How public spaces make cities work

More than 8 million people are crowded together to live in New York City. What makes it possible? In part, it’s the city’s great public spaces — from tiny pocket parks to long waterfront promenades — where people can stroll and play. Amanda Burden helped plan some of the city’s newest public spaces, drawing on her experience as, surprisingly, an animal behaviorist. She shares the unexpected challenges of planning parks people love — and why it's important.

Ariapata Ave Master Plan

Master Plan for Ariapita Ave, Woodbrook, Trinidad designed by OBMI and Talma Mills Studios.

IKEA ::: Park[ing] Day

In the 2014 IKEA catalog reference is made to the annual event Park(ing) Day. The parklet concept, turning parking spaces into landscaped gathering places is scheduled on Sept. 20 worldwide.

Moby Celebrates L.A. Architecture

Musician, DJ, photographer, and architecture blogger Moby riffs on L.A. architecture in this video about the Getty-led initiative Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.

On the Boards : Sustainable Krajicek Playgrounds

The proposed scheme designed by BOARD (Bureau of Architecture, Research, and Design) received the second prize for the Richard Krajicek Foundation Playground competition. The proposal was conceived as a living space for the users with a design that connects to the existing social ideals of the community. It is proposed to be constructed of recycled materials and provides a communal garden, a sports court and interactive spaces for young children.

Click Competition

The International Federation of Landscape Architects Congress is hosting their 2nd international photography contest. The themes for submissions are:

• contemporary issues around globalization
• indigenous wisdom
• radical change and resilience

Submit your contribution via email to iflaphotovideocompetition@iflaonline.org. The deadline for submissions is Monday 31st December 2012.

For more information about IFLA50

New Work: Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park

The Four Freedoms Park memorial for Franklin D. Roosevelt was designed by the late Louis Kahn, 38 years after he originally designed it. Located on a triangular protrusion from Roosevelt Island, New York, the memorial is an spiritual space defined by open space, landscape and heavy granite walls.

For more.

The International Federation of Landscape Architects Congress 2013

Never has the discipline of landscape architecture been more relevant than in this age of momentous global change, where current approaches to management of our landscape can no longer be sustained.

The International Federation of Landscape Architects is inviting abstract submissions for the 2013 Congress under the themes:

• Contemporary issues around globalisation
• Indigenous wisdom
• Local landscape
• Radical change and resilience
• Rural landscapes
• Urban landscapes

deadline:

abstract submissions: 31^st October 2012
final accepted submissions: 31^st January 2013

For information about submission guidelines and to submit your abstract please visit the Call for Abstracts page on the IFLA 2013 website or email ifla@tcc.co.nz.

Dutch Profiles: H+N+S

Dutch Profiles interviews H+N+S Landscape Architects featuring the National Park De Hoge Veluwe, a nature area spanning 55 square kilometres as well as proposals for New Orleans.

Coleman Oval Skatepark

NY Skateboarding interviewed community partner Steve Rodriguez about the newly-built Coleman Oval Skatepark designed by Architecture for Humanity in partnership with Nike Game Changers Grant. He comments about the obstacles, community, design considerations and homages in the park's continuing identity.

Landscape ::: Sensational Park

The aim of the Sensational Park in Frosinone, Italy was to harmonize the relationship between nature and urbanism. The design based around the 5 senses invites users to define their own path discovering different spaces along the journey. Designed by Nabito Architects & Partners the park was completed in October 2009 and is comprised of a series of truncated cones submerged amongst the landscape.

images courtesy of the architects

On the Boards: Aberdeen Gardens

images courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Landscape Architects OLIN design with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and KeppieDesign have won an international design competition in Aberdeen, Scotland. The design takes reference from the City Garden with its the dramatic topography of Aberdeen by criss-crossing a series of paths across the Denburn Valley to reconnect the urban fabric creating a reinvigorated green heart of the city.

Landscape::: Formosa Pocket Park

Designed by Katherine Spitz Associates, the 4,600 ft² Formosa Pocket Park, is constructed above an underground parking and adjacent to a Lorcan O'Herlihy designed condominium. The design of the planting areas mimic fallen leaves with both the shape and the colours.

Landscape::: The Art of Jim Denevan

American sand artist Jim Denevan creates colossal geometric drawings etched into the sand freehand during the low tides. Often created with nothing more than a length of driftwood, Denevan has for nearly 20 years undertaken hundreds of unique sand drawings at beaches all around the world, however many last only only hours tide comes in.

competition ::: SLANT magazine

The July 2011 issue of SLANT magazine is launching a competition, open to all, to design a garden for a private residence. The house in question is not a real house, it has been designed specifically for this competition, and its location is not being specified. The “blanks” or “options” in the brief are deliberate, and the opportunity on offer to the entrants is that they can fill in the blanks in any way that they choose.

“It is a generic house and garden which could be almost anywhere in the world, and you are free to choose the country in which you would like this imaginary house and garden to be located.

To enter

landscape ::: SITIO

SITIO is a site-specific art project designed by Santiago Borja to sit alongside the famed modernist Villa Savoye in Poissy, France. SITIO plays with the argument developed by Adolf Max Vogt in his book Le Corbusier, The Noble Savage (2003), that traces the use of pilotis to childhood memories coloured by imagination and fantasy, rather than the logic often associated with Le Corbusier. More about the project and artist here

In other landscape news a new Public Park Opens In Montego Bay

Profile: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol

Named the 2011 Cooper-Hewitt’s National Design Awardee in Landscape Architecture, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN) is an international landscape architecture practice based in Seattle, Washington founded by Kathryn Gustafson, Jennifer Guthrie, and Shannon Nichol.

They have experience in designing landscapes that are widely varied in size, type and scale. The carefully crafted spaces are typically born of its context and express the sculptural qualities of the landscape whilst that offer moments of contemplation in intimate and tranquil settings. These spaces often reflect the professional backgrounds of the designers many trained in landscape, architecture, engineering, graphics, ecology, and other sciences.

Recent project include the Lurie Garden of Millennium Park in Chicago, the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, and the new Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Campus in Seattle.

landscape ::: Las Negras Waterfront

the Las Negras Waterfront in Cabo de Gata Natural Park, Almería, Spain designed by architect Jesús Torres García. The recently completed waterfront project is defined by benches that create movement in the landscape and wooden structures that frame vistas out to sea where. The palette of materials aims to anchor the work to its immediate context; the wood and raw concrete wall tie back to the community nearby.

landscape ::: New Intercontinental

Landscape Architect Thomas Balsley has recently completed a courtyard for the new Intercontinental Hotel in Times Square. The unique and private, 1,500 ft² vest-pocket landscape acts as a backdrop to the reception area peered through a window and evokes the tranquil sensibility of the rock karesansui gardens of Japan.

The courtyard for the Intercontinental is designed to oxygenate the hotel, both literally and figuratively. It offers a visual and spiritual retreat to the hotel’s travelers and guests as they retreat from the city’s bustle.

Thomas Balsley

Getier

Designed by Thomas Perz & Petrus Gartler, the bench gets its name for the animal-like features. Getier allows a diversity of interpretation, the solid chain is works both an anchor as well as a point of motion, creating multiple variation in their arrangements.