LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 / 99
100 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 / 101 “ WE WILL NOT BE SATISFIED UNTIL JUSTICE ROLLS DOWN LIKE WATERS, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS LIKE A MIGHTY STREAM.” —MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
102 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 The final elements of the memorial are a selection of King’s quotes presented on the Stone of Hope as well as two arching granite retaining walls. The shape of the walls responds to another allegory used by King in his “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution” speech: “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” The wall includes selected quotes from King’s speeches and is illuminated at night. There are small seating nooks facing the quotes integrated into the retaining walls to enable groups to sit and reflect on the words. Over multiple visits to the site, I’ve observed that people do pause and read the quotes. However, the quotes included in the memorial are decidedly less critical than King’s most famous speeches, with only a few references to his “Three Evils of Society” speech from 1967. Two recent efforts call into question not only the future of this memorial but our attitude about the nature of the National Mall landscape as a permanent setting for holding our national public memory. The Trust for the National Mall and Monument Lab recently held an ideas competition with invited proposals that speculate on the potential future of the Tidal Basin. One theme that was pursued in all the proposals was the impacts of climate change and the inevitable sinking of the National Mall. The National Mall, as we know it today, was built on a floodplain and is slowly being reclaimed through settling, erosion, and flooding as ecological systems add dynamics to a currently statically designed landscape. Another recent effort was the Beyond Granite pilot project sponsored by the Trust for the National Mall with support from the NCPC in 2022. This effort invited artists to implement short-term monuments that challenged the typical narratives, materials, aesthetics, and visitor interactions we experience on the National Mall today. In a sense, this initiative presents the possibilities of integrating layers of cultural dynamics and change in a setting that has been intentionally designed to be perceived as intransigent. For the King Memorial, facing near-term climate-related risks, and lacking explicit connections to the modern civil rights movement, there may be opportunities to adapt and engage a broader range of public memory. KOFI BOONE, FASLA, IS THE JOSEPH D. MOORE DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND A UNIVERSITY FACULTY SCHOLAR AT NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY. “ WE SHALL OVERCOME BECAUSE THE ARC OF THE MORAL UNIVERSE IS LONG, BUT IT BENDS TOWARD JUSTICE.” —MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. →
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 / 103
104 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 THE BACK / BOOKS Comprehensive planning practice’s foundations and the legal underpinnings of the planning profession are inseparably linked to landscape architecture in North America. At the turn of the last century, the social and environmental fallouts brought on by the rapid expansion of cities across the industrialized world necessitated the invention of legal and spatial mechanisms to design and plan this unprecedented urban growth. Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. and Jr., Charles Eliot, John Nolen, and others took on the challenge of large-scale metropolitan park and parkway planning, suburban expansion, and the complex foundations of urban governance. In 1912, the American Society of Landscape Architects identified 28 ongoing large-scale comprehensive plans in “A Brief Survey of Recent City Planning Reports in the United States,” which cemented the significance of landscape architects as the “comprehensive planners” of that era. More than a century later, a drive toward holistic approaches to planning reasserts the agency of landscape architects to take on that charge. The Comprehensive Plan: Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Communities for the 21st Century underscores this contemporary relevancy, and the authors David Rouse, ASLA, and Rocky Piro remind us of the significance of comprehensive planning in addressing today’s urban challenges. Straightforward, even clinical, The Comprehensive Plan reads like a resource manual for practitioners, bureaucrats, and academics. Broken into three large sections, its 17 chapters center issues of socioeconomic equity and climate change (including adaptation, resilience, and mitigation) as cross-sectoral parameters for comprehensive planning. “Sustainability, resilience, and equity—the overarching themes of this book—are distinct but interrelated concepts,” write Rouse and Piro. The authors push further on these interdependencies as critically generative of schematic visions that are focused on “systems thinking,” something that has long been relevant to the work of landscape architects. Unlike rigid and static conceptions of urban form, a comprehensive plan rooted in “systems” is aligned with how landscape architects practice if their work is to be successfully integrated with dynamic, and often indeterminate, natural systems. FLUX AND CHANGE THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN: SUSTAINABLE, RESILIENT, AND EQUITABLE COMMUNITIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY BY DAVID ROUSE AND ROCKY PIRO; LONDON AND NEW YORK: ROUTLEDGE, 2022; 288 PAGES, $42.95. REVIEWED BY FADI MASOUD EDITED BY MIMI ZEIGER
decorative grates, site furnishings and custom castings IRONAGEGRATES.COM [email protected] | 877-418-3568 architectural refinement and craftsmanship matter WHEN LESS IS MORE Product: Regular Joe 9” x 20” Heel Proof Trench Grates Material: Raw Cast Ductile Iron Design: Field Operations Project: Domino Park Location: New York, NY
