Choosing a landscape architect - Chris Kent from PGAdesign, Oakland
How do you go about choosing the right landscape architect in Oakland? Chris Kent from PGAdesign walks us through the ins and outs of getting the right firm ...

By: Enzo Marconi

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Choosing a landscape architect - Chris Kent from PGAdesign, Oakland - Video

Photo by Jim Tetro

Park amenities include a rain garden, pavilions, an ice-skating rink and a cafe.

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The team transformed a parking lot for Washington D.C. school buses on the Anacostia Waterfront into a three-acre park that offers aboveground recreational amenities and a belowground stormwater sewer system. Runoff from seven city blocks is diverted to the system, which includes two underground 40,000-gallon cisterns; tree pits also collect runoff. The reused water provides nearly 95% of the park's needs, saving an estimated 1.5 million gallons of potable water annually. Park amenities include a rain garden, pavilions, an ice-skating rink and a cafeas well as interactive water fountains and interactive sculptures.

Project Team

Owner: Canal Park Development Association; Housing Authority of the District of Columbia

Architect: Studios Architecture

General Contractor: James G. Davis Construction Corp., Rockville, Md.

Engineers: Loring; Vika, Germantown, Md.

Landscape Architect: The Olin Studio, Philadelphia

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Landscape, Urban Development: Washington Canal Park

Architect Landscape Architect Presentation on New Building Ideas - UMass LARP
Architects and Landscape Architects presented their basic ideas on the new Integrated Design Building. Hills North - Procopio Room, UMass Amherst, January 10...

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Architect & Landscape Architect Presentation on New Building Ideas - UMass LARP - Video

By Megan BackhouseFeb. 15, 2014, 3 a.m.

Kate Dundas describes how she - a one-time 'party animal' - turned into a gardener in Yorkshire.

Landscape architect and urban designer Kate Dundas describes how she - a one-time ''party animal in Glasgow'' - turned into a gardener in Yorkshire. It is a story about what happens when a thesis-writing university student in Leeds decides to apply what she has learnt about creating healthy cities to an allotment in an industrial estate in a rough part of town.

What happens is she gets a plot in the allotment immediately, there being no waiting list, on account of the suburb's reputation. Then she starts spending time away from the ''usual crew of students'' and engaging with people of different ages, backgrounds and skill levels. And then - no matter her ''neglectful'' gardening ways - she harvests sweetcorn she has grown from seed, watercress and a bounty of other vegetables.

For Dundas, who grew up in Scotland eating deep-fried potato in buttered white bread rolls, it was a revelation.

When Dundas moved to Melbourne two years ago, she tried to get a local plot. But, as anyone who has tried to secure a space in a community garden here could have told her, it was going to be a long wait. She began growing food in the garden of the terrace house she rents in Fitzroy instead and then, late last year, helped establish 3000acres, an outfit that aims to unlock unused urban, suburban and rural spaces for food gardens.

Inspired by 596 Acres, an online set-up established in New York in 2011 that maps vacant public land and connects potential gardeners through social networking, 3000acres has today launched a website of its own. The site (3000acres.org) publishes interactive maps of Melbourne on which users can plot unused sites and observe whether other people are also interested in trying to get access to them.

Some pieces of land - along railways, for example - could potentially be gardened long-term, while other sites - such as those owned by developers awaiting planning permits - could be cultivated for a finite period.

Such is the situation with 3000acre's first community project, a privately owned site in Fitzroy that is to be developed into apartments within the next year but in the meantime is being opened (from today) to local communities for gardening. Twelve specially deposited industrial plastic containers will operate as wicking beds with a reservoir of water held in the bottom that is then drawn up (through capillary action) into the growing medium.

The garden, on a site owned by Neometro Developments, will host a series of talks this afternoon for the Sustainable Living Festival and is just one of a string of productive gardens open to the public this weekend.

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From vacant to verdant

Nico Muhly

The hip American composer Nico Muhly will appear live via Skype in a panel discussion at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, at the Contemporary Arts Center in advance of the world premiere of his newest work, Pleasure Ground. The musical portrait was commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for the 2014 MusicNOW Festival.Louis Langre and theorchestra will give its premiere on March 21 in Music Hall.

The panel will explore the subject of Muhlys composition, landscape architect and designer Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsteds legacy includes Central Park in New York City, Elm Park in Worcester, Massachusetts, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York, and the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC, among many other projects.

