ASLA Show Recap

The 2008 ASLA Class of Fellows in Philadelphia, following the awards ceremonies. From left, front row: Randall Metz, Mich.; Douglas Mann, Texas; Jeff Caster, Fla.; Harry Dodson, Boston; David Milligan, Fla.; Nathan Perkins, Canada. 2nd row: Perry Howard (1994 Fellow); Mark Allen Focht, Penn./Del.; J. Barry Frankenfield, Va.; Craig Coronato, Colo.; Thomas Tavella, Conn.; Rodney Swink (Fellows chairman, 1994 Fellow). 3rd row: John Alden Bentley, Ohio; Thomas Bauer, N.J; Charlotte Frieze, N.Y.; Ronald Herman, N. Calif.; Harlow Landphair, Texas. 4th row: Samuel Melillo, N.J.; Colgate Searle Jr., R.I.; Faye Harwell, Potomac; Edwin Mickelson, Ohio; John Crowley III, Ga.
Photos by Sam Brown, ASLA

The annual ASLA Show, this year in Philadelphia, is half expo/education sessions and one-half award presentations, with new officer installations thrown in for good measure.

Joe Porter, FASLA, the 2008 ASLA Medal award recipient is a founding principal of Design Workshop.

2008 ASLA Medal

The ASLA medal is the highest honor the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) bestows. One medal is awarded each year to a landscape architect whose lifetime achievements and contributions to the profession have had a unique and lasting impact on the welfare of the public and the environment.

Kathryn Gustafson, ASLA, the 2008 ASLA Design Medal recipient.

This year, Joe Porter, FASLA, of Aspen, Colo., received the ASLA Medal. Mr. Porter has more than four decades of experience in the landscape architecture profession. He is a founding principal of Design Workshop, a leading landscape architecture firm with over 200 employees and this year’s Firm Award recipient. He is known for his ability to champion a collaborative approach to design, his willingness and effectiveness in harnessing economic development as a positive agent of landscape change, and his leadership in challenging the profession to think big thoughts and to embrace grand challenges.

Peter Pollack, FASLA, received the ASLA Community Service Award.

The ASLA Design Medal

Each year the ASLA awards the Design Medal to recognize an individual landscape architect who has produced a body of exceptional design work at a sustained level for a period of at least 10 years.

Angela Dye, FASLA, was inducted as the 61st ASLA president. She has over 25 years of professional experience and founded A Dye Design, Inc.

Kathryn Gustafson, ASLA, of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd. in Seattle and Gustafson Porter in London received the ASLA Design Medal in honor of her exceptional accomplishments. For over 25 years, Gustafson has created award-winning work across the globe, focusing on civic, institutional, and corporate projects. Recent examples include the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in London’s Hyde Park; the Garden of Forgiveness in Beirut; Lurie Garden in Chicago; Arthur Ross Terrace at the American Museum of Natural History in New York; and the Seattle Civic Center Campus.

Linda Jewell, FASLA, of the University of California at Berkeley, received the Jot D. Carpenter Teaching Medal from 2008 ASLA President Perry Howard, FASLA

She is an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architecture and medalist of the French Academy of Architecture.

On Friday Oct. 3, the night prior to the opening of the 2008 ASLA Expo, landscape architecture schoolmates got together for a grand alumni party.

Community Service Award

The Community Service Award recognizes sustained pro bono service to the community demonstrating the values of landscape architecture.

Design Workshop won this year’s ASLA Landscape Architecture Firm Award. “What is really gratifying about this award is that it recognizes not a single project or event, but an entire body of work. It celebrates the consistent implementation of high quality, meaningful work and acknowledges the firm’s influence on the direction of the profession of landscape architecture.”—Becky Zimmermann, Design Workshop president. Photo: Gardens on El Paseo, Palm Desert, Calif. Landscape architecture by Design Workshop.
Client: Madison Marquette RealtyCrescent.

Peter Pollack, FASLA, of Ann Arbor, Mich., received the ASLA Community Service Award. He has contributed his landscape architecture expertise to citizen advisory committees, ad hoc mayoral committees and neighborhood and civic groups for over 30 years, spanning policy making, physical planning and project implementation.

Jot D. Carpenter: Teaching Medal

In 2000, the ASLA created the Jot D. Carpenter Teaching Medal to honor an individual educator for sustained and significant contribution to landscape architecture education. Professor Carpenter taught at Ohio State University and left an indelible mark on landscape architecture education.

At the ASLA Show general session on Oct. 4, Lawrence Selzer, president and CEO of the Conservation Fund, spoke about promoting green infrastructure practices and what landscape architects are doing to support the effort. Since its founding in 1985, the Fund has helped safeguard wildlife habitat, working farms, forests, community greenspace and historic sites totaling more than six million acres nationwide.

This year’s teaching recipient is Linda Jewell, FASLA, of the University of California at Berkeley, who has taught for three decades and influenced hundreds of landscape architects. Many of her former students now hold prestigious positions at leading design firms, government institutions or universities. Throughout her academic career, she committed herself to the integration of professional work and construction technology into her teachings.

Susan Rieff, executive director of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas at Austin, spoke at a news conference Oct. 4 at the ASLA Expo. In 2007 the Meadows Foundation awarded the Wildflower Center a $262,000 grant to support the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SSI). The revised draft of the SSI is available for comment until Jan. 20, 2009. Go to www.sustainablesites.org/publiccomment

LaGasse Medals

These eponymous awards honor Alfred LaGasse, past executive director of the American Institute of Park Executives and executive vice president of the National Recreation and Parks Association. From 1968 to 1976, he was the executive director of the ASLA and the American Society of Landscape Architects Foundation. LaGasse’s lifetime focus was proper management of the nation’s public lands and natural resources.

Rodney Swink, FASLA, received the LaGasse Medal for leadership in management and conservancy of natural resources and public lands.

The award recognizes notable contributions to the management and conservancy of natural resources or public landscapes.

No more than two medals are awarded each year, one to a landscape architect and one to person outside the profession.

Pam Blough, ASLA, the Michigan Chapter Trustee is the new ASLA vice president of finance. She is the founder of P.M. Blough, Inc. in Grand Haven, Mich. Gary Scott, FASLA, is the ASLA president-elect. He is the director of Parks and Recreation for the city of West Des Moines.

This year, only one award was presented. The LaGasse Meal went to Rodney Swink, FASLA, of Raleigh, N.C. Since 1984, Swink has served as director of the North Carolina Office of Urban Development. His award-winning work has led to more than $700 million of new investment to revitalize main street communities in the state. A champion of smart growth and historic preservation, Mr. Swink continues to lead urban downtown development and revitalization efforts.

From left: Gary Brown, FASLA, is the new ASLA vice president of professional practice. He is director of campus planning and landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Brian Dougherty, FASLA, the Oklahoma Chapter Trustee, is the new ASLA vice president of membership. He is director of Parks and Public Space Initiative for the Oklahoma City Community Foundation.