106 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 Landscape architects played critical roles in shaping planning in the early part of the 20th century, and they should now. For example, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.’s influence on land use zoning was undeniable. He was part of an advisory committee appointed by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover in 1921 that drafted A Zoning Primer, and he was the only member listed under the professional designation of landscape architect. The document defined the role of zoning in cities, its benefits, and how it should be applied. When advocating for a role for landscape architects in an era of a possible Green New Deal, Billy Fleming, in a 2019 essay for Places Journal, reminds us that in the early 20th century, urbanists and designers “entered public service, fighting for housing justice, land conservation, and environmental resource management at all levels of government.” Olmsted Jr. understood the value of ecological land use complementation, promoting the synergistic interaction between natural features, green space, and land use zoning. In his view, planning and its tools should not result in a centralized “end-state vision” but a continually evolving process. In reports written between 1905 and 1915, he urged professionals and policymakers to understand the city plan not as a rigid set of instructions to be followed by successive generations but as an “organic, flexible document capable of responding to new conditions and evolving over time.” The Comprehensive Plan echoes this premise in the second section, “The Substance of the Plan,” which makes up the bulk of the book and is the longest and most detailed. The chapter headings address themes that include “Natural Systems,” “Built Environment Systems: Mobility and Infrastructure,” “Social Systems,” and “Regional Connections.” Each presents a list of carefully selected case studies; examples of best practices, tables, charts, and summaries; and guides on policy directions and applications. The authors put forward a multifaceted yet concise survey while focusing on the conditions, concerns, and opportunities that make up the substance of a contemporary comprehensive plan. In line with their appeal to blend systems thinking into the progression of 21st-century comprehensive planning, they assert that each of the chapters “incorporate a systems approach as an alternative to the 20th-century practice of organizing the comprehensive.” For example, the chapter “Natural Systems” posits that “the built and natural environments are not separate and discrete” but instead are interconnected with “intersecting subsystems.” They press on the need to design and plan the built environment by aligning it with the conditions and capacities of its underlying environment. “Natural features such as slopes, soils, watersheds, and vegetation continue to exist, even if altered or degraded by urban development,” they write. “Healthy, functioning natural systems integrated with the built environment are essential to support healthy, sustainable communities.” The book is filled with planning definitions, descriptions, and language, and noticeably evident are the American Planning Association (APA) national standards for guiding the creation and implementation of comprehensive plans. While this lends THE BACK /BOOKS DAVID ROUSE, ASLA, AND ROCKY PIRO RIGHT Locations of 21st-century comprehensive plans. North America’s vast and heterogeneous geography offers opportunities and challenges.
108 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 the book an accessible, clear, and universal tone, it also renders the text rather monotonous. For example, when the definition of low-density residential zoning or open space provisions is invoked, a more replicable model is envisioned by the authors. Such universal planning language makes it difficult to describe, for example, how open space for housing varies in the arid Southwest versus the temperate Northeast, or an equitydeserving community versus a wealthier established one. Even though the book cites comprehensive plans from across the United States, its aspirational national reach makes it difficult to emphasize the varying particularities of local geographies, voices, and places across this vast and heterogeneous continent. Professional standardization of descriptions and definitions often lends itself to the flattening of diverse social, environmental, and physical geographies. Governments often produce rigorous studies, reports, and plans with limited pathways to implementation. This is often due to a lack of robust and broad partnerships, community engagement, and investments. To that end, “While contemporary plans have more robust implementation sections, they often consist of lists of unprioritized actions,” note the authors. “Effective plans are comprehensive and visionary in their scope and reach, as well as strategic, focused, and adaptable in their approach to implementation.” A glaring omission in the book is a critical discussion on the legislative power of land use zoning codes in shaping the urban fabric. In many ways, zoning is a much more formidable force toward implementation than comprehensive planning. The legal mechanisms that continue to underpin planning today were established in 1926 through the Standard State Zoning Enabling Act (SZEA) and in 1928 with the Standard City Planning Enabling Act (SCPEA). The SCPEA called for zoning codes to conform to a larger, and more holistic, comprehensive plan. Yet the landmark 1926 Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. Supreme Court case and the passing of the SZEA effectively enshrined land use separation and zoning, not comprehensive planning, as the first act of planning. This allowed states to enact laws permitting cities to establish a zoning commission before devising long-range comprehensive plans. The lag between the legislations resulted in planning commissions resorting to zoning as the primary device for drawing up plans. Thus zoning, not comprehensive planning, became the immediate legislative spatial blueprint for the development of cities. Climate change has rendered visible the shortcomings of such overly deterministic and static plans, zoning codes, and development models. Contemporary urban adaptation and resilient design strategies favor scenario-driven design schemes that account for multiple possible futures and a range of uncertainties. For example, the design and allocation of open space buffers should accommodate a range of inundation levels while allowing multiple programmatic activities to take place at the same time. Such spatial and programmatic flexibility is often at odds with the overly deterministic, reductive, and restrictive nature of land use zoning codes. Rouse and Piro explore how comprehensive planning should accommodate scenario planning to “generate and evaluate possible futures to frame choices and inform community decision-making...given the uncertainty of future change over the long-range time horizon of the plan, which suggests THE BACK /BOOKS PROFESSIONAL STANDARDIZATION OF DEFINITIONS CAN FLATTEN DIVERSE SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHIES.
