Latest news with #landscapearchitecture
Bloomberg
9 hours ago
- General
- Bloomberg
Squeezed by Crowds, the Roads of Central Park Are Being Reimagined
When Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux presented their design for New York City's Central Park — then called Greensward — in 1858, they designated spaces by speed. The park's traverses could handle crosstown carriages. Bridle paths were for foot traffic. And the drives would be treated as a promenade for all, split first between pedestrians, soon bicycles, and, later, cars. 'There should be separation of ways, as in parks and parkways, for efficiency and amenity of movement,' Olmsted wrote, 'and to avoid collision or the apprehension of collision, between different kinds of traffic.'
New York Times
4 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
A Contemporary House Soars in Rural Rhode Island
For years, Amale Andraos and Dan Wood didn't need much when they escaped to their ramshackle second home in rural Rhode Island. Simply having a few days off was all they needed. Ms. Andraos and Mr. Wood are the founding partners of WORKac, a New York-based architecture firm with an international mix of projects. Ms. Andraos was the dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation until 2021 (and is now dean emeritus) where Mr. Wood also taught. In addition, they are the parents of two children, Ayah, now 15, and Kamil, 12, so leisure time has always been in short supply. Nevertheless, when they were visiting Mr. Wood's parents near Hope Valley, R.I., in 2008, they happened to learn that one of the neighbors was selling a prime 22-acre parcel of land. The private property was nestled against a river and surrounded by undeveloped forest and state-protected land. It came with a house, but not one they liked. 'The house was a mess,' said Ms. Andraos, 52. 'It was a hunter's log cabin from the 1950s that they added onto in the 1970s and 1980s,' said Mr. Wood, 57, noting that the whole structure was in a state of decay. When they visited the site, however, it was so idyllic they couldn't pass it up — they purchased it for $500,000. 'We bought it for the land,' Ms. Andraos said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News.com.au
12-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Queensland's top landscape projects revealed at leading awards ceremony
Queensland's architects celebrated the best new landscapes across the state in an awards show on Thursday night, where 6 projects won awards of excellence for their work across the field. The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) Queensland Awards had more than fifty projects nominated for awards at Blackbird Brisbane, in an event that covered accomplishments in fields such as parks, infrastructure and climate positive design. One of the night's most successful companies was design firm Urbis, which won three awards of excellence and two landscape architecture awards. Their work on the Northshore Brisbane Street renewal program received an award of excellence for the infrastructure category, and the company shared an award with South Bank Corporation for the Future South Bank Master Plan. Glen Power, Director of Urbis, said the team was proud of their work over the past year, and appreciated the recognition within the field. 'It's obviously an honour to be nominated amongst all the other incredible submissions,' he said. 'It's more of a celebration than it is a competition.' Urbis also scored an award of excellence for the parks and open space category, with their work on the Archerfield Wetlands District Park. Mr Power said his team was especially proud of creating spaces within the park both for community members and the redevelopment of the Oxley Creek corridor. 'We're proud to create an environment for flora and fauna that'll … continually keep giving back to the community,' he said. Meanwhile, the master plan for Washpool Creek Catchment by Tract received an award of excellence for landscape planning, along with an award for climate positive design, a regional achievement award and a ShadeSmart award. Judges said the project's plans for transforming the catchment over the next three decades represented a strong vision for the area, and credited their work in mapping out the technical stormwater engineering. Other awarded projects included the Archerfield Wetlands Land Management project from the Brisbane Sustainability Agency. The project was given an award of excellence for land management, while the University of Queensland Ampitheatre from Hassell took home one for the health and education landscape category. The jury described Hassell's work on the project as thoughtful response to post-pandemic attitudes, 'reinviting students outdoors and reinvigorating campus life through a landscape that is culturally aware, ecologically attuned, and beautifully resolved.' Overall, 18 landscape architecture awards were also given out on the night, along with several regional achievement awards, ShadeSmart awards and one award for climate positive design. Finally, Caloundra Community and Creative Hub from Jacobs and Sunshine Coast Council won the people's choice award that evening. AILA Queensland Jury Chair, David Hatherly, said judges saw 'a strong commitment' across the board to designing with climate and community in mind, when creating public spaces across Queensland. 'Landscape architecture is playing a critical role in connecting policy, infrastructure and biodiversity with how people connect with and experience their everyday environments,' he said. 'The profession's leadership is helping guide our cities, towns and regions towards more inclusive, sustainable futures.' Many of the night's winners will now be heading to the National Landscape Architecture Awards, to be hosted in Hobart in October.
