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Archive for the ‘ASLA’ Category

THE VIEW FROM THE CROWDS

Posted in ASLA, AWARDS, INTERVIEW, LAM MAGAZINE, PHOTOGRAPHY on January 30, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

LAM-Jan2013-Interview-HalfDome

From the January 2013 issue of LAM:

By Lydia W. Lee

Even though Alexander Dunkel, Student ASLA, has never visited the High Line in New York City, he can tell you exactly what part of the park is the most popular: the 10th Avenue Square. How? He spent a year analyzing Flickr, the popular image web site, and seeing where people take the most photos. Because many of the images in Flickr collections are tagged with their precise geographic location as well as a descriptor (“Golden Gate Bridge,” for example), Dunkel was able to generate maps of an area’s most frequently photographed subjects. From his home in Dresden, Germany, he spoke about his research at the University of California, Berkeley, which won a 2012 ASLA Student Honor Award.

What inspired you to study Flickr?

Flickr is a unique source of data that shows how people interact with the landscape. Some people take pictures all the time, some people only take a picture of things that are really important to them, but if you look at the whole data set, you see what the majority opinion is.

(more…)

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A JUNGLE IN PHOENIX

Posted in ASLA, GOODS on September 29, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Landscape Structures’ booth at the ASLA EXPO in Phoenix

A jungle in the middle of the desert is surprising enough, but it’s even more startling when it’s in the middle of the Phoenix Convention Center. Landscape Structures wowed the crowd at the ASLA EXPO today with its plant-themed play structure, complete with climbing elements and slides.

The ASLA EXPO is the only show where every one of the exhibitors is relevant to landscape architects, and the attendees of the 2012 Annual Meeting are making the most of the opportunity to check out products they can use in their work. If you’re at the meeting, don’t miss the chance to see what’s here. And if you can’t make it, keep an eye on LAM’s Goods column to see some of what you missed.

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WANTED: DESIGN MENTORS

Posted in ASLA on September 29, 2012 | 1 Comment »

The ASLA Annual Meeting has brought thousands of landscape architects to Phoenix this weekend. Only a dozen or so showed up for a session on the ACE Mentor Program yesterday, but it was quite a lively event nonetheless.  ACE is a program that works with professional designers, engineers, and construction workers to reach out to high school students interested in those fields. The grassroots program varies a little from city to city, but the basic idea is to have the students select a project and then work through the entire design process. Sometimes, they even get to build what they design.

Joseph M. Cole went through the program ten years ago, at the suggestion of his drafting teacher.  ACE helped him realize that being an architect was an obtainable goal, he told the audience. Today he works for Thomas, Miller & Partners and he is a mentor himself. “It’s an awesome opportunity to network with other mentors,” he says.

Nationwide, the program engages about 8,000 students and 5,000 mentors per year. Two-thirds of those students are minorities and a third are young women. One group they haven’t been reaching so well, however, is landscape architects.

Robert J. Golde, ASLA, a landscape architect at Towers|Golde, thinks that’s a shame. He told the audience being a mentor has helped him to enlighten other professionals about the skills he has as a landscape architect.  And it is inspiring as well: “It really gives you a fresh look on things,” he says, “which is always good as a designer.”

The organization has a booth at the ASLA Expo. If you are here in Phoenix, and you are interested in getting involved, you can visit them today or tomorrow. Or you can check out their website.

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THE 2012 ASLA AWARDS ARE HERE!

Posted in ASLA, AWARDS on August 28, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

It’s like New Year’s Day here at LAM as we roll out the fantastic slate of winners of the 2012 ASLA Awards—the student awards, the professional awards, and the Landmark Award, plus the medals and other honors ASLA presents each year. It’s no wonder that landscape architects are taking over the world when you consider the problems the world faces—they pretty much all involve land, water, and air, and some of the most intriguing, challenging, and surprising solutions are to be found right here, created by the most inventive minds in the business. No spoilers—you’ll have to go through them yourself to learn who won, but this month’s issue is FREE online (click on the cover to the right). To all. Forever. Dig in!

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OBERLANDER WILL RECEIVE ASLA MEDAL

Posted in ASLA, AWARDS, tagged on June 27, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, FASLA, a groundbreaking designer known for her innovative rooftop gardens and playgrounds, will receive the ASLA Medal—the highest honor awarded to a landscape architect, the Society announced on Tuesday. Oberlander founded her firm in Vancouver in 1953, when the profession was dominated by men. Her playground for Expo ’67, which included a rowboat, inspired a national task force on play in Canada and continues to inspire designers around the world. She has also been an important voice on sustainable design.

PWP Landscape Architecture—whose innovative minimalist work has won 35 national ASLA awards—has won ASLA’s Firm Award, and its founding partner, Peter Walker, FASLA, will receive the ASLA Design Medal.

The awards will be presented at ASLA’s Annual Meeting and EXPO in Phoenix, which begins September 28. Other individuals, groups, and programs recognized by ASLA include the educator Herrick Smith, FASLA; Mary Hughes, FASLA, the campus landscape architect at the University of Virginia; the Chesapeake Bay Foundation;  Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Hon. ASLA; Design Workshop’s Design Week; and the ASLA Potomac Chapter/ACE Mentor Legacy Program.

For more information on the winners, check out LAND. And to learn more about Oberlander and her work, read an oral history prepared by the Cultural Landscape Foundation.

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