The Guide for Plant Appraisal, 10th Edition, Revised is the most informative and comprehensive alignment of current knowledge of the approaches, processes, and methods of plant valuation. Included in this edition are detailed discussions of newly streamlined core concepts and terminology, a review of the organization and context of appraisal reports, and an updated emphasis on appraiser awareness of the environmental and ecological benefits plants provide. Also new to this edition are appendices and a glossary. (Revised October 2020, softcover, 170 pp) Scan the QR code below for more on how to purchase the print or digital edition. Determine the Value of Trees with The Guide for Plant Appraisal. isa-arbor.com/store
110 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 DAVID ROUSE, ASLA, AND ROCKY PIRO THE BACK /BOOKS that communities should prepare for and adapt to a range of possible future outcomes.” A section titled “Accounting for Uncertainty” presents this critical approach to dynamic, nonlinear scenario planning as a prerequisite for climate adaptation and resilience planning and design. Here, the authors discuss a “Cone of Uncertainty” that plots time against short-, medium-, and long-term decisions, tactics, strategies, and visions that are interrupted by unforeseen “drivers of change.” Scenario planning and accounting for some degree of uncertainty are consistent with how Olmsted Jr. saw comprehensive planning, much like he did landscape architecture, as a “dynamic and continuous process.” He was interested in tactical and strategic approaches to shaping the city in relation to its social, environmental, and governance contexts. His approach was also in line with critiques of modern-era top-down comprehensive planning. “The nature of the city was flux and change,” writes the anthropologist and political scientist James Scott in his 1999 book, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. “The best a planner can hope for is to modestly enhance rather than impede the development of urban complexity,” he continues. The ability to plan comprehensively while proactively anticipating flexibility in writing up zoning ordinances is consistent with what Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland wrote in the majority opinion for Euclid v. Ambler: “[W]hile the meaning of constitutional guaranties never varies, the scope of their application must expand or contract to meet the new and different conditions which are constantly coming within the field of their operation. In a changing world, it is impossible that it should be otherwise.” Rouse and Piro attempt to exhaustively and thoroughly uncover the parameters and interdependencies needed to comprehensively “plan” sustainable, resilient, and equitable communities. Although the book relies on case studies to highlight local specificities, an approach rooted in the environmental and social particularities of a place is crucial. While it might seem arduous to conceive, and even harder to implement, large-scale visions in the 21st century, it is essential that we foreground holistic and comprehensive approaches to urban planning. Designers and educators must advocate for a role for landscape architects in outlining climate adaptation and resilience planning frameworks through enduring legislative structures. This agency is only possible if we expand and strengthen our direct engagement and collaboration with the planning profession and the public agencies of communities at the forefront of the climate crisis. This book serves as a timely reminder, reaffirming our capacity and urging us to advance the discourse on comprehensive planning. FADI MASOUD IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM AND DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE FOR LANDSCAPE RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. RIGHT Nonlinear systems essential for the design of landscapes are equally critical when applied to planning. WHILE ARDUOUS TO CONCEIVE AND IMPLEMENT, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE FOREGROUND HOLISTIC AND COMPREHENSIVE APPROACHES TO URBAN PLANNING.
