Tree planted in memory to Olympic architect | ITV
A large oak tree will be planted in memory of John Hopkins, who was responsible for the London 2012 parklands, transforming an urban corner of east London into an ecological park. The oak tree will be planted in heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in the newly named Hopkins Field.

With Security, Trade Center Faces New Isolation | David W. Dunlap | NY Times
“…neighbors and planners worry that the trade center will once again feel cut off from its surroundings, a place where security credentials prevail, traffic is unwelcome and every step is scrutinized,”

Public gardens: A new model blossoms | Adrian Higgins | Washington Post
Brady is a Washington-based landscape architect who has spent much of the past five years working on the garden[New York Botanical Garden’s new native plant garden] with her colleagues at Oehme van Sweden Landscape Architects — OvS — alongside a team at the botanic garden.

Landscape Designer Margie Ruddick Brings a New Meaning to Green Design | Smithsonian.com
The Smithsonian interviews Margie Ruddick winner of the 2013 National Design Award

The ultimate roof garden | Francine Raymond | Telegraph
“The ultimate outdoor space: The Kensington Roof Gardens”

Human Scale at Hudson Yards | J. Michael Welton | Huffington Post
“More recently, NBW trumped entries by OLIN Partners and Sasaki in a competition for the design of 14 acres of grand parks and open spaces at Hudson Yards in Manhattan…”

CCNY Landscape Architecture thesis project wins Wayne Grace Prize | CCNY
“Chiara Di Palma, a 2012 graduate of the Spitzer School of Architecture’s Master of Landscape Architecture program, proposed a solution that would enable New York’s container ports to receive larger ships. At the same time, it would promote a healthier coastal ecology.”

It’s easy to go green, says local landscape architect Michael Felton | James Qualtrough |Isle News
“In recognition of Green Office Week, which runs from 13th to 17th May 2013, local landscape architect, Michael Felton, is encouraging island businesses to transform their offices into plant friendly, green environments.”

EVENT | Chelsea Garden Show 2013
The RHS 2013 Chelsea Garden Show opens this week celebrating 100 years.

IMAGE CREDIT: Flickr User |  The Department for Culture, Media and Sport

With four awards for environmental excellence already under its “green” belt, Westminster Pier Park, a 3.84-hectare park situated along the Fraser River on a derelict industrial brownfield site, opened to the public in June 2012. The removal of 3,600 tonnes of contaminated soil and the use of piers instead of fill in the river contributed to the restoration of the site’s damaged ecology. The introduction of new habitats provides biodiversity for the riparian foreshore and river ecology with the goal of increasing fish and wildlife habitat. The urban park is built from robust, easy to maintain, man-made and natural materials that can be recycled at the end of its 75-year life span, a vital goal of the City of New Westminster.  With sustainability as an integral part of the park development, the design is not only sensitive to the site’s current ecological needs but also to its future environmental impact.

“Place-making” was another key component of making the park socially sustainable.  Achieving this called for innovation and creativity in design and programming of the park, as well as connections to the urban core and to the Fraser River. Park spaces include festival lawns, gathering areas, playgrounds and sports activity areas. The character of the park reflects the historic industrial waterfront by incorporating long timber piers and piles, heavy timber structures, and timber and metal furnishings. Integrated into the boardwalk is a metal memory band that runs the length of the park, and includes words that reflect the history of New Westminster.  These coupled with hinge loungers, inspired by the hand trucks once used on the industrial site, pay homage to the history of the area.

Westminster Pier Park provides a place for people to gather and recreate, enjoy nature, learn about the historic importance of the city, and heals the river environment for future generations.

Westminster Pier Park | New Westminster Canada | PWL Partnership

Prime Park Designer: PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc.

Prime Project Manager / Engineer: WorleyParsons

Geotechnical Engineer: exp

Shoreline Ecologist: GL Williams and Associates Inc.

Architect: Dialog

Jet Grout Consultant: Sea to Sky Geotech Inc.

Lighting Consultant: Total Lighting Solutions

Mechanical Engineer: Perez Engineering Ltd.

Client: City of New Westminster

Photography: PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc.

MIAMI BEACH SQUARE from BIG on Vimeo.

We propose to roll out an urban fabric of paths and plazas, parks and gardens that forms an archipelago of urban oases throughout the site. At the heart of it – we introduce a central square to become the pivoting point of the entire neighborhood. Becoming the front door to the convention center, and the convention hotel, a front lawn to the revitalized Jackie Gleason Theatre, a town square for the city hall, an outdoor arena for the Latin American Cultural Museum, and the red carpet for the big botanical ball room.

The square creates a series of intuitive connections across the site – a diagonal that connects the Soundscape to the Botanical Gardens and Holocaust Memorial. A north-south connection joins the Collins Canal to Lincoln Road and naturally channels the flow of convention visitors to the liveliness of Lincoln Road. A green network of public spaces that stitches together all of the adjacent neighborhoods – formerly separated by the convention center – into a complete and coherent community – for both visitors and residents. All public programs – old and new come together on the square. All great cities have a great square – this will be Miami Beach Square.