Globe and Mail
31-05-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
Toronto's new island promises a greener, livelier city
Rasmus Astrup has a promise about Ookwemin Minising, the island that will be Toronto's next waterfront neighbourhood. It will be weird. 'This island is a place like nowhere else,' the Danish landscape architect said this week. 'The design has to be special; it has to be a little quirky.' Quirkiness isn't Toronto's default setting, but Mr. Astrup and his practice SLA will get to bring some. They've been hired on a team to rework Ookwemin (formerly Villiers Island), the 40-hectare new district on Toronto's port lands framed by the Don River. This year they'll deliver a design for the streets and parks; they will also review the plan to find room for more housing. This is more than a procedural next step. It suggests a potential pivot in how Toronto imagines itself. The design team includes Allies & Morrison, the London practice behind the transformation of King's Cross; Indigenous-led Trophic Design; global engineering firm GHD; the German climate engineers at Transsolar; and accessibility consultants Level Playing Field. In this group, SLA and Allies are the insurgents. Their projects are messy, green and intensely human – reflecting the beautiful chaos of a piecemeal city and the hidden order of an ecosystem. 'We wanted to signal that this is not a typical city project,' Toronto Chief Planner Jason Thorne said this week at a meeting on the island. 'That's why we brought in an international design team.' And, he added, this new effort 'is not just a planning exercise. We're all committed to seeing this realized.' Opinion: Toronto's public spaces need results – not more plans Already this part of the city has seen ambitious design. The Port Lands Flood Protection Project, nearly complete, rearranged the mouth of the Don River and created this new island; the river now frames the east and south side of Ookwemin Minising, while the old Keating Channel flows past the northern edge into Lake Ontario. The river scheme is an extraordinary project led by landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. What was a barren industrial zone is now the river's new mouth: a snaking channel surrounded by exciting parks and wetlands that look like they've been there forever. Next door, the Ookwemin plan didn't measure up. Of the island's 40 hectares, 22 per cent is devoted to streets and sidewalks. As I wrote last year, this reflected the dubious ideas of the city's Urban Design staff: Massively wide streets. Buildings with bulky 'podium' bases and skinny towers above. Parks that are large, surrounded by roads and relentlessly sunny. This dogma has never produced a nice place, but it persists. SLA, Allies & Morrison and colleagues will challenge it. Allies & Morrison's urban design team is best known for designing the King's Cross neighbourhood in London; there, and in two large new projects in Toronto, they like to weave together buildings and open space to create 'a push and pull,' as Alfredo Caraballo of Allies & Morrison says, 'a blurring between urban blocks and open spaces.' 'The public realm isn't just parks,' Mr. Caraballo adds. 'It's the spaces in between buildings, streets that feel welcoming, places for children to play. Density matters, but so does intimacy and scale. We're asking: What makes a good life in a city? How can we design for that?' The answer includes thinking deeply about water. GHD, the infrastructure firm working alongside SLA, will thread hydrology into every part of the design. Their task is to make rainwater visible, catching it with carefully designed landscapes full of Indigenous plants. As Mr. Astrup puts it, 'We want the landscape to work like a sponge.' That means wetlands, permeable surfaces, and moments of encounter – an engineered ecology that supports both resilience and delight. Their work shows deep technical understanding as well as an intuitive sense of what makes a great urban space: lots of people, lots of variety of spaces, activities and atmospheres, and a strong dash of green. That ecological ambition pairs with a cultural one. Trophic Design, the Indigenous-led firm on the team, will bring a different way of seeing. Their presence affirms the need to honour the Don's history as a gathering place, a site of nourishment and meaning for millennia. 'They're not consultants,' Mr. Astrup says. 'They are co-designers.' How far will this rethink go? Usually, redesigning blocks and street layouts once they've been drafted would be heresy. But Toronto – for once – seems to be giving this team creative licence. Chris Glaisek, chief planning and design officer at Waterfront Toronto, is clear: 'We were looking for a team that would challenge the status quo.' They've found one. Now the test is whether the city will let them deliver a new kind of place.