Defining the profession of sustainable landscape development. Used by landscape architects and others to align land development and management with innovative sustainable design. Demonstrate your expertise and become a SITES Accredited Professional. Learn more at sustainablesites.org SITES-certified Phipps’ Center for Sustainable Landscapes, Pittsburgh, PA
OLMSTED TREES BY STANLEY GREENBERG; MUNICH: HIRMER PUBLISHERS, 2022; 160 PAGES, $40. The photographer Stanley Greenberg takes pictures of old trees. Specifically, the magnificent elms, beeches, and maples planted more than a century ago in parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. For Olmsted Trees, he traveled across the country to take what he calls “portraits” of their wrinkled, gnarled, and weathered trunks. He captures the play of time on civic landscapes: in Cherokee Park in Louisville, Kentucky, a sycamore fused with a brick wall; lovers’ carvings tattoo a beech in Cadwalader Park in Trenton, New Jersey. The black-and-white images evoke empathy for these stoic beings. As the journalist Kevin Baker writes in one of the three essays in the book, “[T]hrough Greenberg’s lens we react to them almost as though they were human, or animals.” MERGING CITY AND NATURE: 30 COMMITMENTS TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE BY BATLLEIROIG; BARCELONA: ACTAR PUBLISHERS, 2023; 358 PAGES, $44.95. The Spanish firm Batlleiroig works across urbanism, landscape architecture, and architecture, traversing and combining disciplines on each project. Its new book is part monograph and part battle cry in the face of climate emergency. Each of the 30 case studies addresses a different approach, including “Biodiversity,” “Green Life Cycle,” “Recycling,” and “Self-Sufficiency.” These are prefaced by a trio of conversations with experts and academics, including landscape architecture faculty Clara Olóriz Sanjuán (Architectural Association School of Architecture) and Joan Batlle (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), whose dialogue situates landscape as a mediator between people and nature. BOOKS OF INTEREST HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS: INSIDE THE SYSTEMS THAT SHAPE OUR WORLD BY DEB CHACHRA; NEW YORK: RIVERHEAD BOOKS, 2023; 320 PAGES, $29. A materials scientist and engineer digs into the complex technological services that make up the built environment—roads, electricity, reservoirs—and finds that these everyday systems are as much social as they are technological. They are shared utilities, after all. While How Infrastructure Works isn’t explicit in addressing landscape architecture, Deb Chachra’s chapter “Infrastructure and Climate Instability” outlines case studies where climatic conditions such as rising sea levels, storm surges, and hotter temperatures are undermining existing systems. These are places where the collective tools of landscape architecture could steer visions away from the postapocalyptic and toward resilience. LESSONS IN RESILIENCE FROM OLD TREES, NEW PARKS, AND FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURES. THE BACK /BOOKS 112 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024
Photo @ Will Lew, courtesy CCxA. tclf.org/cormier-oral-history More than two dozen video segments cover the life, career, and design philosophy of this enigmatic practitioner and inaugural Oberlander Prize laureate. tclf.org/bargmann-oral-history Julie Bargmann Oral History Sponsors Learn More: View an excerpt and learn more about the forthcoming Pioneers Oral History featuring the late Canadian designer of Sugar Beach, Love Park, The Ring, and other landscape architecture icons. The Cultural Landscape Foundation presents Claude Cormier Oral History Julie Bargmann The Hubbard Educational Foundation Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Photo by Barrett Doherty. ®
Thank You to our Corporate Members for their contributions to the success of ASLA and the landscape architecture profession. American Meadows, Inc. Bay Area Concretes, Inc. Buell Recreation Circle Redmont CMM Custom Homes CORE Landscape Dal-Tile Corporation GraniteScape USA, Inc. Hoffman Nursery, Inc. Holcim Inc Huatan Landscaping, LLC Intermarket Insurance Agency ISiMAR Junction Landscape & Construction LumberCon LLC MDT Mueller Design, Inc. Meyer Landscape Architecture, LLC Montana Fire Pits Naturcycle Newstone Group Ore Designs, Inc. Ramo Group, Inc. RGS Landscape and Arbor Care Rock & Rose Landscapes Rock Pros USA SCI Lighting Solutions Sealturf Grass!365 SED Landscape Architects Ltd. Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Decoration & Landscape Design Research Institute Shenzhen Water Planning & Design Institute Spruce & Gander, Inc. Stone Curators SYNLawn Tabbystone The Lighthouse Group The Organic Recycler The PlayWell Group. Inc. The Prestwick Companies Third Degree Recreaton Turf Etc. LLC DBA Synlawn Vak Pak, Inc. Wade Architectural Systems West Coast Turf WholeTrees Structures Zoom Recreation, Inc. GOLD MEMBERS SILVER MEMBERS STANDARD MEMBERS Carlsbad Manufacturing Corporation David Harber, Ltd. Graber Manufacturing, Inc. Green Theory Design Kafka Granite, LLC Old Town Fiberglass, Inc. Renson Skyland USA, LLC Sure-Loc Edging, Inc. Unilock Vectorworks, Inc. VESTRE Walpole Outdoors, LLC Archatrak ASL Stone Basalite Building Products - Epic Plastics Botton+ Gardiner Everde Growers Fine Concrete Focus Industries, Inc. ForeverLawn Puget Sound GreenBlue Urban America, Inc. IZone Imaging LiveRoof Global, LLC Lombardo Landscaping & Water Features, Inc. Rain Bird Corporation Rochester Concrete Products Sika Corporation South Coast Wholesale The Chandler Company US Composting Council Vortex Aquatic Structures International Watertronics *Members as of 11/10/23
PLATINUM MEMBERS
116 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 FF PARTITION WALL SYSTEMS www.formandfiber.com | tel. 888-314-8852 | [email protected]
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 / 117 In June 2020, the City of Superior, CO approved a bridge extending Marshall Road and connecting its northern neighborhoods to downtown. The design and planters needed to reflect the area’s beauty. The deadline to construct and ship the planters was tight. There was a worldwide pandemic. Problem Solved... © The Chandler Company, Inc. Made in the USA Call or visit us today at 714–979–4212 TheChandlerCompany.com “Thanks again for all of your help - this felt like a huge success for us due to your help with the design and expediting the production.” Angie Hulsebus, PLA Director of Landscape Architecture Denver Area Operation
118 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 Greenhouses |Custom Enclosures Equipment | Supplies www.GothicArchGreenhouses.com Catch the Sunshine! 1-800-531-GROW (4769) Atomizing Systems CREATING FOG WORLDWIDE SINCE 1978 201.447.1222 | www.coldfog.com | [email protected]
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 / 119 MAILBOXES COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL Visit us online at mailboxes.com Salsbury Industries 18300 Central Ave, Carson, CA 90746-4008 Landscape Architects Trim: 8” x 4.5’”
120 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 Sticking Up for Picking Up SMART Litter Pick Up Bags Contact Us Today! 800.364.7681 DOGIPOT.COM Our Best Selling Waste Station #1003-L #1402 #1404 SMART Liner Trash Bags For more information or to join, visit aslafund.org. Show your support for landscape architects Join the ASLA Founders Club! ASLA Fund | Bringing awareness to the profession. The ASLA Fund is the 501(c)(3) charitable foundation of the American Society of Landscape Architects, supported by the tax-deductible ASLA members contributions and other individuals and organizations, and committed to the careful stewardship and artful design of our cultural and natural environment. The ASLA Fund and the Founders Club members are continuing the commitment through the recurring giving program that allows the ASLA Fund to continue our mission of investing in global, social, and environmental change through the art and science of landscape architecture. Your ongoing contribution to the Founders Club supports the ASLA Climate Action Plan, MineCraft and Dream Big with Design, Women of Color Licensure Advancement Program, sending students to the conference, and more! Join the Founders Club with any of the following gifts and receive special member benefits: $18.99 monthly $189.99 quarterly $1899 annually Half page ad Founders Club.indd 1 7/20/2023 10:34:32 AM
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 / 121 ASLA offers 20 Professional Practice Networks (PPNs) – national platforms for networking and exchanging information on specific topics. Find your interest area and join for free! PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE NETWORKS www.asla.org/PPN.aspx ORDER BY 6 PM FOR SAME DAY SHIPPING LANDSCAPING ESSENTIALS TRASH CANS BURLAP ROLLS GAS CANS π GLOVES COMPLETE CATALOG 1-800-295-5510 uline.com Most Dependable Fountains, Inc.™ and so much more! Most Dependable Fountains, Inc.™ 901-867-0039 www.mostdependable.com Most Dependable Fountains, Inc.™ 901-867-0039 www.mostdependable.com Most Dependable Fountains, Inc.™ and so much more! 9/1/2023 2:14:32 PM
