OLIN and TCLF are also offering the chance to put your eye for cultural landscapes to the test during What’s Out There Weekend with the  Instagram™ Challenge. One grand prize winner will win an OLIN monograph and two general admission tickets to the Barnes Foundation! Here’s how it works:

We’ll tally up the correct answers and post photos from each tour’s winner on our blog. The winners of each tour will then be placed into a random drawing from which the grand prize winner will be selected.

Disclaimer: The Instagram™ Challenge uses the Instagram API and is not endorsed or certified by Instagram or Instagram, Inc. All Instagram logos and trademarks displayed are property of Instagram, Inc.

Rendering for Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis, created using Rhino, Blender, Photoshop and hand drawing

Laurie Olin is a good example of someone who is skilled at a lot of things, especially as an artful draftsman. Decades and countless hours of sketching, rendering, and documenting have refined his ability to communicate through drawing in an accurate yet lyrical way. He sits confidently in front of anyone, designers and clients alike, and draws beautifully. While landscape is his gift and trade, drawing is his specialty and his platform for communicating his vision. It is a great example of the benefits of focusing on a particular skill.

Hand sketch by Laurie Olin of the fountain at the J. Paul Getty Center

Landscape architecture is, by definition, a generalist’s profession. Landscape architects must know a multitude of things: construction codes, human behavior, soils, plant species, sustainability, history, the arts, and so on. But throughout their process, they must still ultimately convey ideas in a visual way, whether it is through a sketch, a rendering, a model, a diagram, CAD, photography or graphic design. They must have some way to impart their ideas. And until recently, they could conceivably learn to decently communicate in all of these ways. The tools, though, are getting more and more complex and varied. Designers have very nearly reached a point where they must decide what tools they will spend their time on, and what their signature way of communicating will be.

Rendering depicting part of OLIN’s design proposal for the Living City Design Competition, created using Sketchup, Photoshop and Illustrator

While I am not a landscape architect by training, I work closely within the profession as a visualizer, creating 3D models, renderings, animations, and even documentation. Because of constraints on my time and demands for my services, I have made a conscious decision to focus on specific tools to refine my skills. While I still need to be a generalist with a number of tools, I have focused on a select set of tools are my primary means of communication. This requires some calculation, a bit of introspection, and most importantly, laziness. Laziness is critical. If you want to get better at being faster, you have to stay lazy. Any programmer will tell you that the brevity of one line of code is better than five lines if it does the same thing. But brevity in any medium is impossible if you are always learning a new language. Working in a limited tool palette allows you to really refine your moves, your technique, your style.

Rendering of a custom-designed bench to be installed at Philadelphia’s Dilworth Plaza, created using Grasshopper and Rhino

My training is in art. One of the things you learn quickly in art school and elsewhere is that you can’t be really good at everything. I have moved slowly, carefully from a focus on fairly traditional approaches like sculpture, painting, and printmaking to newer approaches like parametric modeling, animation, and scripting, using tools like Grasshopper, Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, and scripting. It has been a long, incremental change. But all along I have had the sensibility of drawing, which I learned first, to guide my understanding of every other medium that I’ve tackled. And I have made deliberate decisions to learn specific tools. The balance between practicing the familiar and exploring new territory is a tricky one. If one goes too far in either direction, they risk the danger of being too specialized or too general. Just like Laurie Olin, you have to know when to be laser-focused and when to try something new.

To learn more about the grand opening’s events or to join the celebration in Stamford, visit the Collaborative’s website at www.millriverpark.com.  OLIN will also be hosting a live Twitter stream of Thursday’s opening ceremony and reception—tune in by following us at @theOLINstudio or searching the hashtag #millriverpark.

Friends of the Rail Park board members Aaron Goldblatt and Leah Murphy gave a compelling presentation about the history and relevance of the place, using a framework of defining and responding to opportunities within very real constraints. The issues that the Rail Park faces toward its realization are complex and political, including diverse land ownership and design agendas, unknowns about funding sources, and ongoing projects that threaten the preservation of the rail infrastructure and overall connectivity of the corridor.

With the long view in mind, Friends of the Rail Park are engaging many different communities, stakeholders, and local decision makers in inclusive discussions about shared values, ideas, and vision. Based on the reception of the rail park’s vision plan reveal last week, the enthusiasm in the community around these discussions is becoming palpable and infectious. The audience gasped in awe as the before-and-after photos of the rail park at Broad Street flashed on the screen. During the Q&A after the talk, some in the audience posited their thoughts about what the park should be, while others posed questions about phasing, schedules, and budgets. They seemed to be asking: “I like it. I need it. Now where can I get one?”

