Landscape Architects conference this weekend, Design expo open to the public on Sunday

It's fitting that today's Post column, "Landscape architects mix art, engineering, geology to create enjoyable spaces by Roger Lewis is about landscape architecture, since the American Society of Landscape Architects is having their annual conference in Washington this year. It opened yesterday and ends Monday.

2010 Annual Meeting
2010 EXPO
Session Handouts

The session handout section will be continuously updated so that most of the materials will be made available online, eventually, as was done for the 2009 conference.

2009 Annual Meeting
2009 EXPO
Session Handouts

From the Lewis article:

The aesthetic character of a city depends on the design of open space -- streets and parks, squares and plazas, courtyards and gardens -- as much as the design of individual buildings. Often exterior spaces are no less memorable than grand civic edifices, venerable churches and elegant homes.

Washingtonians, as well as visitors, appreciate not only the capital's familiar architectural icons, but also its Mall, parklands, avenues, circles and squares. Lafayette, Farragut and McPherson squares, the U.S. Navy Memorial and Lincoln Park are a few of the urban spaces that give Washington its unique identity. In Alexandria and Annapolis, streetscapes and waterfront promenades likewise impart some of the most lasting impressions of those historic cities.

City planners generate master plans delineating street patterns and the general shape of civic spaces constituting the public realm. Architects design buildings occupying such spaces. But it is often landscape architects who design in detail the open spaces set forth in master plans, who transform conceptual spaces into real spaces that ideally are beautiful, functional, safe and environmentally sustainable.

However, I believe that Lewis' column misses one of the most important points about landscape architects--that for the most part, within the architecture profession, they understand the primacy of urban design the best--which makes sense because they are taught to consider the overall landscape and form of a place--and so, when landscape architects have a key and/or lead role in planning teams, usually the plan does a much better job dealing with the overall urban form and the overall "landscape."

This is true for big master plans. For campus master plans. Even for Main Street commercial district revitalization planning. In my experience anyway.

- Urban Design element from the DC Comprehensive Plan
- Urban Design Compendium



The editorial in the current issue of the ASLA Landscape Architecture magazine is about a perceived "schism" between new urbanists and landscape architects, initiated by Andres Duany. Duany believes that landscape architects are usurping the role of (building) architects. Instead, I think he should be focusing on why most architects are so bad at urban design, and why the field isn't working to incorporate landscape architects and their perspective and method on landscape in projects where the architecture firms are the planning firms.

Design expo open to the public on Sunday

On Sunday, the exhibit hall for the conference is open to the public for a $25 charge. It's a great opportunity to see a lot of interesting vendor booths, planning firms, and the like. One of the featured exhibits in the expo is a model outdoor home exhibit by Garden Design magazine.

And you can probably still pick up a free copy of the current issue of Landscape Architecture magazine.