122 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 THE BACK /ADVERTISER INDEX ADVERTISING SALES 636 Eye Street NW Washington, DC 20001-3736 202-216-2363 202-478-2190 Fax [email protected] SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER Laura L. Iverson 202-216-2341 [email protected] ADVERTISER WEBSITE PHONE PAGE # APE Studio c/o Richter Spielgeräte apeoriginal.com 212-213-6694 56 Archatrak, Inc. archatrak.com 406-551-7482 107 ASLA Corporate Membership advertise.asla.org/CM 202-216-2326 114-115 ASLA EXPO Promotion advertise.asla.org/expo 202-216-2326 130-131 ASLA Fund aslafund.org 202-216-2366 76 Atomizing Systems, Inc. coldfog.com 888-265-3364 118 Axis Lighting axislighting.com 514-948-6272 119 BCI Burke Co. Inc. bciburke.com 920-921-9220 25, 128 Berliner berliner-playequipment.com 864-627-1092 33, 125 Campania International, Inc. campaniainternational.com 215-541-4627 C2-1, 124 Cell-Tek Geosynthetics, LLC celltekdirect.com 410-721-4844 128 Columbia Cascade Company timberform.com 800-547-1940 125, 127, 129, C4 DeepStream Designs deepstreamdesigns.com 305-857-0466 117 Dogipot, a PlayCore company dogipot.com 800-364-7681 120 Doty & Sons Concrete Products dotyconcrete.com 800-233-3907 126 DuMor, Inc. dumor.com 800-598-4018 31, 128 Earthscape earthscapeplay.com 877-269-2972 51, 126 Ernst Conservation Seeds ernstseed.com 800-873-3321 124 Form and Fiber formandfiber.com 888-314-8852 116, 127 Forms+Surfaces forms-surfaces.com 800-451-0410 7, 124 Freenotes Harmony Park freenotesharmonypark.com 833-262-1569 14 Gothic Arch Greenhouses gothicarchgreenhouses.com 251-471-5238 118 Green Theory Design Inc. greentheorydesign.com 604-475-7002 124 Gyms For Dogs - Natural Dog Park Products gymsfordogs.com 800-931-1462 127 Hanover Architectural Products, Inc. hanoverpavers.com 717-637-0500 47 Huntco Supply, LLC huntco.com 503-224-8700 39 Iron Age Designs ironagegates.com 206-276-0925 105, 126 Ironsmith, Inc. ironsmith.biz 800-338-4766 37, 129 Landscape Forms landscapeforms.com 800-430-6205 11, 23 Landscape Structures, Inc. playlsi.com 888-438-6574 17, 127 Madrax madrax.com 800-448-7931 128 Maglin Site Furniture Inc. maglin.com 800-716-5506 35 mmcité street furniture mmcite.com 704-576-2224 2-3 Most Dependable Fountains mostdependable.com 800-552-6331 121 Nitterhouse Masonry Products, LLC nitterhouse.com 717-267-4500 41 Paloform paloform.com 888-823-8883 9 Permaloc Aluminum Edging permaloc.com 800-356-9660 55, 128 Petersen Concrete Leisure Products petersenmfg.com 800-832-7383 121 Pine Hall Brick Co., Inc. americaspremierpaver.com 800-334-8689 53, 128 Proven Winners® ColorChoice® provenwinners.com 800-633-8859 43 Public Restroom Company publicrestroomcompany.com 888-888-2060 116 Riverside Plastics, Inc. riverside-plastics.com 800-493-4945 129 Salsbury Industries mailboxes.com 800-624-5269 119, 129 Shade Systems, Inc. shadesystemsinc.com 800-609-6066 13 Sitecraft site-craft.com 800-221-1448 27 Sitescapes, Inc. sitescapesonline.com 402-421-9464 125 Soil Retention Products soilretention.com 760-966-6090 120 Solistone solistone.com 800-758-2119 129 Streetlife streetlife.nl 646-583-2937 45 Sure-Loc Aluminum Edging surelocedging.com 800-787-3562 128 The Belden Brick Co. beldenbrick.com 330-456-0031 81, 125 The Chandler Company thechandlercompany.com 714-979-4212 117 The Cultural Landscape Foundation tclf.org 202-483-0553 113 Thomas Steele thomas-steele.com 800-448-7931 46 Tournesol Siteworks tournesolsiteworks.com 800-542-2282 21, 128 Uline uline.com 800-295-5571 121 Unilock, Ltd. unilock.com 416-646-3452 29 U.S. Green Building Council usgbc.org 202-552-1369 111 Victor Stanley, Inc. victorstanley.com 301-855-8300 126, C3
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 / 123 ASSOCIATION/FOUNDATION ASLA Corporate Membership 202-216-2326 114-115 ASLA EXPO Promotion 202-216-2326 130-131 ASLA Fund 202-216-2366 76 The Cultural Landscape Foundation 202-483-0553 113 U.S. Green Building Council 202-552-1369 111 BUSINESS SERVICES Uline 800-295-5571 121 DRAINAGE AND EROSION Cell-Tek Geosynthetics, LLC 410-721-4844 128 Iron Age Designs 206-276-0925 105, 126 Ironsmith, Inc. 800-338-4766 37, 129 GREEN ROOFS/LIVING WALLS greenscreen 800-450-3494 41, 208 LIGHTING Axis Lighting 514-948-6272 119 LUMBER/DECKING/EDGING Permaloc Aluminum Edging 800-356-9660 55, 128 Sure-Loc Aluminum Edging 800-787-3562 128 OUTDOOR FIRE AND WATER FEATURES Most Dependable Fountains 800-552-6331 121 Paloform 888-823-8883 9 PARKS AND RECREATION APE Studio c/o Richter Spielgeräte 212-213-6694 56 BCI Burke Co. Inc. 920-921-9220 25, 128 Berliner 864-627-1092 33, 125 Dogipot, a PlayCore company 800-364-7681 120 Earthscape 877-269-2972 51, 126 Freenotes Harmony Park 833-262-1569 14 Gyms For Dogs - 800-931-1462 127 Natural Dog Park Products Landscape Structures, Inc. 888-438-6574 17, 127 Public Restroom Company 888-888-2060 116 PAVING/SURFACING/MASONRY STONE/METALS Hanover Architectural Products, Inc. 717-637-0500 47 Nitterhouse Masonry Products, LLC 717-267-4500 41 Pine Hall Brick Co., Inc. 800-334-8689 53, 128 Soil Retention Products 760-966-6090 120 Solistone 800-758-2119 129 The Belden Brick Co. 330-456-0031 81, 125 Unilock, Ltd. 416-646-3452 29 PLANTERS/SCULPTURES/GARDEN