Forbes
27-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Advocacy By Architecture Firms Fighting Climate Change
BioWall Garden Green Vertical wall of different live plants With federal funding to fight climate change in jeopardy, it may be architecture and landscape architecture firms, along with the associations that represent them, that will be increasingly counted upon to rise to the challenge of advancing the fight. As of this writing, funds for greenhouse gas reduction remain frozen while court proceedings are ongoing. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) funding, encompassing initiatives like the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator and National Clean Investment Fund, cannot currently be accessed by recipients. This means advocacy and innovation, oft initiated by firms in architecture and landscape architecture, is increasingly essential to fostering a resilient and sustainable tomorrow. By incorporating sustainable principles at each stage of the design, the architecture profession has the ability to produce structures that endure and benefit their occupants. To address the ongoing climate crisis, architects can design carbon-positive, clean energy producing materials incorporating current materials and technology. They can advocate for building code and zoning regulations updates. They can design in biophilic elements such as greenery and organic materials to support occupants' physical and mental well-being. And they can link residents and office workers with nature through the use of such elements as rooftop gardens, interior courtyards and green walls. 'Grassroots advocacy is more important than ever before, especially in the realm of architecture and design, where our actions can significantly influence a sustainable future,' says Michael Hayes, managing executive at TPG Architecture, a New York City-based architectural and design firm. 'As designers, we are responsible for promoting the integration of climate-conscious solutions, whether it's advocating for updates to building codes or championing materials that support both the environment and human well-being. Through grassroots efforts, we lead with sustainability in every project and conversation, shaping healthier, more resilient communities.' New stone age As noted, architects are in the forefront of exploring innovative building materials with the potential to substantially cut the carbon footprints of structures incorporating them. London-based architectural firm Hawkins\Brown was commissioned by Albion Stone and Hutton Stone to design Brick From a Stone: Arch Revival, a pavilion featuring a pair of eye-catching vaulted hyperbolic arches displayed at Clerkenwell Design Week in London's Clerkenwell district last week. Each arch is created from a single layer of stone bricks only 102 mm. thick, providing evidence of the product's suitability as a load-bearing material. Clay-fired bricks used for centuries exact an enormous carbon toll, featuring as they do multiple raw materials that must be mixed, dried and heated to 2,912 degrees Fahrenheit. But stone begins life as a zero-carbon material that doesn't need making, and requires energy solely to mine and cut the material. Brick From a Stone: Arch Revival, boasts 66% less embodied carbon than identical structure constructed with clay-fired bricks. Economic benefits Landscape architects also have a role in propelling a greener future. Late last year, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) released a new brief on the economic benefits of landscape architecture and nature-based solutions. The brief revealed landscape architects boost economic value via their planning and design of nature-based solutions. Landscape architect's work generates economic benefit in five key areas: Improved human health and livability, broadened investment and sustainable jobs, increased biodiversity, results beyond net-zero and more robust resilience. Global policymakers are interested in ratcheting up investment in nature-based solutions, noted ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen. Before doing so, however, they seek to learn the tradeoff between the solutions' costs and their economic benefits. As a result of the new brief released last November, quantitative evidence is available of the economic value landscape architects create through their design of the solutions. For instance, nature-based solutions like rain gardens, bioswales and green roof effectively manage stormwater and can be built for 5 to 30% less and maintained for 25% less than conventional infrastructure. What's more, every dollar invested in parks and green space can yield from $4 to $11 in tourism growth, enhanced property values and better community health.