 “Rather than scattering all the program across the 52 acre site we have decided to concentrate it around the center piece of our public realm – Miami Beach Square bringing focus to the renovated Jackie Gleason Theater, the entrance of the convention center and for the first time ever creating a worthy civic presence to Miami Beach City Hall.” Jamie Maslyn Larsen, West 8, Creator of Soundscape Park

By popular demand we have found a way to preserve and enhance the architecture and programming of the Jackie Gleason Theatre. By making it all public at the street level – opening up lobbies, restaurants and cafes on all sides – we make the Gleason a lively centerpiece in this new neighborhood. Towards the Square we propose to extend the fly tower with a performing arts center with various spaces for rehearsal and offering a visual connection to the public. Adjacent to the Jackie Gleason Theater sits the new Latin American Cultural Museum consisting of a base of public programs opening up on the square. The building form creates a covered shaded event space on the square blurring the transition between inside and outside.

Rather than being the hermetic mono programmatic box that the Miami Beach Convention Center is today – a single program at the size of an urban block-  we propose to consider the Convention Center an actual urban block complete with different programs  – grown together to form a continuous architecture. A gradual transition from public to private – and from cultural to civic – conference to residential turns a stroll around the block into an experience of continuous variation. Along the entire west adjacent to the various gardens and the new square – the main entrances to the convention Center and Conference Center occupies the ground. The hotel lobby spans the entire south elevation in continuation of the Convention Center lobby. The Hotel façade as pulled back forming a cascade of terraces for the south facing hotel rooms – decreasing the perceived height seen from the Gleason.

The Roof of the Convention Center is framed by a green roof drawing the outline of the urban block – framing the hotel gardens and the roof parking interspersed with shade giving landscapes. As a reoccurring annual event we propose to sponsor an art foundation that will deliver a roof art piece to cover the remaining roof surface turning it into a giant ever changing canvas seen from the air as well as the roof terrace of the hotel. An ever changing giant canvas that will annually challenge contemporary artists with an architectural scale canvas – seen from the roofs and penthouses of adjacent buildings, from airplanes and google earth.

BIG with West 8, Fentress, JPA propose Miami Beach Square 

BIG Team Credit List:

Creative Director: Bjarke Ingels, Partners-in-Charge: Thomas Christoffersen, Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Project Leader: Leon Rost, Project Team: Romea Muryn, Blake Smith, Carolien Schippers, Doug Stechschulte, Chris Junkin, Choonghye Lee, Kenneth Amoah, Ivy Hume, David Dottelonde, Birk Daugaard, Christoffer Gotfredsen, Maya Shapova, Manon Gicquel, David Splitter

Project Team Credit List:
Development Team: Portman Holdings, CMC, Bal Harbor Shops, Cirque du Soleil

Design / Planning Team: BIG (master plan and architecture), West 8 (public realm), John Portman & Associates (hotel), Fentress (convention center), Revuelta Architects (local)

Consultant Team: Schwebke Shishkin (Civil), Plummer Associates (Traffic) , HDC Associates (Estimating, Scheduling), CMC Group Construction, Greenberg Traurig (Legal), Desimone (Structural), Space Syntax (Pedestrian Accessibility), MIT/Carlo Ratti Associati (Technology), Lead Pencil Studio (Art Consultation)

PR / Marketing / Branding Team: Garber & Goodman (Public Relations),
Cinnamon Associates (Public Relations)

Feasibility Team: Courtney Lord (Retail), BRC (Entertainment), Noell Consulting (Residential)

Financing Team: Piper Jaffray, Brookfield, HFF

Production Team: Squint Opera (Animation), MIR (Renderings), Kennedy Fabricators (Model)

IMAGES | Courtesy of BIG

TEXT | BIG

Protection of the peripheral green space system formed by forests, agricultural areas and other green areas surrounding Budapest is mentioned among the city development and environmental priorities. However, under the flag of economic and system development, plans of even more traffic rings appear. Almost all of the peripheral, today partly united green spaces of Pest, with forests of several hectares, is reached or cut through by a new 2×2 lane highway envisioned in the suburban zone. On almost the same track runs a contiguous, circular green area starting from the river, a green belt, which is a yet not discovered element of the settlement system. With the help of minor landscape planning changes the 39-kilometer-long ring could be transformed to a recreational greenway used for both cycling and hiking. 90% of the track is covered by green areas, moreover, it crosses or reaches all the major peripheral green spaces of Pest, linking significant ecological and environmental values. The planned recreational green belt has a positive impact on the development, environmental quality, and livability of the district.

In my thesis I presented and analyzed the green ring, while I also evaluated its potential impact and confronted it with the vision of the new highway. The work has been published in several professional journals, it was awarded with a 1^st prize on the National Student Scientific Conference and the thesis earned the scholarship of the Chamber of Hungarian Architects.

STUDENT PROJECT | Greenway | Budapest Hungary | Lilla Szabó
Student | Lilla Szabó
Consultant: Kinga Szilágyi
University | Corvinus Univerity of Budapest

The accolades already credited to the Viceroy Anguilla are not unwarranted.  The resort and experiences offered have already been lauded in numerous publications during its short history; being labelled as the ‘reason to visit’ the Caribbean and appearing in several travel magazine’s ‘best of’ lists; not just because of the service and architecture, but also in large part due to the setting and landscape.