It will be moderated by the CSOs Naimah Bilal, and also include: Drew Klein, Performance Curator, CAC; Steven Schuckman, Superintendent, Planning, Design and Facilities, Cincinnati Parks; and Christopher Manning, ASLA, Principal/Landscape Architect, Human Nature, Inc.

This event is from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4 at the CAC, and is free and open to the public.

In 2011, Muhlys first full-scale opera, Two Boys, was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center Theater and the English National Opera. It had its American premiere at the Met in October.

Muhly has composed a wide scope of work for ensembles, soloists and organizations including the American Ballet Theater, American Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony, percussionist Colin Currie, countertenor Iestyn Davies, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, violinist Hilary Hahn, Gotham Chamber Opera, designer/illustrator Maira Kalman, choreographer Benjamin Millepied, Music-Theatre Group, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Paris Opra Ballet, soprano Jessica Rivera, The Royal Ballet, Saint Thomas Church in New York City, Seattle Symphony, and artist Conrad Shawcross.

Muhly has also lent his skills as performer, arranger and conductor to Antony and the Johnsons, Bonnie Prince Billy, Doveman, Grizzly Bear, Jnsi of the band Sigur Rs, and Usher.

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CAC to skype with Nico Muhly for free panel discussion

Recently, Oakland Local sought out five people with long histories in Oakland and asked them to share their thoughts about downtown Oaklands planning challenges and opportunities. (Read the companion piece here.)

For our completely unscientific survey, we talked to a preservationist, an architect, a landscape architect, a developer and a planner. It is impossible to represent the immense diversity of Oaklands population or even of the possibilities for downtown in the space we have for this article, so please take this as a small piece of a much bigger conversation.

Even among the five people who generously took the time to share their ideas with us, the range of different perspectives was impressive and, at times, surprising. Here are five challenges that came out of these conversations.

Frank Ogawa Plaza

Frank Ogawa Plaza, with abundant seating. Photo by Chris Pattillo.

I dont think its terrible, but I think it raises issues, said Naomi Schiff, a member of the board of the Oakland Heritage Alliance and a local business owner who has lived in Oakland since 1974, of the plaza that sits at the heard of downtown and fronts City Hall.

Closing the street was seen as essential for attracting investment, said Matthew Taecker, chair of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) regional and urban design committee. The consequence of that was that downtown lost a lot of its connectivity.

Occupy people were the only people that ever used that space, Schiff said. The encampments presence in the plaza showed that, all the politics aside, its an inviting space.

Chris Pattillo, chair of the Oakland Planning Commission and president of PGA Design, was part of the initial design team that developed the master plan for Frank Ogawa Plaza. To be really successful, any urban space needs three things: good design, maintenance and programming, she said. I think the overall design of Ogawa Plaza is a good design.

To have vibrant urban spaces, you have to work at it, Pattillo noted. You cant sit back and wait for something magical to happen.

Continued here:
5 urban planning challenges for downtown Oakland

It put the Upper into the East Side. It prevented Fifth Avenue from becoming Wall Street. It made penthouse the most important word in real estate.

Lifted: A Cultural History of the Elevator byAndreas Bernard (New York University Press)

The elevator did more than make New York the city of skyscrapers, it changed the way we live, as German newspaper editor Andreas Bernard explains in Lifted.

The elevator played a role in the profound reorganization of the building, he writes. That means a shift from single-family houses and businesses to apartments and office buildings. Suddenly . . . it was possible to encounter strangers almost anywhere.

The elevator, in other words, made us more social even if that social interaction often involved muttered small talk and staring at doors. It also reinforced a social hierarchy; for while we rode the same elevators, those who rode higher lived above the fray. Elisha Graves Otis, who perfected the elevator in Yonkers, helped usher in terraces and corner offices, high-rise apartments and rooftop clubs.

So, what would New York be like without elevators? Besides a lot thinner, Bernard offers three things that changed thanks to Otis innovation.

Before the elevator, buildings in New York basically were limited to six stories because people wouldnt walk any higher. Even when the elevator raised the roof to 12 stories, developers faced a threat greater than technology snobbery.

Upper floors were seen as servants quarters or the attic apartments of the poor. Bernard quotes from Joseph Roths Hotel Savoy, whose main character stays in the unwanted upper floors. Those who lived on high were in the depths, buried in airy graves, and the graves were in layers above the comfortable rooms of the well nourished guests sitting down below, untroubled by the flimsy coffins overhead.

