TIME's World's Greatest Places of 2024: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Image courtesy of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Text from Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, July 25, 2024.

MARIE SELBY BOTANICAL GARDENS SELECTED FOR TIME’S ANNUAL LIST OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST PLACES

TIME reveals the annual list of the World's Greatest Places, which highlights 100 extraordinary destinations around the globe. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens was one of only eight places to visit in the United States that made the list; the only Florida location in its category; and the only botanical garden included from around the world.

The TIME announcement states, “Sarasota stands out on Florida’s culture circuit, with the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the contemporary Sarasota Art Museum, and the remarkable Marie Selby Botanical Gardens on Sarasota Bay. A recent expansion of the latter has all eyes on this thriving oasis of banyan trees and mangroves, now set to become the world’s first net-positive-energy botanical complex thanks to the installation of a 57,000- square-foot solar array. (It exceeds the facility’s energy demands by more than 10%). The visitor experience is equally impressive. A new welcome center beckons arrivals into an open- air structure draped with spectacular air plants that introduce the gardens’ many wonders, including a world-renowned collection of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads, and ferns. The expanded facilities include concept restaurant The Green Orchid, which uses no onsite combustion and sources produce from rooftop gardens cared for by a group of military veterans. The botanical gardens’ stormwater management system diverts and cleans millions of gallons of water each year before returning it to Sarasota Bay and future projects include a restoration of the landmark 1920s Payne Mansion, located onsite. For now, there’s more than enough to admire across this 45-acre green lung housing some of the world’s most noteworthy plantlife.”

Jennifer O. Rominiecki, President and CEO of Selby Gardens stated, “On behalf of the Board of Trustees and all of us at Selby Gardens, we are deeply grateful to everyone who believed in our transformational Master Plan. The completion of Phase One has allowed our organization to be recognized as a global leader for sustainability, as well as an international innovator for botanical gardens, museums, cultural organizations, scientific institutions, and restaurants worldwide.”

To compile this list, TIME solicited nominations of places—including hotels, cruises, restaurants, attractions, museums, parks, and more—from its international network of correspondents and contributors, as well as via an application process, with an eye toward those offering new and exciting experiences.

See the full list here: https://time.com/collection/worlds-greatest-places-2024

Lucinda R. Sanders Honored with LAF Legacy Award

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Text from Landscape Architecture Foundation, 23 April, 2023.
https://www.lafoundation.org/news/2024/04/lucinda-sanders-honored?utm_campaign=95c9ebf9b3-laf-awards-24-04&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Landscape%20Architecture%20Foundation%20Subscribers&utm_term=0_7166f23a2e-95c9ebf9b3-49868707

OLIN CEO and Partner Lucinda R. Sanders, EdD, RLA, FASLA, has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 LAF Legacy Award.

The LAF Legacy Award was created in 2023 by the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) to recognize and show appreciation for past members of the LAF Board of Directors who have provided extraordinary service and contributions to the organization and its legacy. The 2024 Legacy Award will be presented at the LAF Awards Dinner on June 6 in Washington, DC.

Lucinda Sanders has served LAF in so many formal and informal ways—too many to exhaustively list here—and was one of the most transformative board members in LAF’s recent history.

“Since joining the Board, Lucinda has always stepped up and said, ‘yes’ to taking on big challenges and exploring big ideas,” said LAF CEO Barbara Deutsch. “Her leadership took LAF to new places it had never been before. LAF is so grateful to Lucinda for her generosity of time, talents, resources, and passion.”

Lucinda served on the LAF Board of Directors from 2008-2016, holding several positions, including Vice President of Finance and President. Joining at a time when many companies and organizations were facing financial difficulties and precautionary constriction, her bold leadership was instrumental in keeping LAF secure and open to growth. From 2008-2009, Lucinda served on the LAF Transition Team and Executive Search Committee, whose work resulted in the hiring of current CEO Barbara Deutsch, who has grown LAF’s capacity from a less than $500,000 annual budget to $2.5 million in 2024.

In 2013, Lucinda took on the role of Vice President for LAF’s new Leadership Committee, charged with developing a strategy for partnerships and leadership. This work led to the creation of the LAF Fellowship for Leadership and Innovation, an opportunity for landscape architecture professionals to dedicate the equivalent of 3 months’ time over the course of one year to nurture emerging ideas and to think deeply about their work. Lucinda wanted to carve out space for the bright minds of landscape architecture to work on the big ideas that may have been laid aside for the day-to-day realities of their jobs.

The development of this new program drew heavily on Lucinda’s experience as President and CEO of OLIN, her experience as an educator at the University of Pennsylvania, and her doctoral studies in transformational leadership. When the first cohort of LAF Fellows started their journey in 2017, Lucinda and MMVA’s Laura Solano served as Lead Facilitators. Lucinda has continued to lead the program in partnership with Laura. In June, they will welcome the LAF Fellowship’s eighth cohort. Landscape architects who participated in the Fellowship have gone on to become effective leaders on some of the most pressing issues of our day, developing tools for sustainable design, using landscape architecture to address recidivism, advocating for neuroinclusive design, and so much more.

Even before joining the Board, Lucinda was an active supporter of leadership at LAF in the form of LAF’s Olmsted Scholars Program. She represented OLIN on the Olmsted Scholar jury, and as a board member, she looked for opportunities to strengthen LAF’s engagement with these rising leaders, increase their visibility, and help build their network. In 2014, she helped introduce a “Leadership Conversation” as part of the in-person recognition events for each year’s group of Olmsted Scholars, and she continues to facilitate that session every year.

Applying her unique approach to leadership, Lucinda empowers the people around her to become their best selves. She asks insightful questions, challenges her peers and students to challenge themselves, and always leaves time for reflection. She is a compassionate leader, exuding confidence while giving each situation her full presence and effort. Lucinda pushes her students and the Fellows to improve their work and themselves, and she lives out her advice with a continual effort at personal improvement and growth. LAF is immensely grateful to Lucinda for all she has done for this organization and the discipline.

The Sturgeons are Ready to Play!

As of yesterday, the Pier 26 Science Playground is officially open! This marine science-themed playground holds two larger-than-life interactive sturgeon fish, one the Atlantic sturgeon and the other a short-nosed sturgeon, where children can climb inside, up and over to explore.

The innovative play space is where the aquatic Hudson River habitat will inspire children both as an extraordinary playscape but also as an educational opportunity. Designed to spark the imagination, this playground will be a valuable resource for learning and play for NYC families. It will also serve as the outdoor extension of the environmental programming at the ecology-focused Pier 26 and the future Hudson River Park Estuarium.

Four essential learning opportunities have been designed into the science play area: (1) reading, (2) visual, (3) kinesthetic, and (4) auditory. These learning experiences are found in a diversity of spaces that represent both the habitat and the anatomy of the sturgeons.

We’re so proud and excited to see the culmination of a decade of hard work on Pier 26, which opened in 2020. The Sturgeon playscape is an integral part of the broader ecologically focused pier. Congratulations to our team and Hudson River Park.

Thank you to MONSTRUM, Hudson River Park, and all of the individuals who made this truly unique and educational playground a reality!

Photos courtesy of Hudson River Park