Inl llClh!

collvelliellce

CONTENTS """y 200.

V O~U M E ,t . PlU M .IO R 5

LAND MATTERS 113 LETTERS 115

RIPRAP 118 Detroit welcomes a happy trail an art installation bnngs winter cheer in Arkansas, one landscape that needs more bamboo, and news on upcoming mmpdifionx Edited by Linda Mcintyre

RESIDENTIAL DESIGN 124

Pacific Heights A Cali/ornia couple surrounded their house in Maltbu with a landscape that shows off their spectacular vantage point on the ocean. By De re Ptln:r.i

URBAN PARKS lao Shoehorn Pmks Squeezing innovative green spaces into crowded cities requires looking/or land in unexpected places. B)' Peter H k

WORK SPACES 142

Walkin a the Talk '" \'f>'hat 'iOme landscape architects arc

doing to make theiro/fices more sustainahf<'. By Dal _I Jost, ... Ii .....

FIRM FOCUS 154

Designjng Disney For the landscape architect., at \\'I'aft Dimey lmaginecrillg, the mdgic is ill the detdils. By Dal I Jo.t, .... u.

ON !HE COVER Non""'" Fid,n is. nl1~ fi<l,k in W'm umtiun 1""1 lnrorpu"'U, ""rlb ju."". ~I ,m" 0/ i4 tlwNilJltaaivm,p.!Ef94. P h'''K.~ph

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PU8L1SHING 166

Publish and Be Seen Landscape architecls are using books as marketing tools. By L ke Ooutla .........

TECHNOLOGY 174 A Ceospali,J Approach To PDFs New types ofPDFr are alu)wing GIS data and mapx to be shared more easily 6y Jal L. Sipe •• A ......

SHARED WISDOM 1102

Drawn to Design Ace Tom', FASIA, sketches as a catalyst for ideas. By Jame. Ric rd ",11...,.

41 LandsupeAr(hlteeture IIll 20U

Mitigating Past Inequities In Los Angeles, a new park 011 a

former oil field brings nalure into a park-starved neighborhood. By Daniel Jost, ASLA

82

Northala Fields Forever

Northala FieMs, the largesl park 10 be bUilt in London/or a century, is an exemplar 0/ sustainable amstruction and deJlgn.

By Tim Coulthard

94

PRODUCT PROFILES 1118

DISPLAY AD INDEX 1120

8UYER ' S GUIDE INDEX 1121

OPINION r;-34

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THE MAGAZINE Of THE AMERICAN SOCIETY O f LANOSCAPE ARCHITECTS

J, Wi lliam Thompso lI , FASLA EO ITO R I btlwIII /UOII @(/ I /II.o rg

Lisa S pe("khanlt MANAGING EDITOR I h /Je c l.·"uNlt@(ld(l.org

Chri stophe l· MeG" ,· ART DIRECTOR I clllcgee@1!5/u.org

Daniel Jost , ASL,\ WRITER / EDITOR I djoH@II ., /u.org

Li sa Sc· hult z ASSOCIATE EDITOR I Isrltull:'@lI s/lI.org

CONTRIBUTING EOITOIIS

.Jan" Bo)' B I·OWH ; Lak t'" DHugl m~, ASLA Oiall"I·I,·II"kson , ASLA ; Pt:l\' t' Jat 'nbs, FA SLA

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10 I Lii/ldsupe Architedure IUY ZOot

ASLA BOARD OF TRUSTEES

PRESIDENT Aug.·lu D. D).·, .'AS I.A

'RIESIDIENT·IELECT

G" r ~' D . S"O ll • • ·~S I .~

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

P erry Il ow"r,l , VA SLA

VICIE 'RESIDENTS

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EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Nu,,,,y C. S ,,"'~r v ill~

SECREIARY

1\Ia,')' L. Han. "n , I/''''''''a ,'y ,I SLA

TRIEASURER

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L. S"oMI! En r,",l • • ' 151.1

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'ARLIAMIENTARIAN 1)"" ,, 1,1 W. L ... li ~. FI St\

(krafts'man), n. 1. One who performs with skill and de~er~

In the manual arts and crafts W,,"o

Changing the Shape of Landscape ArchITecture One Fountain at a llme cv

1 8CXJ 794 1001 Wv'N1i,romanfountains,com

Los Angeles • Albuoueroue • Atlanta

"Handcrafted In Nrerica .. by Nriencan Craftsmen." sv

"Y OU CAN'T GO HOME AGA IN," wrote novelist Thomas

\'Volfe. Those words have cercainly rung crue for me. My homerown is Arlanta, and ' haven't voluntarily gone back fora single day anytime in the past quarter century.

Why did I turn my back on my homewwn? JUSt this: I hate the £'\cr that it has earned the moniker "Sprawl City." I re­member the Atlanta of the 1950s (yes, that far back) when urban developmemdidn't extend much beyond rhecity lim its. A fleer of electric buses plied the st~ts. AI! roads led downtown, and there was just one downtown. l 11en,sometime in the last decades of the century, Adanta went cancerous. Developers cut down the vase ookIhickory forem around rhe city to build subdivisions, shopping

malls, even "edge cities," Adanta's defining fearurecame [Q be 10-lane freeways packed with floods of single-occupancy vehicles.

Sprawl is endemic to U.S.ciries,of course, wirh rhewonderful ex­ceprion ofPordand,Oregon. Bur rhoseorherciriesaren't my home­town. Adanra is. So when I gOt an opportunity to visit Adama in March, my first impulse was to demur. I'm glad I changed my

mind. Not that Atlanta isn't the sprawling monstrosity I thought it was, but near Atlanta 's old hean is a despised and forgO£ten land­

scape that is in the process ofbeing reborn. The BeltLine, a contin­uous greenslXlCe and light-rail conidor to be built on an old railroad bed circling downtown (see "Ring of Green," umdiCdpeA rrhiraJllre, March), changed the way I envision Atlanta's future.

My first glimpse of the BeltLine corridor came via Fred Yalouris, the Beld.ine's director of design, who took our small cadre ofland-

scape architects for a hike along the derelict right-of-way. Con­vening the 22-mile defunct railroad bc-d into a vibrant trail and

transit greenway could take decades and is JUSt in the early Stages, so it was no surprise that the segment we hiked still had the fet'! of inner"City abandonmen t. For me, it was strange to walk down that corridor in view of Atlanta's glittering skyline and Sl~ aban­doned buildings like the old Sears store, above, where my fami ly shopped decades ago. Now, thanks to its adjacency to the BeltLine, it will be rehabbed as condos. One day, this nearly deserted rail bed will be a parklike landscape lined with apartment buildings and animated with light-rail cars, joggers, bikers, and Rollerbladers.

The dearest places in our cities, I sometimes think, are those

most in need ofhealing-afrer all, rhey are the places that offer the grearest possibilities for design, Students, rake note: EDAW is spon­soring an "Urban 50S" competition for ideas about turning around degraded urban environments (see UJ/(J/il.edaw.amPllnxlIIsru).

J wonder if landscape architects' most viral role in rhis centu!)' will be to help our cities turn inward and build in a "Iivabledensi­

ty" that will reverse the flight to the suburbs. Reader, what oppor­tunities for rebirth lie at rhe heart of your hometown?

~, V\ ~~b1JY'--J. William "Bill" T hompson , FASLA

Editor / bthompJOrJ@aila.()f"g

IUT 2001 Landscape Architetture 113

Fountains

Showers

ADA Drinking

Fountains

Misting Stations

Should Christo's Propose<! Canopy Over the Arkansas River Go Forward?

THANK YOU FOR DRAWING ATIEl\'T10N

(b.nd Maners, April) to these ridiculous projects of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Do you remember their pink skins around is­lands in Biscayne Bay? They were hideous decorations on nature. I say enough! Their day has passed.

CAROL WARFIELD

jerome, Michigan

COMPLETE WASTE of resources to make an art statement.

CHRIS MI LLER, AS LA " A/cf/eI7l}'. IlIhwi!

DISMISSING THIS as JUSt another

stunt would be co Stop thousands of pt:'ople from experiencing some public arr. For me, Christo and J eanne-Claude's work allows more curting-edge landscape projects co beaccepred by [he mainstream pub­lic. For landscape architects, [his is critical so [hat our work can concin-ue co evolve and visionary work can be more accepted.

I\.LA,RT!N BARRY, ASSOCIATE AS t A

Brooklyn, New York

LET TI IE ART LIVE. It's only in place for two weeks. In geological and evolution­

ary time it's nothing. For the landscape architecture commu­

nity to promote the position that tempo­rary installations of public art are environ­mentally insensitive damages the entire creative community. Christo's works do not get installed without review. They are subject to much scrutiny, ooth by his cre­ative team and the pertinent jurisdictions.

Sadly, in the United States, art is not considered a vital component of our nation­al culture. An is often re.garded as unnec­essary, an extrava,gance, much like goOO de­sign in past decades. I, by no means, intend to imply thar irresponsible installations should be lauded, but thoughtful , careful­ly executed works need the support of rhe creative community. To rally environ men-

LETTERS

tal extremists to derail this project is an ir­responsible use of your editorial position. Personally, I do believe that Christo's proj­ect is long overdue and that resistance ro the project is generally uninformed.

Lmdscape architects are in a unique IX>­sition to inform publicopinions regarding public art. To promote a negative position seems counterintuitive and not in the best interest of the profession.

ERIC CROrfY, ASLA

Englewood, Colorado

Christo and Jeanne­Claude's work allows more

cutting-edge landscape projects to be accepted by

the mainstream public. "

THIS PROJECT IS A POSITIVE.

I understand where Rags Over the Arkansas River (ROAR) is coming from with respea to the environment, but per­haps they don't understand the real benefits of highlighting that experience through art. If you're from that part of the country (I am), you haw this innate defense aoom the landscape because you think nobody else understands its beauty. Part of ROAR 's apprehension is probably due to the ir thinking that Christo sees the geography as a wasteland- a place where he would likely be allowed to "do" the art- as op­posed to his having chosen that geography because it's so beautiful.

ZAKERY D. STEELE, ASSOCIATE ASLA

Rrxht!lter, Nrw York

I WAS IN AN EXPERIMENTAL film class in the mid-1970s where I saw the film

Chr;SIO'S Valley CUrtam. That was cool and '"fresh." Although I did not visit TheGateJ in Central Park , it seemed to "work'" and create a positive reaction. This river deal

does neither. Stop the madness. GARY SCOTT, FASLA

Del Moinru". Iowa

M YCONCERNS WITI-I the Christo propos­al: The wrap material is basically made

from oil, so its production is nor benign. Aren't there better uses for oil, like medical technology?

There will beon-sireenvironmemal im­pactS, such as creating holes in beautiful rocks for rhe anchors.

\'{lho Ix:nefits other than a segment of the public who likes this type of an?

The Arkansas River is already af­feered way roo much by humans­it's overused by rafting, bUildings in the riparian zone, agriculture, and so on. A mu<:h Ix:ner projeer would Ix: one that restores the riparian zone. If Christo would do that, I'd be OUt there helping him.

There is !"l()(hing, IKIIMlIg more beau­tiful than a free-flowing river. Other than by environmental restoration , it cannot be made more beautiful.

jURGEN A. HESS

Hood Ril'et; Oregon

WHILE I ENJOY the vastness of Christo's work, through his use of artificial me­

dia he would seem to have less of an innate connection with the land {han other artists such as Andy Goldsworthy.

ADAM E. ANDERSON Newport Beach. California

As AN ARTIST, a landscape designer, and a lover of all things natural, the only val­

ue that I see in this project is the need for more discussions on the marriage between art and nature. My sense is that Christo and Jeanne-Claude need ro find a way ro focus on creative sustainability and not these massive projects thar end up costing them millions to implement. If they are such great artists could they not reinvent themselves as creators of something more beautiful and meaningful?

DWIGIIT NYSEWANDER

/IIinneapolis

MAY :001 Llndscape Artllihthre 115

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LETTERS

Rehab the National Mall? Pony Up the Bucks, Congress "SJ-IJITING GROUND" (Land Matters,

March) should perhaps be titled "Shifting Priorities." The National Mall belongs to the people of the nation, as do the monuments and federal buildings that line the mall. I can understand how the mall n~-ds may not be funded through the stimulus package, given the other current national priorities, bur why doesn't Con­gress appropriate sufficient annual funds to maintain and rehabilitate the mall infra­stmcture through the National Park Serv­ICe? A frer all, it is rhe Congn:"SS's front yard too, isn't it?

Perhaps the DistrictofColumbiashould be authorized to charge user fees Of collen taxes from [he local hotels and restaurants that cater to the many om-of-towners who use the mall. Surely we as a nation can fig­ure Out some way of maintaining our col­lective from yard. Otherwise, JUSt plow it and grow victory gardens; at least in that way the local folks could derive some ben­efit from a farmer's market on the mall.

R. Gus DR UM, AFFIUATE ASI.A Hllntingfon. \I"t'.ft Virginia

More Rhetoric from "Joe the Landscape Architect"? No Thanks

INl iER LE1TER (February),]enni 111Omp­son talks about drilling for oil in [he Arc­

tic National Wildlife Refuge and says that landscape architects are more concerned about saving "another acre of pristine park­land" than they are about people who work in the energy, auto, and housing industries.

For far tOO long we've been given the false choice between creating jobs and sav­ing the environment. People are rejecting the propaganda of the last failed adminis­tration in Washington that denied g lobal warming, leased public lands to mining companies, lessened air and warerqualiry, and favored corporate profits over the envi­ronment. Although it is still early, the Obarna adm inistrarion seems to (,1.vor poli­cies that will value the environment and create jobs that encourage sustainability. 111ese policies can only be a positive devel­opmem for landscape architects.

L1nd untouched by man is rapidly dwin­dling. Even dlOUgh r may never physically go to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, r am gratified thar it is there. r would like it to be there for future generations too. If we lose this piece of "pristi ne parkland," how long will it be before we justifY the denigration of Yosemite, Yellowstone, and the Grand C'll1yon?

The rhetoric of a ·'joe the Plumber·· has no place in our profession. \'{fe do not need a "Joe the Landscape An:l1itect. " Let us cel­ebrate the new environmental awareness sw~ping the country and lead the way into a sustainable fmure.

THOMAS BIRO, ASLA

Hillsborough, NewJ ersey

Setting the Record Straight

IN ··PRAIRIE CROSSING" (February) no mention is made of the role of the unique

pavement surfacing in tying Forr Vancou­ver to che Columbia River (up and over che Land Bridge). The surfacing irselfis inac­curately described as a "locally sou rced, can-colored decomposed granice chac is permeable and narurallooking." While we agree wich tan-colored and narural look­ing, che surfacing thac is shown in five pic­rures in chearcicle is NaruralPAVE XL Resin Pavement. 'I11e surface is not decom(X>Sed gran ice nor is it permeable. NaruralPAVE XL Resin Pavement is an upgrade to hQ(­mix asphalt in terms of pavement strength, and ic offers a nontoxic and solar-reflective sustainable alternative that is placed by as­phalt paving machinery in cont inuous joint-free paving applications for roads and streets and parking lots as well as accessi­ble pedestrian surfaces such as you S~ on the land Bridge.

T he designers at Jones & Jones color keyed the other elements on the Land Bridge to be complementary with the Nat­uralPAvEsurfacing. NaturalPAVE surfacing not only covers the Land Bridge itself but carries the theme from the Columbia Riv­er up and over the Lll1d Bridge all the way over to Fort Vancouver and throughout the inside of the fort. Both the Vancouver Lll1d Bridge and Fort Vancouver IXmions of the overall project are covered on aUf web site at wwu!.JsjKo.wm.

BOB RANOOLPll Soil Siabilizafion ProdllCfJ COIIIPany fnc.

Merced. California

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;I sfigh'~)' irreglllar look

CHOICE CUI

Blazing a New Trail In the Motor City Detroit P"ts its (iWI1 stamp 011

greenway design.

THIS MONTH BRINGS some good, green news to a population- Detroiters­that can really use some. It comes in

the form of the official opening of the De­quindre Cut, a pedestrian and bike trail connecting the riverfront with the historic and lX)pular Eastern Market.

The trail nms along acity-owned aban­doned railway line 25 feet below grade. Unused for a quarter century, the space

ilY L I \' D A ~· l c l i\' TrHI:.

had grown wild both figuratively- walls along the tren ch were decorated with Aamboyant graffiti-and literally, as foxes, pheasants, and other urban wildlife sought refuge in the weedy subterranean Aora.

N ow the spiffed-up pathway boasts a wide paved trail with separate lanes for walk­ers and cyclists as well as benches, lighting, and security cameras and phones. 11lt' graf­fiti, however, remains. It 's bodl an iconicel­ement of the space and a reminder of its re­cent past, when spray-am impresarios were some of the only people brave enough [Q

venture into what looked like a set for The World \VttlXilif Vi meets Blade Rllllller.

The Dctjuindre Cur is short, only a lit­tle over a mile long, but it brings a crucial connection between two much-visited

ContHI llndil Mcintyre ilt /mtlnt,u @;n/a Of I.

ls l landsup, Archltectllre IUV not

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attractions. It 's also part of an ambitious plan fora new, less car-centric Detroit. T he Community Foundation for Southeastern Michig an (CFSm.I), a key player in the project, is spearheading a broader g reen-

ways ini t iative and working to secure funding and access for the second phase of the cut. The Motor City government also recently approved a nonmOforizro trans­portation plan that envis.'\ges400 miles of bike lanes.

Might all of th is poli tically correct muJ­timoclalism be seen asa fri ll when so many here have fallen on hard times? No, says

POD CASI

Winter Ephemerals

The Star Seeds installation brightened up

the University of Arkansas campus aU

winter, evolving as the elements took

their toll on the natural materials ,

A landscape architectllre prof finds illSpiratioll ill the Ozark winter.

IN WINTER, the Old Main Lawn

atche University of Arkansas can be a little bleak l3urassismnt pro­

fessor oflandscape architecture Carl Smith saw a lost opportunity. H is soft, British -timed voice betrays him as a veteran of wet, g loomy seasons. "I was JUSt daydreaming," he says, "about what the campus could look like in winter, particu­larly at Christmas:'

Last December,Smith , working with former student Stuart Ful­bright and math department head

•

Chaim GcxxIman-Stmuss, installed Star Sf£lir, agroupof five woven wood p.xIs adjacent to

the principal walkway through the lawn. The tempomry installation could be v::lr-

iously imerpreted as a set of gargantuan seed p.xIs, stylized birds' nests, or wicker holiday ornaments. ·nlree large pods meas­ured six feet high and 16 feet in length;

-The 21st CentUlY Park & dle Contempo~'ary City

THE FORUM FOR URBAN DESIGN in New York City will host

two panels composed of leading figures from North

America to discuss different visions for the 21st centu·

ry urban park. On May 13 in the Museum of Modern Art, a

panel on landscape architedure will feature George Har·

greaves, fASLA, James Corner, ASLA, and Michael Van Valken·

burgh, FASLA. On May 14 three eivic leaders-John Campbell

from Waterfront Toronto, David Karem from Louisville, Ken·

tucky, and Ale. Garvin of Alex Garvin & Associates in New York City-will address questions

about development strategy, implementation, finaneing, and why parks are so fundamental to

their visions for the future city at the Century Association, 7 West 43rd Street, The events are

free but RSVP is required; see _w.forumforurbandesign.org.

20 1 landsup, Archltectllre IOUV not

CFSEi\!"s Tom Woiwode. "It"s a defining opportunity for chese hard-hit communi­ties, fostering a sense of pride and a way to see the future," he told LAM. The tmil has already generated so much attention and support that people gathered to watch the pavement being laid. \'\foiwode hopes oth­er cities, looking for ways to invest and re­vitalize, are taking note.

two smaller ones were constructed of long scrips of oak and poplar salvaged from local lumber yards. Inside each large pod were five or six smaller orbs made from river cane harvested by the three artists. The pods were lit from wichin at night.

last wimer was a particularly wet one in Fayetteville. Smith couldn 't have been happier. "We knew that because of the surface area of the wood slats the pods would be quite visually interesting cov­ered with frost , snow, and even ice," he says. And chey were. The ice scorm that crippled the midd le South in February turned the pods into glistening crystals.

\"Xfidl all that seasonal abuse, the sculp­tures actually changed shape. "They have started to sag and bulge," Sm ith told us in February. "\'\fe like that chey are evolving and settl ing into place .. '

In March, Stdr SeedJ was dismantled to make way for spring .

- ADAM R EGN ARVIDSON , ASI..A

Philip di Giacomo on Demanding. "I'b,f. ;t !yea'. Or d~'t ~. ;t at all. -n.at's ..mat z ~ of' ,.",sdr z d~ th- .sa,.,. of' "'¥ ~ who wor,fs w,'th

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BEAR NECESSITY

Bamboozled Zoo Seeks New Suppliers When invasiveness just isn't mONgh.

B AMBCX) AND SHORTAGE are (wo words

chac rarely go together. First inrro­duced to the United Scates in 1882 as

a windbreak for Alabama woocco farmers, [he Asian supergrass has been spreading ever since. For many home owners, gar­deners, and farmers, ie's a barely contained nuisance, threatening to overtake open space at a mee that thwarts mechanical and chemical eradication. -DIG INfRA

So when rhe National Zoo in Washing­ron, D.C., discovered chat it was having difficulty harvesting sufficienc fodder for its adorable and popular gianr pandas, it made sense to make an appeal to local property owners. To fulfill rhe pandas'­and other zoo animals'- need for 75,000 pounds of bamboo each year, zoo officials pur OUt a press release requesting dona­{ions from local property owners, A story followed on Nacional Public Radio, and che results, like ehe spread of ehecrop, were overwhelming- more chan 250 respons­es, according to the zoo's senior nutrition­isc, Mike Maslanka.

111e zoo's requirements were quite specific - Maslanka's charges have a refined palate,

"We wanllo know if lhey're inleresled in having a long­term relalionship. We want it to basically be

• f " meyer.

wi th a preference for the genus Phyl/ostachys. T he bamboo also had (0 be free from contami­nants, Maslanka's task was to

weed through the o ffe rs and winnow a list of pros(X"Ctive sites, "It was heartbreaking in a lot of cases to say we couldn't take it," Maslankacontinues, "but for the safety of the animals there really wasn't much choice,"

H e has made numerous site assess­ments, and the zoo isclose (0 a permanent arrangement with a handful of landown­ers. Maslanka wants to be certain that the effort is a true collaboration and that the providers are prepared to feed ehe zoo's v(}­racious appeeiee in perpecuity, "\'V'e wane to know if they're interested in having a long-term relaeionship," he concludes. "\'V'e wane it co basically be forever," With bamboo, forever is rarely a problem.

- JOSH UA GRAY

the announcement mentions only archileds, engineers, and artists,

the group told unduape Architectute that they enthusiastically wel­

come submissions from landscape architects as well.

Landsupe architects seeking a different

Competition Aims to Investigate lnlraslruclw'e, Remake Tianarnnen Square

PAMPH LE T AR C HIT EC T U R E • sort of challenge can check out a new kind

of competition sponsoteel by Gardenvisit.com.

The site is lH'omoting a web 2.0 landscape Designers encouraged to think big.

IF THE RECENT TSUNAMI OF BAO NEWS has you thinking that we in this

country need to do some things differently, here's an option for putting

your ideas and design skills to work. This year's Pamphlet Architecture

competition, Illrestigations i" I"frastructure, invites design students

and professionals to propose new directions for transportation, energy,

and agriculture on a continental scale.

