Landscape Architect Sally Reynolds with Ecologist John Greenlee
John Greenlee, OLIN collaborator and author of The American Meadow Garden, gave a presentation to the studio on his most recent project work. John is a recognized expert in grass ecology and a champion of environmental design. He has worked on projects for The San Diego Zoo, Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida, and private residencies spanning California, Hawaii, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.
Partners Tiffany Beamer and Richard Roark
We are proud to announce that Tiffany Beamer and Richard Roark have been appointed Partners of OLIN, promoted from their previous roles as Associates. “Tiffany and Richard have demonstrated exemplary vision in design, and a profound dedication to positive change in the urban realm,” stated CEO Lucinda Sanders. “We look forward to their contributions to the future of OLIN and the profession as a whole.”
OLIN’s Partners are committed to leading the studio in the artful creation and transformation of cities, developing projects that embody design excellence through rigorous research, analysis and a dynamic design process. The studio’s mission to create places that enhance life is a driver for OLIN’s advancement of the landscape architecture, urban design and planning professions to help solve some of today’s greatest ecological, societal and economic challenges.
Tiffany Beamer has been a member of OLIN since 2005 and was integral in the establishment of our Los Angeles studio in 2010. “Los Angeles is a laboratory for many of the urban issues facing design professionals worldwide, as well as a shining example of progress and change,” states Tiffany. “It is incredibly exciting to lead our Los Angeles studio, and continue OLIN’s legacy of design in the region.” Tiffany has brought vision and sensitivity to signature urban projects such as Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland and Plummer Park in West Hollywood. She is currently participating in a landscape master plan for the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and pro-bono work with The Trust for Public Land to revitalize Watts Towers Park in southern Los Angeles. Additionally, Tiffany has lectured about her participation in the ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition, a modular wildlife crossing which links the migratory patterns of local animals with responsive ecologies.
Richard Roark, LEED® AP BD&C, joined OLIN in 2001. He has managed some of the studio’s most complex projects, such as the new U.S. Embassy in London and Dilworth Plaza in Philadelphia. Richard is a leader of OLIN’s Green Infrastructure practice, and played an integral role in the award-winning entry for the Living City Design Competition–a long-term green infrastructure master master plan for two underserved Philadelphia neighborhoods. When speaking of the competition, Richard states, “To achieve a truly equitable society, the expression of our cities should be rooted in the human experience and our relationship to the earth. I believe landscape architects are at the forefront of understanding the built environment as a medium that relates between the nature of the human condition and that greater nature we aspire to know.” Richard is also an active participant in public design advocacy and has been recognized as an outstanding volunteer by Philadelphia’s Community Design Collaborative.
© Diller Scofidio + Renfro
OLIN is proud to announce that we are a member of the winning team along with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Keppie Design for the Aberdeen City Garden Competition in Aberdeen, Scotland. This landmark project is both a garden and cultural center that will serve as an economic and social catalyst for the citizens of Aberdeen. The winning concept, known as Granite Web, features a contemporary design celebrating the three-dimensional aspects of Aberdeen by reinterpreting the topography of the Dendum Valley and the cascade of the existing Union Terrace Gardens. The 15-acre landscape is envisioned as a reinvigorated green heart for the city and an integral part of its urban fabric.
“Our studio is truly honored to be a part of a team of such accomplished firms to transform Aberdeen’s City Garden into an accessible public space that seamlessly integrates the history of the city and provides unique opportunities for residents to engage and learn,” said OLIN Partner Richard Newton.
To learn more about the project visit Malcom Reading Consultants’ website.
OLIN is currently accepting applications for its 2012 Summer Internship program. This year’s program will provide interns with the opportunity to participate in OLIN’s Green Infrastructure approach, which artfully balances ecology, economy and equity for projects at diverse scales. To learn more about OLIN’s Green Infrastructure practice, download our journal. Click here for the 2012 Internship Program Checklist/Application.
Read about OLIN’s approach to Green Infrastructure in our new journal.
“Green infrastructure is about more than just sustainability—it’s about access to public space, and the quality of the experience from every angle, be it social, economic, or ecological. We design parks and plazas, but what we’re really doing is creating social attractors within a larger network formed by parks, infrastructure, architecture and communities. And because of the resources and specific talents of the team at OLIN, we’re able to make everything we do results-oriented. It’s like the city is our lab.”
