Category Archives: Education

Awards Focus: After Plastics

LAM is highlighting student and professional winners from the 2021 ASLA Awards by asking designers to share an outtake that tells an important part of their project’s narrative.

After Plastics: The Gardens of the Glacial Foreland

Student Research Honor Award

Image courtesy Andreea Vasile-Hoxha, Associate ASLA.

“Plastic particle x is currently sunbathing between the sharp peaks of the Swiss Alps. It is reflecting on the journey that had brought it here, while discovering the essence of its new identity—it is now called a microplastic particle. What that truly means, particle x has yet to understand, but for now, it begins to feel trapped under the snow, slowly freezing… Continue reading Awards Focus: After Plastics

Trees on Their Own Terms

New research into forests at the Arboreal Inquiries Symposium.

By Zach Mortice

Forests are many things to many people—repositories of carbon, factories for our atmosphere, near-sentient biological networks, and totems of climate change salvation, to name a few recent claims. But how can we understand forests separately from the way humans see them? Continue reading Trees on Their Own Terms

Art Director’s Cut: Northern Star

The things our art director, Chris McGee, hated to leave out of the current issue of LAM.

“Step into the light.”

–Chris McGee, Art Director

Photo by Joseph Xu/Michigan Engineering.

From “Northern Star” by Zach Mortice in the February 2022 issue, about Stoss Landscape Urbanism’s University of Michigan Gerstacker Grove, a place for active recreation and ecological performance.

Northern Star

Stoss Landscape Urbanism’s design for the University of Michigan’s Gerstacker Grove melds ecological performance with technological proficiency.

By Zach Mortice

Gerstacker Grove is the only major piece of landscape connective tissue on the University of Michigan’s North Campus. Photo by Millicent Harvey.

The Eda U. Gerstacker Grove on the University of Michigan’s North Campus is the modern anti-quad. The North Campus is cloistered and suburban, separated from the main Central Campus by a mile-plus and the Huron River. Continue reading Northern Star

Awards Focus: Indian Mounds Cultural Landscape Study

LAM is highlighting student and professional winners from the 2021 ASLA Awards by asking designers to share an outtake that tells an important part of their project’s narrative.

Indian Mounds Cultural Landscape Study and Messaging Plan

Quinn Evans and Ten x Ten

Analysis and Planning Honor Award

Image courtesy Quinn Evans.

“Critical to understanding the importance of the Indigenous burial ground that is currently called Indian Mounds Regional Park is recognizing the interconnectedness of all things—people, land, water, sky, animals, and plants. Continue reading Awards Focus: Indian Mounds Cultural Landscape Study

Art Director’s Cut: Northern Star

The things our art director, Chris McGee, hated to leave out of the current issue of LAM.

“Night on the quad.”

–Chris McGee, LAM Art Director

Photo by Millicent Harvey.

From “Northern Star” by Zach Mortice in the February 2022 issue, about the University of Michigan’s Gerstacker Grove, where parametric modeling and a dynamic lighting installation set Stoss Landscape Urbanism’s campus centerpiece apart.

Art Director’s Cut: Prairie Primetime

The things our art director, Chris McGee, hated to leave out of the current issue of LAM.

“A plains education.”

–Chris McGee, Art Director

 

Photo by Scott Dressel-Martin.From “Prairie Primetime” by Haniya Rae in the January 2022 issue, about the Prairie Conservation Center in Aurora, Colorado, where a plan by Mundus Bishop reveals this short-grass prairie as a thriving place for ecological education.