What do you love about Bryant Park? OLIN recently asked New Yorkers this question in celebration of the firm’s 2010 Landmark Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for the redesign of Bryant Park. The Landmark Award recognizes a project completed between 15 and 50 years ago that retains its original design integrity and contributes significantly to the public realm of the community in which it is located. The awards jury described the project as “refreshing and beautiful….the landscape architect balanced the location, the constituency, and the materials. People love the experience.”

One of the most cherished public spaces in the country, Bryant Park has become a model for environmental, social and economic sustainability. OLIN’s redesign called for the lawn to be rebuilt over two stacks of library archives, turning the park into a large-scale green roof. In addition, the park significantly increased real estate values in the surrounding areas, demonstrating the link between urban green space and land value.

OLIN is pleased to announce that CEO Lucinda Sanders has been named to the American Society of Landscape Architects Council of Fellows. The designation of Fellow is conferred on individuals who demonstrate exceptional accomplishments in design, sustained over a number of years. Lucinda was elected on the merit of her “mastery of art, stewardship and social responsibility of landscape architecture.” For 30 years, Lucinda has created places of social purpose and ecological sensitivity, including the award-winning Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park in New York City; Gap Headquarters in San Francisco; and Comcast Center Plaza in Philadelphia. These dynamic landscapes are reflective of her interest and talents in urbanism integrated with social and natural systems, philosphy, and art. Lucinda will be formally inducted as a Fellow during the ASLA Annual Meeting in September in Washington, DC.

Laurie Olin has received the 2010 Bybee Prize from the Building Institute. The Prize is named in honor of James Daniel Bybee, a long standing member of the Institute. The Bybee Prize is awarded to an individual for a body of work executed over time and distinguished by outstanding use of stone in building or landscape applications.

OLIN is proud to announce that Partner Susan Weiler has been inducted into the Fox Valley Arts Hall of fame, the first landscape architect to receive the honor. The Fox Valley native, having grown up in Aurora, Illinois, was recognized for her contributions to the field of landscape architecture, from her dedication to educating generations of new designers to her pioneering work on green roof technology, as seen in her book Green Roof Systems. In becoming a member of the Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame, Susan joins an elite cast of individuals who, through association with the Fox Valley by birth, education, residence or service, have achieved great success in the pursuit of their craft.

Yale University’s Kroon Hall School of Forestry and Environmental Studies recently received numerous design awards including Metropolis Magazine’s Smart Environmental Award, honors from the American Institute of Architects, New England Chapter and the American Institute of Architects, Connecticut Chapter, as well as a Tucker Design Award for the project’s incorporation of natural stone.

Since its founding in 1900 as the first professional forestry program in the United States, the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies has grown into a leading institution for the study of the environment. Kroon Hall, which has been awarded LEED Platinum Status, is the new home for the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and will serve as a cornerstone for the ambitious sustainable and green construction efforts across the Yale campus. Its stormwater treatment system captures roof and site runoff, as well as excess water pumped from fountain drains. A unique and interactive stormwater basin collects and cleanses stormwater for greywater use within the building while itself becoming a dynamic public space, expressing a relationship between the architecture and landscape that is both transparent and didactic.

Associate Richard Roark is the recipient of the Community Design Collaborative’s Community Design Award. The award was given to Richard and his wife Erin, an architect at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, for their outstanding work on the master plan for revitalization of Palumbo Park in South Philadelphia. The Community Design Collaborative is a community design center that provides pro bono predevelopment design services to nonprofit organizations. The park is visited daily by residents, a local kindergarten, a Tai Chi exercise group, and students at the Fleisher Art Memorial and the couple saw the opportunity to work with neighbors who wanted to open up the pocket park and turn it into a community living room. “You can’t have a wallflower for a park,” says Richard.

Comcast Center in Philadelphia has won a 2009 Urban Land Institute Award of Excellence. The award recognizes the full development process of a project - design, construction, economic viability, marketing and management. Comcast Center’s stateliness and elegance are carried through to OLIN’s plaza at its base. However, the plaza, designed by CEO/Partner Lucinda Sanders, is more than merely a suitable platform for the LEED-certified building. It is a vibrant, well-used, civic space, wholly connected to the city. It serves as a new destination for residents and workers, and as a principal entry to the regional rail lines, markets and food court located beneath the site. The transit-oriented development replaces a long vacant parcel in the center of Philadelphia’s downtown district.

“A beautiful tapestry of color and texture. The trick was to make it about the view. It’s visually exciting with a subtle richness.”  2009 Professional Awards Jury

OLIN’s design for a corporate headquarters in San Francisco, led by CEO/Partner Lucinda Sanders, has received a 2009 Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Modern, fresh and clean, the gardens are inspired by the abstract works of the De Stijl movement. The design incorporates fine materiality into bold, modern gestures that reflect the corporation’s identity as well as its key location on the thriving waterfront of San Francisco. Over a former industrial site, the gardens create new social space and assist in managing stormwater and mitigating the urban heat island effect. For more information visit
www.asla.org/2009awards

The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York; view to north from Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park, another award-winning OLIN project.

That looks fun.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage at Battery Park City in New York has received an ASLA New York Chapter Merit Award. Principal-in-Charge Lucinda Sanders’s landscape was inspired by Jewish mysticism, where creation is seen as an active process. In this view of creation, divine light flows into vessels, some of which shatter when they are unable to contain the light. OLIN’s use of light and glass and the forms of the planters and fountains combine to create an experience echoing this spirituality. In addition, a cutting-edge soil mix was created, resulting in optimum growth for plants and allowing the park to be maintained solely through organic means. The soil, along with the selection of native plantings and drip irrigation, significantly reduce water use.

A.J. Celebrezze Federal Building Plaza in Cleveland

OLIN’s plaza for the A.J. Celebrezze Federal Building in Cleveland, OH has been selected to receive a Citation for Landscape Architecture from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). According to Principal-in-Charge Lucinda Sanders, the project was an opportunity to balance the need to create a safe plaza for a federal building in the post 9/11 era with the desire to create welcoming spaces porous enough for public use. To most fully realize the potential of the challenging site exposed to the winds of Lake Erie, OLIN and Fleischman Architects collaborated with wind consultant Buro Happold, lighting designer L’Observatoire International, artist Pae White and engineer Desman Associates to create a place that will soon become one of the most popular destinations in downtown Cleveland.