Even after elevator buildings began appearing in New York, it took years to convince tenants to live in the upper reaches. In the first commercial building with an elevator, the Equitable Life headquarters, the insurance company took the lower offices, while the eighth floor held the custodians apartment.

Even in 1884, when the Dakota opened on the Upper West Side (the first apartment building geared to the rich), it was assumed the wealthy would rather live closer to the ground.

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How elevators transformed NYCs social landscape

Landscape architects operate in much the same was as traditional architects. They are responsible for both the functional and aesthetic layout of a design. The principal difference is in the medium in which they work. Landscape architects use living canvases, such as grasses, flowers and trees, as well as traditional construction materials such as concrete to enhance and beautify outdoor spaces. Landscape architects design and plan out green spaces for a number of different clients. They can work on large-scale projects such as public use spaces like parks and recreational areas, as well as major commercial and industrial sites. In these instances, landscape architects often work closely with local government commissions and traditional architects when planning out the ideal landscape to enhance and complement the buildings they accompany. Landscape architects also work on smaller projects, such as private homes. In these instances, they will work closely with the homeowner to create a living landscape that suits the individual's personal taste.

Landscape architects are required to be registered in the state in which they practice. These registration requirements vary by location, but most require a degree as well as an exam for licensing. As the economy and housing market rebounds, the outlook for landscape architects is very promising. The market for these services is closely tied to the construction industry, as new construction requires the services of landscape architects to complement the aesthetics of the buildings being planned.

Landscape ArchitectTasks

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Landscape Architect (US) Salary - PayScale

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior'sNational Park Service issued the following news release:

The "Monuments Men," the team of historians who protected monuments, artwork and other cultural treasures from the destruction of World War II and whose story is told in a major motion picture being released today, included among their ranks former and future employees of the National Park Service.

Denys P. "Peter" Myers, an architectural historian with the National Park Service'sHistoric American Buildings Survey, and Norman T. Newton, a landscape architect in what is now the Northeast Regional Office, were among the 350 men and women from 13 nations who volunteered for this dangerous service. Officially known as the military's Monument, Fine Arts and Archives section, the Monuments Men were museum directors, curators, art scholars and educators, artists, architects and archivists whose mission was to save as much of the greatest cultural and artistic achievements of Europe as possible from the destructive threat of war.

"The preservation of places and objects that represent our nation's culture and history is core to the mission of the National Park Service," said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. "We are proud that in a time of international crisis, men with the skills and expertise to preserve our nation's cultural heritage answered the call to ensure that these treasures from other nations would not be lost."

In all, the Monuments Men tracked, located, and ultimately returned more than 5 million artistic and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. Their role in preserving cultural treasures was without precedent. In civilian life, many of these individuals played extraordinarily prominent roles with some of the greatest cultural and educational institutions in the United States.

Technician Fifth Grade Denys P. "Peter" Myers

Architectural historian Peter Myers served with the U.S. Army as a member of the Monument, Fine Arts and Archives program from 1943 until 1946. During that time, he participated in the recovery of art stolen by the Nazis, and aided in the remarkable salvage of the frescoes by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo at the Residenz Palace in Wurzburg, Germany.

In his post-war career, he worked for the National Park Service for 20 years, primarily with the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), a database of drawings, photographs and histories representing America's architectural heritage. He contributed the written historical data to more than a dozen surveys (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/related/?q=Myers%2C%20Denys%20Peter&fi=names&co=hh) during his career. Myers was also considered an authority on 19th-century gas lighting and authored Gas Lighting in America: A Pictorial Survey (http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/hcrs/myers/index.htm), 1815-1910 for the National Park Service in 1978.

Lt. Col. Norman Thomas Newton

Norman Newton served as an Associate Landscape Architect for the National Park Service from 1933 to 1939. During this time he designed the master plan for the Statue of Liberty and Bedloe's (today Liberty) Island, in which he called for the removal of old Army barracks and the creation of a formal design of lawns and walkways. Newton's objective of "a setting of appropriate well-ordered dignity" continued to dominate the development program even after his departure from the National Park Service in 1939, and his influence can be seen at the site to this day. Other projects Newton completed for the National Park Service included master plans for Saratoga National Historical Park and Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

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National Park Service Historians Among the 'Monuments Men' of World War II

Sustainabile Landscape Design: Landscape Locally with Jack Pizzo
Defining sustainability in a landscape context Sustainability by providence Discussion of the benefits from sustainable landscape design Applying sustainab...

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Sustainabile Landscape Design: Landscape Locally with Jack Pizzo - Video