ACCESSORIES Campania International, Inc. 215-541-4627 C2-1, 124 DeepStream Designs 305-857-0466 117 Form and Fiber 888-314-8852 116, 127 Green Theory Design Inc. 604-475-7002 124 Riverside Plastics, Inc. 800-493-4945 129 The Chandler Company 714-979-4212 117 Tournesol Siteworks 800-542-2282 21, 128 PLANTS/SOILS/PLANTING MATERIALS Archatrak, Inc. 406-551-7482 107 Ernst Conservation Seeds 800-873-3321 124 Proven Winners® ColorChoice® 800-633-8859 43 STREET FURNISHINGS Columbia Cascade Company 800-547-1940 125, 127, 129, C4 Doty & Sons Concrete Products 800-233-3907 126 DuMor, Inc. 800-598-4018 31, 128 Forms+Surfaces 800-451-0410 7, 124 Huntco Supply, LLC 503-224-8700 39 Landscape Forms 800-430-6205 11, 23 Madrax 800-448-7931 128 Maglin Site Furniture Inc. 800-716-5506 35 mmcité street furniture 704-576-2224 2-3 Petersen Concrete Leisure Products 800-832-7383 121 Salsbury Industries 800-624-5269 119, 129 Sitecraft 800-221-1448 27 Sitescapes, Inc. 402-421-9464 125 Streetlife 646-583-2937 45 Thomas Steele 800-448-7931 46 Victor Stanley, Inc. 301-855-8300 126, C3 STRUCTURES Gothic Arch Greenhouses 251-471-5238 118 Shade Systems, Inc. 800-609-6066 13 WATER MANAGEMENT AND AMENITIES Atomizing Systems, Inc. 888-265-3364 118 THE BACK /ADVERTISERS BY PRODUCT CATEGORY
MINNEAPOLIS CONFERENCE AND EXPO A SHOW OF PROGRESS AND TRENDS Executive Summary ▶ Landscape architecture achieves elevated stature and increased demand. ▶ Climate action advances with help from industry partners. ▶ Technology and fitness exhibitors offer new tools for landscape architects. f the 2023 ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture and EXPO in Minneapolis is any indicator, 2024 is going to be a time for rapid discovery and growth in the industry and profession. The numbers tell part of the story. There were more than 5,200 registered attendees and 250 exhibitors, defying notions that an autumn meeting in the upper Midwest might fail to attract strong participation. Exhibitors tell us their interactions with landscape architects provided fruitful dialog on what’s possible now and where new ideas and products might be welcome in the future. ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen shared in his keynote address that landscape architecture is now recognized by the federal government as a STEM discipline. This acknowledges the profession’s long-standing expertise in hydrology, drainage, grading, environmental science, horticulture, and site design—disciplines that can fight climate change, increase demand for the profession, and bolster compensation. He cited research coming out of landscape architecture prog rams at Auburn University, Purdue University, Michigan State University, and Texas A&M—plus academic leaders working with grants from the ASLA Fund— that contribute to progress in what landscape architecture can do. It includes such things as using AI and machine learning, and ways to address the biodiversity crisis and urban disaster resilience. This will continue to elevate the profession and its work with policymakers, community groups, allied professionals, and the public. Carter-Conneen also credited the ASLA Climate Action Committee for achieving measurable progress toward its goals, “advancing this work by increasing its collaboration with vendors and product manufacturers through the newly formed ASLA Corporate Member Committee,” he said. “Industry partners are key players to reducing embodied emissions from landscape architecture projects and helping scale up sequestration.” Technology increasingly important in landscape architecture At least two categories of exhibitors—technology and outdoor fitness—increased their numbers on the EXPO floor in 2023. Chris Landau, principal at LANDAU Design+ Technology, which provides tools (e.g., Land Kit) to landscape architects using computation in their design work, found it beneficial to meet I BY RUSS KLETTKE ASLA SPONSORED CONTENT The strong attendance and large showing of exhibitors at the 2023 ASLA Conference and EXPO are good signs for 2024—with technology and fitness making noteworthy gains. The EXPO is a two-way street, with attendees learning from exhibitors and vice versa. Photo by ASLA
