Tags: landscape architecture

James Corner Field Operations (FO) and Perkins+Will have been selected as the lead designers of the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile loop of parkland, trails and light rail to encircle the core of the city and revitalize derelict rail easements. 

A couple of exciting exhibitions and projects featuring the built and natural environments are currently underway at the MoMA and P.S.1.  The MoMA exhibition, “In Situ: Architecture and Landscape”, opened last April and will be running through February 22nd. 

When we first caught sight of London’s Northala Fields Park, which opened in May 2008, the similarity in topography to Fresh Kills set off instant recognition–this is filled land.  The park’s construction included the creation of four man-made hills filled with construction debris from local projects including the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium and the construction of a nearby shopping center. 

Architecture and urbanism blog mammoth has compiled its review of the best architecture of the past decade.  It’s a refreshing list because of its inclusion of projects that stretch outside of what is typically considered ‘architecture’–the Large Hadron Collider, Orange County’s Groundwater Replenishment System, the MIT Media Lab’s City Car, the iPhone.

Web Ecoist showcases some incredible feats in green roof and, especially, green wall design around the world.  These are always fun and inspiring image galleries, even when the projects seem slightly misguided.  At their best, green roofs and walls not only serve as aesthetic amentities, but also provide insulation, purify air and reduce storm water runoff.

The New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects is hosting a panel discussion on Restorative Landscapes tomorrow evening, January 14th.  The panel will be comprised of:

• Jack Carman, founder of Design for Generations, LLC who specializes in the design of therapeutic gardens, particularly for the elderly;
• Nancy Chambers, director of the horticulture therapy program at the Enid Haupt Glass Garden within the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine;
• Naomi Sachs, founder and director of the Theraputic Landscapes Network and principal of Naomi Sachs Design.

Landscape architecture and urban design firm James Corner Field Operations has prepared three new design proposals re-imagining Cleveland’s Public Square.  The downtown park is bisected by two roads and perceived, in its current state, as a dead zone between skyscrapers. 

City planners in Guelph, Ontario have approved a master plan to transform a 200-acre decommissioned landfill into the world’s largest pollinator park.  The former Eastview Road Landfill, which operated as a municipal dump from 1961 to 2003, has been capped and outfitted with a methane capturing system that converts landfill gas into usable energy. 

Eli Cohen gave a terrific talk Monday night on his work, as director of Ayala Water and Ecology, using plants to remove pollutants and contaminants from water, soil and air.  We’re grateful to the huge crowd that poured into the Arsenal gallery for the event, to Laura Starr and Yamit Perez for putting us in touch with Eli and, of course, to Eli himself for sharing his work and his thoughts.

James Corner, founder and director of landscape architecture and urban design firm Field Operations, will speak about the firm’s current projects this evening at Cooper Union, hosted by the Architectural League of New York.  In addition to designing the Freshkills Park master plan and first phase projects, Field Operations continues to tackle a number of diverse and high-profile projects including The High Line and the 4,500-acre Shelby Farms Park in Memphis. 

The first phase of development is underway for 1,347-acre brownfield transformation project Orange County Great Park.  $65.5 million will fund the expansion of a 27.5-acre “Preview Park,” which opened in 2008 and features an observation balloon providing visitors a high-flying view of the entire site. 

Inspired by the success of the High Line, proposals to reimagine abandoned rail lines have popped up all over the country.

• Faced with the replacement of a section of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, Rael San Fratello Architects have proposed the creation of the Bay Line, a hanging neighborhood complete with housing, cultural and commercial buildings and bike and pedestrian paths. 

Wednesday the 28th, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) will host a discussion called The Infrastructure of Urban Ecologies.  Speakers will include William Morrish, Dean of the School of Constructed Environments at Parsons, and Kazys Varnelis, Director of Network Architecture Lab at GSAPP. 

Artist Maya Lin is exhibiting both architectural sculptures and environmental installations this fall in and around New York City.  Among the sculptures on view at Salon 94 are number of “asteroids” constructed from children’s toys, bottle caps and other recycled materials, as well as topographical formations carved from atlases and phone books. 

A master plan by Grant Associates of the UK has been selected from an international competition for the design of Singapore’s largest garden project to date, Marina South Gardens.  The architecture and landscape for the ambitious plan are inspired by orchid anatomy and include a series of micro-ecosystem conservatories to house plants from Mediterranean, temperate and tropical climates.  

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation will be leading free public tours of one of its first phases of park development this Sunday, October 4th, as part of the Atlantic Avenue Development Corporation’s Atlantic Antic street festival.  The Pier 6 section of the park, which connects with Atlantic Avenue, is scheduled to open in early 2010, will include a 1.6-acre playground, a dog run, a promenade, a restaurant and three sand volleyball courts.  

Two projects in San Francisco are turning underused and unsightly public spaces into green urban gardens and meeting places.  Pavement to Parks, a program run by the city’s Planning Department, converts wasted street space and rights-of-way into plazas and parks. 

Spencer Finch’s The River That Flows Both Ways–the first public art commission on the High Line–is an installation of 700 panes of colored glass on the Chelsea Market building, between 15th and 16th Streets on the elevated park at 10th Avenue. 

Infrastructurist has posted its list of the ten greatest large urban parks.  It’s interesting to see them all viewed from above at roughly the same scale, and to see how they interact at that scale with the form of the urban fabric around them. 

Pruned’s three-part “Under Spaces” survey (Parts 1, 2 and 3) explores the problems cities face when planning under and around elevated infrastructure like rail lines and highways.  Recent projects have converted these typically neglected landscapes into urban public centers, mountain biking and skating parks and waterfront green spaces.