A Path in the Forest: Tree Top Walk Creates Awesome Forest Experience

A Path in the Forest is an incredibly beautiful and elegant installation making its way through the trees up to the sun in a park in the heart of the city of Tallinn, Estonia. It was created by Tetsuo Kondo Architects, a Japanese firm, as part of the urban installation festival LIFT11. The festival was one of the activities offered by the City for European Capital of Culture in 2011. A set of artistic, architectural, and landscape design projects was put together to enrich the surrounding environment and create new experiences for citizens. The company presented a similar spiral path at Architecture Biennale in Venice, but this iteration is slightly different. The Estonian walk takes the visitor through an indoor cloud artificially created from three layers of air pumped into the space. Th...Read More

The city of Detroit could soon look much less like a city, and much more like a wilderness bringing to life an urban forest.  Due a high concentration of vacant properties, it has long served as a palette for designers to test large scale interventions in an aging urban core. Only recently has one of the many proposals start to come to life.  Locally based Hantz-Woodlands has reached a deal with the State of Michigan to purchase 1,500 parcels of land for $500,000, with the intent of planting an urban forest on what is now mostly a vast landscape of abandoned homes and overgrown weeds. The revolutionary urban forest The project will take place in the Indian Village Neighborhood on Detroit’s southeast side.  Within the perimeters of the project (Van Dyke to the west, St. Jean to the east, Ma...Read More

Earlier this year, the Landscape Institute released an excellent informational video on using sustainable solutions to create “water sensitive cities.” Based on the work by CIRIA, Arup and AECOM, the short film explores the subject from the individual stormwater capture methods to a holistic understanding of the water system. The strong visual graphics are especially helpful for the non-landscape architecture layman who wants to grasp an understanding of the relationship between stormwater runoff and urban ecology.   From the description: “By creating ‘water sensitive cities’ it is possible to address the major challenges of water shortage, flooding and pollution. This film, commissioned by the Landscape Institute and based on work by CIRIA, Arup and AECOM, ex...Read More

As 2013 grinds to a halt, it only seems fitting that here at LAN we sit down and take stock of the year gone by. With such a slew of world-class landscape architecture projects — either freshly consummated or procuring maturity through phases of design implementation over time — choosing only 10 was no easy feat. With an emphasis on waterfront revitalization and urban greening, here are the top 10 projects of 2013. 10. Victorian Desalination Plant Green Roof,Bass Coast, Australia This 26,000-square-meter piece of land art minimizes the dominant visual impact of the seawater processing plant along Australia’s Bass Coast. With no established green roof industry in Australia, no strict standards needed to be adhered to when designing the roof. The roof showcases key principl...Read More

Since I started using Twitter in 2011, I’ve usually been just one in a few who regularly tweet at ASLA events–but not this year! Unlike the years before, ASLA 2013 saw a huge leap in the number of people tweeting at the conference. Not only were there more people tweeting with the #ASLA2013 hashtag, but the content shared was also very insightful and interesting. Read on to learn my tips about tweeting at ASLA as well as some of my favorite moments of the conference! Prior to attending the ASLA 2013 conference, ASLA Nationals’ Karen Grajales and I presented a short Twitter Tutorial to the Chapter Presidents. We explained that even though only a small proportion of our members were active on Twitter, the number of those tweeting our content and using our hashtag #landarch was mo...Read More

For countless generations, humans have disposed of their dead in the landscape — in churchyards, burial grounds, and cemeteries. The design of these “deathscapes” can tell us a lot about the cultural Zeitgeist of the time. The earliest human burial is thought to date back nearly 350,000 years ago. Since this time, every human culture has disposed of their dead in the landscape in a variety of ways. With the world population now in excess of 7 billion, we take a look at how the landscape can accommodate our dead in a sustainable way. Landscape, design and death The method of burial or commemoration of the dead, and the design of burial grounds, can tell a lot about the culture of the deceased and their generation. In western culture, we are influenced by a Christian heritage, living i...Read More

Fresh Kills Park, once the world’s biggest landfill, is once again making waves thanks to outgoing Mayor Bloomberg’s recent announcement to add 35,000 solar panels to Fresh Kills Park. Nearly three times the size of Central Park, Fresh Kills is an ongoing large-scale reclamation project in Staten Island led by James Corner Field Operations. Slated to “become a showcase (of) urban renewal and sustainability,” the park will soon be home to New York’s largest source of solar power. The solar installation would be capable of generating up to 10 megawatts of power – enough to run about 2,000 homes. According to a statement by the Office of the Mayor, the solar array will double the City’s current renewable energy capacity. The renewable energy investment is also part of the PlaNYC i...Read More

When the frost hits, most of us do the final weeding, trimming and covering for the winter and dash inside for a cup of cider and a book by the fire. But not all winter landscapes shrivel up and hibernate for the snowy months. In their stark, skeletal state, some gardens reach their peak of breath-taking beauty. In fact, there are landscapes designed to be winter wonderlands. Their summer glory is minimal compared to their winter splendour. Stripped of all show, the structural elements of the plantings create an interesting contrast to the severity of the surrounding landscape. The concept that ’winter is only the beginning’ has influenced Bodnant Garden in North Wales, UK, has been appreciated by Kenrokuen Garden, Japan, and captured by the Gruyères Castle garden in Switzerland. A differe...Read More

It’s a common misconception that homeowners don’t need lawn maintenance as much in the winters as they do in the summers. In fact, improper maintenance can lead to snow mold and other lawn diseases, while the fallen winter leaves can smother the aesthetic appeal of the grass and flowers. The cold season also reduces the soil’s natural capacity to eradicate weeds and increase the green on the turf, which also requires the use of herbicides and fertilizers to keep things running. But with a proactive approach, you can make the lawn disease-free and maintenance free as well as prepare it for the season ahead. And the best part… You can contribute to nature while maintaining the lawn with these 4 organic additions below: 1. Start seeding Winter is the time to fix up the bare patches because th...Read More

We know you all enjoyed our GIF party part 1 Life as a Landscape Architect; now here’s our second addition The 10 stages of being a landscape architecture student. Being a student is hard, but being a landscape architecture student is even harder! We know you must be very busy – as usual – but take a break from your projects for a minute and come have a laugh with us – after all, a relaxed mind is a productive mind! Stage 1: You start off bright-eyed and bushy-tailed… Stage 2 : Confidence grows, starting to realize the power you have… Stage 3: “Hang on, I’m incredible!” Stage 4: Social life? What social life? Stage 5: “The world is ending and I’m going to save it!” Stage 6: “This is getting a bit too technical, I...Read More