with landscape architects at their booth and other exhibitors. “The folks who attend are very serious about their work,” he observed. “There were so many great sessions and things to do and see, and not enough time to see them all. It really is an embarrassment of riches.” Representatives f rom another technology exhibitor, Environment for Revit, talked about the growing importance of landscape architects being technologically in sync with project partners. “It’s gratifying to witness this remarkable discipline embrace BIM technology, closing the technological gap with the rest of the AEC industry,” says Yotam Ashkenazi, chief marketing officer for the firm. “The enthusiasm for adopting innovative solutions was truly inspiring.” Based in Israel, it was the company’s second year with ASLA. “The event allowed us to gather invaluable feedback and insights directly from our American clientele.” Longtime exhibitor Vectorworks promotes the benefits of working with BIM for landscape solutions, particularly in how it “fosters collaboration across multiple disciplines,” says Laura Bucci, marketing specialist. “Our biggest takeaway from Minneapolis was attendees’ insights into how landscape architects and other site design professionals benefit from technologies that include AI, AR/VR, and drone scanning in their day-today design workflows. They can be proactive in their projects as they combat climate change and advocate for better landscape performance with intelligent design and analysis tools.” Making a first-time appearance at the ASLA EXPO was SGLA Technical Training and chief instructor Sarah Gronquist, CA PLA. An educational entity, SGLA prepares budding landscape architects for the Landscape Architect Registration Examination (LARE). “Most of our work takes place through remote Zoom meetings so getting to meet people ASLA SPONSORED CONTENT No endorsement of products or suppliers mentioned is intended or implied. in person is a real pleasure,” says Gronquist. Her observation was that sessions and events on the EXPO floor enhanced the experience. “I was able to attend more sessions and see friends on the design side frequently during the day. There’s no substitute for coming together in the same place.” Outdoor fitness a growing industry The pandemic drove a surge of installations of outdoor fitness equipment, a trend that continues according to Recreation Management magazine. “Some communities tout the ability for adults to use the fitness zones adjacent to the playgrounds so they can keep their kids in sight,” says one article, which also reports the American Society of Sports Medicine’s market research shows outdoor exercise as their number 6 trend in 2023, up from number 17 in 2019. Present in Minneapolis on the EXPO floor were seven purveyors of this kind of equipment and playing surfaces—including Gyms for Dogs, a crowd pleaser—the most ever at an ASLA event. Jenny Lewis, vice president of sales and marketing for Outdoor-Fit Exercise Systems, notes they returned for their second year with ASLA because the conference broadens their exposure to markets. “Landscape architects grow our awareness of new applications,” she says. “That includes multifamily housing, senior centers, and high-rise rooftops. Attendees tell me new product information on the EXPO floor adds a lot to what they learn in educational sessions.” Other companies with exhibits in this niche were Greenfields Outdoor Fitness, Trekfit, Agorespace SAS, Envirotech Outdoor, and Target Technologies. Several of the children’s playground suppliers (Landscape Structures, PlayCore, BCI Burke, Kompan, etc.) have divisions or partners in adult outdoor fitness as well.■
132 / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE JAN 2024 ERIC ARNESON AT TOPOPHYLA. IMAGE GENERATED BY CHATGPT-4. THE BACK / BACKSTORY Eric Arneson likes to play with new technology. Along with Nahal Sohbati, Arneson is one-half of Topophyla Landscape Design, a California-based design firm, but he’s probably better known online as @pangeaexpress, the 95K-followers-and-counting Instagram account where he shares the firm’s design process through a mix of rapid-fire tutorials, memes, and AI-generated images. The recent addition of a multimodal feature to OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, prompted Arneson to start playing around with planting plans. He uploaded a screenshot of a plan from a finished project, and after a few tries, he got the image above— hypervivid, but not too far off from the real thing. TOPOPHYLA’S EXPLORATIONS IN AI HEAD DOWN THE GARDEN PATH. The fascinating thing about this one is that it kind of does look like the finished project, and the layering of the plants is pretty appropriate. The context trees are actually fairly accurate. I don’t know how it got that there were conifers in the background, but it did. —ERIC ARNESON
Connecting since 1962. Celebrating over 60 years, Victor Stanley designs, engineers and manufactures timeless site furnishings so you can bring communities to life. Our Stella of Sunne™ collection features a classic, minimalist look inspired by Scandinavian design aesthetics. Its eased edges and clean lines transform any environment into a comfortable and inviting space. THE STELLA OF SUNNE COLLECTION. ™ US Patent D904,712 S. VICTORSTANLEY.COM
w w w.TimberForm.com 1-800/547-1940|[email protected] ® “ The first name in wood for play”SM TimberForm