Rico Flor

Ecocentric viewpoints of Jala Makhzoumi; public urban spaces of Lawrence Halprin, Dan Urban Kiley, Peter Walker; insights of Clare Cooper Marcus; my love-hate relationship with Martha Schwartz’s landscapes; grassed gardens of Oehm and Van Sweden; the post-industrial parks of Peter Latz and Associates; ground-hugging landscape interventions by Lawrence Halprin in Corregidor and Jerusalem; poetic nature-melded projects by Hitesh Mehta, EDSA; thoughts on neo-urbanism by Andres Duaney; exquisite gardens by Fernando Caruncho; the clean lines of Japanese landscape architects (nisei or nippon) in general….very contemplative; high-brow designs by Michael Van Valkenburgh…

On the Philippine front, full-palette medley in planting design by Ador Bautista; stand-out designs by Paulo Alcazaren; enduring landscapes of IP Santos; splashes of playful; comfortable commercial and residential spaces by Efren Aurelio; sweeping landscape treatments of Mary Ann Espina at the Heritage Park; the management and no-nonsense approach of Zeny Galingan ; the environmental landscape philosophies of Susan Aquino-Ong; intelligent activism by Cliff Peronilla (we discussed but was never exposed to his designs); quick, confident, witty thinking, and quick sketches of Leo Gonzalez; uncompromising detail standards of John Evangelista; “killer graphics” of Reimon Buyco….

David John Matthews, Patrick Bruce Metheny, James Russel Freeman, Geethali Nora Jones Shankar, The Followill Brothers…let’s not forget Sheldon Cooper, PhD.

One influence I wish I had: Dolly Perez’ and Cliff’s mentorship.

To my mentors, I hope you accept me as your ward, THANK YOU SO MUCH!