In a departure from the normal process, the Landscape Architect was engaged once the project was well under-way   The planning was already in place and several buildings had already been erected, but the owner’s vision for the landscape evolved during construction and the detailed design of the majority of the project was to be re-evaluated.   In addition, the project had to overcome the legacy of several hurricanes and logistical challenges along with the global economic downturn which occurred during construction.

The Landscape Architect’s mission was to provide an on-site design and management team to reinterpret the owner’s vision and work with the construction management team on a daily basis to construct it on schedule and within budget.  The team was responsible for scheduling and coordinating construction crews along with the redesign of the remaining major elements of the project.

This project won a Florida ASLA Award of Honor for 2012.

Viceroy Anguilla | Barnes Bay Anguilla | EDSA

Landscape Architecture | EDSA, Inc. (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

Principal in Charge | Robert Behling, Principal

Architecture | WATG

Against this rough industrial material, Groundswell layered plantings, bright fabrics, and lighting details that create the warm congeniality of a beer garden. Bright flowers overflow from pallet wood planting boxes and green hops creeps up latticework on the Craft Beer hut. Young linden trees shade visitors sitting amidst the spool tables in planters constructed from box wire and their green leaves frame views of the soaring Ben Franklin Bridge.

Morgan’s Pier | Philadelphia USA | Groundswell Design Group
Photographer| Top Kat Photo

The exterior strategy seamlessly flows into the climate controlled public spaces of the building, where the vegetation becomes denser and creates a cooler, lush ambiance; thereby improving interior air quality. Interior living walls weave in overlapping planted planes. Consisting of wild Agaves, Bromeliads, xeric ferns and perennials, the interior typology is intended to emulate a grotto oasis. Groves of palm trees/shrubs and Cycads accent surface plantings in the highest sunlight levels areas.

The future of Saudi Arabia’s public landscape will indefinitely be influenced by this project’s sustainable demonstration of viable “green” design strategies within a public domain and its renewed reconnection with the country’s ecological heritage.

With an anticipated spring 2013 opening, the Conference Center’s statuesque presence and iconic design has led to the decision to use it as the location for King Abdullah’s KAFD development dedication speech.

King Abdullah Financial District Conference Center | Riyadh Saudi Arabia | HM White

Client | Rayadah Investment Company

Landscape Architect | HM White

Architect & Structural Engineer | Skidmore Owings Merrill (SOM)

Project Management | Hill International (Middle East) Ltd.

MEP | WSP – Flack and Kurtz

All objects were pre-fabricated in workshops. The furniture extends to a weight of about 2 metric tons. By this they can resist the high-water flood of the Rhine.

Muendungspark | Cologne-Worringen Germany | Dirk Melzer

IMAGES | Dirk Melzer

At Victoria Station, the site history and future guide redevelopment in cooperation with experiential qualities and the spectacle of transit. Victoria regains its sense of self from overwhelming existing conditions. The new architecture clearly expresses the dialogue between the new Victoria and past influences that shaped it.

A renewed Pimlico Wharf wetland in the proposed Underground ticket-hall activates the grassland forecourt above. Light and water filter through the platforms demonstrating the interconnectivity of landscape, architecture, and infrastructure. The greater impact throughout Westminster is exemplified here making Victoria a living laboratory and compass. The new station entry reveals the column grid supporting the Grosvenor Hotel with improved access between transit systems. The interior receives an extended Rail/Air Deck along the existing structures providing an upper level for refuge while alleviating congestion on the main concourse.

This proposal reinvigorates the inherent beauty and identity of Victoria Station while simultaneously connecting it and the City of Westminster.

Victoria Station | Ian M. Ellis & Nelly Fuentes
Competition Entry for Green Infrastructure Ideas Design Competition 2012

This area is located in one of Krakow’s historical districts, though not directly in the city center. This pleasant, neighborhood required an eye-catching space that would reflect it’s original charm. Salwator district was based on the garden-city concept and now still is one of the more pleasant places in Kraków.

Between old, historic buildings public space was a little bit neglected.  The designers organized the space in a simple way,  creating a modern square whilst referring to the history of the surroundings. Though the design is in a public space, the idea and finances came from a private investor. Central to creating this memorable elegant public space is using a variety of natural materials, combining textures and forms to produce the sublime.

The team wanted to create a clear concept that would be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.   Within this symmetrically compatible space with its surrounding environment, an ‘island’ was created. This  focal point featured a wooden elliptical-shaped platform, which was an easy way to blend the traditionally used stone and the overall linear pattern.

All elements used are minimalist in form, yet modern, with the only exception being, the wooden benches. These organically designed benches are the strongest design element within the square.

The introduced greenery matched the simplicity of the other design elements. Only two species were used, the easily adaptable birches and extensively growing miscanthus.  Decorative grasses compliment the elliptical-shaped eyes in the stone surface.

Salwator Square | Kraków Poland | Land-Arch Partnership

IMAGE CREDIT | Karolina Bober