The deadline for submissions is July 1. For more information, visit

www.papress.com/otherlpa ... phietarchitedure/competitiOll.tpl. While

22 l landsup, Archltectllre IU V n ot

design competition to explore new design solutions for China's historic

and infamous TIanalWllen Square in Beijing. The competition is open to

all. Submissions, in the form of two· or three-dimensioNI models, mono

tages, or plans, hand or comlHlier drawn lor photographed in the case

of modelsl, can be uplo.1ded to the competition's Flickr page at _, flic/cr.com/groups/tianalltne''-squafe_t.ndscape_arelrHe«ufe_

competitio,,_20JOI. See additional details at www.gardenrisitcom/

histfHY_theory/Chil/ese_t.nduape_ architectufe_co",petitiOll.

Winners will be announced in June 2010.

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A California couple sW'J'O unded their house in Malibu with a landscape that shows off uleir spectaCLciar vantage point on ule OCe311. By Debra Prinzing Photography by Jack Coyier

EVEN WIT H AN INCOM PARA BLE

I SO-dc.gree view of rhe Pacific , (here arc times when Frank and Helene Pierson prefer ro look up. These mo­ments usuallyoccurar (\vilighr when

the Spiral Garden, which sirs in a seclud­ed comer of their lI.falibu hillside, beck­ons. Seated on a bench plneed (here just for the purpose, rhe couple gazes at rhe niSlu 's celestial d isplay and observes a moonlit labyrinth formed by bl uesrone pa\'e~ em­bedded in rhe lawn. They inhale the sweet fra,graocc of double-white angel's trumpets (Brugmumia x cal/dida) and perhaps even hear wi ld quails cooi ng in rhe hills.

24 I l.ndlup.Arehlhctur. lin n ot

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") like to sit here with a gCKXl., strong drink," Frank con fides. "Espec ially on a moonlit night- it's just mag ic."

The Piersons' relationship with their mooest, triangular slice of parad ise wasn'r always this charmed . T he mupJe pur­chased rhe midcemury ranch house, with

26 l landsup, Archltectllre IUV 200$

its floor- to-ceiling windows and uninter­rupted sea vis tas, in 2004. At that point, according to Frank , a film di recw r and O scar-w inning screenwriter (Dog Day AI­tem oo!l), it was hard to enjoy the view from the neg lected g rounds with an unstable brick patio and a crumbling hillside.

PLANT LIST

Pittosporum unduldlum ~ustralian cheesewood

buckthorn

RIIsmarinus'Tuscan

PERENNIALS

milweed

sage

GROUND COVERS

'A",tos,taph1fos 'Emerald Carpet' I Manlanita . ArctosuphJ/os 'Pacific Mist' I Manzanita

. Batcharis piluldris 'Pigeon Point' 1 Coyote brush . Ceanotbus 'Centennial' 1 Ceanothus

Rosmarinus 'Huntington Carpet' I Rosemary

ear

rocks

£~heferia 'Afterglow' Echemia

FERNS . PofIStidJ,." tmlniblm 1 Wtsterw swotdftrl . W"d"ardia finbri.Jta 1 Ciut ,bi"!n

'Dtnolts nalirt I, California

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To help them rework the space, rhecou­pie hired Pamela Palmer, ASLA, a land­scape archirect wi th ARTECl IO, a firm based in Venice, California. In place of rhe brick pat io, Pal mer installed a grand, semicircular Pennsylvania blucstone ter­race oriented toward the sea. nle design encompasses {he full length of the house and is level wi th its interior floors, nearly doubling dining and entertaining areas. Paved in a running bond pattern, rhe gray­blue hues and wavy surmces of each 12-by-20-inch rile emulate the ocean's color and rhythm . At the terrace's edge, a custom dmin catches water that once eroded the surrounding slopes. A marure coml tree (Er),lhril1d sp.) original (0 the sire was care­ful ly pruned to provide a leafy canopy above the seat ing areas and fire bowl.

Below the terrace edge, a vibmnt rib­bon of colorful succulents was planted . Helene selened many of rhe silvery-blue,

Slope. Ire pllnted with nltiYei, left, which

pro,ide habitat for wildlife. liYl ble I rell Ire

adjaeent to the house as seen in the plan, belo" .

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MU 2011 Lulls"'pe Artliitechre 127

wine, apricot-pink, and lime specimens dlat fill the crescent-shaped border, in­cluding agaves, aloes, kal­ancl-.oes, ech(-verias, crnssu­las, sedU01S, and aeoniums. "1 call this my jewel-box garden," she says.

Coastal conditions Pacific wax myrtle (/\IJr;ca cdlijomica) and California buckthorn (RlwnlllllJ cali­Iomica) to form a privacy

At th e weSt end of the

of marine air, wind, and sun called for

durable plants.

screen. T he hillside has been re­

stored with a carpet of wild lilac (CamO/hlls 'Centenni­

al" and C. thyrsif/orlls var.

ocean terrace, a bluestone gravel pathway wraps around an infinity lawn. Fmnk may have an office indoors, but some of his most inspiring narratives are cooceived while he sirs here. A curved, Cor­Ten steel wall, which developed a ruSted finish when exposed to the elements, en­closes the lawn. A raised edge serves as an imprompru bench---{l. favored ocean van­tage point-from which the eye is "led to the curve of rhe horizon," Frank observes.

Coastal conditions of marine ai r, wind, and sun called for durable plants, includ­ing native California and Mediterranean varieties that tolerate drought. Diseased trees have been removed, replac(-d by native

2s 1 Lud.up. Arehll.ctur. MAY 1001

griJeIlJ 'Y..1nkee Poine') and coymebrush (BacchdriJ pillllari1 'Pigeon Point,), native ground coveTS thac help con­trol erosion. Exist ing lemonade berry shrubs (RhIlJ illtegrifolia) have been joined by several hybrid varieties of ruby-hued conebush (ulfwdmdrofl 'Safari Sunset' and L 'Red Gem') and silvery C1lifornia sage­

brush (A rfCIllUiawlijomiw 'Montara), beau­t iful folillb't' planlS requiring little water.

Helene tucked favorite edible planrs, in­

cluding tomatoes, e5JXd iertd mngtri nes, and culinary herbs, into proteered pockets near rhe house. Fig, avocado, grapefruit, and wal­nut ttees thrive near the moon garden, where theyareshdtered from marine winds.

"The design was inspired by this amazing site, especially the horizon and the light."

This landscape also feeds songbirds, bees, butterflies, and hum mi ngbi rds, thanks to rhe addi tion of plants that pro­vide berries, seeds, and nectar such as bright orange-red flowering milkweed (Asdepias Iflberosa) and woolly grevillea (G revil/ea lanigera 'Coas tal Gem'). "We worked rocreate as much wildlife habitat as Ix>ssible," Palmer says.

\X'hen the couple sits on the terrace, their garden and its vistas give them a sense of calm.

"Frank and Helene wanted an unbroken view of the ocean," Palmer explains. "T he design was inspired by this amazing site, eSJX-cially the horiwn and the light."

Debra PmlZillg is a SOllthem Calijrmua-Msed gardell and design writer (/JlddlltlxirojSrylish

The sculpture Or! the terrace, opposite top, is by

family frierMI Krista Zinner. The Lower Triangle

Garden, with a Charles Swanson fountain,

oppI)site bottqm, leads to the Spiral Garden

beyond. Landscape architect Pamela Palmer,

ASLA, joins frank and Helene Pierson at the Cor­

Ten steel seat waH, feft. Scented brugmansia

hangs ower the Slice Bench and Earth WaH,

be/ow. An edible border with artichokes is

Sheds and Elegant H ideaways (ClarkJon PotterlPlIblishm, 2008). She publisher a de­sign blog at www.shedsryle.com .

Reprinted wi th permission from Metropol­itan Home, March 2009.

PROJECT CREDITS Clients: Frank and He­lene Pierson. Landscape architects: ARTECHO

Architecture and L-mdscape Architecture, Ven ice, California (Pamela Palmer, ASLA, Tavi Pemula, Associate ASLA, and Marisol Metcalfe, Affiliate ASLA). landscape cootrac·

tors: CRW Landscape, Malibu, California (Chris Wilson). Hardscape: Sunset Construc­tion, T housand Oaks, Ca!ifornia(Jim Pur­cell). Custom CGncrete wall: Ron Odell Cus­tom Concrete, Woociland H ills, California. Ugtrting: Gannon Electric l ight, San Pedro, California (john Gannon). Steel fabncation:

Art Metal, Gardena, C'llifornia(Jim Grze­sek). Woodwork: Frank Varnuska, North­ridge, California. Landscape maintenance:

Golden Scate Landscapes, Somis, Califor­nia (Robert O lsen).

M AY :001 Llndscape Artllihthre 129

AE YOU REG ULARLY TOLD thar your

city is "all built our" and has no room for new parks, even though there seem to be plency of new high-rises,

parking lots, and shopping malls? Is it perhaps time w smrf looking for new urban parkland in untraditional places?

That is exactly what's beginning ro hap­pen in densely packed cities. Here are a few of the innoYou ions.

Cemete,I •• Before parks came into bei ng. cemeteries were the principal manicured greenspaces for cities-most fumously lI.-foum Auburn CemNcry in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York As parks arose, rhe open areas of cemercries d imin ishcd in importance. Bur nx:lay, some cities have hundreds of acres of

Squeezing innovative green spaces into

crowded cities req ujres looking for land in unexpected places.

By Peter Harnik public cemetery lands, both with and with­out graves[Ones, rh.1t could t heoretically help with the JXlfkland shomge. T1le most enthusiastic conservationistS tend to regard cemfteries as parkland, but rhar is nO{ nec­essarily the view of the general public. Is a cemetery a park ? A cemetery certai n ly qualifies as pervious ground and "breathing

space," bur whether it does any more than (hat depends on the rules and regulations goveming (he fuciliry. l 11emoreonecan do rhere--walk a dog? cycle? picnic? throw a ball ? sit under a tree?- the more it's like a park. T he more restrictive, the less justifi­able it seems to pretend it's a park.

The ''Vashingron , D.C., area has ex­rremes on either end of this spectrum. At Arlington National Cemetery, which is a vast spice almost as large as the emire park system of Arlington, vi rtual ly nothing is permitted OI:her than walking from grave to grave-togging and eating are prohibit­ed, and there are almost no benches. Across town, at venerable (bur li ttle-known) Con­gressional Cemftery, not only are picnick­ing and child play allowed but rhe mciliry is also a formal off-leash dog park. (Dog membersh ip is limi ted to a sustainable

The final resting plaCl! for 70,000 Atlantans, Historic Oakland Cemetery is also a n official park-the city's oldest, dating back to 1850. ~

30 I l.ndlupaArchlhctura lin n ot

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number and COStS nearly $200 a year, with the funds used rosupporr the nonprofit organization whose mission is to operate , develop, maintain , preserve, and enhance the cemete,), grounds; use by hu­mans is free and unrestricted.)

Another famous cemere')', Oak­wood , in Hartford, ConnecricU[, nor only allows residents to run, walk dogs, and ride bicycles, but also programs the space wirh jazz concerts and orher evems and even allows residents ro bring food and wine. Atlanta's hisroric Oakland Cemere,)" owned by rhe city 's parks departmenr and run by a foundarion , is designed as a pleas­ure ground. It has benches, gardens, and a central building for events and pmgmms, and ir al lows visitors to jog and stroll wirh rheir dogs. In Portland, Maine, 240-acre Evergreen Cemerery is much larger than rhe city's largesr "regular" park. Owned and maintained by rhe ciry's parks division, and com aining gardens, ponds , woods, and open lawns, Evergrr-en is used for hiking, walking, running, biking, birding, picnick­ing, cross-colUmy skii ng, and snowshoeing.

Schoolyards

Schoolyards are large, flat, cem rally locat­ed open spaces with a mandate to serve the

32 l landsup, Architecture IUV 200$

---Chicago's Campus Pari!. program puts school play areas __

to double use, allowing the community in after school

honrs. eraeme Stewart Elementary School, below,

was completed, here, in the summer of 2008.

----

In Chicago, Mayor Daley announced an ambitious goal

of converting 100 asphalt schoolyards into small parks.

recreational needs of schoolchildren . Great schoolyards- t he rare ones t ha t have healthy gmss, big trees, a p layground, and sports equipmem- srem a lot like parks. But they aren·t. For one thing they have fences and locks. For another, they are closed to the general public, not only from 8 :00 AM to 3:00 PM but even at times when school is out of session--early morn­ing, late afternoon, evening , and week­ends. Schoolyards are part -t ime open spaces with a limited constituency. But they have terrific potential to be more than

thar. Even less-than-great school­yards, t hose that a re vi rtual wastelands of asphalt with few amenities, often represent sizable places in key locations {sre 'T oo Cool a USt) for School," Ldl/dsCdpt Architectllre, August 2(08).

Creating an urban schoolyard park is not impossible-it's been

done in N ew York, Chicago, and a fewoth­er places- but it's not as easy as it sounds. It requires real attention to derail , clarity of authority, and ongoing acceptance of re­sponsibility. Most of all it requires commit­ment to success, which is why it tends to come to fruit ion when b:>th rhe school sys­tem and the park system are under the con­trol of the mayor.

In Chicago, Mayor Richard M. Daley, Honorary ASLA, following a successful pi­lor program in 1996, announced an ambi­tious goal of converting 100 asphalt school­yards into small parks. C'lHed the Campus Park Program, it involved playgrounds, baseba!l fields, basketba!l courts, tennis courts, and running tracks on a total of 150 acres. Phase r was completed in fOllr years at a cost of$43 million- $20 million each from the school system and the city, plus $3 million from the park district. (By 2008 the goal had been surpassed, and more

schools have been added .) Design was han­dled by the park district and construction by the Public Buildings Commission, and the process was guided by way of meetings among park and school officials, principals, local school councils, and community or­ganizations. O ngoing maintenance is han­dled largely by the school dis trict with as­needed assis tance from the park district for larger properties and more park-deficient neighborhoods.

In New York City, the Trust for Public Lmd (TPL), a nonprofit, has forged a four­way partnership wi th corporate donors, the Board of Education, and the Dqmnmentof Parks and Recreation not only to open up schoolyards bur also to work with the chil­d ren to thorough ly redesign their play ar­eas, adding natural elements and artwork. Ata minimum price tag of$4OO,OOOeach, the schoolyard parks are nor cheap, bur TPL projectS thar rhe program will increase the city's usable park space by nearly 300 acres.

Rooftops Are rooftop parks feasible? If so, for what activities? How much weight can they sup-

port? How much do they cost? These are complex questions that require a good deal of research, I:xxh into the issue of "rooftops" and of "'parks. ,. Some of the investigation is generic, but much of it needs to be highly specific, on a city-by-city basis. In, say, O klalloma Ciry, how many flat rooftops are there? \Vhat is the total combined acreage? How many are on public buildings, and what is that combined acreage? How many of them are large (i.e., an acre or more)? How many of those large ones are relative­ly uncluttered with air-<:onditioning units and other paraphernalia? H ow many are accessible by the public? How much rooftop area is available in park-poor areas? And that doesn't even get to the issues of

What park facilities are appropriate on rooftops?

Flower gardens, lawns, benches, and pathways?

structural strength, drainage, noise, ligh t­ing, and more. (Nme that lightweight "green roofs" are rarely usable as parks be­cause most can't be walked on .)

\Vhat park facilities are appropriate on rooftops? Flower gardens, lawns, benches, and pathways? Courts for basketball, ten­nis, and volleyball, surrounded by cages? Community h'lmlens? Playgrounds? Minia­ture golP None of this is impossible-there is a roofTop park at Riverbank State Park in New York City so large that it contains a IXXll, a skating rink, a theater, four tennis courts, four basketball courtS, a wading pool, a softball fi eld, a football field, four handball courts, a running track, two play­grounds, a weight room, a boat dock, and a restaurant. Riverbank is a 28-acre roof on a new sewage treatment plant alongside the Hudson River.

At present the most successful rooftop parks are ones at ground level built over subsurface parking garages- p laces like Millennium Park in Chicago, H udlin Park in St. Louis, and Verba Buena Garden in San Francisco. N ew rooftop parks increas­ingly incorporate more ecological features.

The Gary Comer Youth Center in Chicago's

South Shore neighborhood, by Hoell"

$chaudt Landscape Architects, has a work­ing flower and vegetable garden on the

roof. Urba,,";:~:,fto~:p::.,.~:::~r,~ a huge un-tapped a, II park use.

M AY :001 Llndscape Artllihthre 133

UIlAN PAUS

For instance, Nashville, Ten­nessee's Public Square collects all its rain (or later use as pumped ir­rigation water.

Using rooftops higher than street level is, thus far, much rarer. For one thing, keeping the plants alive is harder because of the ex­tremecoooitions of wind, sunlight, soil thinness, and lack of trees. For another, there acc concerns aOOm stnlCtural strength and pocenrial water leakage. Finally, there are is­sues ofhuman access and semriry. Neverthek-ss, for extremely dense communities dmt are very short of parkland- places like Brooklyn, Chicago's near west side, and South Los Angeles- roofcop parks could make a big difference.

Community Gardens Community g ardens are another vascly underappreciaced and underprovided re­source for cities. Americans traveling in Europe are often scruck by the fact that small patches alongside rail­road tracks and roads, and even odd ploes between buildings­spaces that are almost invariably wasced in the Uniced Srates-are intensiwly cultivated for flowers, vegetables, and spices. In theory, community gardens could be a "growth sector" for the urban park movement in this country. They come in many different forms and types, but the two major classes are stand-alone gardens (often lo­cated in spaces where rowhouses have oc"en tom down)and gardens that are located in a corner of a larger city park.

But it must also be admitted that community gardens, as semi­privatized space, are not a perfect fit as public parks. T he vegetables, fruits, and Rowers requi re some protection from theft and from in­advertent damage, and this entails fences and locks, which are often unsi g htly and unneighborly.

34 l landsup, Archltectllre IUV 200$

Moreover, by their vcry nature, communi­ty gardens aTe fairly lightly used, with only a handful of people---or fewer- in sight at any g iven moment. (A parcel that per­haps could use more eyes often has fewer than many others.)

•

On the ocher hand, with their planting , watering, weed pulling, and harvesting, gardeners are the ewryday visitors who can help make a space more inviting . Pl us, community gardens are excremely efficient users of space. An area chat could barely fit

a single tennis murt might hold 90 garden plots; a soccer field might be replaced with 37 5 or more gardens.

Reservoir Lands Many cities have drinking water reservoirs that are used for parks. At Griggs Reservoir Park in Columbus, Ohio, or White Rock Lake Park in Dallas visitors can go right to the water·s edge and dip their toes in , if they wish, or even go Intting. (The water is clean but not yet ··finished·· for human con­sumption.) On the other hand, some reservoi rs that are surrounded by extremely attractive landscapes are nevertheless entirely off-limits to the public. To look at \Xfashing­ton, D.C.·s McMillan Reservoir, now devoid of people and encircled by an unsig htly chain-l ink fence, one would never guess that it had been designed by the Olmsted firm as a pleasure ground, com­plete with handsome carriageways.

GREEN

UIlAN PAUS

Obviously the protection of drinking wa~ rer for hundreds of dlOUsands of residents raises sensitive issues. In fact, for reservoirs that contain finished water, dw Environ~ mental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2006 established new rules calling for the instal­lation of a physical COveT to prevent contam­ination by airborne Of ground-borne sub­stances and particles. Some people like the view of the opeo wuteraoo are dismayed by rhe requirement, but the very fact ofa cov­eropens up the possibiliryfor gaining more parkland. Seanle, in particular, is moving aggressively co cover its reservoirs-it got Started more than adccade ahead of EPA. As Mayor G reg Nickels, Honorary ASLA, has pur it, "This is a rare opportunity to rum public works into public parks. Under­ground reservoirs will nor only Improve (he quality and security of our water supply, they will add co the quality of life in our neighborhoods." All in all, the city is set w add 76 acresof new parkland using reservoir decks-four acres in densely populated

36 l landsup, Archltectllre IUV 200$

C'Ipiwl Hill, 20 acres in Jefferson Park (in­cluding a running track, SfXlrts fields, pic­nic grounds, and a large, unprogrammed lawn), and a completely new park on wI' of Myrtle Reservoir. Covering it all will cost $161 million. Of course, dl(' EPA rule is an ·'unfunded mandate·' since there is no fed­eral money w pay for compliance; in Seat­tle, the cost of decking IS funded via a rise in the water-use fees that all residents pay.

Under EPA·s rule, cities have the option of covering their reservoir water with a va­riety of materials, from air-supported fabric w floa ting fXllypropylene, from a flat sur­(,1.Ce of wood, steel, or concrete to a dome of aluminum. ObViously rhe soft materials are much cheape r- a to-acre rubberlike polypropylene mat costS about $500,000, while a concrete slab in Seattle COStS more

"We turned what could've been a huge liability

into an incredible asset for the community."

than $13 million. But the Seattle mayor·s office has done a smdy showing that the cost of acquiring a similar amount of odl('r parkland would cost about 85 percent of the concrete deck, and, as the city's deputy director of planning says, ·'There's no way we·d be able to buy properties like this, sit­uated as they are on scenic overlc~)ks in densely buil t-out locations throughout the city." The concrete decks are coveR--ci with eigh t inches to two feet of dirt and planted with grass. They are principally used as open lawn areas, active sports fields, and game courts, interwoven wi th pathways. Trees are not planted because of the risk of penetrat ion of the deck by roots.

In another approach, Sf. Louis long ago figured out how to protea its water yet re­rain rhe beauty of a shimmering park fXlnd: For more than 1. 00 years Compton HI I I Reservoir has been covered, but the top of the cover is shaped likea shallow bowl and IS filled with water- nondrinking water­to make fora beautiful park experience.

Stormwater Channels Forenvironmenral, financial, and legal rea­sons, urban swnnwater management is get-

ting much more attention. Gone are the days when flood-control engineers would prescribe the construction of stmight, deep concrete channels, and stream after stream would be converted into sterile spillways. Cities dlat still have extensive natural wet­land areas are carefully protecting them to contain and filter stormwater; many are now also creating new artificial swales and other storage areas to slow down and cap­ture the sheets of water running off streets and asphalt surt.1.Ces.

New Yotk City boasts a "blue-belt" system under the jurisdiction of the city's DqmrtmentofEnvironmental Protection

(DEP). The blue belt, located largely but not entirely in less built-upStaten Island, consists of mapped wetlands that DEP ac­quires for stormwater management. The blue bel ts are wned as open space and are protected from development, although the protection is not as stringent as for mapped parkland. Although the blue­belr lands are partially fenced (to help fo­cus the points of ing ress and eg ress for both people and wildlife), they are fully open to the public.

When the Seattle Housing Authority planned the transformation of the dis­tressed H igh Point public housing site into a new mixed-income community, it was required to include a system to con­tain stormwater running off the property. The water was to be released g radually

mther than being funneled destructively into a nearby salmon-bearing stream. But the authority balked at the aesthetics of the standard, unadorned , chain-link­surrounded pit. Instead, it created an ex­tensive 130-acre drainage system culmi­nating in Pond Park with benches, a boulder-filled stream, a pond, a trail, stairs, a playground, and gardens. "\'{Ie turned what could've been a huge liability into an incredible asset for the community­in a place with a direct view of downtown Seattle," says Tom Phillips, project man­ager. Constructed by the Housing Au­thority, the park has been curned over to

the Parks and Recreation Department for manage­ment and maintenance.

Closing Streets And Roads

In every city there are hun­dredsof acres of roadway po­tentially available as park and recreational facilities. \'{Ihile parks make up about 20 percent of New York City's total area, streets make up about 30 percent. In Chi­cago, 26 percent of the land is devoted to streets com ­pared toonly 8 percent g iven to parks. Converting some street capacity for recreation­al activity is an underreali7.ed opporrunity.

