Landscape Architecture 04 - ArchitectureWeek Topics Library

SEATTLE DESIGN AWARDS

In November 2002, as a highlight of their yearly "Celebrate Architecture" festivities, AIA Seattle announced the results of its 51st annual design awards program. In honoring Washington architecture, the jury commended both clients and architects for their sensitivity to the Washington landscape. — Published 2002.1211

REMEMBERING A BARRAG�N LANDSCAPE

In 1945, renowned Mexican architect Luis Barrag�n began work on the Gardens of El Pedregal, a subdivision in Mexico City dotted with plazas, fountains, ponds, cacti, and pepper trees. He considered El Pedregal his most important project, and critics have described the houses and gardens there as a turning point in Mexican modern architecture. Reflecting the fragility of public landscapes, many of these elements were long ago modified or destroyed. — Published 2002.1204

URBANE WATERFRONT

Two expansive dockland peninsulas on Amsterdam's eastern waterfront have been transformed into landmark residential neighborhoods. Without compromising the traditions and character of the Dutch city, the striking Borneo Sporenburg housing project emphasizes the importance of open space within a high-density environment. The project, its master planner Adriaan Geuze, and his firm, West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture of Rotterdam, have been awarded the seventh Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design by Harvard Design School, where the project is on exhibit. — Published 2002.1120

PUEBLO LEGORRETA

How can architecture be contemporary and timeless at the same time? Ricardo Legorreta offers an answer in his design of the Zocalo condominium community in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The name of the development is Spanish for "town square," and its site plan reflects that quality.

Zocalo is organized in eight or nine clusters of "casitas," as Legorreta refers to the units. The casitas face open squares or small courtyards that reinforce a sense of community. — Published 2002.1106

RESTORING KEW GARDENS

Kew Gardens, on the banks of the River Thames in southwest London, represents 250 years of landscape and garden history. The site also houses 40 historically significant buildings, including Kew Palace, Queen Charlotte's Cottage, and the Palm House. — Published 2002.1002

ECOLOGY PARK AT TURTLE BAY

For decades, the natural landscape of Northern California has been devastated by damming, mining, and other resource extraction. Water has been routinely redirected from rural areas to urban centers. Only a small portion of the 375-mile (600-kilometer) Sacramento River continues to flow along its pre-20th-century route. — Published 2002.0911

SUBURBAN RENEWAL

Two years ago I moved into a modest, 1950s-era, one-story house. From the beginning, my intention has been to make better use of on-site resources such as sun, rain, and soil while using the existing house and property as points of departure for my own local suburban renewal project. A primary strategy of "permaculture" central to this work is to develop what I call "chains of benefits," when single actions produce multiple positive outcomes. — Published 2002.0814

SWISS ARCHITECTURAL SUMMER

Strange figures have appeared in Switzerland this summer. A rusty cube rises over 100 feet (30 meters) out of Lake Murten. Three giant saucers hover over the shoreline of Lake Neuch�tel, and another blurry shape is at lake's end.

In the so-called Three-Lakes region, the four cities of Biel, Neuch�tel, Murten, and Yverdon have been connected into a network of sites and temporary structures this summer for Switzerland's sixth national exhibition that will run through October 20, 2002. — Published 2002.0814

COURTYARD HOUSING REVIVAL

If an architect had designed the human hand, William Mitchell told his students at UCLA in the early 1980s, all the fingers would be equally long. Mitchell, now dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT, drew laughs for that joke because its truth was instantly recognizable: there is something standardizing in the architectural instinct. — Published 2002.0724

RESTORING THE GIANT FOREST

The notion that architecture should fit the vernacular of its surroundings did not begin in U.S. national parks, but few other architectural styles seem to sit as comfortably in the landscape as the "national park rustic" style. — Published 2002.0626

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