Blog

Land8’s next foray into Member Spotlightdom involves an interview with Steve Martino. Martino has been practicing for 30 years in the southwest United States. His work focuses on the vernacular of this more arid region, using native plant materials and xeriscaping while also celebrating the beauty of desert environments through concrete materials and strategic use of color. So without further ado, let’s meet this desert-inspired landscape architect!   How did you discover Landscape Architecture? I first heard of landscape architecture in boot camp in San Diego, a guy in my platoon said he was going to be landscape architect. When I was in architecture school I developed a strong interest in the project’s site work. I thought that it was such an important and integral part...Read More

Following his interview on working as one of the lead planting design consultants for the London 2012 Olympic Park, Professor Nigel Dunnett shares his passion and background on planting design, along with his philosophy and approach on the landscape profession. Nigel is a professor at University of Sheffield, as well as being the director of the Green Roof Center at the University. With his strong horticulture and ecological background, his most well known designs has been the Royal Bank of Canada at the London Wetland Center and gardens for The Chelsea Flower Show and of course, London Olympic Park. What determined your passion for this field? I’ve been interested in plants and nature since I was very small. I grew up in the countryside in the UK in a village and my parents were bot...Read More

How much do you know about the lives of those affected by the events leading up to and including World War 2? How about those who helped develop some of the most important design movements of the 20th century? Keep reading for your opportunity to win a DVD exploring these issues…….. Erich Mendelsohn, an architect whose career spawned alongside contemporaries such as Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, produced some of the most spellbinding works while in the face of danger.  From producing architectural sketches in the trenches of the First World War, to escaping persecution in Nazi Germany.  After returning from the frontline, Erich Mendelsohn soon became the head of Germany’s then largest architecture firm.  However, as tragedy was rife in Mendelsohn’s life, this sit...Read More

The California Academy of Sciences Green Roof sits on top of the world’s greenest LEED-Platinum museum with the tagline that it’s “the only place on the planet with an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum, and a 4-story rainforest all under one living roof.” At the heart of Golden Gate Park, architect Renzo Piano and landscape architecture firm SWA Group teamed up to create a 2.5-acre undulating green roof. The valleys and crests of the these sculptural green mounds allude to the hilly topography of San Francisco and directly mimic the hills of the nearby Twin Peaks. The mounds are also embedded with carefully placed skylights to calibrate the amount of sunlight the planetarium and rainforest exhibit receive down below. The green roof also provides habi...Read More

Just a week ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Professor Nigel Dunnett from University of Sheffield about his experience in working as one of the lead horticulture and planting design consultants for the 2012 London Olympic Park, along with fellow colleague James Hitchmough. Whilst being in the landscape ecology profession for many years, carrying out the planting and designing for the Olympic Park has been the most memorable and challenging projects for Nigel. Dive into his insights on being part of a project of a tremendous scale… Could you describe your role in the design of the Olympic Park? James Hitchmough and I were taken on as the main planting design consultants of the park. What they didn’t want to do was have something very traditional- looking at UK’s heritage and tr...Read More

You may or may not have heard of them, but X-section is an association developed by the Unitec Department of Landscape Architecture in Auckland city, that has the aim of promoting landscape architecture on an international scape. This team of students and teachers recognizes the role of landscape architects and the solutions and innovations they can bring to the everyday problems of our environment. Recently, on the 30th of November, X-section launched their second edition magazine for 2012. The magazine encompasses projects, ideas and designs submitted by students, architects and more. The aim is to raise awareness on the importance of landscape architecture and generally raise more fans to the topic which can often be disregarded to its older brother, plain architecture. We are quite exc...Read More

Citygarden drew me to St. Louis. In 2010, I attended a National Building Museum: Spotlight on Design lecture led by Warren T. Byrd, Jr., FASLA, of the Charlottesville, VA-based landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz. In that lecture, Byrd introduced Citygarden from its design conception to execution and I was thoroughly impressed. From then on, St. Louis, previously an obscure city somewhere along the Mississippi River, was permanently put on the map. As part of the downtown revitalization plan, the Gateway Foundation sponsored a design competition to transform two city blocks of grass into a vibrant urban park. Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects won the competition and thus, Citygarden was created. Site Plan. credit: asla.org Described as a cross between a sculpture garden, a b...Read More

Imagine a park where you can play, learn about biology, discover knowledge about animals, and learn about the bioremediation process. Ultimately this park helps in the conservation of native plants and, in conjunction, forms a piece of art and all the components such as human use, infrastructure, hydrology, plants, and animals are mutually supported. That is what you can sense in Patricia Johanson’s projects. She understands that the more functions and parts that are present will facilitate the best “performance”. Also, the systems do not have to be monolithic; instead they should work as an ecosystem. She looks back in time to find examples in ancient cultures that, in her own words, “harmonized and worked with natural systems and find a different model for the built world, one that is le...Read More

The Gary Comer Youth Center (GCYC) is a boldly designed and heart-warming community center located in Chicago’s South Side. Sited one block away from Revere Elementary, GCYC provides a safe, educational haven for inner-city youth and runs extracurricular programs to help young adults graduate high school and prepare for college and future careers.   Context—Lodged between a major roadway and residential neighborhood, the center has become a beacon for the entire neighborhood. Image Credit: Hoerr Schaudt Designed by John Ronan Architect, the colorful center was built with flexibility in mind: “The building’s main space, an adaptable gymnasium that serves as a practice space for the drill team, converts to a 600-seat performance venue via a deployable theater seating system...Read More