\'{Iresting space away from automobiles is never easy, but if any op­portunities constitUte "lower-hanging fruit" they are the hundreds of miles of roads within city parks. Naturally, all large parks need some roadways, both for access to facilities and to allow motOrists to get from one side of the park to the other, but most city parks have a surfei t of auto cor­ridors. '1l1e National Mall in Washington , D.C., formerly had four parallel drives running for about a mile between the U.S. Clpitol and the Washington Monument. Not only was the green mall thoroughly intersected every few yards by asphalt, but the drives themselves were permanently clogged with tourists (and government workers) l(X)king for parking spaces. In 1976, JUSt in time for the national bicen­tennial celebrat ion, Assistant Interior

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UIlAN PAUS

Secretary Nathaniel Reed decided to aool­ish the two central roods and replace them with pebble-covered walkways rem iniscent of those in Paris parks. T he aggregate amount of space-about four acres-was relatively small, but the impact on park us­ability, ambience, s.-uery, and air quality was monumental. Similarly, in Atlanta, follow­ing a raft of crime and nuisance issues that were negatively affecting Piedmont Park, the parks commissioner announced test weekend rood closures. Despite protests, rhe results led to dramatic increases in other uses of the park such as running, walking,

and cycling, and in 1983 the closures were made total and permanem. (P iedmom Park is today the most car-free major city park in the United States.)

Other exam ples abound. San Francisco's long~time Sunday closure of two m iles of John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park was extended in 2007 to SatUrdays as wel l. T h is program, which, according to the San Francisco BikeCoalition, results in one of dle only hard, flat , safe areas for chil­dren in the entire city, effectively adds about 12 acres of parkland without any ac~ quisition or construuion COSts. Park usage during car~free hours is about double that of when cars are around.

It 's not JUSt large parks-many small parks have been decimated by roads, and

3s l landsup, Archltectllre IUV 200$

they can be regreened, too. In \'qashington, D.C. , T homas Circle was sliced down al­most to the diameter of the statue of Gen­eral George Henry TIlOmas and his horse, with traffic consuming the entire area. In 2007, rhe National Park Service and rhe District of Columbia reinstitUted dle orig~ inal circle, including rx-"C!estrian walkways. Earlier, a similar project reunified two-and~ a-half~acre Logan Circle and helped igni te a renewal of its entire neighborhood.

More difficult is closing and beamify~ ing sneets tha[ are not in parks. Many cities, including 8 0s[On; Santa Monica, California;and New Orleans, have mmed one of their key downtown sneets into a car~free zone, although in nearly al l cases the motivation is less for casual recreation

Thomas Circle in Washington, D.C., one of the

original circles laid out by Pierre L'Enfant in

1800, was gradually whittled away by traffic

engineers. In 2007 it was restored to beauty

(and pedestrian usel by the D.C. Department of

Transportation and the National Park Se"ice.

and environmental purity than forexpen­sive shopping and dining . However, Port~ land, Oregon, is the site of a famous and extraordinarily successful "'road-to-park" conversion. It involved the 1974 elimina­tion of six-lane Harbor Drive, an express­way along the \'{fillamerre R iver that had been rendered redundant by a new inter­s ta te highway. Most ci t ies would have happi ly kept highways along both sides of their river, bu t under the leadership of

Mayor (later Governor) Tom McCall , the old roadway was dug up and replaced by \'{faterfrom Park (later named after Mc~ Call). McCall Park has become the focal poim offestivals and many other activities in the city.

Cities can also convert streets into what the Dutch call "woonerfs:' where pedes­nians, bicyclists, and children are given priority over cars. \Xfhi le the concept has yet [0 fu lly establish itself in the United Sta tes, variants have surfaced. On \Xi"all Street in downtown Asheville, North Car­olina, the ci ty installed brick pavers, bol­lards, benches, and lights so intertwined that they become an obstacle course that greatly reduces automobile speeds. Seattle is doing similar traffic calming in certain

neighborhoods and is also adding numerous pervious ar~ eas and water-capturing fea~ tures to add ecological benefits to these ';street parks."

Removing Parking

If it weren't fo r parked cars, there would be plenty of space for urban parkland. It's not pe0-

ple who take up all rhat much space-New York's small Bry­am Park regularly hosts 1,000 persons at lunchtime on a nice day. It's rile cars thar either take up significant chunks of park­land (50 acres of parking lots in Chicago's Lincoln Park) or over­whelm the streets and curbs of tile surrounding neighborhood.

In virrually every midwestern and southern downtown, there are few if any downtown parks, yet there are hundreds of acres of sur­face parking lots.

Ir turns out that there is a re lationship between gOCKi mass tmnsi t and good parks, and it appears that park advocates need to pay attention to transportation issues. For instance, eight of the 10 most heavily used parks in American ci ties have subway or light-mil access within a quarter mile, and all of them have bus service that comes even closer.

T he best way to add parkland in the city is to reduce the size of, or close, parking ar­eas within parks. After all, the land is free and is already ideally located. Naturally, tllere wi!! be a public outcry, so this action

must be undertaken with great care and subsmmial analytical backup. Is rhe park­ing lot (or roadside parking) heavily used, or does it rt'aCh full capacity only a couple of days a year? Is the problem more day of week or time of day? \'V'ould auto usership be brought down simply by instituting paid meters in certain locations or at certain times? \'V'ould a shuttle bus system com­pensate for less parking? Could arrange­mems be made with existing parking lots around the edge of the park- whether office buildings, shopping ccmers, or churches?

Many of these quest ions were debated In 2003 In Pittsburg h when rhe Pitts­burgh Parks Conservancy launched an ef­forr to bring back Schenley Park Plaza as the grand entrance to the city's flagship park- the role it had played from 1915 until it was paved over as a 278-car park­ing lor in 1949. A study by rhe planning department identified a large number of available nearby parking spaces, and the city was also able to install 110 new meters in the vicinity. Ultimately only 80 spaces were lost and the city gained a beautiful new five -acre gathering place complete with wireless Jncernet, a one-acre lawn, food kiosks, a carousel, a flowe r garden, and regular programming.

Another way to reduce parking is to ex­pand mass transit to and through the park. \'V'hen Houston decided to construct a new trolley system, park advocates lobbied hard for a station in Hermann Park. (lr ended up getting two stations, one on either side; the Hermann Park Conservancy is now re­designing the park's internal miniature railroad so that it will serve not only as a fun ride for children but also as meaning­ful transportation through the park.) The next step is to redesign and shrink dle size of the massive parking lots within the park. 111e situation in Porrland·s Washing­ton Park is the reverse-the park is 11(11

overwhelmed with parking areas, and the city wants to keep it that way. From May to September, rhe Portland Parks and Recreation Department collaborates with Porrland·s Tri-Met transit agency to run a shuttle from a nearby light-rail line to var­ious stops within \'V'ashington Park. 'nle park, which con tains thecity·s famed Rose Garden, has only 85 parking spaces, and Portlanders reached consensus that no more spaces would be added.

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UIlAN PAUS

A third strategy is to dig an under~ ground parking garage within the park and elim inate an equivalent number of surfuce spaces, as was done in San Francis­co's Golden Gate Park in 2007. In addi­tion to yielding more parkland, this ex­pensive solution

40 I landsup, Architecture IUV 200$

has a second advantage. \'\fith the high cost of construcrion, a parking charge be­comes inevitable, encouraging people to

drive less by carpooling, walking, biking, or taking transit. Minneapolis took a dif­ferent page om of the same book; there, without building anyth ing underground, the park and recreation board installed meters at rhe most heavily used lots (some of which happened to be located near oth­er automobile attractors, such as the Uni­versity of Minnesota). Ideally, parking rc'V­{'nue should be used to subsidize the costs of improved park transi t service.

other Opportunities

T hese examples aren't the only ways of finding new lancl. Two other approaches I've written about in Landscape Architecfllre in­clude decking over freeways (see "Nature O ver T raffic," Landscape Architecture, Febru­ary 2(08) and building parks

ScIte_Ie, Plaza, left, the historical entryway to

Pittsburgh's Schenley Park, was a parking lot, right, for

60 years until it was restored as a horticuhural ;ewel, here.

on old landfills (see "From Dumps to Des­t inations," Landscdpe Architectllre, Decem­ber 2006). Even with these, [here are sure­ly other possibili t ies. What land is going begging in your community?

Peter Hamik is dirat()/" of the Cel/ter for City Park Excel/meta! the Trfljt for Pllblic Land ill New York. He is the dflfhor of T he Excellent City Park System: What Makes It Great and How to Get T here.

111is article is adapted from a forthcoming book, The Complete City Park System: How /Jlg It Sholdd /Je dlld How to Gel There, scheduled for publication by Island Press in Spring 2010.

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LAST FAll,JOANNE ADAIR, agradu­ate student at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, called 50 firms employing landscape architects in [he Greater Toronto area to see

whol[ they were doing [Q "gret'll" their own operations. "Only seven people would mlk to me," remembers Adair. "The rest of them said: '\Y./e're not green. l l lere's no use inter­vlewmg us.

However, many firms throughout North America are striving to make their workplaces more sustainable, and some are even using their office's "greenness" to mar­ket themselves. Recently, Ld lldsCdjX Archi-

To draw aHention to the amount of paper con·

sumed by a landscape architecture office, Ah'be

landcape Architeds deweloped an al1 installa· tion, above, using three months' worth of waste

paper. A film chronicling this installation won an

ASLA award. Calvin R. Abe, FAstA, right, founder of Ah'be Landscape Architects, feeds shredded

paper to the worms in the office's worm bin.

42 l landsup, Archltectllre IUV 200$

"

What some landscape architects are doing to make their offices more sustainable.

By Daniel Jost, AS LA

teetllre talked [Q nearly 20 firms- from big multidisciplinary firms with many offices [Q small landscape architecture firms with only a few people. Collectively, they have enaned a variety of strategies to decrease the amount of resources they consume, re­duce the amount of trash they generate, and move toward cleaner and more efficient energy consumption . \Y/e asked if any of the changes they've made have saved them money and what they would suggest as a simple first step for other firms looking to become more sustainable.

Reducing the Pile. of Paper Paper waste provides the most visible re­minderofan office·s environmental impact.

IOU SPACES

In their ASLA award-winning doc­

umentary, So \Vhat? rhe staff of Ah 'be Landscape Architects of Culver City, C"llifomia, created a series of art installa t ions using waste paper their office generated. At the end of six weeks, they had enough shredded paper (0 (reace a lOO-root-[ong line, 12 feet wide and 18 inches deep; after three months, they were able rocreace a fO!'estlike massing of shredded pa­per columns.

"You see so much paper going out (he dour, it makes you sit back and gulp," says Diana Rae1 ofNar­ris Design, a landscape architecture and planning firm based in Den­ver. Over che years, many land­scape architects have pondered the irony chat a profession rooted in plaming destroys so many crees. Addressing chis issue is often the first seep chac firms rake in rheir quest ro be more sustainable.

\'Vhi !e none of [he finns contacced for chis srory have gocten anywhere close ro che much-prophesied paperless office, many are implementing scracegies to reduce cheir pa­per use, One of the easiesc places ro scan: is digitally archiving e-mails racher chan printing them out, unless there is some strong reason to do so. Most people under a certain age will consider chis preccy obvi­ous advice, but there are still people out there who print all their e-mail out of habit. To combat this sort of ingrained thinking, some firms have adopted e-mai l signatures that read: "Please consider the environment before priming this e-mail."

The number of drawing sets printed for 30,60, and 90 percent reviews could also be cut back, according to Connie Roy-Fisher, ASLA, rounder of Roy-Fisher Associates in Tequesta, Florida. Architects often send her an entire drawing set on large format paper, including plumbing fixtures and truss de­tails that her firm doesn't need to review. " \'{Ie need to target those architects who do all that printing, So'\ve them money, and let them know that we would be happy to look at a set electronically," she says. "'f l have

44 l landsup, Archltectllre IUV 200$

. ~ •

"It doesn't smell and they don't make any noise. [The worms 1

. ~,

are pretty qmet. the drawings digi tally from subs or primes, I only print what I need to mark up."'

Printing on smaller sheets of paper is an­(){her option. At Norris Design, employees are encouraged ro print review sets at half size, a paper-saving strategy that also saves money. "You can still read and review [the drawings} and d o the quali ty assurance needed," So'\ys Rael. "And it 's a much hand­ier size. It can be folded and put in an ex­pandable folder rather than a box."

T here are also digi tal redlining options. Amodesk Design Review is a program chat allows you to mark up drawings created in AutoCAD and other Aurodesk programs. 11le program is free on the company's web site, so it can be used by cliems and local governments that don't have their own CAD software. 11le makers ofMicruStation have a similar program called Bemley Redline,

J Inside Ah'be's worm bin, the wonns

convert paper, food scraps, and other

biodegradable waste into a potent

" tea" Utat can be used to fertili2e gar· dens, left. A spout on Ute side of the

bin, belolr, is used to erlract Ute tea.

which subscribers can discribuce ro (he en­tire design team at no excra cost. \'{fhile Vecror\'{forks does not currently offer Stand­alone redlining sofcware, ic has a redline tool wichin che program icself chac allows you {Dcreace and crack markups for intemal re­views. For working with dients, they en­courage exporting che drawing as a PDF, which can be marked up in Adobe Acro­bat, a fuirly ubiquitous program. "nla{ PDF can {hen be imported back into Vector­works so you can make the necessary changes. Taking advancage of these exist­ing programs and features could potential­ly So'\ve a loe of paper and cut priming costs.

But redlining digitally has been slow to takeoff. ·'It's one thing to see it on a screen,"' says Linda Daley, ASLA, a managing princi­pal at Ah'be. "You catch more when you see it printed in from of you." She So'\ys that her office will often make comments on consul­tants' drawin,gs digitally, but they prefer pa­per drawings for internal reviews. \'«hen landscapearchitecrs r{'(Hine, they often need to refer back and forth berween sheets to

make sure the entire drawing set works to­gether. 11lis is often faster to do on paper than it is on the compmer when you are working with large files and limited screen

-Tips for Reducing Paper Use - Only print e-mails when you really need to,

space. Also,sketching out ideas is an important part of the redlining process, and many people are more comfortable sketching with a pen, penci l, or marker than a computer mouse or tablet.

- Encourage consuHants and fellow collaooraton not to

cling paper and cardboard is actu­ally easier than throwing it away. ''The big trash dumpster is a 200-foot walk from the office, whereas the rffyclers come on site to collect it. "' Rieck says the service is fairly cheap, approximately $11.50 per month, and her firm now diverts about 90 percent of its garbage to

recycling.

Recycling and Composting

Programs

send paper copies for ewery review,

- Redline drawing sets at half size,

- T..,. out the latest in digital redlining technology,

Tips for Reducing Waste and Resource Consumption - Use recycling programs where awailable.

- If your community or office part does not offer

recycling serYices, see if there are other cheap or

relatively ine.pensive options available to you.

- Consider replacing trash cans at people's desks with

paper recycling receptacles and centralizing trash

collection in a few areas.

- Recycle empty print cartridges.

- Take advantage of programs that will refurbish or

recycle old computers,

It is likely that paper will continue [0 be a part of the design process in one form or another; however, recy­cling programs can lower the num­ber of trees needed to procluce new paper. To make these programs work, people need ro both rC<.),c1e and buy products made from rtX.)'­

cled materials. In some regions, curbside rel),cling IS standard prac­tice, but many local governments and office parks do not provide the service, leaving some landscape ar­chitects to their own devices.

- Consider composting coffee grounds and food scraps.

111e Philadelph ia office of Wal­lace Roberts & Todd (WRT) actual­ly quantified its office waste more precisely. 111e office used a series of trash and l"Cl)'clable weigh-ins rode­termine its impact and encourage rti)'d ing, says Ruth Stafford, Asso­ciate ASLA. These efforts led roa 78 percent decrease in the amount of waste sent to landfills.

- Buy recycled products whenever possible,

"Billings [Montana} does not have a re­cycling program, so our office pays ro have a private recycling company come every

twO weeks," says Jolene Rieck, ASLA, the principal landscape architect for Peaks ro Plains Design. At their small firm, recy-

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Paper is nor rhe only material that design firms are rti)'Cling; they also recycle glass, plastic, and alu­

minum contall1ers. H igh-tech waste is also being recycled. Many companies that manufacture prim cart ridges include

SilhooeI1e Rec)'de Trash r~. Ske 30"". 3/l"high Per1ora!ed stalnless:i1etl or "n'Iin(Jm . C;Jst aiurnk100l ~ Rec'j1er 1, 2. or 3 compartrrlel1l&

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pouches that allow you to send your old caruidge back [Q them for recycling, and a few companies buy them back (though the returns are uSlJ..'Illy only cems on the dollar).

Charities such as Goodwill and the Salvk cion Army will accept old computers as long as they are in working condition, bur you may wane to wipe the hard drive clean before donating them. Dell and a number of other companies have programs to refur­bish old computers and resell chern, and if they arc too old to be of use (0 anybody, some partS can be recycled. Whenever you purchase a new computer through Dell, you can dick a box [0 indicate you want [0

participate in its free recycling prugrnm. Some firms have actually made money

through their recycling effortS. Last fall, LPA, a multidisciplinary firm in Southern

California, partnered with its reprograph­ics company, Pro Repro, to recycle its pa­per waste. Over a chree-monch period che companies raised $ 1 ,800 by recycling pa­per, which chey donaced to che Laguna Beach Boys and Girls Club.

Bue most of the businesses we heard from were nO( earning anything through cheir programs. TI3G Parrners, a landscape -ASLA's Office

Demonstrating green technologies at your own office can also

help to educate clients about these options and convince them

these technologies can be used successfully.

architecture and planning firm with four offices in Texas, had hoped its recycling program might make enough money to

expand its library; however, the firm did not produce enough recyc1ables to gener­ace any revenue.

Firms that expect their recycling pro­grams to make money (or even pay for themselves) need to look closely at a num­ber of variables. Will you be able to save money on crash pickup? How much wasce do you generace? How much will local re­cycling companies reimburse you for dif­ferenc cypes of recyclables? And how much will ic COSt to cranSIXlrr chose recyclables

HERE AT THE American Society 01 landscape Architects ]UtA), our office has also attempted

to be more sustainable. Most notabq, our green roof has dropped our ene rgy use." 10 per·

cent in the winter and a liHIe in the summer, too. While we are not currently composting, and we

use our fa ir share 01 paper, we have implemented many of the changes and programs mentiOfled

in the article. Sitlple things like turning off our computers at night have been very effective.

"It's surprising how simple behavioral changes have a pretty good bang lor the buck," says Nan­

C}' Somenille, executiwe me president of ASIA. Through our efforts, we have become Energy

Star certified, meaning we consume 30 percent less energy than a typical office.

Additionally, we a re doing something that none of the other companies mentioned. To fur­

ther decrease our commuting footprint and as a benefit to emplOYHs, the organization has

]H'ovided com]H'essed workweek and telecommuting options for some employees. Phones are

set to dial employees ' home phone or cell ]thone when someone tries to call them at the office

when the, are telecommuting. Due to software licensing issues, telecommuting may be diffi­

cult to imp.iement in many landscape architecture offices. However, some offices may find

creative ways to !mike it possible.

Like some of the firms in the article, we 've found that practicing what we preach has

helped us to be more ",ective in encourag ing others to consider sustainable technologies.

"The green roof not only helped us reduce our loot]H'int, but it's been highly effective at en­

couraging others to reduce their energy use," says Somerville. "If we did not have it there, we

could not be the effective advocate we are."

46 1 l,ndseap, Arehlt,ctllre III~V 200t

to a collecrion faciliry? Some of rhese things are hard to quantify due to wild Auctuarions in the cost of gas and the val­ue of raw marerials.

In addition to recycling, a surprising number of firms have implemented some level of composring in rheir offices. Norris Design, TBG Partners, and LPA composr their offices' coffee grounds. Ar Norris De­sign's Denver office, rhe coffee grounds are stored in an ice bucket, and every few days a firm member removes rhem to use in his .garden. There is no problem with undesir­able odors, says Rael, and fruirs and veg­etables fertilized with the coffee grounds often make their way back to the office. The Portland, Oregon, office of David Evans and Associates and the Philadelphia office of WRT reporred more extensive composring programs for food scraps. Ini­tially, some employees at WRT objeaed to

composting due to concerns abom odors and aesthetics. These problems were over­come by using biodegradable liners.

Ah'be practices vermlcomposring­feeding food scraps and other biodegrad­able wasce to earthworms. The worms live in a black box locaced in cheir conference room. "rc's a nice conversation piece when you have c1iencs coming in ," says Daley. "You show chern your work, cell them about your worm bin ...... Some cliencs are grossed our in icially, but most are more cu­rious chan anyrhing else, and visitors will ofcen ask to see inside che box. "rc doesn'c smell and they don't make any noise," nores Daley. "{llle worms} are pretry quiet."

Conserving Energy in the Office

\X1ith rhe wild variations in fuel prices and worriesabour global wanning, many firms are raking steps to lower rheir energy con­sumption and reduce theirClrbon footprim.

A few companies have pursued rhe U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (liED) certification for rheir own offices. Sranrec, a mulridisciplinary firm with locarions across North America, has three offices that are LEED certified and rhree rhar are LEED registered. Another firm, LPA, con­Structed a new LEED-cerrified headquar­ters in 2004. To cm down on the amounr of eleerric lighring necessary, there is ex­tensivedaylighting throughom the office. TIl(' building has low-energy LED light-

ing, furnishings made with recycled mate­rials, and low-flow faucets and fixtures.

In addition to LEED, the federal govern­ment offers a program for recognizing energy-efficient buildings with an Energy Star. CTA Architectsand Engineers, a large multidisciplinary firm, earned an Energy Star for its new offices, located in a former warehouse in Billings, Montana, accord­ing to Eirik Heikes, ASLA, a landscape ar­chitect there. The Energy Star label con­siders more than JUSt the design intent; building owners must submit 12 months' worth of utility data to be eligible.

LEED and other certifications for your building can be very expensive and may be out of reach for small firms. However, even if you can·t afford the certification, you can use the guidelines established by these pro­grams [0 create greener, more energy­efficient buildings. That·s what Joy Kue­bler, ASLA, a landscape architect in \'{/("Stem New York, did for her new office, a work­ing environment for about four people ad­jacent to her home. She designed a green roof for the scruccure and is also experi­menting with permeable pavers chere. Her green roof was one of the first in che region and provided an opportunity to ceach peo­ple about the technology. Approximately $4,000 worth of materials and labor for che

roof were donated by Lichtenfels Nursery, a Pennsylvania company that was looking to encourage che technology and market itself in \'V'estem New York. In re turn, Kuebler arranged an open house through the local chapcers of ASLA and the Ameri­can Institute of Archi tects, which provid­ed continuing education credits toapprox­imately 65 architects and landscape architects interested in learning moreabouc green roof technology.

Demonstrating green technologies at your own office can also help to educate clients about these options and convince chem these technologies can be used suc­cessfully. 4Sice J ncorporated, a mul tidisci ­plinary firm in Huntsville, Alabama, uses interpretive panels and tours of its '·green ,. office to encourage clients to implement "green" technologies in their projects.

For firms that aren·t planning to move Into a swanky new office anytime soon, chere is sci ll a variety of ways you can de­crease Yollc energy use within yourexiscing building. When your office is looking into new compucer equipmenc, plotters, and copy machines, purchasing products chac have che Energy Scar label can help co re­duce your energy consumpcion. The Ener­gy Scar web sice estimaces chat if every computer sold in the Uniced Scares met ics

requirements, that would prevent green­house gas emissions equal to theemissions from cwo million cars.