Top: A concrete wall currently blocks the view from North Broad Street to the viaduct below. Bottom: Rendering by OLIN of the proposed open view down to the rail park, no longer an eyesore but a vibrant civic amenity threading through the city.

A young man in the audience brought forth the question that was on the mind of everyone in the room—“How can I help make this happen?”

“What this project needs now the most is very vocal and broad public support,” responded Leah. “To make all the stakeholders, agencies, and players involved realize the benefits of creating the Rail Park, we need to make it known that this is something people want and that this is something people can get excited about.”

During the vision study, the design team engaged over forty stakeholders to build broad consensus for the project, and the momentum only continues to grow. So, in the support of the advocacy demonstrated by Friends of the Rail Park, I urge you to voice your support for this important project that’s very dear to the hearts of many of us here in Philadelphia.  Here are ways that YOU can help:

To learn more about the Webby Awards, view other nominees, or vote for the Landscape Architect’s Guide to Washington, DC, visit the Webby Awards website.

Want to learn how to draw like Laurie Olin? Watch as Laurie demonstrates the mechanics and methods of drawing using only a stick, a scrap of paper, and a jar of ink. Each semester, he begins the first day of his University of Pennsylvania landscape drawing class with this unconventional yet compelling exercise, explaining how learning to draw is less about the materials and more about seeing and interpreting the word. It’s a skill anyone can learn with practice.

As a recent graduate student of landscape architecture who studied his designs, I jumped at the opportunity to attend Laurie’s “Topics in Representation: Landscape Drawing” class and learn how to draw better. I would like to share a few key takeaways to help anyone who, like myself, would like to learn how to draw or expand upon their existing skills.

Laurie began by recounting how he started drawing as a young child and, unlike most people, never stopped. “Most children stop drawing in middle school when it loses its utility for them in society,” he said to his students. “But you guys are all oddballs. You have ended up going into a visual field where visual information and the conveying of it are very important and fundamental to our profession as landscape architects. You need to understand it and be able to use it.” He then went on to explain some fundamental tenets of drawing, which can be summed up into four key rules:

1.) “The only way you are going to learn or get better at drawing is by drawing.” Laurie likened drawing to a foreign language that is best learned through immersion and constant practice. Like learning a language, he explained, “there is a vocabulary of gestures and marks that are useful in drawing.”

2.) “Drawing is not just wiggling your wrist.” Laurie emphasized that drawing is about truly seeing the world. You must pay careful attention to the details of an object for your brain to then interpret what you saw, and then move your arm, hand, and the pencil to replicate the outline.

3.) “The people who draw best by hand make the best computer drawings. And those people who intuitively can make elegant things by computer can probably draw well with a pencil or brush.” There is a visual intelligence about composition, weight and balance, form and perception of how representation works that carry over to the computer and vice versa. However, the power of a computer is still no match for the speed and nuance of hand drawings. “It takes an immense amount of time to draw well with the computer. We produce things that are just a little too focused or a little too much detail…or they are just horrible,” Laurie contended.

4.) “You can draw with a stick.” It is easy to create a mystique about your drawing media and tools—these pencils are too soft or this paper has too much tooth. But if you truly know how to draw, Laurie promised, you can draw with a stick in the dirt.

What had we gotten ourselves into?

OLIN studio members crowded the lounge area to discuss the intricacies of the relationship between planning and landscape architecture.

The relationship between landscape architecture and planning is a topic of great interest to both of us, as we both have dual degrees in Planning and Landscape Architecture. We were eager to pose our questions to the studio, but we were unsure what direction the discussion would take. We quickly agreed on the relevance of the article “Jane Jacobs and the Death and Life of American Planning,” written by Thomas Campanella in 2011, which argues for bringing more design vision back into planning. Jane Amidon’s essay “Two Shifts and Four Threads” from a recent edition of Topos also caught our attention. She calls for landscape architects to be data-savvy and work at large scales—roles traditionally associated with planners.

This was our starting point: should more design be brought back into planning? Or should planning sensibility be folded into the world of design? How are these topics relevant today?