Steve Benz, OLIN Partner & Director of Green Infrastructure
Friends of the Hollywood Central Park President Laurie Goldman (left) with OLIN Associate Tiffany Beamer
OLIN Associate Tiffany Beamer along with Partners Dennis McGlade and Lucinda Sanders attended “For the Love of Hollywood,” an annual gala held by the Friends of the Hollywood Central Park (FHCP). FHCP was formed in 2008 to raise funds for a proposed 44-acre street level community park that will cap a portion of US 101 — the Hollywood Freeway. As it winds through the heart of Hollywood, the park will connect surrounding communities which have been separated by the highway for more than 50 years. It will also transform Hollywood by creating economic stimulus and security, healthy communities, and much needed access to park space. The gala was held at Hollywood’s Taglyan Complex and honored Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Actress Daryl Hannah, the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering and the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has honored the Central Delaware Riverfront Master Plan with a 2012 Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design. OLIN worked in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team including Cooper Robertson & Partners, KieranTimberlake, HR&A Advisors and over thirty stakeholder groups to create this master plan for the riverfront in downtown Philadelphia. This 25-year implementation plan will transform the Delaware into a vibrant six-mile length of urban waterfront and features access to public parks at half-mile intervals, using landscape as the connective tissue between new and old fragments of the city. During the first decade of implementation, public parks, streets and a network of bicycle and pedestrian pathways will extend neighborhoods by connecting to the waterfront across Interstate 95. The AIA praised the master plan’s goal of providing “a practical implementation strategy for the phasing and funding of public realm enhancements to the waterfront, including the locations of parks, a variety of waterfront trails, and connections to existing upland neighborhoods.” In addition, the AIA cited the project team’s commitment to outreach with community organizations and elected officials as a key component of the master plan’s prospects for long term success.
New Year’s Eve 2012 at Fountain Square © Shelby Street Photography
Fountain Square, located in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, hosted a public celebration to ring in the New Year. Thousands of people gathered to enjoy live music, a firework display, and ice skating. Since OLIN’s revitalization of the plaza in 2007, Fountain Square has become a more attractive, cohesive and vibrant center for pedestrians to gather, interact and enjoy. The Square’s 2012 New Year’s celebration was exactly that.
Screen shot of BIM displaying a topographic surface
It’s hard to replace a good old-fashioned pencil and calculator when it comes to designing topography, but new technologies do offer opportunities for collaboration and information exchange. At the beginning of 2011, OLIN began a new adventure; we started using building information modeling (BIM) on a pilot project in our office. BIM is more than a new software tool; it’s a new style of design that allows for enhanced collaboration and visualization.
Made primarily for use in architectural design, BIM is a parametric, data-based 3-D modeling software. The software displays building and landscape components in three dimensions and connects objects to an information-rich database. BIM allows for coordination in 3-D, material takeoffs and more accurate cost estimation.
We have found that BIM dramatically increases our ability to coordinate with other disciplines and ensure everyone on a project team fully understands the complexity of our design intent. It’s remarkable to see the architectural, landscape, structural and MEP models come together in three dimensions. Design clashes that would have been nearly impossible to identify with previous technologies are easily found. Now, our designs can be refined and we can identify cost savings for the client.
While there are many benefits to using BIM, it has presented some challenges. The difficult part about using BIM for landscape architecture is working with the complexity of topography, grading, soil depths and landscapes over structure. The program, originally designed for use in architecture, translates to landscape architecture with some difficulty. Unlike architecture, landscape surfaces are hardly ever flat and often slope in multiple directions. For example, many of the site walls we design are curved, sloped or battered. Bringing our traditionally precise grading into a 3-D model to be used for coordination is no small feat. Simply using a standard rectangular wall does not achieve the needs for site work.
Few landscape architecture firms utilize BIM, so it’s great to be able to say we’re testing BIM processes at OLIN. I think there’s a challenging, but rewarding, road ahead.
As a landscape architect, I never thought I would someday select trash cans. And yet, I spent a few hours recently looking for just that: the perfect trash can — the right shape, opening, size, finish, etc. that would complement and enhance the project’s design concept. The selection and variety I found amazed me: who knew there were so many choices in trash cans!
In professional jargon, trash cans are more poetically referred to as “waste receptacles,” “rubbish bins,” or “litter baskets.” How one chooses a trash can from such a wide variety depends upon the project concept, location and budget. In my case, I knew I was looking for something rather modern-looking — stainless steel, clean lines, simple — and something that was easy to use and maintain and could endure in a public area.
While I was telling a friend what I had done at work that day, I couldn’t help but laugh as the words “I looked for trash cans today” came out of my mouth. He asked, “Why?” In an effort to explain the rationale of my trash can search, I initiated a philosophical discussion of an Andy Warhol/Venturi nature. Why are there so many choices of trash cans, anyway? It is, after all, a container for waste — things that are discarded; no longer wanted. If what’s going in it isn’t valued any more, why should one care about the thing that holds the stuff? Isn’t the designed waste receptacle just a “decorated” trash can? The decoration isn’t fooling anyone as to what it really is; the purpose of a trash can is always to hold waste.
The answer is simple — because we are designers. And designers need options. Designers understand that a traditional galvanized trash can would be anathema in a sleek corporate campus, or a state-of-the-art museum plaza. When a landscape design has a strong concept, it must inform and carry through to every part of the project — even the trash can.