Reevaluating the lighting in your office may be a more immediate way of providing savings. Many offices provide much more lighting than is actually necess.1.ry. An ener­gy audi t at i\lSCW's Orlando, Florida, office determined chat they could save $1 ,200 per year by simply removing one fluorescent bulb from each of their three-bulb light fix­tures (a savings of about $7 per bulb re­moved). ll1ere are also opportunities to save energy by using sensors in shared work ar­eas so chat the lights will shutoff when the room is unoccupied and by replacing incan­descent light bulbs with compact fluores­cent lights (CFLs). Energy Star estimates chac if every American household replaced one standard light bulb with a CFl., char would collectively save $600 million in en­ergy COStS and prevent the eqUivalent of more than 800,000 cars' greenhouse gas emissions. 111ac's because CFLs lise 75 per­am less energy than standard light bulbs, -Tips for Energy

Conservation In the Office _ look to the LEED and Energy Star

programs when building or renouting your office. - Work with a local utility company or chamber of commerce to perfonn an energy audit. - Buy computers, copiers, and plotters that have the Energy Star label. - Experiment with the lighting in your office to detennine if it's all really necessary­

remove bulbs and see if you notice. - Replace incandescent bulbs with efLs, especially in utility areas. - Set your computer to go to sleep when you are not using it. - When you go home at night, tum off your computer's surge protector.

- Unplug battery and cell phone chargers when they are not in use.

- Install a programmable thennostat. - look into software to manage your network's power consumlJlion alK! detennine whether it makes sense for your company.

- Consider options for buying energy from green sources.

MAY :001 Llndscape Artllihthre 147

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saving approximately $30 in energy costs owr each bulb's lifetime (which may be sev­eral yean;).

Even befoTe you take up the issue of en­ergy conservation with the rest of your of­fi ce, there are things you can do to reduce the energy your own computer consumes. Set your computer co go into sleep mode when it is not in use and turn it off at the surge protector when you leave for the day. \Vhy make rhe effort? Because even when your computer is shut down, it continues to draw phantom power-energy use that doesn'r actually provide any benefits. Bat­tery and cell phone chargers also waste en­ergy this way.

There are programs that can manage power consumption throughout your computer network. LPA uses Verdiem's

Surveyor software, which automatically shuts down its compmers at night(unless rhey are in use) and cenrralizes power set­tings so that all computers are put {O sleep when they are inactive. T he software was expensive---it COSt $6,750 {O pUt iton 210 computers-but LPA expects {Osave near­ly $12,000 per year in reduced energy bills by using the proclucr. What the company will actually save depends to some extenr -Tips for Reducing the

Environmental Impact Caused by Transportation

Encourao'ina cyclino. tJ tJ tJ

also encourages employee health through physical

activity. on what individuals would have done without the program . Such a program may not save much addi tional energy (or moncy) if employees are already perform­ing the same functions manually.

Cuning down on the lise of heating and air-mnditioning is another option. Many utilities suggest that to save energy you keep your thermostat ser to 68 degrees Fahrmheirduring the wimerand 78 degrees during the summer when air-conditioning is on, though there is often disagreemenr among staff members as to whether these temperarures are actually comfonable. [n­stalling a programmable thermostat is a step everyone can agree on. A programma­ble thermostat can be set to automatically turn down your heat and air-conditioning at night when the building is nor in use.

Reducing energy will only gec you so fur; ultimately we will need to find clean, C05t­effective sources of energy to power our

homes and businesses. Norris Design looked into installing solar panels on its office but has put this off for the rime being. ''You get paid back over time, but the initial ouday-

- Consider what commuting options make sense in your region-is biking or taking mass transit

feasible? - Consider providing amenities for employees who bike to work such as bike racks and showers. - Does your finn pay for employee parking in a nearby garage? Offer incentives to employus that encourage other forms of transportation to cut down on these expenses. - Consider using car-sharing programs for work trips if they are available in your area. - Offer the best parking spaces to people who carpool. - Coordinate with others in your office to lower the number of courier se"ice trips. - Experiment with teleconferencing to cut down on the number of necessary trips.

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$20,000 or something- wasn' t going to

work , mainly because cash is scarce right now," says Rae!. "It would be a great idea if things picked back up and the market was humming along."'

T here are other ways to buy renewable energy, though they tend to increase your electric bill. In some places, it is possible to request that your Ix>wer company pro­vide a certain percentage of your electrici­ty using renewable sources such as wind and solar. If your local power company does not provide this option, ir is also possible to purchase carbon offsets. Since 2005, David Evans and Associates has committed to

green energy use through the purchase of carbon offsets sold by the Bonneville EnVI­ronmental Foundation, and this year they will offset! 00 percen t of their energy use. They pay the difference in COSt berween their current supplier and renewable ener­gy sources, and that money IS used to sub­sidize the construction of renewable power plants. Since the foundation is a nonprofit environmental organization, the COSt of rhe carbon offsers is taX deductible.

Encouraging Alternatives to the Automobile Many firms are looking for ways they can

encourage cleaner methocls of transporta­{ion. To make bicycling to work more con­venient, a number of offices have installed showers and changing rooms. Some have provided secure bike parking, and at Stan­tec's Edmonton, A lberta, headquarters, there is even a small bike repair center. Bi­cycling is not only beneficial to the envi-

ronment, it's beneficial in other ways, notes Laura Franceschini, the internal sustain­ability coordinator for all of Stamec's of­fices, "Encouraging cycling also encour­ages employee health through physical activity, which increases worker productiv­ity and reduces absenteeism," she says, It could potentially n'duce the need for park­ing, too, although it usually doesn't unless there is easy access to mass transit, because most employees will want the option to drive when weather is bad,

Some offices pay part or all of the cost of riding a bus or subway. Others make di­reet payments to employees who don't drive alone to work. While the program has now been Clit back a little due to the re­cession, David Evans and Associates was offering the employees at its Portland office S 1.50 per trip for carpool and transit trips and S3,OO for trips made by bicycle or by walking, Employees could be paid for a maximum of tWO trips per day, six days per week. The firm reports that 34 percem of its employees in Portland use alternative transportation three or more days per week. For firms in dense urban areas that do not own their own parking , providing these bonuses can be cheaper than paying for parking in a nearby parking garage, a benefit many firms provide,

Some landscape architects say hiking and riding mass transit would not work for them, since they are often working in the field and visiting clients, "I would really like ro ride my bike to work every day," says Roy-Fisher, "bur r have to go to so many job sites that it isn't practicaL"

PMA Landscape Architects in Toronto solved this problem by enrolling irs employ­ees in a car-sharing program, Car-sharing programs share the cost of owning a car be­tween multiple motorists , allowing indi­viduals or companies to rent a car for shon periods, often by the hour, Members of car­sharing programs such as AutoShare in Toronto and Zip::ar, which has programs in many large cities, can reserve a variety of vehicles on their web sites, \'{then their reservation is over, they return the car to its designated parking space. "The car-share program is a success," says Jim Melvin, ASLA, a principal at PMA, "It is perceived as a financial benefit by some, as it releases them from the expense of car ownership but offers them the flexibilityofacarwhen

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required by work or home errands." Stan~ tee's Toronto office and David Evans and Associates also use auto sharing, and some firms such as i\lSCW provide company cars for work-related trips.

The sorts of approaches a firm can take vary by region, as many places don't have the infrastructure in place for mass tran­sit, biking, arauta sharing. "In Los Ange­les, we tried to encourage our staff to try nor co drive to work once a month on a Fri­day," says Daley of Ah'be. "It worked a lit­de whde but it SOrt of stopped. I tried co take the bus and it wok me an hour and a half father than an hour to get to work. It's nor like New York or Boston." 5tantec varies its policies frum region to region. In some places it makes sense to subsidize employees who walk or rake mass nansit, but in sprawling Phoenix, Arizona, they encourage carpooling by offering prime shaded parking spotS ro carpoolers.

Be transparent and develop support within

the company rather than forcing something down people's throats.

Even if you continue to use a car for the majority of your travel, thef(' are simple ways co lower your fossi I fuel consumption such as k~ping your tires properly inflat­ed. TOG Partners' Houston office held a happy hour where employees could check thei r tire pressure.

MSCW has CUt back on the number of times each day its courier senllce needs co travel to the office. "Previously we would comact (he cou riers as needed, which could be five, six, seven times a day," says Andrew Braley, ASLA, a project landscape architect there. Today, the office has decid-

ed on thr~ set times to k~p the number of trips down as much as possible.

And a few firms were teleconferencing more to cut down on the numberofcarand plane trips they needed to take. "At our busiest, [teleconferencing] saves us 36 {flights} per year," says Rich Bienvenu, ASLA, a landscape architect at LPA. 11ley use a video teleconferencing service that allows both offices to connect to one computer at the same time while interacting via voice or video. However, there are disadvantages due to problems with connections and some of the technologies. "Occasionally, we have to abandon teleconferencoo meetings and merely sit around a speakerphone or use the speakerphone as the audio for a less than satisfactory audio connection," says Bienvenu.

Bienvenu says teleconferencing won't replace every trip. "'Face to face at the ini­tial stages makes fmure teleconferencing more meaningful and fruitful," he says. Travel is sometimes important to get an understanding of a site and to do construc­tion moniroring. It is possible to buy car-

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bon offsets to balance the emissions you produce via travel. However, while some firms were considering buying carbon off­sets for their travel before the economy tanked, most of these initiatives have been tabled for the time being, since they cost money without providing any phys ical benefi ts to employees at a time when many employees are alr<."ady sacrificing.

Implementing Sustainability

Initiatives

To implement sustainable initiatives with­in their offices, firms have taken a variety of approaches. A few large firms have de­veloped formal written plans. A team at WRT developed a g reen operations plan last fal I that setS goals for making the com ­pany more sustainable. David Evans and Assoc iates completed a companywide analys is of its carbon footprint in 2008, and it has a plan to reduce its carbon diox­ide emissions 10 percent in the coming year. The firm has had a director of sllstain­ability since 2003- a position that now reports directly to the CEO. Originally the

-Tips for Implementing Sustainability Initiatives - Lead by example. - Don't force ideas down people's throats. - Set up groups to talk aoout what your firm can do. - Look at what changes make the most sense for your region and your individual situation. - Quantify the benefits of a change and show them in a way that is easily understandable.

"green" technologies. '"\X'e use sus­tainability to market ourselves as a firm who walks our own talk," says Franceschini. '"Since we help our clients to develop sustainable design solutions, it 's only namral that we demonstrate sustainabili ty ourselves, both to maintain consistency of our message and to highlight our capa­bilities. Clients who care about sus-

- Share information within a large firm through tainability also want to work with a service provider who is sustainable, so internal sustainability efforts are a sustainability coordinator.

position was part time, but now it isa fuU­t ime position that looks at how the firm can both operate and design more sustain­ably, researching innovative practices to keep the firm up to date.

Stantec's sllstainability initiative Started organICally in its Vancouver office more than to years ago and has been slowly spreading throughout the company. Re­cently, the firm put out a marketing book that showcases the firm's internal sustain­ability initiatives alongside designs that use

essential for us:' Most small and midsized firmscominue

to have a more grassroots approach. A few people meet either voluntarily or on com­pany time to come up with ideas and then present them to management for approval. "Instead of having {an] in-house sustain­abi lity director or expert , we encourage everyone to become that expert ," says Rochelle Veturis, the public relations d i­rector for LPA. "With more than 65 per­cent of our employees as LEED-Accredited Professionals (WED AP), everyone from our

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office manager (who is LEED AP) to our CFO

(who is also LEED AP) supports the effort." Many of the composting programs resui£­ed from an employee offering to take home the coffee grounds and use them in the gar­den, and there were usually already a few employees biking to work before the com­panies decided to provide shower facilities.

One imrxmam thing to do when im­plementing any changes is to be transpar­em and develop support within rhe com­pany rather than forc ing something down people's throats. "When the Portland of­fice {of David Evans and Associates] began its composring program, members of rhe sllsrainabiliry comminee gathered one evening (0 collen rhe employees' garbage cans (0 encourage people (0 rhink before throwing anything away, The following day, rhe comminee sem employees an e­mail explaining why rhey had removed rhe cans and where w pick up the cans if em­ployees felr rhey really needed one. T his ef­forr was met with mixed results, says Tami Boardman. "Many people didn't mind giv­ing up their garbage cans but would have preferred to know in advance,"

Being able to quantify the benefits of a change and show them in a way that is eas­ily understandable is also helpful, particular­ly in these economic times, \'qhen MSCW's sustainability committee decided to advo­cate for replacing plastic cups in their cafe­teria, they calculated the savings w be $140 per month. They also created a fun graphic showing the height of all the cups stacked on top of each other that their company was using in a single year, which compared it to the Em pire State Building, the Sears Tow­er, and other skyscrapers.

There are many places to look for more advice on how to make your office sustain­able. The Energy Star web site, slxmsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, provides a variety of information about re­ducing your office's energy use, though it is a bit dense. Small businesses can sign up for e-mails from the web site on sustain­ability issues. Adair recommends looking over the USG Ilc's guidelines for existing buildings operations and maintenance and

a free downloadable book on the subject by Canadian environm entalist David Suzuki called Doillg Bwillm ill a New Cli­mate. TIle World Wildlife Fund also offers information abou t how to be ",greener" through a program called Climate Savers (set' Resources).

What's the easiest place to start? Many firms say converting some trash cans to re­cyclin,g, buyin,g recycled paper, or replacin,g incandescent light bulbs with CFt.'>. "When you don't know where to Start, Start any­where;' says Stamec's Klaas Rodenburg. "Implement one simple act that will reduce yourenvironmemal fOOtprint. ThIs will lead to another and another. All these little acts will add upover time,and beforeyo\.l know it, it Ix-comes business as usual.

Resource. • Continue the discussion with Joanne Adair in a forum on LandSLounge tided "O ur Office Footprint-Continuing Dis­cussion from Landscape An:hiterlflre Maga­zi ne," Jlllvw.lalidSIOIlIlge.comlj(fffl//I • The U.S. Green Building Council web site: wwul.IIsgbc.org • The Energy Star web site: www.energy star. g()/l • The Climate Savers Program at the World W ildlife Fund: IWlW.wor/dwild/ije. orgldi1!klteiard i//latesatlers.hlml • Doillg BlIJillcss III a New C/i"klfe: A Gllide to AfeaSllrillg, Redllcing, alld Offsetting Greell­home Gas EmlssiollJ, by David Suzuki; The David Suzuki Foundation. Book available for free online: www.ddliidslIzlIki.orgl Publicatio11JIDoing_BlIJillcss_in_(l_New_ Clinldte.aspx • "Do-It-Yourself at Sasaki Associates," by Allyson Wendt; E'1l1irOllfnellta/ BlIilding News, \'01. IS, no. I ,January 2009 • To watch So Whal? visit /lIww. evan nldther. com/ nWl,ies/300kliOwhal.mOlI • Autodesk Desi,gn Review: http://lIJa.auto deik.com/adskJserlllet/ illdex?id= 408627 7 &site 1D: 123112 • Vectorworks: wwuJ.l1emelsdxk.1JCt/!andlllurk • Bentley Redline: wUIllJ.bentley.comlen-USI Products/ Bentley+ R edline • Verdiem Surveyor Software: WWI/I.

verdiem.c(lmls flrt 't),1Jr. aspx • Bonneville Environmenml Foundation: /lIJ1lW.b-ejorg • ZijXar: wWJIi. ziptar.col/i • AuroShare (Toronto): afllOihare.c01lJ

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DESIGNING DISNEY For the landscape architects at \Valt Disney , IrnagilJeering, the magic is UI the details. By Daniel Jost, ASLA

E VEH WONDERED W HAT it would be like (0 design a theme park? A few landscape archircns don 'r have [0 won­der. Today, Walt Disney Imagineering employs 12 landscape archirects-24

if you include consul rams from Ofher firms whoareembeddedwithin thearnpmy. Walt Disney Imagi neering was founded more than 50 years ago to design Disneyland. Since then, it has gone on (0 design theme parks and resortS around [he world. Land­scape architects have played an imporram role in these projecrs since (he beginning.

\Vhat makes work ing as an Imagineer different than your typical landscape ar­chitecture job? "\\7e do planting, irriga­tion, detailing ... all rhe things most firms do," explainsJeff Morosky, ASLA, director of landscape architecture at Imagineering. "It JUSt gets integrated with many more layers and disciplines."

Imagineering employs professionals from approximately 140 different fields. 11le landscape architects here work side by side with writers, sculpmrs, show plan­ners, and even special effects experts. But that's only one of the many th ings that make working for Imagineering unique.

Telllna: Storie. in the Landaeape "As an entertainment company, our pri­mary goal is to entertain," explains Mo­ros!...')'. One way they enhance theexperience is by layering stories into (he landscape.

The stories they tell are not fine litera­ture, but they add a richness nOf found in most landscapes. For example, as you walk along one path at Disney's Animal King-

dom in Florida, you might notice two sets of animal tracks imprinted into the mud­themed concrete paving. One belongs to a small rabbit and the other belongs to a big cat. Eventually, the tracks dis.'\ppear at the base of a tree, and, if you look closely, you can see that the carnivore has

Many of the stories are made-up histo­ries revealed in the landscape to provide another level of interest for visitors. The design of an African vi llage at Animal Kingdom integrates fake ·'remnants'·

captured the rabbit and is storing her meal in an­other nearby tree.

Ch ildren often no­tice the stories first and point them out to their parents. 111ey may not al-ways catch the attention offirst­time visitors, but thar's parr of the appeal. '·W/e want people tocome over and over to OUf parks and to

see something new each time they come," says John T. Shields, ASLA, who was [he lead landscape architect fOf Animal Kingdom.

The mountain at ¥,e center Everest. opposite, an aHradion at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Watt Disney

World, is one of the "weenies" that guides people through that theme park. Visitors enter the aHraction through an area designed in the plan, llbove, to look like the base camp at Mount Ererest. A courtyard within has weeds growing up through the pavement and a large

tree selected for its unusual character, below,

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of ancient cicy walls inro some of its pave­ments. At Tokyo DisneySea, (he seawalls used in one area appear as though rhey ha\'e been built at different times, with materi­als changing as technologies changed over [he years. "Ir has a variety of [reaements so it never becomes boring," says John Soren­son, ASLA, rhe lead landscape archiceu for [hac cherne park.

Sometimes, the "histories" found in D is­ney's landscapes are nor the SOrt of ching we would delight in or preserve in a typical project. Walking through Disney's Califor­nia Adventure, J couldn't help bm chuc kle to see a modern, American environment with a "brick" road that has been inter­rupced with a line of concrete where a sewer was installed and "asphalt patches" that have been placed somewhat artis tically near many of the drains. The entire pavement is actually made out of concrete.

Another unusual history can be found at Expedi tion Everest, where the man-made environ­ment looks as ifit is reverting to nature as weeds grow up through the paving . " \'\Ie plamed it to look like a bad hair transplant," remembers landscape architect

S6 l landsup. Architecture IUV 200$

-Walt Disneylmagineering's staff, above, in·

cludes 12landS(:ape architects. From left to

right: John Sorenson, AStA iseatedl; Jeff Mo-

rosky, AStA iseatedl; Russeillamn, ASlA; Steve

Wagner, ASLA; Cal Walsten, ASlA iseatedl; Phil

Schenkel, ASLA; Jeff Compass, Affiliate AStA;

Robert Kuroda, AStA; David Dahlke, ASLA; Jen·

nifer Mok, ASLA lseatedl; and John Shields, AStA

lseatedl. Not pictured: Becky Bishop. The foun­

tain in front of Serooge McDuck's Department

Store in the American Waterfront area of Tokyo

DiSIlllJ$ea, betow, was designed to look like the

piles of mOIlll)" Scrooge is known for hoarding.

Becky Bishop fondly. Not the SOrt of line that most landscape architects could use with a diem to describe their work, but here it is the ultimate placemaking strate­gy, used ro create a strong e/Tect that cap­rures people's attention in a positive way.

Each of the small vignerres visitors see is grounded in a much larger Story. Before t he Imagineers begin designing a new theme park ora major addition roan exist­ing park, they set certain parameters. "De­termining the time and place is really im­portant," says Morosky. "Is it the future or

is it the past?" Is it a real place or an imaginary place? Everything must tie back to this Story, from the plants to the garbage cans.

They must also determine whet her any D isney characters will be integrated into the story and how that will work. "\'\fe"re a very character-driven compa­ny," explains Morosky. '" How do you create a setting where char­acters can reside and people can engage them?"

Design Proc:ess

Much of the oockstory is estab­lished during t he "Blue Sky" phase. Blue Sky is the creative think mnk where many of Dis-

ney's ideas start. Only a few landscape archi­tects get to panicipate at the earliest stages ofa project. Asa memberof the creative di­vision for the past 10 years, Bishop is one of them . "111at blank sheet of paper is so fab­ulous!" Bishop says. But even at the Blue Sky level, the reali ties of a project quickly begin to sur£'Ice. Bishop must determine how much land it will take to tell a story, and somet imes she even begins to think about amenities such as stroller parking, an important consideration for the young fam­ilies who visi t thei r theme parks.

T he other landscape architects usually enter a project during the conceptual or schematic phase. While thesrory is already formed by this point, it's not necessarilyset in stone. "W/e don't have a hard program thar goes into a contract ," says Jennifer Mok, ASLA, a landscape architect principal. "W/e have constant conversations."

During the conceptual phase, landscape architects brainstorm how a swry might be told in the landscape. "We're nor afraid to iterate here," says Russell Larsen, ASLA, another principal. "There's a pressure in traditional firms wget from A w B quick­ly. Here there is a sense you need w get from A w B correctly."

\'{fhen they are laying OUt a landscape, a lotof attention is paid to viewsheds, hiding undesimbleviewsand creating "weenies," a tenn \'{falt D isneycoined to describe the ma­jor landmarks within D isneyland that dmw you through the landscape. Mountains, vol­canoes, palaces, and rocket jets are all de­signed to dmw you deeper into the park.

Oncea landscape architect begins work­ing on a project, he or she will often con­tinueon the same project for years. On av­emge, it takes five to seven years to design and build a theme park and three to five years to design and bui ld a single attrac­tion . "I think that focus is really energiz­ing," says Sorenson.

The spaces within Imagineering's head­quarters in Glendale, C'Ilifornia, are de­signed to be very flexible, and the land­scape archi tects usually sit in a work space wi th team members working on the same project rather than with thei r fellow land­scapearchitects. Having al l the disciplines mixed together makes real collaboration possible. "Most of our work is done with colleagues who are a hallway away," says Larsen. "You can easily run an idea by

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~ ut.ri trek ltonl I dirt road in;Soutll Africa, hHe,-

inspired the dHiin for II road .. ~~:~,::~ Kingdom, abore right. Real tires

cre.tte~ tire track. iJ!.the cOIICrete, ri6ht ..

someone and see if ie's worth chasing or setting aside."

T he large number of d1sciplines in­volved in a project can besrimulacing, bur it can also make a project challenging co manage. 'The amount of time we actual­ly design is relatively minimal compared co the time we end up coordinating with all these extensive disciplines," explains Steve \'Qagner, ASLA, a principaL It also means chac no single person can really be called our as the designer of a theme park or attraction. "(OUT work] is really nor anybody's to own," says principal Jeff Compass, Affiliate ASLA.

During 11 trip to Serengeti National Pari!. in Tan· zania, the Imagineers stopped to photograph II

bridge, above, and to sketch, right. The trip in· spired this bridge at Animal Kingdom, far right.