On the night of the symposium, it quickly became clear that we weren’t the only ones pondering these questions—people from all corners of the studio readily voiced their opinions. But to our surprise, instead of arguing about who should be in charge of the city (an urbanism turf war we’re all tired of), we found ourselves immersed in a discussion that was at once inspirational and practical. The discussion ranged dramatically in topic, tone, and scale. Some people encouraged the group to remember (and respect) our roots and the lessons learned through the evolution of city planning. Others delivered reflective critiques of our own studio and practice. Many debated where and how we should be working, how we market ourselves, how we acquire projects, and how we teach. BIG topics, certainly, but ones that also have direct impacts on our daily work and studio identity.

Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace in Boston embodies the original intersection between planning and landscape architecture. His work reminds us to be bold, artful, and logical all at once.

The presence of Professor Weller provided invaluable provocation and bold speculation from the academy, reminding us to step outside the constraints of clients. Notably, he commented that landscape architecture must no longer be seen as a luxury product; that we are taking on issues that address the future of humanity, and that is no small task. He also offered that planners in fact have incredible power, if they are willing and able to act on them. Planners, after all, are the ones pulling many of the strings behind the scenes that ultimately lead towards much of the work we designers produce. However, Weller noted, they have struggled with the ability to deliver creative intelligence into design.

The conversation continued with partners, designers, and marketing staff all contributing thoughts and questions swirling around this issue of our professional identity, and how we do or do not engage in visionary planning work that addresses tough global problems. The lively dialogue manifested these recurring themes:

1.) Projective Work: We must pursue proactive, forward thinking projects in addition to continuing to meet client needs. As a “service” industry, we naturally cater to the needs of our clients. Why is that the model? Is that the only way the industry works? From Richard Weller’s point of view, that will never be enough.
2.) Powerful Players: We must connect with those influential partners that can carry projects forward in various directions. Seeking ties with the non-profit and political realms helps us to become more relevant to society at large.
3.) Global Scale: International work stirs mixed emotion for many of the staff. At some point, every firm must decide where it stands on the type and speed of growth occurring in the developing world. OLIN has worked abroad for years and continues to do so. How does our international work foster a sustainable globalized future?
4.) Education + Conversation: Now more than ever we need to educate—research, publish, and discuss. If we are planning for an additional 3 billion people by century’s end, there is much work to be done and landscape architects should help tackle projects of this scale. We must continue to push the dialogue when it comes to human settlement patterns and our relationship with the Earth.
5.) Art and Instrumentality: Members of our studio asked how we can push the inherent mix of art and science even further in our profession, towards deeper integration of the intuitive and the logical, the creative and the data-driven.

All in all a heavy dose, from a gang that just hours before were nose deep in planting plans and redlines.

We reached no singular or resounding conclusion, other than agreeing on the importance of continuing to explore the themes that emerged. Professor Weller concluded that, in order to enact real and substantial change as landscape architects, we will have to be proactive, experimental, global, and unafraid to step into territories outside of our comfort zone. We will have to engage political players, see the power in our art, and exert our influence as flexible and multi-disciplinary professionals.

Green over Gray, a current OLIN project in Cleveland, is seeking landscape solutions infused with planning sensibility.

In the few days since the symposium, we’ve already had a few sessions to hash out how OLIN can push itself to evolve and adapt to be at the helm of visionary space-making work. To be sure, if we are going to bring about serious change to our built and natural environments, we need to remember the state of mind we carry as designers. We approach problems differently, and we think through their solutions in innovative, creative ways. This is our strength—this is our service we provide—but in order to make it known we perhaps need to abandon old models of “client + project” and shift towards a new realm where desires for the greater good come crashing together with projects that are economically and socially viable, and above all realized, not just talked about back in the studio or in the academy. A paradigm where the publics and politicos respond to the investigations and provocations of design professionals through engaged, critical, thought-provoking, impassioned, imaginative, clear, and cognizant execution—the intersection of planning and landscape.

OLIN’s Meeting Green team included Steve Benz, Richard Roark, Darrell Campana, Ari Miller, Henry Moll, Jessica Henson, Allison Kaye Harvey, Nick Mitchell, Andrew McConnico, Chris Landau, and Ed Confair, as well as invaluable contributions from many other talented OLIN landscape architects, designers, and staff. Our multidisciplinary collaborators included SMP Architects (architecture and planning), Gilmore & Associates (civil engineering); MM Partners (development consulting); International Consultants, Inc. (cost estimating); and Penn Praxis (policy, funding, and implementation consulting).

For more information on the award, each recipient, and event details, click here.