Tag Archives: By S. Zacks

A Park in Progress

Marsha P. Johnson was a hero in the Black trans community. Will the park designed in her honor earn the same admiration?

By Stephen Zacks

A tree-lined, cobblestone-paved path.
The park’s cobblestone-paved entrance references the site’s early days as a freight terminal. Photo by Zen Beattie.

A subtle shift has taken place in the park at the end of North 7th Street in Brooklyn, New York’s Williamsburg neighborhood. Recently renamed for the late Black trans LGBTQ+ civil rights activist Marsha P. Johnson, the redesigned park has retained the relatively ad hoc feeling of its previous iteration as East River State Park. It still has swaths of concrete embankments scattered around the site, remnants of the place’s industrial history as a rail and marine terminal. The main entrance has been repaved with cobblestones, mirroring the crumbling remains of the original entry. New seating is fabricated from rough-cut logs. Continue reading A Park in Progress

Licensure on the Line

This article is also available in Spanish

Years of politically motivated attacks have put professional licensure at risk. Now, the design professions and their allies are banding together to protect it.

By Stephen Zacks

The state of Virginia has regulated landscape architecture as a profession since 1980, certifying practitioners through its professional occupational agency. In 2010, landscape architecture became a licensed profession in the state.

Continue reading Licensure on the Line

Soft Power in Moscow (2018)

An expansive park at the foot of the Kremlin helped drive a series of revolutionary improvements to the Russian capital.

By Stephan Zacks

The 1,600-seat outdoor amphitheater is topped by a climate-engineered glass dome to moderate temperatures in every season. Photo by Iwan Baan, courtesy Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

At Zaryadye Park in central Moscow, a procession of Eurasian birch trees, grasses, and shrubs winds downhill from a glass-encrusted outdoor amphitheater that tops the new Philharmonic Hall, framing photogenic views of the candy-colored cupolas of Saint Basil’s Cathedral. Continue reading Soft Power in Moscow (2018)