58 1 LandsCipe Architecture IUY lOot

Bur rhe level of communication facilitates discussions between landscape arch itects and engineers that migln nor always be possible in a regular firm, providing the landscape architects agrear deal of sarisfuction in their work. ''You don't wane cobewalking down a main streer and see rhis electric panel JUSt because ir had co be rhere;' says Cal Wal­sten, ASLA, a senior principal. "Part of our job is to make sure rhe guest never sees rhe magic," explains Morosky.

Both com purer and physical models are used to study what people will experience as they progress around an attraction and to

see how affractions will fit to­gether. Precise styrofoam mod­els can be developed with the assistance of model-making professionals on the staff, allow­ing the landscape architects to experiment with lipstick cam­eras that give a feeling of what it would be like to inhabit a site,

Compass recently used this merhod to de­rermine how high a line of trees will need to be limbed to preserve a desired view­shecl. Modeling also allows for hands-on adjusting of landforms. One of the ma­chines in rhe model-making mom can rake a digiral com purer file and laser CUt foam blocks into different shapes. A designer can then go in and tweak the blocks; any changes made can be three-dimensionally scanned to update the drawings.

Once everything has been de­sig ned and the green light has been g iv­en for cons{1uccion, landscape architects working for Imagineering follow their projects into che field. This may JUSt

mean a longer commute to nearby Ana­heim, California, or it could require trav­eling to resorts in Florida, France,Japan , and China for months on end. "Most landscape architects don·t get that much field time, which is unfortunate because that·s where the project real­ly happens," says Morosky. '·\'(Ie have the luxury of being there to orchestrate .·· By monitoring their projects, they can make sure that what

From their experiences in South

Africa, left, the Imagineers were

inspired to create a river cross·

ing in Animal Kingdom where you

have to drive through the water,

below left. DriYing through, you

experience the same splash

of water, but there is no risk

of being stuck in the mud.

is constructed is true to their vision . \'\forking with con ­tractors also helps them to

understand what information is helpful and necessary in their construction documents the next time around.

Being a part of the company that owns their work allows for a level of feedback that land­scape an:hitects can'r get with a normal project. ''You have the ability to find our what the lessons are-what happens to the park once it 's builr and

used , what worked and what didn·t , and how g uestS perceive things," says Mom;ky. Once a project is built , it is continuously evaluated by Show Q uality Scandards, a division of Imag ineering. ·'[Representa­tives from} a number of disciplines go our into the parks and make suggestions as to how che place needs to be altered , im ­prove.::l, or maintained as is," says MorO'iky.

They can also get feedback on how ma­terials are performing. For example, the interface between powder-coated steel barrier rails and concrete was getting a lot

An earthen Innk in South Africa , abo~e.

inspired the concrete " earthen banks" at

Animal Kingdom, left, that are used to

contain the animals.

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60 I LlndSClipe Architecture IU Y lOot

of rust , so they decided to invest in s[ain~ less steel on some new projects.

\'\forking for the owner can cut both ways. You live with your mistakes along wi th your successes. "You can't forget about them," says Larsen. "T hey don 't go away." A number of different landscape archi tects ci ted the problems with the en­try a t Disney's California Adven ture. The corridor was designed so it could be used as a parade rome withom the pedestrian traffic problems found next door at Main Street, U.s.A. in D isneyland. "We were so concerned about g uest flow, the feel of that walkway is not as imimate as we'd like,"

saysShiekls. Another problem ,accorJing [Q some of the Imagineers, was that the S[Qrts on either side were generic- they didn't have a strong connection to Dis­ney's characters or another time and place. Plans are currently under way [Q renovate this area to make it resemble the ci ty of Los Angeles in the roaring 1920s when Wal t Disney fi rst saw it.

" Oisne), Is in the Details"

Because the landscape architects are try­ing to create an experience that is "mag­ical," distinct from the landscapes of dai­ly life, the majority of the demiling in

Disney's theme parks is custom. '"Disney is in the details,"' says Bishop, pamphrasing Mies van der Rohe.

"We cannot just take {products] out of a catalog,"' explains Sorenson. "\'\Ie are con­stantly inventing for each project." The Imagineers experiment with lighting, pave­ment, and barrier mils. Even 60 percent of the drinking fountains are custom designs.

For designs that are trying to evoke an­other place, Imag ineers often go on fact­finding trips co come up with inspimtion. Only a small number of people actually travel for each project; usually it 's just the core team: an architect, a landscape archi­tect, a writer, and (\l,'oaftists along with the project manager for the project. The ir charge is to ptovide documentation that can be used by the rest of the ttam during the design process. Why nor JUSt look at pic­tures in books? Because you can only get so much understanding from a typical book, says Shields. Most photographers focus on the iconic views-allees of trees, large rock formations, and landmark buildings.

\When Sorenson was working on the de­sign of the Mediterranean Harbor for Tokyo DisneySea, his team traveled to a number ofTtalian JXlftS including Venice, Tuscany, and Portofino. He took photos of doorknobs, railings, and paving patterns. "\We took many pictures of water edges and how t hey were built,"' he remembers. " \'\11' also noticed how people had attachecl metalwork to the walls to tie up boats." Many of these details were integrated into the theme park.

Shields's team went on a three-week trip to Africa when they were designing Ani­mal Kingdom. In many ways, the safari ex­perience at that theme park is a summary of their SOO-mi!e trip. They took note of distinctive benches they found in Kenya, drew the bridges they passed over, and photogmphed the banks of the river and the unpaved roads they drove along. '"\'\Ie're not always trying to copy,"' explains Shields. "We're trying to use them as inspi­mtion for something new."

Often they will try to achieve a sim ilar effect using different materials such as con­crete. The Imagineers say concrete is gener­ally preferable to many other materials be­cause it has a much longer life span and maintains its character under intensive cleaning regimes. "A lot of people will ~

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these things and say it's oc-en Dis­neyfied," laments Shields. 'T hey're nO{ seeing the anistic quality it took to make something out of com­pletely different materials."

Consider the design for many of the paths at Animal Kingdom- a concrete path made [0 look like the muddy, gravelly paths the team traveled in Africa. Using actual din was ruled om because of the number of people that would be walking or driving over it. Bur plain g ray concrete would have been boring and out of place. So they srained the surface, added ag­gregate, and created tire tracks and undulat10ns in the concrete ro make it look and feel more like a rutty din road.

No one had ever requested con­crece chac looked like din before, so they had to work with the man­ufacturer to develop ehe product. They did a great deal of sampling to make sure it would achieve rhe desired effect, and they used rhe actual t ires from rhe buses found in the theme park co cre­ate rhe rire rracks.

Shields may be [he only landscape ar­chitect co ever design a pothole. A number

62 l landsup, Archltectllre IUV 200$

of alternate designs were actually tesred in rhe Tmagineering parking lor. He varied rhe slope leading inco rhe IXlrhole and the length of the flat area, trying co maximize rhe effeer while keeping ir safe for veh ides. "\'Ve had rhe head of rhe company driving

over them," remembers Shields. "When he spilled his cup of coffee, we knew we had created an effect people would notice."

On the same project, Shields needed a curb to guide water, but a traditional concrete curb would have looked out of place in this nat­uralistic setting. So he came up with the idea of mud tire tracks made out of concrete.

Similarly discreet barrier rails keep people out of certain areas. "T hey may be created using bits of a wall, a fallen tree, an old aban­donedJeep--ali of these things can create the barriers that need to be there," says b.rsen. "Some of our hardest work goes unnoticed."

Emphasis on Planting

"We're really focusing on planting more than any practice I've been with," says Walsten. 111 isemphasis on creating unique horticultural experiences can be traced back (0

Bill Evans, the pioneering land ­scape architect who worked on rhe original designs for Disneyland.

Evans often experimented with unusual species and new varieties of plants. Toclay, Tmagineering continues (0 push the enve­lope horticulturally. On a rypical projeer, 10 percent of the plants are oUtside [he range of whar {hey know will work.

Beck,. Bishop watches as a tree

gets craned into place at Expedi­

tion Ewerest in Disney's Animal

Kingdom, top. John Shields acted

as the art director for the concrete

baobab trees in Animal Kingdom,

left. The,. made seale foam models

of the trees, above.

"You have ro be bold when creating a planting environment wi th a story behind it," says Sorenson. "You can do that using geometry and careful selection of your plant palene."

Disney's theme parks are divided into lands (e.g., Frontierland, Tomorrowland) with a d istinctive plam palenI' for each. At Tokyo DisneySea, the palene for one land has five or six species of trees, anoth­er has only two trees, and another is ex­tremely diverse wich a huge number of species Jam med together.

Transposing the experience of one envi­ronment inro another using plants is often one of the biggest challenges facing the landscape archicects ac Imagineering.

The majority of the detailing, abore, at Tokyo DisneySea is custom. At the Italian-style

garden in the pool area of Tokyo DisneySea 's Hotel MiraCosta, below, Kaizuka juniper is

pruned to look like Italian cypress.

"How do you create a Jungle in Paris?" asks Walsten. O r an Italian village in Japan? "If you think of five or six plants that are typ­Ical to Italy, we could maybe grow three of those," explains Sorenson. So they had to find other plants chac would have che same chamcter. \'Qhen no orheroptions are avail­able, they may even manipulate the shapes of other species co get dle desired look. In one cast where there was no simple [(-place­ment, chey accually constructed African

baobab trees using concrete and rebar. Shields acted as the art director for those trees. 'Td say move that branch over there," he remembers. "An elephant needs to be able to get its trunk in there."

Bishop faced a different challenge when she designed the Storybook Land attrac­tion for Disneyland Paris. The ride takes visitors on a boat ride through a series of mmiature scenes r ipped from Disney movies. Bishop experimented with moss­es and thyme for ground covers, and H ibis­efIJ p€fio/aris was used for a flowering trtt at Snow \'7hite 's cottage.

O n average, lOco 20 percent of chI' plants fur an attraction or theme park afe actively scouced DUe. Sometimes chey will

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contract with nurseries to grow unusual va­rieties or to train them in a way that is not common. Large trees that can give an in­smm effect are also sought out. To bring the character of Torrey pines along the South­ern California coastline to an area of Dis­neyland Paris, Bishop found an abandoned grove of nearly 50-foor-call amucarias, pur­chased them from the landowner, and had them transplantl"Cl into the theme park.

The large trees transplanted into Dis­ney's theme parks are not always the most g raceful. '"I'm always looking for the ugly, the unique, the uncharacteristic," explains Bishop. "We found these mulberries that looked as though they were ill . One trtt had an angle iron in it." She says it took some ex­plaining to convince the t["("t movers that the angle iron was pare of the tree's charm. 111e trtt was integrated in to the Expedition Everest attraction in Animal Kingdom.

Career Path to Disney

So how does a landscape architect end up working at D isney ? It 's usually a fairly crooked path. Sorenson never set out to de­sign amusement parks. He studied under Peter \'(lalker, FASLA, at Harvard. His first job was with Dan Kiley's firm, and later he worked for POD/Sasak i. "My education, the people I idolize, are all very formal," says Sorenson. But aboUt 20 years ago, POD/Sasaki was hired to do the master planning for Euro D isney (now known as Disneyland Paris) in partnership with planning firm PBR. They also designed the areas around hotels, roadways, and other public spaces. "' I got to know people as de­sign progressed," says Sorenson. "At the end of two years 1 was offered a full- time posItion.

Starting OUt as a temporary consultant and then being asked to come on board is a pretty typical story among the landscape archi tects working for Imagineering . Many, like Robert Kuroda, ASLA , were actually working full time inside the Imagineering headquarters before D isney hired them . "With all the disciplines we have, it's hIgh­ly collaborative and thinh'S change fas t: ' ex­

plains Morosky. Temporary COntt"al:t workers from other companies are often embedded

within the building SO they are close to the ()(her sraff working on a project.

Of the landscape architecrs IAllliJCtlpt

ArrhittrtlfT'tspokewith ,only Mok has spent her entire career working for Disney, and even she started out as an embedded con­sulrant. Bishop imerned with Imagineer­ing in 1980 bue went on (0 work for a model-home company before coming back.

Each year, Imagineering offers imern­ships for a few landscape architecture stu­dents interested in learn ing about theme park design. Interns' responsibilities range from graphic presentation to research and from technical drawin.gs to 3-D visualiza­tion, depending on the students' skill sers.

Each year, Ima~neering offers internships for a

few landscape architecture students interested

in learning about theme park design.

Studems here get more dian JUSt the typi­cal office experience; they get to understand abit about rheentireorganization through company-sponsored events throughout the summer. Srudems are even taken on day trips ro Disneyland (0 see wllat goes on be­hind rhe scenes.

So what does Disney look for in furure Imaginttrs? "We look for people who are great thinkers and problem solvers, possess great enthusiasm for the landscape archi­tecture profession, and desire co work In a highly collaborative envi ronmem ," says Morosky. Sorenson adds that the ability to

develop rhe big idea through an under­standing of materials, interrelationships between components, and design derail­ing isnlso important. And due ro the high­ly collaborat ive nature of their work, the ability to communicate ideas is a must.

An understanding of the role that Dis­ney's theme parks play in .guests' lives probably doesn 't hurr either. \'Vhen you design one of these theme parks, "you are painting someone's phmogrnph that is go­ing [Q be in their family album for years and years," remarks Bishop.

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PUBLISHING

SELF-DIRECTED PUBUCATIONS are gaining in­creasing relevance among design professionals­even studems- as part of strategies to increase visibility, enhance credibility, and generate ei ­ther work or that aH-important firs t job. Snappy

graphics and PowerPoinrs may make gcxxl. initial im­pressions on p()(emiai cI it-ms, but well -produced books make lasting impressions as tangible reminders of professional capacities, long after digital presenta­tions have f.1.ded.

There are twO general routes (0 gerring your work in print: The first, and more traditional, in­volves writing a proposal and convincing a pub­lisher to produce it; the second is to self-publish, either by hiring someone to manage the derails or by doing everything yourself. Each scenario has multiple variations and contingencies, and neither is wel! understood by landscape professionals.

The traditional route involves an author sub­mining a book proposal toa publisher forconsid ­eration (see ··Pride of Authorship," l..dlids((l/Je A rrhi­reculre, June 2002). Generally a proposal will

PUBLISH AND BE SEEN Landscape architects are using

books as marketing tools. By Lake Douglas, ASlA

include a [able of contents, a sample chapter, and probably an author·s questionnaire aoout length of manuscript; number and type of images, ifany; writ­ing experience; similar works on the subject; and a timetable for delivery. From this proposal, the pub­lisher makes a decision, based more on economics­probable expenses against likely revenue-than anything else, that could lead to a negotiated contract. The days when publish­ers took on projects because they "desenred·· publication are gone; instead, most decisions today about what gets published are driv­en by economic realities of the marketplace: \'<1ho is the market? Can we make a profit? Ifyou·rea landscape starchitect with name t"{""Cog nition and high-profile projectS, this scenario is a possibili­ty; for the rest of us, this route is less probable.

It is fortuitous that as traditional publishing venues for design work have decreased in recem years due ro econom ic changes in the publishing world, corresponding technological advances have cre-

66 l landsup, Archltectllre IUV 200$

ated new opportunities for self-publishing. It 's now possible, effi­cient, and cost-effective for professionals (and students as well) to publish their work in lxx>k form. 111ere is a broad range offormats, and each has its purpose. Small portfolios of student work are re­quired of most graduate programs and are obviously useful in get­ting that first job. Online self-publishing services (see WWW.IIIIII. W !Il.

for instance) have a wide range of services and are remarkably afford­able: A collcague·s 52-page color 7-by-9-inch portfolio, front and back, cost $26 per copy. Printing on demand from a PDF, there are no qU.1.ntity requiremems, and turnaround time is minimal. Pro­fessionals can use these and other resources ro produce publications

PUBLISHING

ranging from office brochures ex­panded into OOok formac widl ba­sic text to publications that look more like independent assess­ments, particularly when they in­clude analytical observations, es­says, and critiques by known figures from amdemics or the pro­fession. Office brochure publica­tions are generally distributed to prospective clients, although exam­ples of in-depth treatments are sometimes commercially avai lable in na­tional bookstore chains or online from of­fice web sites or other resources.

Self-publication has multiple advan­cages; the obvious ones include being able to define the message, control the content in both graphics and text, and print on de­mand. There are associated risks as well, and professionals should pay careful atten­cion here. Among chem are issues related

THE C OL.O~. 0 1' N"'TU~i It . ........... 0' •••. ••. • ". ..

to credibility and self-imjXJrtance (A fine line here: Your significant other may not be the best person to write about your work.); content of text (informed, thought­ful design criticism or gratuitous ad copy?); and quality of images (Is there a unified vision here or a collection of im­ages of random quality?). In the past, self­publishing was, for good reason, called "'vanity press" because chose who em -

ployed this route co publication paid to have their work published, and since such products were not based on objective, independent assessments of a work's literary merit or professional value, they often reeked of fulsome praise or were defeated by their design, con­tent, and production values. But while issues of critical objectivity and professional relevance remain in self-produced work, easy-to-use desktop publishing programs fa­cilitate both graphic design and Image enhancement and make self-publication easier, more pro­

fessional in appearance, and more accessi­ble than ever before.

T hose who want to have their work published have several options. Whether one pursues the traditional route or elects to self-publish, several first steps will fa­c;1 irate moving forward. First, office deci­sion makers should define a general pur­pose and dlTenion for the publication (Who is the audience? Where is the mar-

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The traditional route lllYolves an author submitllllg a book proposal

to a publisher for consideration.

kerf What is the competi tion?). Second should be an honcst and realistic assessment of in-house capabih­ties and resources, includ ing in-house staff expertise Of available consultants, ,graphic material (use existing material orcommis­sion new images ?), time1ines and budgets (it will rake longer and COSt mUfC than YOLI

may initially think). T hird, rhere should be commitmem [Q the project and a will­ingness to allocate financial and human re­sou rces appropriate to rhe situation, and JUSt like any construction projeer, this

project should have a detailed budget, in­clud ing a generous contingency allocation and a realistic timeline.

And finally, there should be an under­standing that you' re not likely to make money selling your self-published book; however, an office may well advance and get new work and more important projects as a result of getting its work published.

1110SC who have never worked on a book or attempted a large publication project

would do well to consider hiring a consultant to advise on the project and shepherd it through produc­tion. Putting together a credible book project is more complicated dlan it may first appear, and some­one experienced in such projects can s,,\ve both time and money in the long run . A book projcn in­volves text, gmphic design, images, and production; in all four areas, quality, attention to details, and CD­

ordination are equally important to meet budgets and schedules. Such a consultant is sometimes called a

·'packager;· and while this term is usually applied to someone engaged by a publish­er to assemble a book project, the process can work from the other direction as well, with the packager h'athering material from an office and putting together an appropri­ate team toassemble a book and shepherd it through production.

O bViously each path to publication has its own set of financial, staffing, and log is­tical issues that can inform the business

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PUBLISHING

decision about which direct ion to

pursue, and these should be con­sidered carefully before p roceed­ing with a publication project. Time is an imponant factor as well; publica t ion projens will take months- if not years- from Start to finish, depending on vari ­ables within each step along the way. For those thinking about em­barking on a publication venture, an examination of recent examples might be instructive.

Two works representing the traditional rome to publication, both frum Monacelli Press (pan of Random HOLlse), are 0/111 Placemukmg (2008; $65) and The CO/(ffS of Natllre: the Subtropical Gardem 0/ Rayr/UJ/ld Jungles (2008; $50). Monacelli specializes in beautifully produced architecture and design books and, according to a recem conversation with a representative, is very

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interested In Increasing its offerings in landscape design. Oli" Plaul/lokmg begins with an imroduccion by John Srilgoe (hav­ing a preface from a Harvard academIC gives credibil iry to a publication proposal); six general chapters follow, each with an in­terview between a partner in [he linn and someone else (some big names here (00).

These interviews offer insightful comments on the firm'sclesign philosophy("placemak-

Design \\'orkshop's TOlcard Leo,([c)' 1:1 •

is a record of the finn's design philosophy and sample projects.

ing") and approach to design. Chapters include four to six high­profile projcns, each with a brief

project description and color images (no captions). The CO/(Jrs OjNdtllrt is a mono­graph on rhe work of midcareef Florida land scape archirect Raymond Jungles, FASLA, a protege of Robeno Burle Marx. Twenty-four residential projectS arc shown; all but one are in souch Florida. Brief com­mentaries by Jungles d("SCribe the projectS, giving the reader insightful information wichout obcuse philosophy, precense, orde-

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sign jargon. Images are spectacu­lar (many from nmed landscape photographers Richard Felber and Roger Foley, Affiliate AM). Again, images are everything here, and this work demonstrates rhe power of engaging someone who knows how to shoot gardens, and nm all phmographers do. TIlese books are monographs in the sense that they are about projects from one prac­tice (Olin) orone person (j ungles). TIley are much more, though, be­cause with text and image they document approaches to design (Olin) and examples of small-scale residential work (jungles) in compelling and inspiring ways. Beautiful production values make bmh books well worth hav­ing, and since these come from a main­stream commercial press, they are likely to

be readily available.

Design Workshop's self-published TflWard Legacy (2007; $45 ) is a record of this

large firm's design philosophy and sample

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pro jects. This book was completed in­house under the d irection of Eliot Hoyt, principal in the Denver office, then passed on to a packager. According to the pref.1.Ce, the book is more about Hwhat it·s like to

run a business based on ideas . . .'· rather chan a review of che firm's 35-plus-year his­tory. An introduction explains the firm's defining values (environment, communi­ty, economics, and arc) and how chese ele-

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ments translate into their design approach, a theory they call "lega­cy Design.'· A brief firm history follo\vs that includes a "fOrmative project·· in which the firm·s philos­ophy first came together. Chapters are organized around fi ve central themes: "nature;· ·'places;· "com­munity,'" ··connection;· and '·lead­ing change." Each chapter starts with an imnx:luctory essay by a partner or principal, followed by project discussions in ei ther case study or '·project discussion·· for­mat. Color images are abundant, together with plans and analysis

diagrams, sketches, graphics, and project credits. This work's generous fOrmat allows images to be large and useful. The book's organization is logical, and its text is well written and informative, though it will take moce than a few sittings to get through the entire book. ThiS is a book of vallie on many levels: As a market ing tool it has been a success, according to Hoyt; as a ceaching cool, it should find a place in any

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PUBLISHING

professional curriculum; and as a record of contemporary landscape architecture in America, it is an excellem documentary on what is possible with design talent , a strong design approach, good cliems, and appropriate budgets. Design Workshop's earlier book, New Gardells of the AmeriwlI W'eu (2003; $35), documents the firm's res­iden tial work. This book was also produced in-house then "packaged" by Grayson Pub­lishing o(Washington, D.C. Side by side, New Gardem is modest in content next (0

ugacy and less visually appealing-even dated now- in its design. Ugaq, how(""Ver, has a timeless quality and demonstrates that a project, wel l executed in concept, de­sign, organization, coment, images, and producrion, will pay dividends well into [he furure .

