process.
In an interview with Architects + Artisans, Partner Susan Weiler said, “Johns Hopkins is creating a new standard of excellence for patient care and hospital design. The gardens have been designed as places of orientation, respite, rejuvenation and calm, with a visual simplicity that accentuates the aesthetic pleasures of the gardens. The newly conceived circulation pattern allowed us to keep one-third of the enormous football-field-sized site for the courtyard gardens.”
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OLIN, in collaboration with Jakubiak & Associates, Inc., has begun work on the Annapolis City Dock Master Plan and Redevelopment project to re-imagine this historic waterfront destination at the heart of Maryland’s state capital. Situated at the confluence of the Severn River and the Chesapeake Bay, Annapolis is a city intrinsically tied to its waterfront. Over the years, that waterfront has grown from a working commercial seaport into a popular leisure destination. OLIN’s design team, led by Partners Skip Graffam and Richard Newton, will work with the City Dock Advisory Committee to develop a plan that maximizes the site’s vitality and functionality. With community input, the team will help to realize the site’s immense potential by laying out a vision that will expand public open space for outdoor recreational and cultural activities, open up viewsheds, improve pedestrian and bicycle access, increase connections to the waterfront and integrate City Dock into the fabric of Annapolis. The project team also includes Ekistics, Graham Landscape Architecture and Nelson\Nygaard.
Aerial of Existing Site (top left), Community Meeting (bottom left), Watts Towers (© The City Project)
Partner Tiffany Beamer and Landscape Designer Jenny Jones are collaborating with the Trust for Public Land and the City of Los Angeles to develop a master plan for LA’s historic Watts Towers Park. The site, located on the National Register of Historic Places, is home to a collection of 17 interconnected structures created by Sabato “Simon” Rodia. Rodia, an Italian immigrant construction worker, built the structures over a 33-year span from 1921 to 1954, and the site has since become a beloved cultural landmark by surrounding neighbors and visitors from all over the world.
OLIN’s proposed plan will transform the park’s Cultural Crescent, parcels of land adjacent to the towers, into a cohesive site that welcomes viewing and enjoyment of the towers while celebrating the rich arts programs that exist currently on site at the Arts Center Campus.
Currently, Tiffany and Jenny are working with the Trust for Public Land to gather input from community stakeholders to generate ideas and build consensus on the development of the space’s aesthetics and programming. So far, they have participated in three community meetings and are beginning the process of incorporating community feedback into design concepts.
Regarding the vision for the site and the community, Tiffany says, “This community is one that has an incredibly rich history and culture rooted in the arts, which extends beyond the towers themselves. Participating in the community meetings has been wonderfully informative and energizing, and we are looking forward to providing Watts with a master plan that will allow future generations of artists to thrive.”
The Trust for Public Land, a non-profit organization active in 34 states, conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens and other natural places. In cities, The Trust for Public Land reclaims vacant lots and then crafts strategies for transforming the lots into community-designed parks and playgrounds. After development, they turn these parks and lands over to their cities for public use. In Los Angeles, they have reclaimed between 10,000-12,000 acres of land.