Findillg the Place of Archilemlre ill the umciscape (2008; $68) is a monograph on rhe work of Perer Gisolfi, ASLA, an arch i-

ten and landscape architen practicing on the East Coast. T he publisher, Images Publishing Group of Australia, was estab­lished in 1983 and specializes in illuscrac­ed books abomarchicectural, interior, and landscape design. According to its web sire, "'over 70 high-profile arch iteccs have

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as a result of <YCttill<Y " " its ,,'ork published.

already appointed Images, with its world­wide reputation for excellence, to publish these i rnportant chronicles of their firms' work. ,. \'V'ork here IS organized into gener­al categories such as townscape, campus, landscapes, and buildings; gardens and houses; and transformation (maintaining the original stnlcrnre bmadding new uses). Each seccion has from six to nine projectS, well illustrated with a lively mix of im­ages, plans, drawings, and details. Appro­priacesupplementary informacion is given

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as well, includin,g a firm profile, chronology of projects, credits, engineers and consu ltants , awards, and biblio,graphy. The '·pho to,grapher of record·· was the eminent archicecmral pho­to,grapher Norman McGra th, wi th contributions from others (notably Mick H ales for ,gar­dens), and the wisdom ofhavin,g consistently ,good ima,ges really comes through here. This may well be a self-funded monograph judging from the quote from Images, but the results will cer­tainly be an effective marketing tool. De­sign students could use projects shown here as case studies and gain insight from a cartfu l study of how projects are organ­ized and presented.

Another approach to publishing one's work comes in Met/'IINl from Reed H ilder­brand of\'qacertown, Mas.sachuseus. Clear­ly this book has ItS roots in an office brochure format. With minimal , almost nonexistent cexc , chis book's approach is

ima,ge driven, and though small in size and mooest in concept, it is nevertheless beau­tifully proouced. It will likely be an effec­tive marketing tool for years to come and, as such, may not becommerciallyavailable through your local bookstore (check out their web site, however, to get a sample of the images). Both color and monochromat­ic images are used, and many are the work of noted landscape photographer Alan \'qard (here again, che value of having good

photographic work cannot be underestimated).

Getting into publishing may seem inconceivable or too com­plicated for some professionals, but the resul ts can be rewarding both professionally and person­ally. Some may think that the printed page is a relic of the past, bur many desi ,gn professionals will continue to depend on the printed pa,ge to display, analyze, and talk about what we do. How consum ers ,get that printed page-whether from a tradition­

al publisher or throu,gh self-publishin,g­is of little consequence. \'\fhat's on the printed page is offar greater value. And ul ­timately, like everything else, the market­place , informed or nor, will determlfle what is of value.

Landscape architect Lake DOllg/as, ASLA , teaches (./ dan Oil writillgfor deJigll p ofessioll­als at LSU j· Robert Reich School of LalldJ(ape Archirectllre.

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TECHNOLOGY

FOR LANDSCAPE ARCHlTEcrsand oth~

er design and plann ing professionals, sharing digital data is a necessity. Many types of digital data have standard for­mats that make the process a little eas­

ier. \VIe send word processing documents in a IX)C formutand CAD files in a DWG or DXF forma t. But accessing and sharing GIS maps and data has always been an issue. Most of

A GEOSPATIAL APPROACH TO PDFS New types of PDFs

are allowing GIS data and maps to be

shared more easily. By James l. Sipes, ASLA

[he file formats used co save these documents are proprietary, so you can often only open them in the programs that created them.

GIS g ives us wonderfu l opportunities co create digital maps showing analysis such as slope, viewsheds, and buffers. Bur how do you share thac information with ciiems, stakeholders, or even other design and plan­ning firms that don't own the same software? For many years, the answer has been to save the information in degrnded formats such as GeoTIFF,)PEG ,or Adobe PDF (Porrable Doc­ument Format).

nit' problem with saving GIS maps in a Goo­TIFF,)PEG, and a typical PDF format is that it flattens the file. TIle thematic data is lost when the new file is created, and this can make it difficult to distinguish one type of informa­tion from another. For example, a map show­ing mntou~, property lines, roads, sewer lines, and electric I ines can be difficul t to reacl.

T here are other drawbacks as well. Goo­TIW fi les maintain the geospatial coordinates associated with the data, buc a hig h-resolucion aerial photo can be as big as 30 gigabytes in

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These maps of Marigot Sa, on St. Martin in the Virgin Islands were generated using

Publisher for ArCGIS. The Map La,ers command is used to turn on and off different layers of

infonnation such as satellite imagery, top, land uses, center, and manmade strudures, bDttom.

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TECHNOLOGY

size or greater. That makes it difficult to

open in Photoshop, lllustramf, and other programs used to open TIFFs. Even worse, a )PEG (ormat does no t maintain the geospatial coordinates, and there is a loss of image quality. )PEG uses what is called a "lossy" compression roucine, which phys­ically changes the visual appearance of a map in order to reduce file size. The more you reduce file size, the mOft the original image is altered.

Forrunately for landscapearchitens and others who want ro access maps in a digi­taJ formar, a new typeo(PDF is now avail ­able. Geospatial PDFs are changing how maps and GISdacaareexchanged. PDF files have long been the de £1.Cto industry Sfan­clard for sharing digital documems. Ac­cording [Q Adobe, mOTC chan 900 million {X-opJe use its Reader program. It can be downloaded free of charge from the Inter­nec, and ic is very simple to use, Mosc peo­ple are able to view POFs jusc by clicking che file , Mosc landscape archicects proba­bly use PDF files even if chey don'c know anyching abouc che file formac.

Benefits of Using Qeospatlal PDFs

The biggest benefic of geospacial POFs is that they provide easy access to intelligent, inceraccive sets of maps, A geospacial PDF also contains information chat is used to

georeference location data. \Vhen geospa­tial data is imported into a PDF, Acrobat retains the geospatial coordinates so you can view and internct with the PDF to find and mark location data. With geospatial POI's, you can view maps with multiple coordinate displays, measure length and area, tum layers on and off, and search map attributes. T he measuring tools read the geospatial information and can be used to

calculate d is tance, perimeter, and area. Unlike JPEG or GeoTI FF, when a user rooms in or out on a file, the scale for meas­urement is adjusted automat ically.

For geospatial data to be useful and ac­cessible digitally, the data files have to be small enough to be distributed easily. One of the big benefi ts of using a geospatial PDF is that the resulting files are signifi­cantly smaller than the originals. For ex-

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Traditionally, landsat data has been limited to remote sensing scientists who hawe access to

upensiye and hard-to-use analysis software. With geospatial PPFs, all seven bands from

multispectral images can be exported and accessed dynamically. These maps of northwest

Washington, above and below, show the same data with different bands turned on.

ample, a satellite image in a GroT]FF for­mat may be five gigabytes in size, but a PDF wi th the So'\me image quality may be 400 megabytes in size, or smaller. T he PDFs are small enough so they can be loaded on a city or county's web site.lnter­ested constituents could access the differ­ent alternatives, turning information on and off in order to better understand how and why decisions were made.

If you have a map that is not georefer­enced but does include a couple of coordi­nates, the tools that make geospat ial POI's, such as Adobe Acrobat, TerraGo, and ESRJ's An."G]S, can fill in the missing infor-

mati on . After you find a location on a geospatial PDF, you can copy the coordi­nates to the clipboard. From the clipboard, you can paste the data intoa web mapping service that reads latitude and longitude coordinates.

Another benefit is that all of the geospa­rial information needed to create a series of maps can be Sowed wi thin one file. Dig­iral mapbooks, which are a compiled set of individual map sheets, can have a high level of detail, yet are easy to use and small enough todistribuce. Mapbooksare much more useful than individual map sheets because they provide greater flexibility and

PROOF THAT QUALITY DESIGN PAYS OFF

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URBAN DESI GN AND THE BOTTOM LI NE Optimizing the Return on Perception Dennis Jerke The Urban Land Institute

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This practical book describes how 10 employ Ihe power at design 10 creale and capture added value in the buill environ­ment. It examines the many opportunities for using urban design stralegically to generate a Return on Perception"-the payoff in economic, environmental, social , and cultural benefits.

Lavishly illustrated with color photographs and examples of practice, the book explains how to holistically plan and design tour key image systems of the built environment­archi tecture, green infrastructure, transportation, and water sett ings-to create great places where people will want to visi t, live, work, and play.

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TECHNOLOGY Da ll"~!!.. "'aullo'dM*NI DRAFT GIS, or illustration program, then

use the measuring and location tools in the GeoPDr to locate key design features such as lot oound­aries , roads, public spaces, and landmarks. \Virh this informa­tion loaded into a handheld GPS, you can literally walk down the proposed main Strttt of a desig n or stand in the middle of a new

provide a broader view of an a["(."a . The ability to hyperlink maps makes it easier to navigate from ooe map to another instead of having to sort through individ~ ual maps.

Geospatial PDFs have a num­ber of collaboration, review, and markup tools thm can be very useful to landscape archi tects who want to review a map, make corn­mems,and then shafe those with others. Users can create notes, redlines, and markups Of arrach images or mher data from multi-ple sources. This information can even be exported as a shapefile,

.1

' .

, . ..

, <

which is rhe file standard used by -ESRr's A reGIS sofrare, and then

incorporated inw a GIS prog ram or ageo­browser such as Google Earth.

Uses of Geospatial PDFs Landscape archireccs can use geospariaI PDFs ina number of ways, includ­ing sire review and analysis. For example , a landscape archi tecr could access an aerial image, cum land use and parcel data on and off, pull up a FEMA Aoodplain map and a wet land inventory map, and mark key areas ofimer­est that needed further analysis on site. To find dle location of these areas of interest , users simply right-dick the location on the map and copy the coordinates to

a cl ipboard. The clipboard can then be downloaded to a hand­held GPS uni t, which can be tak­en omo the site.

A mobile GIS/GPS application using Adobe Reader, geospatial PDFs, and GPS is an affordable and effecti ve tool for anyone needing [Q access geospatial in­forma tion out in the field. L md­scape architects can use this tech­nology for field -verifying initial desig n concepts. You scan in a hand-generated sketch or import a digital draWing from a CAD,

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-­....... ' --- -"'- ""

--­.... ......... , •

• .. The map above shows the density of sightings

of Dall's porpoise off the California coast. Geospatial PDFS were used to share images

of fires in California, below, with firefighters and emergency workers.

-town square.

This past year, GeoPDFs were used to create a mapbook of satel­li te imagery for emergency work­ers and relief agencies fi g hting fires in California. T he Images cover approximately 1,500 square kilometers in the Malibu area and about 4 ,000 square kilometers in and arollnd San Diego. Using the GeoPDF maps, relief workers are ab le [Q access accurate maps, measure disrance, pull up crirical

Informac ion, and insef[ comments and markups [Q help determine how best [Q

fig hr fires. Because it is so quick and easy to

generare new maps, rhe workers are able to

pull up t he rimeliest informacion char shows current conditions.

Many municipalit ies are now providing their geospacial dara to

cheirconscicuems in GeoPDFfor­mars. Gwinnect COUnty, Geor­gia, which is located just north of Atlanra, is one of rhe fastest growing and most affluent coun­ties in the South. It has been making extensive use of GIS since 1989, and today virtually every department in the county uses the technology. Geospatial data has been integrated among all of the county·s systems, and GIS is plugged into SAp·s CR M (cus­tomer rela tionship management software), public Uti lities, records management, public safety, and permi tting . T he county also uses G[Sto manage more [han 265 ,<xXJ parcels ofJand, and an addi tional IO,(X)) to 12,000 parcels areadded every year. Parcel data is used for many purposes, including p lan­ning projects typically involving landscape architects. T he parcel data can also be incorporated

CALL FOR ENTRIES AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 2009 AWARDS

•

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AWARDS PRESENTED: September 18-21, 2009 at the ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO in Chicago

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TECHNOLOGY

into CAD or GIS programs and Us<--d for design projects.

Last year the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) started making its quad sheets available in GeoPDF format since these files arc q uicker and easier to download and use than many other d igi tal for­mats. More than 60,000 USGS digi-tal raster graphics, which are used by landscape archi tects and other de­sign and planning professionals, have been converted to GeoPDP files, and these can be accessed through the USGS SfOre.

Different Flavors of

Oeospatial PDFS

There are acnmlly several differem types of geospatial PDFs. Each is a liule different, bur the good news is dmt all providesimilarfunaionality, and all are very simple to access and use. TIle newest versions of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader support geospatial PDFs that al low forencod-ing of map coordinate systems and georeferenced information. Adobe has greac1yenhanced its original PDF format, providing basic measuring capabilities, georegistration tools, and a coordi­nate display for showing offlacirude and longitude in Acrobat Pro Ex­tended. Adobe also provides support for TerraGo's GeoPDF in its Acrobat 9 sofnvare.

ArcG1S 9.3 has the ability [Q create GeoPDFs. Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard or Pro provides features for reading coordinates, taking measurements, and marking up maps. The geospa­tial PDFs produced by ESRI support many of the international proiections that global organizations require. Landscape architects using ArcMap 9.3 can use the Export PDF Llyers command to create a geospatial PDF.

A geospatial PDF from TerraGo Technologies has been around for several years, and it is becoming ade fueto standard for sharing maps. T he United States Marine Corps has in­stalled TennGo's GeoPDF Toolbar on

more than 65,000 computers, so marines can access maps and geospatial data. Ter­raGo's Map2PDF is used to create interac­tive GeoPDF files with embedded data and mapping features. The GeoPDF Toolbar [Urns the free Adobe Reader into a powerful geospatial application that gives users the ability to view, ma­nipulate, and update mapping data. TIle latest release of Map2PDF for Acrobat

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Cobb County, Georgia, is using geospatial

PDFS to produce online maps, above and

below, that are a,ailable to constituents.

.... _-38

()

supports extension of most of the Acrobat­compatible geospatial PDF files you can create with ESRI's ArcGIS 9.3 extension to GeoPDF.

Adobe and TerraGo have worked to­gether to bring geospatial functionality to the Acrobat and Reader communi ty. The georegistration technique used by Acrobat 9.0 is similar to [he technique used by TerraGo for GeoPDF. TerraGo has submitted the GeoPDF format to the Open Geosparial Consortium (OGC), an international organization that promotes standards for geospatial applications. OGC standards are free, so this means that oth­er programs are able to add the ability to

read GeoPDF fi les at no charge. LOG IQ is another third-parry company

thar produces geo-encoded PDF Ii les. LOGIQ PDF embeds native ArcMapspatial data elements direcrly into the PDF Ii Ie fOr­mar. The resulting maps contain map fea­rure attributes, geomeuy, table schema, spatial references, and other relevant map­ping information within a PDF file.

Geospatial PDFs simplify the process of putting interactive maps (hat relate to the real world into the hands of the masses. For landscape architects and other design pro­fessionals, the technology will enable us to share maps and drawings, review and make changes, and then import these changes into a CAD or GIS application, or a geo­browser such as Google Earth and Microsoft Live, or use chem with a web mapping serv­ice such as Yahoo Maps or Google Maps.

T he best thing about geospatial PDFs, though, is that they are totally innocuous. You don't even have to know you are using a new type of PDF-you just know it is eas­ier than ever before to use geospacial infor­mation to make gCKXl design and planning decisions.

.lames L. Si/JeJ, ASLA, is a sellior aJs(}{"iate //lith EDA W alld fillilldillg prillcipal ojSalld COIllI­

Iy Stlldiru.

Resources

• TerraGo Technologies, w1IIw.terrago l«h.coIJI • Adobe GIS and Mapping PDF Gallery, http://acroiJalllSeruom/ga/lery/grospalia/ • ESRI, Ulw1II.eJri.com • LOG IQ, www.globa/mdpsystel/ls.com • Adobe, www.adobe.com

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In Los Angeles, a new park on a former oil field brings nature into a park-starved neighborhood.

TIS t\ WARM WINTER EVENING at Vista Hermosa Natu­ral Park, and dusk is fast approaching when, stKldenly, I hear children sing ing. About 30 children and a few adults sur­round a small fire, and a park ranger leads them as they belt our a familiar campfire song: "T he other day, the other day, I met a bear .... " i\-farshmallows are passed. around, and for a

second, I feel as if I'm ar a summer camp or a national park. Bur Vista Hermosa is no wilderness, and it 's unlikely I will meet any bears here. l"m in the cemer of rhe United. States's second-largest metropol is, on rhe wesrern edge of downtown Los Angeles.

Vism Hermosa is (he first new park built in this area in more than 100 years. Activists have long decried the city's lack of park space. A 2004 study by rhe Trust fur Public b.nd showed. that

merely 33 percent of rhe children living in the city of Los Ange­les can walk (0 a park within a quarter mile of their house. That means more th.1n 650 ,000 children do nor have convenient access ro green space where rhey can run and play. Compare rhat to Bosron, where 97 percent of children live within walking d istance of a park, and New York City, where the fig ure is 91 percent .

11le dispo.riry between rich and poor, whites and minorities is IXlfTicularly appalling. According toa 2003 stud y by reSearcilefS ar the University ofSourilern CaJifomia, neighborhocxls where whites make up more rhan rhree-quaners of the population averaged. 3 [.8 acres of parkland per [,000 people, while areas where Latinos, African Americans, and Asians were rhe largest racial group aver­aged 1.6,0.8, and 1.2 acres per 1,000 people, respectively.

So when Vista Hermos.'\ Park opened in the poor latino neigh~ borhood of Temple Beaudry last summer, it was a major victOry for those who view parkland as a civil righc "{This park) sends a mess.1ge," proclaimed Assemblyman Kevin De Leon, "that re~ gardless of who you are, regardless of where your parents came from, regardless of the color of your skin, regardless of your legal status, you deserve access ro nature ."

As with much of the new parkland in and around Los Angeles, Vista Hermosa is a projen of the Santa Monica Mountains Con~ servancy, a state agency, and the Mountains Recreation and Con­servation Amhority (MRCA), a joint powers au thori ty linked strongly to the conservancy. Since it was created in 1980, the conser~ vancy has preserved more than 65,{){X) acres of parkland throllgh~

out Southern California. As the conservancy's executive di rector since the beginning, Joseph T. Ed~ miSton, Honorary ASLA, has had a hand in all of chose projects (see "When Cities and Conservation Collide," Lalldscape Architectllre, July 2004). He is also che director of the /l.IRCA. Edmiston says the secret to the agenq"s success is an energecic staff and their single~ minded focus on increasing access to park land.

and a shopping mall on site. Some lauded these plans as a shining model for future dC\'elopmem, but instead, Belmont l..eaming Cen­ter became known as a toxic mess and the most expensive school in America, eventually costing more than $400 million.

During the planning stah't'S, the school district had not been forth~ coming alx>ut environmental problems on the site. Like much of the neighOOrhood, the project sits atop the 800-acre Los Angeles City Oil Field, which was once the largest active oil field on the \'{fest Coast. By the 1920s, the area had been developed with single-fiunily hous~ es. However, many of the oil wells were never properly capped, and highly toxic hydrogen sulfide and explosive methane existed in

dangerous concen trations dCfp be­low the surface and could poten~ tially percolate upward.

T he school district had bought the property knowing the risks, but the district leaders figured any problems they ran into could be resolved along the way. People had,afrerall, been building on the oil field for years. Blit in the fall of 1998, they were forced to suspend construction temporarily after a state environmental agency in~

formed the school district that pockets of methane under the site were more extensive than previ­ously thought.

'nleir aggressive pursuit of part~ ners has also helped. At Visra Her~

mosa, chey partnered with the school discrict, which owns che land, the city of Los Angeles, and other govem~ mem and nonprofit entities to fund the p1fk's conSCl1Jccion and maintenance. But securing the land for Vista Hermosa was not all hand­shakes and making friends. It required taking srands and wading into murl], political waters where most burelUcmts would not tread.

Merely 33 percent of the children living in the city 01 los Angeles can walk to a park within a quarter mile

Then , a series of exposes in (he local press created fears alxJUt rhe sire's s.1fety and angered the pub­lic, who eventually forced OUt (he

school superintendent and the school board members who had supported dle project. In January 2000, the new schooll.xJard \'Dted to kill the projecr, despite the facr that the build­ing was 60 percenr finished and approximate­ly $150 mil lion had already been spent. TIle board members feared litigation; they were nor convinced rhe site could be made safe.

A Toxic History The park's complet ion last summer and the opening of the adjacent school this past fall

of their house. For years, rhe project site sat unused , its half­finished buildings wmpped in plastic. But rhe

mark the end of one of the most controversial development proj~ ects in the ci ty's his tory- the inf.1mous Belmont Learning Cen~ ter project. It was in the midst of this comroversy rhat the idea co use part of the site for the park took shape.

During the late 1980s and early 1 990s, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) used its powers of eminent domain to cre~ atea 35~acre parcel in Temple Beaudry, clearing many houses and knocking down a local church without much community outreach. \'{fhile the methods were controversial, the classroom space was much nteded. TIle Belmont Learning Center was going to be the first new high school built by the overcrowded school district in nearly 20 years. The plans were unique-officials planned to help finance the school through the construaion ofhigh~rise apartments

8· 1

technology for remediating the site was avail­able, and it wasn' t particularly esoteric. TIle concentrarions of methane and hydrogen sulfide found at the surface were nor dan­gerous, and the gas beneath rhe surface was nor under pressure. TIlere would be no problem as long as the gas was nor allowed to build up in an enclosed space, and act ive and passive venting sys~ tems, used to prevent rhe buildup of dangerous gases, were already in use throughout Los Angeles County. "It was just a matter of willp:lwer," remembers Edm iston.

Advocating for a Park

TIle site in Temple Beaudry first caught the attention of Edmis~ ton and others at the consetvanl)' in December 2002. TIle conser~ vancy's first urban park, the Augustlls F. Hawkins Park in South

Vist. ........ lin l1li the H,.

of dOWfttoon lot b,.Ie. 1ft •

neichborhOO4l"1t previousty "ad ,ery IHUe public creen

l pace, ""polite. G..eeft roofs Ire use4 on ,II three of its

I mall buildinp, inclwding the upper restroom, here.

Mia Lehrer + Associates' design for Vista Hermosa Park

includes IAI a synthetic turf soccer field, IBI a children's

adventure area/playground, ICI an informal seating area

-

Chaparral

Grassland

.,k woodland

Lawn

Detention

""" Riparian zone

Green roof

Drought-tolerant demonstration gardeu

Synthetic "rl

Permeable concrete

IHI an outdoor classroom, III two

restrooms, UI a water feature,

IKI a loop path surrounded by

native plantings in most places,

aMI III a bowl-shaped lawn area

that encourages infiltration and

provides a place where locals

can play sports_

Central Los Angeles, had been a huge success, and rhey were looking [Q replicare dlat success throughout rhe city (see 'The Wilds ofSourh Central," Landieape Arrhilatflre, April 20(2). Edmiston was scouring other sites in [he neighborhocx:l with J ose H uiz.'1r, then a school boord member, and Ed Reyes, a city council­man, when he spofted the shrink-wrapped buildings of the Belmont Learning Cemerand the large area of open space next to t hem.

The conservancy did not try to shove a plan down community members'

throats; they asked what the community wanted.

H uizar met with Edmiston to see if [hey would be imerested in developing a park on the site.

There was only a small window of opportuni­ty, so [he conservancy would have to mow quick-1y. Stephanie Landregan, A')lA, its chief land­scape archi tect at that t ime, called Mia Lehrer + Associates (ML+A) to organize a charrette. ML+ A, a Los Angeles-based firm, had worked on a few other projects for the conservancy and had a master services agret'ment with them .

"\Vhat's that?" Edmiston asked, and they went over to look. Could this be the space they were looking for?

A few months later, the school district announced new ProlX>Sals for the Belmont Learning Cemersite. A popular new superintend­en t backed a plan to sell off the existing buildings and build a small high school on an empty section of the site. Bur H uiz.'U believed they could get the classroom space they needed faster by finishing the bUildings rhey'd starred. Inspired by the conservancy's work,

.6 1

T hat weekend, Mia Lehrer, FASLA, visited the si te for the first time with conservancy Staff. Immediately, she was struck by the amazing view of downtown. "Vista hermosa," whispeR-d Lehrer, who was born in El Salvador. Vista ber7/l0Jd, Spanish for beautiful view, became the name of their proposal and a guiding force behind their design. Lmdregan and designers at r.D.+A worked long hours, producing a concepmal plan for the site and renderings thar would sell the idea. Concep[s were faxed back and forrh between the de-

signers and Edmisron, who critiqued their plans (rom his home.

The grotto, "bore, provides an infonnal bers chat che gases could be micigated and chat the conservancy was working in their in­cerest. "People were concerned che park wasn't going to be for them," recalls land regan.

They presented ro the school board the fol­lowing Monday. Huizar was excited about the proposal, but the other members of the school IxxLrd initially gave it a lukewarm response.

council ring for gatherings such as campfires. A group plays bocce ball in the relatl,ely flat decomposed granite area in the center of the grotto, below. Tn addition ro the meetings, che scaff at the

Unwilling w give up, they took their plans w the community to see if they could get enough grassroots support ro move the proj­ect along. They only had a few weeks before the school board would vote. Huizar's office, which was fumiliar with the main stakehold­ers in the community, helped set up meetings in local schools.

Unlike the school district's previous attempts over the years, the conservancy did not try to shove a plan down community members' throats; they asked what the community wanted. Lehrer remembers one of those early meetings, held in a tent on land overlooking the site. "We wid them there's a very strong possi­bility for a park," she recalls. "\'{1hat are your hopes for what can happen?" Many of the com­munity members speak Spanish as their first or only language. Lehrer and Barbara Romero, a p lanner wi th the conservancy who comanaged the project, are both fluent, and this helped cre­ate a level of comfort and trus t.

T he main challenges wefe convinCing community mem-

conservancy also organized field trips ror stake­holders and elecced officials. 11ley bused them ro rhe Augusrus E Hawkins Park and their parks in the mountains roshow them what the conservancy was capable of. They cook them to other develop­ments around town that had successfully mitigated underground gases. And they explained how having a park on part of the site was ideal, as it would allow the gases beneath to disperse.

Edmiston, Huizar, and Reyes worked on selling the park to oth­er local leaders, and soon the state senator, the state assemblyman, and even the mayor had come oUt in fuvor of building a park But

che decision was the school dis-trict 's to make, and Superintend­ent Roy Romer was not budging. Romer was not a small-time bu­reaucrat; before being named as the superintendent, he had been the govemorofColorndo and the head of the Democratic National Committee. He'd been brought in to reform the school district, and he'd been allowed to rule it wi th somewhat of an iron fist, says Edmiston. He d id not like the conservancy stepping on his

turf. '·He calls me upand says, 'I don·t care if you get the governor and all these people; you're n()( going [0 haw your park,'·· Edmis­[On remembers.

However, the conservancy"s effof(s were working. One byone, the necessary vO[es were secured, and two days after Romer [Old Edmiston he would lose, the school OOard voted for the park­with the superintendent supp:ming it. It took another year [0 s0-

lidifY the plan, but the conservancy was eventually granted a 20-year lease for 10.5 acres.

ation,'· explains Romero. But it was dear from the beginning that passive recreation alone would not suffice here. Through their community meetings, the design team learned that an empty field where the local children played soccer had recently been fenced off.

"There was no negotiating a soccer field,'· remembers Lehrer. 'They wanted that, period. There were even discussions whether there should be three soccer fields, and we should just forget the

Not Just Nature 13m what kind of park would Vista Her­mosa be? The conservancy specializes in parks where city dwellers can experience nature. "\'\11" generally don't do active recre-

The conservancy specializes in parks where city dwellers

can experience nature.

park.·· But there were other unmet needs wi t hin the local community aside from places to play soccer. Walking trai ls were also nc""t'ded, as were places to have outdoor celebrations. T he landscape archi tects bro­kered a compromise, providing a single soc­cer field on the site. T he rest of the park

•• 1

would be developed in a more naturalistic way to accommodate many different users.

Vista Hermosa sits on a fairly steep site with a Go-foot change in el~va tion from top to bottom. \Xlhen the designers first visit­ed, it had been graded into three distinct terraces with sharp drops between [h~m. ML+A regraded the site to mak~ th~ landforms softer. '·\XI~ had a huge earth-moving operation-som~thing our agency had never done;· says Landregan, because the conservan­cy usually works with less-impaC(~d sit~s.

To keep costs down, ML+A tried to avoid using retaining walls as much as possible and worked to reduce the amount of soil ex­ported off site. That was really challenging, according to ML+A managing partner Esther Margulies, ASLA,due to the mitigation methocl used throughout the park. To prevent gases from being trapped. and bUilding up JUSt below the surfac~, the top 18 inch-

es of topsoil were stockpiled., an 18-inch layer of sand was spread over the entire site, and the topsoil was laid down on top of that. 111e sand layer was introduced so that the gases will be able to per­colate horizontally if areas of the topsoil become compacted. As it reaches the top of the soil, the gas vents into the air where it ris­es up into the atmosphere or is carried away by the wind. It is not able to concentrate to dangerous levels. Under the park buildings and the school next door, membranes prevent the gases from en­tering the buildings, and venting systems prevent theiraccumu­lation beneath the buildings.

Today, grading helps to separate different areas of the park so that it can serve many types of users simultaneously. Sitting around a campfire organized in the informal stone amphi theater, you are not disturbed. by the teams playing soccer, the children playing on the p layground, or tile jogser winding around the other side of the

loopparh,and you cannot see the cars parked. in rhe parking lot below.

This sense of separation that is de­sirable during the day is less desirable at night. Becausevisibility is not par­ticlilarly goocl into rhe site from the street, rhe park is fenced. off and dos­es at dusk. The art ificial rurf soccer

Passive recreation opportunities abound at Vista HennO$il including searching

for frogs at the water feature near the grotto, opposite, walking through

naturalistic areas, below, and picnicking, left. "Culturally, people in the Latino community like parks

for quinceneras, weddings, and other celebrations," notes Mia Lehrer, FASLA.

189

fi eld is fenced separately from the more naturalistic parts of the park, so it can be limi ted to schoolchildren dueing the day and stay open for night games held under the lights. Drawing on commu­nity input, the designers located it at the south end of the site, where its bright lights would be less ofa nuisance.

The designers balanced the formal soccer field with informal lawn areas. Carlos Calderon, a 14-year-old who lives nearby, says

9. I

he comes twice a week to play fomball or soccer, but he rarely gets a chance to play on the fancy turf field. The soccer field is only free for a half hour each day, according to Judy Perez Soto, a park ranger with the MRCA. Even during the summer months when school is not in session, the field is locked during the day, and at night it's reserved for league play managed by the city's department of recreation and parks. $oto says the soccer leaglles charge a fee, which many children in the immediate neighbor­hood can't afford. Other landscape ar­chitects would be wise to consider how they can design spaces that provide op­portllnities for athletes not involved in team sports.

While the older child ren gravitate toward the fields, young children play in an adventure play area deSigned to get them in touch with natllre. "It was

Romero does not believe that manufactured play equipment is essential.

meant to be unconventional," says Lehrer. "Kids make cheirown fun. They play with sticks and stones, scramble up and down a screambed, and climb on [sculptures of) animals native to the area." Prop artists from the local movie industry were broughc in to work on a giant snake and a turtle that has a small slide attached to it. The snake is used as an unusual balance beam and chi ldren scamper along it.

\Vhen I visited on a Sacurday after­noon, fi ve kids were hanging out here. While a few children chased one anmh­er around, caking advantage of obstacles like logs and boulders, most were just hanging out in the crevices of the turrle. "\Ve do wish they would have more

swings and stuff," remarked Dorit Dowlerguero, who was there with her eigh t-year-old daughter. But her daughter, Liberty, liked the turtle, a grassy hill nearby, and having a place where she could run.

Romero does nm believe that manufactured play equipment is essential. "We have surveyed kids aboue what they like to do in parks," shes.'IYs. 'They say they like to jump. TIley like to climb.

A girl runs across the giant snake

sculpture in the children's ad'errture area,

opposite. Organized soccer teams

dominate the large turf soccer field, right.

Rough·surfaced retaining walls with a

faux rirer rock 'eneer, abore, are designed

to hare a national park character a nd

do not seem to attract graffiti.

They like co run. They like co rol l. It's not necessarily just swinging on a swmg.

Sustainable Features Since protecting natural resources is an essential part of the conservancy·s mis­sion, "we tried to put in as many sus­tainable e[emems as we could," says Romero. Every effort is made (0 keep water from running off rhe site. 'The majority of the park is permeable-99 percent of it! ·· declares Lehrer. Green rws cover the two restroom buildings and the park ranger"s office. Decom­posed granite is used for most of the paths and gathering areas. Permeable pavers are used near the entry, and per­meable concrete is used for the parking lor. Only the concrete ramps aren·t permeable.

To slow the water as it runs down the site, the [ower field is graded [ike a bowl. \Xi"ater that gathers in this bowl-shaped area is diverted by pipe to a 20,000-gallon cistern under the parking [or, which is used to irrigate some of the plantings on the site (the res t are irrigated using city water). Bm there is also a sttong

emphasis on infil tra tion; the pipe is undersized so that water has a chance to soak into the ground and replenish the aquifer that is an important source of water for the region. "[n Los Angeles, we try to infiltrate whenever we can," says Margul if'S. '' It"s a radical sea change from five years ago.··

The bowl shape and the undersized pipe are vestigial design features that relate better to the original plan for planting the

lower field as a native meadow than to its current use for active recreation. During the construction process, seeding a meadow was determined to be tOO com plicated and time-consuming,giv­en a neighborll(xxl. that was itching to use its park, so the area was planted wi th lawn instead. Whi le the multipurpose field is much loved, the way it drains toward the center is not ideal.

T he landscape archi tects' desire to create a small wetland on si te was also never realized. TIle property is still owned by the school

Iy a big deal:' she says. "Kids who weren't friends before are now friends. Seeing that really gives you a rewarding feeling .. '

Resources

• No Place to Play: a Comparative Alla/YJiJ o/Park Aam in Seven Ma­jor CitifJ, T he Trust for Public Land, 2004. Available online at www.tPI. orglfierJ jd cjm?contenUftnl_id = 14565 &fold£r _id: 266. • '"Toward a Sustainable Los Angeles: A "Nature's Services' Ap­

district, which has strict requirements for water features . To pass muster, the water needs to be crystal clear and the bottom of the pool needs to have a nonslip surface in case someone walks in. Early plans for re­leasing stormwa ter from a nearby storm sewer into the park were also abandoned because the water qual ity was tOO poor and there was not enough funding to clean it before it was released, says Margulies. How­ever, there is a small pond near the am­phitheater, designed to LAUSD guidelines, that kids like to play in.

"Initially, people worried about walking in the dark

back home, but now people

proach," University of Southern G lifornia Center for Sustainable Ci ties, March 2003. Available on line at http://co/!ege.IIJ[.edlllgeo graphylESPElp"bliCdtioml rlalllrmerviCfJ.html. • 'T he School T hat \Xfasn't;' by Susan An­derson; TheNafioll, June 5, 201Xl. Available online at wWl().thi!llation.romlciocI200006051 alldersoll. ha~e made friends with

their neighbors in the park so it's not really a big deal."

• 'T he Bolshevik Who Beat Belmont," by Ralph Fmmmolino; Los Allgeles Times Maga­zine, J anuary 7, 200 I. • "Vista Hermosa Park Opens," by Teresa Watanabe; Los AllgdfJ Til/les, July 20, 2008. Available online at hup:llarlicles./atimes.coml Naturalistic native plantings are found

chroughom the site. '"The intent was to re-creace portions of che Santa Monica Mountains through d ifferent p lanting areas," says Romero. "T he minute we put the trees in, it was like creating a new subdivision for birds. We had birds fighcing for crees,"' re­members Landregan. even though che trees are not yet grown in, many visitors had good things to say abouc the plantings ... , rec­ognize a lot of the plants from when r go hiking oue in the Simi Valley," remarked Scephanie Hachaway, who was visit ing the park for the firsc time. '"There's a lot of natural sages. TIle smells are JUSt wonderful."

Buc plancings are not limited to natives; nonnacives including bougainvillea are used to provide color. "Perception is impor­cane," says Margulies. "{The conservancy] waneed to make sure the park would look accractive and have planes Aowering on open­ing day. Some of our natives are a li tt le more subtle."'

T he naturaliscic plantings in the park are used as a learning tool by the MRCA, and designers hope they can be incorporated ineo lessons at the high school next door as well. (N o longer wrapped in plastic, the school buildings were retrofitted with systems that vent and monitor underground gases and are now complete and filled with students). The MRCA's junior ranger program teaches younger kids who visi t the park about plants, animals, and environmental issues . 't prepares them for trips out into natural areas, so they know what is safe and what is unsafe. A program called 'Transit to Trails" offers inner-city children and families, many of whom d on't have access to cars, monthly fie ld tri ps from Vista Hermosa to the beach and the Santa Monica Mountains.

l1lrough the new park and the programs the MRCA provides, the neighborhood is coming together more tightly as a community. Ranger Sow says she hasn 'r encountered any issues with gangs, and neighbors seem to be less fearful as time goes on. "Ini tially, people worried about walking in the dark back home, bur now people have made friends with their neighbors in the park so it's not real-

200SljIlI1201l0Cd1Ime-park20. . T heenvironmenral impact reporrand other official documents for Vista H ermosa are avadable online at www./aschools.orgl t!i.Jtd-bermosaldoCllfl/ClltS.

PROJECT CREDITS Owner: Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles (R ichard Alonzo, Distriu F superintendent; R ick H i­jazi, senior p roject manager; Tom \Xfarson, health and safety; Ed­mundo Rodriguez}. Clientl1ead agencies: Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy/Moumains Recreation and Conservation Auchority, State ofGlifornia (Joe Edmiston, Honorary ASLA, executive direc­tor; Stephanie V. Landregan, ASLA, chieflandscape architect ; Bar­bara Romero, project manager/community liaison, Amy Lech­bridge, MRCA education). Additional oversight: D ivision of State Architect, State ofGlifomia (Frank Chia). Landscape architecture! prime consultant Mia Lehrer + Associates, los Angeles (Mia Lehrer, FASLA, design partner; Esther Margulies, ASLA, managing partner; Jeff H utchins, ASLA, project manager). General contractor: Los An­geles Engineering, Covina, Califomia (Ron Halquist, project prin­cipal; l1lecKl.ore Posch, project manager). CiviVsbuctural engineering: KPFF Inc., Los Angeles (R ick Davis, civil principal in charge; Ku­mar Halbe, civil projeu engineer; Aaron Reynolds, structural en­gineer; Devlin T homas, struuural engineer). Electrical engineering: Nicolas Abanto. Architect: ERW Design, Malibu, Glifomia (Elaine Renee Weissman). Irrigation: Sweeny + Associates, San Diego (Daniel Zumallen). Pood consultant: EPD Consul tants, San Pedro, C'Ilifom ia (Kevin Poffenbarger). Mitigation engineers: SCS Engineers, Long Beach, C'Ilifomia(Mike Leonard, senior technical manager}; Meredith & Associates Inc., Los Angeles (Thomas Dolan, senior engineer). Construction specifications consultants: Jerry O rland. Cost es­timating: C. P. O'H alloran Associates Inc., Westlake Village, C'li 1-

fornia (Ciaran O ·Halloran). Gate and fencing artist: Brett Goldstone, Brett Goldstone Inc., Los Angeles. Public art /signage, etc,l: Art Share, Los Angeles.

o rever

Northala Fields, the

largest park to be built in

London for a century, is

an exemplar of sustainable

construaion and design.

By Tim Coulthard

THE UNM ISSABLE EARn I FORMS OF Northala Fields mark a new gateway [0 ''''est London. They art' landmarks for £IX' largest new

park in rhe eil}' for a century and symbols of a momemous struggle [h'-It rook place before rhe scheme could become a reality.

As well as providing a funmsric Il('W amenity for re.idents in nearby Northolr and E.lling. Nortlmla Fields represents proof of an ecologically sound, financ ially robust model for rhe creation ofa major new gR"tTl spoce.

Lead designers foRM Associares(formerly Arr2Archi recrure) have seen the project through an eight-yenr journey, working in a project ream that also included EOAW ecologist Peter Neal and design and budd support from LDA Design. During thar period, rhe pract ice has been cast various­ly as desi,gner, mediator, agitator, and savior bur has emerged vindicated for its passion and persistence.

N orrhala r ields lies at the h(-arr of the Northolt and Greenford Coun­tryside Park, a network of open spaces covering 100 hectares, from Northolrvillage in the north to Ruislip Rood in the somh and flanked by the busy A40. 11lc: new park occupies an IRS-hectare plot that was first acquired by Ealing Borough in 1997 from Kensington and Chelsea, which

The plan shows Ihe major fealures on Ihe Northala Fields sile: IAJ urban fishe ry, 181 model bGaling lake, lei reed bed, IDJ borehole water source, lEI swale, IFI playground, ICllookoLlt, IHI meadows/wetlands, III woodland, IJI amphitheater, IKI primary path, and III parking areas,

had previously used it for sportS fields for schools. The site lay dormant until 2000, when Ealing launched a compet ition for ideas for uses for the land, which had started to attract antisocial behavior and was prone to flooding, a threat to nearby housing.

Fink was struck by the " emotional

who was struck by ··the emotional connec­tion between the female form and landscape."

FoRM's proposals for Northala Fields rep­resented a dramatic move away from the conventional British not ion of public parks, both in design and implementation. The dominant forms are four conical mounds 15, 20,25, and 30 meters high that screen the border of t he site. They are both playful and functional, acting as an extremely efficient noise screen from the ad jacent A40. ror

Rob Cairns, who at the time was Ealing's project manager, said the brief concentrated on the practical requirements for incorpo­rating the necessary earth fill, using water, offering flood defenses, and featuring an eco-­

connection between the female form and

landscape .. "

logical focus . T he general feeling was that there should be an artistic approach to the earth forming, but the direct ion was not specified to competi tion entrants. Cairns says the entry led by FoRM was the "obvious choice" Ix-cause '·they responded beSt to the brief, incorporating all of the elements in a meaningful way."

Black-and-white photography dating back to the 190(}s provid­ed the spark of inspiration for FoRM partner Peter r ink. One par­ticu lar shot of a naked woman had particular resonance for rink,

9. 1

Fink, the forms have a very dear effect on visi tors. '" \VIe were try­ing to find a resolution that doesn·t overwhelm the urban rim. I was fascinated about creat ing a landscape in a city on a scale that doesn'texisr. I had this idea of propelling people into movement, and that is what happens here-they arrive and get up onto the mounds and move around . It 's big enough to have that effect."

The smaller mounds are turf covered and planted with wild­flowers to add seasonal vibrancy, while the largest mOllnd features

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a spiral path and seating that lead to

the peak. From there, the view back across the city makes Canary Wharf visible, creating an unprecedented link between east and west. In the other direction, the (hilterns are visible on a clear day. To the delight of the designers, the mounds are al­ready being absorbed into the so­cial and cultural functions of the surrounding community. Some uses are unsurprising- they are a wonderful slXlt for sledding during snow. But others have been totally unexpected--on certain holy days, hundreds of Hindus come to the eastern mound to pray at sunrise.

llwre are further instances that reinforce the powerful effect of landscape on emotion and behav­ior, says Fink. "The local school has autistic children, who are often very sensitive to too much open space. Bm for some reason, they re­ally took to this mound, and when

they get disturbed or upset, the school staff brings them here and walks them round the padl. The kids have recently designed their uniform and have included the mound and path on rhe badge.'·

The buildup of the mounds was critical to unlocking rhe fi­nancial and ecological benefits of the project. The si te is entirely self-financing by using inert waste from building projects around the $omheast. The construction of the mounds ultimately used 100,000 cubic meters of imported material, much of it from some of the re­gion·s best-known projects. As we walk up the largest mound, Fink reveals that beneath our feet are the recycled rubble from Wembley Stadium·s legendary twin towers and material displaced for the Ter­minal5 building at Heathrow.

It would evencually take about 65,000 truckloads of waste to create

the park, and it is estimated that if the clean constmction spoil was not used here, rhen 13,000 journeys of several hundred miles to

outlying landfills would have been necessary, in addition to the embOOied energy used fur (he passive processing of the materiaL

The earth forms have been delivered al­most as they wert originally conceived, but the (){her aspens of the park have been com­promised. In de\'eloping the plans and ac­companying funding model , FoRM devel­oped (wo options of varying degrees of

Benealh our feel are recycled mbble frolll

Wernbler Sladjuln alld materjal displaced for the Tennil181 5

building al Headll 'OlV.

ambition. Northala Fields could develop as either a fiscally neutral project-solely hllld­ed by £6 million of spoil-generated income, delivering a park with a functioning urban fishery and a limited range oflocal Sport, art, and play fJcilities; oran aspirational projea­a sustainable exemplar 2lst-cemury park with a wide range of facilities supported by a long-term endowment fund for maimenance and a provision of free inclusive educational, art, and sport program ming. To mttf those objectives, r"ORM proposed a visitor cemer

housing educational facilities, a cafe, a park ranger office, and [Qi~ le ts. This would be set in a fully WiMAX-connected park, with an environmental education program based on open~air accessibility through mobile phones and vif(u~ al databases designed [Q explore the connect ions between people and their local, regional, and glob­al environment.

111ere would also be a program of vocational training [Q deliver skins required [Q maintain and manage this type of park; innovative play facilities exploring water; a central core designed as a demonstration landscape environment exploring the value and meaning of water through play, education, and water~ preservation ~focllsed design; and a new pedestrian and cycle bridge.

The regrettable loss of this more ambitious option certainly cannot be blamed on the designers, who from the outset had embarked on an extensive period of public re~ search and consultation ro create passionate support and establish truSt among the pol iticians. As happens tOO often on major land~

scape schemes, the budget fell afoul of political upheaval as, in 2006, the incoming conservative administration in Ealing reap~ propriated £7 50,000 of the previously ring~fenced funding and downgraded the park.

'The cultural services people who were put in charge of the parks took a look at the accounts for [his project, saw the money sitting there waiting for the work to continue, and said [hey would take the mon~ ey for other uses and downgrade this project--do the minimum here," says Fink. "Bur the public was so commi tted to this project that they had a demonstration of 1,000 people in from of the town hall, which almost never happens."

At this point, feeling there was no option, FoRM spoke out pub~

licly against the council and was fi red from the project. A media row ensued, in which the public advocates of the scheme had their say. "The public 's understanding of the issue'S was so clear that the people could argue on behalf of the project almost as if they were landscape architects," says Fink.

Ultimately, the council re lem~

ed and the public had the park it demanded , albeit the less ambi ~

tious version first proposed. Fink is now philosophical about the negative response of the council, which has subsequently brought his firm back on board. "People {at the counci I) genuinely didn't understand what was happening in this project, but they have now changed their views," he s.'lyS.

There isstill hope that a second phase can deliver some of those

extra features, but, even now, what has been delivered is a huge asset for the area. \Xfhile the earth mounds dominate visually, fur­ther design features add to the range of activities possible in the park. Fishing is a major new recreation provision not only for the park but also for West london. The lakes, to be managed by a fishing charity, will provide mixed-<:aurse fishing, with up to 60 fishing pegs, offering day-ticket facilities and featuring specific provisions for disabled, youth, and family fishing. Model boating is to be accommodated on the amenity pool, and there are also tra­ditional and natural playground areas and equipment. An enter­tainment amphitheater has been built into the new landform, pro­viding a venue for local commu­nity and scluX)1 events.

Enhancing the ecological valLie of the site has been limited toade­grtt by the proximity of Royal Air Force Norrholt airfield and the po­tential risk to aviation safety of at­tracting large nLimbers of bird species that may increase the risk of bird strikes. As a result, the ecolog­ical gains have been carefully aimed at habitats and species that will nor

attract bird species of concern. Habitats include areas of exist­

ing woOO.land near the perimeter of the site and additional woodland planc ing around the perimeter. \Xfithin the site, where possible, the existing ecological resource of dead elm hedgerows is salvaged and integrated incothe new wood­land areas.

Meadow types are the dominant vegetation in the development, covering the prop::rsed mounds and most of the area co the south. A range of meadow types is being established through the careful selection and placement of imported material and differing man­agement regimes, providing an ecological showcase for different meadow and grassland flora and fauna.

T he new water system captures ground and surface water drainage from the new landform and is augmented by a borehole supplying groundwater from a deep aquifer. The borehole allows a constant water flow co be maintained through the water system, particularly during periods of low rainfall. From its source, the water flow is spli t, one part flowing into the recreation water catch­ment and the second into the ecological water catchment.

T he recreation water catchment features a large, shallow amenity pool designed to provide a calm water surface suitable for use by model boaters. The fishing area is a relatively large water I:xxl.y that is divided on the surface with causeways and board­walks co form six smaller water bodies (co discourage bird take­off and landing). CLirrent proposals are for rhe fishery to be stocked and managed as a clear-water mixed-course fishery.

111e ecological catchment includes education habitats- co the SOUth of the amenity pool are a pond and wetland matrix with dipping and observation platforms to encourage direct interaction for school and interest groups with the wetland and water com­munities. The outfall watercourses-from both watercatchments as well as the scormwater drainage for the whole site-are two newly created watercourses flowing into an existing watercourse lying to the south of the site.

Wherever possible, materials used in the landscape details are sourced from reused or recycled materials. Crushed concrete,

mainly produced on site from im­paned demolition material, is used extensively for gab ion retain­ing walls, structural fill, and sub­base and wearing course material for most paths. Timber for seats and bins is from reclaimed railway sleepers; path edging and fishing platforms are constru([ed from re­cycled plastic;and paving materi­als are reclaimed granite cobbles, curbs, or new materials construct­ed with a high proportion of recy­cled material.

Despite ItS troubled birth, Northala Fields now stands as a fine example of what can be achieved when passionate designers, public support, and political will coincide to attempt projects on a g rand scale. For Fink, it was a long but re­warding process. ··\Xfhen we won the competition, everyone said, You can'e build this on people's doorsteps: At that point we went into a two-year consultation with the public. Wle were not paid, bue we slowly saw people buy into it

until they became the project's greatest supporters.·' Cairns, who still maintains a project management ro!edespite

leaving Ealing, believes Norrhala Fields offers valuable lessons for other authorities. "As a template for creating public space, if is something everyone should look at."

Tim COlli/hard i1 the editw a/Landscape magazine.

Reprinted with permission from the February 2(X)9 issue ofl..dnd­JUJpt magazine.

PROJECT CR£DITS Lead designers: FoRM Associates Ltd. (former­ly Art2Architecfure Ltd.), london. Ecology: Peter Neal, EDAW, London. Engineering: Techniker Ltd., London, and Peter Bren As­sociates, London. Landscape design: EDAW ,london, and FoRM As­soc iates Ltd., London. Prolect management: EDAW, London. Deslgnlbuildteam: c.J. Pryors(main contractor), Harlow, and C. R. Swift (landscape contractor), Essex, with LDA Design, London.

1,.,

Ace Torre, FASLA, sketches as a catalyst for ideas. By James Richards, ASLA

102 1 Landscape Architecture MAY lOot

Torre explores ideas through

eye· level sketch studies and his signature tilt-up aerial drawing technique.

A 30~hIINUTE CONVERSATION with

Ace Torre, FASLA, can be exhaust­ing. T he 61-year-old designer leaps with boyish enthusiasm from world­wide conservation issues to French

philosophy to the intricate derails of a building roof. BlIt at some point, words aren't enough co communicate the (om­plexities of his ideas. T hen, he draws.

Drawing IS a common thread that knits together Torre's way of seeing, thinking, and practicing across several complex areas of en­d(-avor. He IS a registered landscal~ archi­tect, an architea, an interior designer, and a (iry planner who has distinguished himself as one of the fOremost designers of moclern mos in rhe United Scates, and he has a brood portfolio of award-winning parks, warer­froms, and urban revitalizations as well. He is a gifted musician who once pursued aca­reer in rock and roll, as well as an author who paints, sculpts, and designs furniture (and his own residence) for good measure.

How did theone-rime New Orleans key­l:xmdist become Auem in such a range of crearive d isciplines? "f love rodraw," he 5.'lys.

Torre began his career as the founder of the urban design department within the New Orl eans Planning Commission, bringing design thinking and his gift of drawing to the political agency's vision of the city. After leaving government to study in h aly as a Rome Pr ize recipient, he worked as a designer in architectural pro­duction firms and eventually became a part­

ner in a landscape architectural pructice that after years of evolution and a buyout exists toclayas Torre Design Consortium.

Along the way he invented his own unique approach to design drawing, which he termed "the tilt-up technique. " In his 1986 book Site PenpatilJeJ, he de­scribes it as "a free-form combination of aerial, axonometric, isometric, and one­point perspective" that lays back build­ing walls and site elements to expose all for design study. These epic drawings are

SHAIED IISDOII

quickly constructed to scale on trace over the rough plan view, and they allow design exploration ofhardscape, plantings, archi­tectural facades, and spatial relationships si­multaneously. It's a particularly potent tool for the many com plex facets of zoo design, especially when the designer is thinking concurrently in the capacities of architect, landscape archi tect, and interior designer.

For any given project, Torre's tilt-up view is su pplemented with a staggering number of loose, freehand cross sections and perspccrives that, through many over­lays and refinements, fix the details and characrer of the vision. Many of these loose drawings find their way into the digital construction documents, allOWing con­tractors to clearly see his design intent.

After visiting Torre's office in a former historic schoolhouse on Magazine Sereet in New Orleans, , became anxious to share Torre's unique approach to drawing and practice with a new generation of design­ers. Torre and J sac down for a rambling series of conversat ions over tWO days in February.

104 1 Landscape Architecture MAY lOot

J.R.: There are a ron of drawings in here! TORRE: We've done 35 zooprojecrs. I have probably 5,000 sketches. Some are loose; some are refined. Some big, some small. J.R.: Freehand drawing is a big pan of your working style and your firm's identi­ty. 111at'S increasingly rare even in design offices. Why do you draw? TORRE: Because [ love ro draw. [t's a vehi ­de thac allows exploration. If you can't draw ic and see it, ic's impossible to think

Torre's qu ick study sketch captures the design·

er's first thought for an entry plaza, left. The

eye level of the perspectl'e is

raised to allow a view of the

swamp beyond. Proportions and

perspective are refined through

trace overlays, below left.

The final sketch, below,

is still loose enough to encour·

age client feedback.

if through. And if your intent is to work on a project that requires other people to

undersmnd your Vision and you can'r draw ic so chac chey undersmnd it, ie 's impossi­ble to go furrher into refinement. So ic's a powerful tool, but it's only a tool if you like co draw. A lac of people are intimidac­ed by scarring. They expecc a mascerpiece when chey smrCOUL A lotof [he drawings I do are no good. Bue che exercise chac I wenc chrough to c reace chern, to think aoout chem, and to discard chern is sci II a posicive process in arriving ac che ulcimace design solution. And chere's a continuum in this office that if the idea is strong enough, ic goes through another iceracion and another iteration and eventually finds its way into [he final elecrronic produc­cion sec as a freehand drawing.

You know, ae [he rurn of (he cemury, che educated man had to be able rodraw. lfyou couldn't draw, you weren't eruly considered an educated man. Nowadays, those of us who like to draw, draw. A lot of people look at it as tedium, and dley only use it when rhey have to-you know, you do a plan and

••

you have co do [he obligatory cwo sketches. Then the value isn't much because you've already set everything in position. But in our case it's an iterative process back and forth , using drawing as a tool [Q explore mther than to justifY or clarify what you al­ready did. I think that's a big difference.

Torre creilted his first titt-up drawing, above, ollt of iI need to explore the complex urban re­lationships of New Orleilns's SL Charles Street in three dimensions. The approilch won iI major competition for the design commission. Torre explains and re.c;reates the thought process of multiple vanishing lines for the St. Charles Street sketch, left. His initial sketch, bottom left, tries to capture the ''feel'' of the proiect. As the sketch evol'es, bottom right,

ideas for architecture, theme, branding, and distant landforms are explored.

LR.: You're probably the most prolific sketcher I know in any discipline. Is sheer volume of drawings pan: of how you work through the creative process? TORRE: I believe more is better. I haw to do that volume to really see what it looks like and then show people what I'm trying to

create so that they can react and modifY it. So the volume is a result of the process.

I also believe that more is more accurate and informative. You can see the nooks and crannies and twists and turns of a design if

IUY toot Landscape Architecture 1 105

you draw your way through if. If you do a plan and then you do the requisite three il­luscrarives, you probably pick them based on whar you think the key points are. Bur you know, there may be L,OOO important points (ha{ constitute {he overall experi­ence. Then 50 sketches is going to be ber­ter rhan rhree, righr? J.R.: Well, when your contract caLis for

The process for creating the plan is outlined on

this page and opposite: IAI After reconciling sur·

vel' information with a planimetric aerial base,

Torre sketches through plan ideas at 40 scale.

IBI Revised ideas are taped into place to avoid

redrawing. lei Building footprints are highlight·

ed in red to keep critical lines ,isible through

successive overlays. IDI Torre adds color to the

preliminary plan 'iew.

rhreedrawings and you're doing 50, obVI­ously speed is a factor. So how did you learn {() work fast? TORRE: 111e way I dorhings came ro me by being a student at Louisiana State Univer­sity (LSU) while playing music as a profes­sional four or five nights a week in New Orleans. I didn't have a lot oftime co pon­der, you know? So you heard what you had

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to h(-ar in class, came down and played mu­sic, went back to school early. And YOll at­racked rhe drawing. \'Vhile people were sti ll raping it down, plltting a border on it, thinking about it, I was already halfway through rhe project because I didn't have time. And it turned out to be a great asset to be able to push through and get stuff down and to realize that hey, even if it's

scribbled, it's something; it's a srarr. And from the scribble you can do layers and re­finement, modify it,and so forrh.Just get­ting started was so imjXlrmnt. If you end up throwing the whole thing away, you've still made progress. As long as that sheet's blank, you've done nothing.

And I believe that great French adage that "your first idea is probably your best." If you

can get it right the first time, or get it right enough as in there are no finite, black-and­white solutions to any design problem, and if you fed goOO about it once it's executed, did you really need six weeks to work on it, or could you have done it in threedays? And [ do like the intensity of JUSt jamming it through . So for better or worse, it's the way rhat I do it. It's what allows a relarively small

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firm to do what other firms need a lot more people to do. I find it's a really great solurion. I.R.: When doyol.! first rememberdmwing? TORRE: When I was in g rammar school. A buddy of mine and J got ouc of a lac of classwork by doing murals (laughs). I re­member wedid a mural of Egyptian tem­ples with Pharaoh 's army riding horses. They filled the whole wall- he'd be on chis side and I'd be on che other, we'd dis­cuss a liccle, and we'd work co che cencer.

In high school I gOt inca drawing auco­mobiles so chat che racing slicks looked like black rubber, and che chrome had che righc refleccion. Bur when I goc ca L<;U, I was lost for the first few projects because I didn'c underscand che drawing vocabulary for landscapes. So I tried to invenc myown vocabulary and wasted a lot of time. LR.: \Vas chere an "aha" moment when you "got it," or was it more a matter of de-

108 1 Landscape Architecture MAY lOot

Haying detennined the most advantageous angle from which to construct the tilt-up drawing, Torre oyerlays the plan view with trace and draws the central "yanishing line" perpendicular to the bot­tom of the sheet. This line's placement is impor­tant as the viewer's eye will be drawn to this part of the finished sketch. (AI Radial "vanishing lines" are drawn from rertical edges of mportant plan features toward an imaginary vanishing point off the bottom of the sheet. Lines are adjusted slightly from true perspective as needed to allow for the most infonnati¥e view of vertical features

veloping the skills and drawing vocabu­lary over cime? TORRE : Ic was when my professor Max Conrad, FASLA, brought me Ted Kautzky's Pencil Brwdsjdes book. J probably spent a month duplicating every drawing just co see what it would feel like. J eventually learned chac there were these icons used as a vocabulary that when assembled created

such as building facades . (8) Using vanishing lines as a guide, the first yertical lines are pro­jected up from building corners to begin to create a 3-D effect. The yerticallines are drawn to the same scale as the plan view. (el More buildings are "popped up," their angle guided by the yan­ishing lines to simulate an aerial perspecli¥e view. Unlike a true aerial perspective, Yertical elements are drawn to scale, allowing the designer to ell"­plore concepts with true dimensions as the draw­ing evolyes. lDI The red lines are an aid to make the vanishing lines more yisible for the reader.

a greac skecch thac looked like a landscape archicectural drawing. And once I gOt che hang ofic, I really loved chac approach.

\Vhen I used co teach dmwing, I"d make (he scudents crace for che first month. Pick a style that you like and trace it so you can physically feel the hand strokes and what it takes to create it. TIlat exercise pushes it backward into your brain, and as a result

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you have a base vocabulary to make things happen. You know, when you p lay the pi­ano there's a certain feel to the keys. It 's che same process in drawing. If you can get a vocabulary and physically understand what it takes to make these marks and icons that when assembled make a sketch, it putS you much farther ahead than if you were try­ing to invent your own vocabulary. You can kill yourself that way. It would be like cry­ing to invem your own language every time you meet somelxxly. You'd wear your­self OUt; nolxxly would understand you and you'd never make any progress. I.R.: How did you develop che cilt-up cechnique? TORRE: l ike everydling else, out of necessi­cy. It came ouc of che Sr. Charles Streec de­sign competition. I laid it out in plan view, and it was all square building fOotprints and rectangular streets and circles that were go­ing to be trees. I looked at it and said, '"I

110 1 Landscape Architecture MAY lOot

lEI The ]·0 tilt·up litkes shape as more ele·

ments are edended vertically, using the "wan·

ishing lines" as guides. Rough perspective

studies are used as a design tool for the evolv­

ing drawing. IFI A revised tilt·up concept for

the lodge building, based on a quick eye·lewel

perspective sketch study, is taped into place.

With all revisions in place, a final overall trac­

ing can be created. (GI After the final overlay

is created, the completed tilt·up is printed and

color is applied. Shadows for trees, buildings,

and other vertical elements are a key to creat­

ing a convincing ]·0 eHect. Torre draws shad·

ows horizontally, parallel to the boHom of the

sheet. IHI A close·up view of the entry com­

plex reveals details of both plan wiew features

and vertical elements, including architectural

facades. The subtle green grid indicates one·

acre squares. Each acre represents an aver·

age $4 to $9 million in investment, providing

designer and client with a wisual budgetall lool

for discussion.

don't even know what this is going to look like." So I envisioned it in perspenive as a whole street scene, but rather than every­thing coming to a single point I took a Pence I and taped it to a yardstick and cre­ated multi ple points, laying the building facades back. Since it was drawn to scale, I saw fOf the first time chat these blocks are all small historic buildings. And cheseoch­ers are larger, more urban scale downtown bui ldings, and soon four zones and a radi­cal new element to tie them togecher stan: to evolve jusc based on peeling chese fa­cades back.

Ac che time J JUSt did it and then thoughc about it lacer. Somecimes you use your imuitive sense and just do it, and if you're pleased with it , you go back and think about it and figure out what worked. Then it's a tool. I.R.: It seems to work particularly well in zoo design. You've got so many issues that

you're trying to think through, starting with values and the conservation message, deciding how to translate that into a visi­tor experience, then translating that expe­rience into form .. TORRE: \'{1e always start with the fuet that everything on the earth is interconnected. So how do you tell stories that help people undersmnd why critters have SpotS or stripes or why they"re big or small, dimborswim? It·s usually based on the complexity of a globe that has differential heating because it·s a sphere that has wind patterns that cre­ate 'le,gemtive habitats that create geograph­ic issues. It's hard to tell a Story without get­ting into the whole and why it's like it is.

Our concept fur the Northwest Passage at the Memphis Zoo began with a scribble of what the journey would be like. And from there it went to diagrams that tilt up visu­alizing how it works, and J did a wholes!ew of sketches. The (oo! thing is that it's a Jour­ney, not only geographically, but in time. YOll know, the last land bridge of the Ice Age was 10,000 years ago. That bridge led critters to come to North America; people fo llowed and that then led (0 the creation of different nations of people as groups. So this is as much about the history of the United Sratesas it is about the animals. An ice age befalls us, patterns change, people move, and a whole new nation is OOrn.111en comes this genius, Chief Seatrie, who tells Congress in 1854 that man didn·t create the web of life, he's merely a strand in it, and what he does to the web he does to himself. He moves on, and we won't pick up that idea again for 120 years.

So as you go through the exhibit, you're actually moving across the land bridge and across time through 3,000 or 4,000 years of change that leads to at least four culwr­al entities. Journeys like this link different forms of vegetation, different cri tters do­ing different things, different ecological in­terrelationships. Our work rakes the visi­tors and puts them there. Nor just to look around, but to show them a sequence of events that explains why things are the way they are. And if it 's a really great ('X­

hibi t, in the end you mo'le somelxxly. J.R.: Teil me about the role of drawing in your personal creative process. TORRE: 1 work with a lot of groups. So I'm sitting with 10 people, and there·s a blank sheer. They don't know what it's going to

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SHAIED WISDOII

be. I don't know what it's going to be. At that point you have to draw. And what's re­ally different about what we do rather than what engineers, attorneys, and other people do is we can create the magic of a visual im­age. Even just running a cross section and drawing your little scale person, showing where the sight line is-that's juSt magical. It also helps them see what dirt'(tion you're moving in. So it's a great t(X)1. And the real­ity is, I can't see it until I draw it. J.R. : You don't see it finished in your mind first? TORRE : No; there might be some kind of concept or thought process there, but to

see if it works or not you have to draw it, and then you have to draw it to scale, Look at those wonderful drawings by Leonardo da Vinci- the way he rakes something and cutS it apart and then analyzes it and ru­rates it and explores how it hooks onto an­other gizmo. It's JUSt great! But he had to

draw it to understand it and to demon­strate what he's thinking to somelxxly else.

The other thing that I really love about d rawing is when something evolves that you didn't think was going to happen. You had no idea. It's like a resulting force. You explore this, then that, and what eventual­ly comes , you didn 't anticipate. That's what everybody's l(X)king for- that's the magic of d iscovery. J.R.: So how do hand drawing and com­puter work imerface in the office now? TORRE: As an evolution. Doing that stuff on the computer early on takes more time to set it upand get it going. Of course once you have it set up, you're on your way. But at the schematic level, you're at your loos­est, most amorphous experience; it's part of the search, So we'll do all the initial explo­ration in freehand. Even the plan is done in freehand with the sfXIt grades. Once we 've got the first iteration approved and we think we have a goo:l thing going, then we actually transition to electronic production. I do miss that our office doesn't l(X)k like a design office anymore; it l(X)ks like an in­surance company with a bunch of people sitting at computers. I loved it when there were big drawing tables and drawings hanging off the side.

I find it wry interesting that there are a lot of programs to make eienronic drnwinf,'S look like hand drawings. In the old days, hand style, line weight, the way you articu­lated the line you drew- if somel:xxly had talent, the drawings were good. If they didn 't, they were bad. With electronic pro­duction, drnwings are good, period. So you have to look funher to see what's inside the drawing, beGluse they can be incorrect or misleading. Even with an electronic mon­tage you can have scale problems because people don't understand the concept of the horiwn line. It 's so easy bur I'll seeelectron­ic mock-ups that are all wrong; it's a matter of not understanding how perspective works. J.R.: Do you do all rhe hand drawing? TORRE: [ do all rhe illustrative design drawing. As we refine rhe project, my Staff will do imponam hand drawings ro d is­CU!iS prior to producing rhem electronical­ly. Speed is a factor as well. I can blaze through a concept pretty quickly and do a whole lot of drawings where someone else might JUSt be getting starred; otherwise we'd have to have more people. So we run a pretty efficient machine based on this it­erative process we've developed. J.R.: Your drawings and your built work have a robust feel to them. Does your drawing style inAuence the design, or does your vision of {he finished design dictate the drawing style? TORRE : Neither. Bur I guess if it's work­ing like it shou ld , the way the first draw­ing feels is how the built project ends up feeling. Maybe it won't look exactly like rhis, bur ir should feel like th is. I think thar's what you're going for. J.R.: I've written about the speed advan­tages of working very small. You, on the other hand, work very large. TORRE: I think ir takes the same amount of time to drnw a large drnwing You do have more real estate to cover, but ifyou're mov­ing quickly, and you 're not afrnid to just blaze through it, and you're working with a pen like a club rather than in a refined posi tion, it's a great way to work.

Lu-ge size is also good for drnwing with rhedient. If you want to have somebody be pan of the process, put the tracing up and draw it with them there. Maybe they can't drnw, bur they feel they're really inAuencing the design because they're there while it'sac­tually being shaped. It has a whole different

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IIU not lll1dstalle Architecture 1 113

SHUED WISDOII

impact dlan if you showed up with a big slick presemation and you're asking them to sign off on it as the best thing since sliced bread.

tract document, He's got little notcs on it, making calculations and then scrntching out. That's che drnwing that built the biggest dome that mankind had ever seen, And that was his drawing, in his own hand.

l.R.: You've said that a tremendous amoum of design personality could be developed through drawing skills, .... Pedel SIp penl. New pens are used to :,:.:.~:':::h:t

I think anybody can be taught to drnw with a level of proficiency. But if you're at the proficiem level only and you llatedoing it, you're nutgo­ing to embrace it like you really en­joyed itorreally believed in its pow­er as a tool. And if you don 't feel comfortable with drawing it, how

TORRE: If you look at a lot of draw-ings, you can see or maybe feel the personality of the person who did it- the way they textured it, the lack of texture, the freedom of the strokes-so whether some­body's tig htly wound or a free spirit, they portray their personality in their hand. Now it 's different in the electronic age because that's an agg regate of different attributes that you locate from different plac("S and as­semble, So ic can hide whecher you are loose as a goose or tight as a dock. Bur in hand drawings, you can see jX:rsonality, [ enjoy chat; it's something r like to see,

114 1 Landscape Architecture MAY lOot

he sands them to create thicker

J.R.: \'V'hat would you say is the value of drawing to landscape architects-today and in the future? TORRE : Delineation of concept. There's a very human quality there, When you look back ac grC'".lt renderings from da Vinci on, you're looking into that guy's brain, You can see how he made those strokes, how he crossed someching oue or correcced and modified it. Back in the kitchen we have a drawing that's a cross senion of Brunel ­leschi's Duomo in Florence, That's a con-

can you fig ure itom? Romamically I want hand drawing to

stay. Pragmatically I don't know how it can be replaced. J find it hard to imag ine. Bur [ believe that in the future there will be mOf(' people who want to draw, because it 's more valuable than it's ever been before.

James RichardJ, ASIA, is cofollnder oj TOUJn­scope IlIc" all "rball desigll COllsllltallCY bmed fII Arlillgtoll, Texas, alld isa Bradford Williams Medal wIllller.