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GENERAL DESIGN. Award of Excellence

SHANGHAI HOUTAN PARK :

LANDSCAPE AS LIVING SYSTEM, Shanghai. China

Turenscape, Beijing, and Peking University Graduate

School of Landscape Architectur, Beijing

The 2010 Shanghai Expo Bureau

LONG AFTER THE END of the urban-Chemed Expo 2010 in Shanghai, for which it was created, Houtan Park will mature and season in the ways it reconnects the city center to the Huang­pu River. The mile-long brownfield site is only 100 to 265 feet wide and serves as a megastructural way to control flooding in the city, which was previously the work of a 22-foot-high barren con­crete wall. Terraced plantings, which incorporate former factory facilities, and a constructed wetland maintain the flood control and retain runoff, cleaning up to 500,000 gallons of river water  a day while paying homage to both the area's 18th-century farm­ing landscape and its 20th-century industrial heritage. Pathways through the seasonally changing crop and wetland vegetation al­low people to walk easily through the park and are punctuated with small, bamboo-lined gathering spaces and views to the Shanghai skyline. "This is a powerful illustration of how land­scape architecture can restore the ecology and history of a place," the jury noted, "while accommodating human use and reinforc­ing the value of nature within a vibrant urban context."

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award

 

THE BROCHSTEIN PAVILION AT RICE

UNIVERSITY. Houston

The Office of James Burnett, Houston

Rice University

 

 

THIS NEW SOCIAL HUB for the Rice University campus is re­markable for its restraint and purity of form. It is designed as a landmark destination at the university and shows how landscape architecture fosters social interaction. The school wished to en­hance spatial connections around its central quadrangle, which was originally the primary cast-west axis of the campus. Meticu­lously detailed and unpretentious, the 6,000-square-foot glass, steel, and aluminum pavilion offers a transparent, sublime contrast m the buildings around it. Surrounding this pavilion is a 10,000­-square-foot plaza of scored and sandblasted concrete. Linear bands of horsetail reed define the edge of the outdoor dining area and sep­arate the adjacent pedestrian paths. A bosque of 48 alle’e lacebark elms provides an organizing framework at a human scale while a row of live oaks reinforces the existing space. Long, black concrete fountains with beach stone till the garden with the murmur of running water and reflect the filtered light that falls through the canopy. Movable Furniture and subtle site lighting encourage im­promptu gatherings amid this campus oasis. The jury admired the pavilion's "beautiful simplicity and scale," which help to set­tle the space into its surroundings on the Rice campus.

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award

CONNECTICUT WATER TREATMENT FACILITY,

New Haven, Connecticut

Michael Van Valkenburgh

Associates Inc., New York City

South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority

 

WITHIN A MODEST BUDGET, this project presents a microcosm of the surrounding regional watershed and shows the aesthetic potential for highly functional municipal landscape design. The rich terrain works at a hu­man scale to invite people to engage with the land as they observe the water that flows through it, and the elemental landscape design offsets the sleek I i near form of the treatment facility. The swales re­place a traditional engineered drainage system and create topo­graphical variety through the reuse of excavated soiI. The primal yet sophisticated planting program is ecologically restorative - the vegetation filters storm water runoff and recharges the groundwa­ter table. The native species require no fertilizer or pesticides, and their colors and textures change with the seasons. By transforming a formerly flat lawn into a dynamic, ecologically diverse public space, the design improves on the long-standing community use of the grounds and the site's connections to its suburban surroundings. "The design is educational as it tells the story of the ecology of wa­ter purification," observed the jury. "Yet what draws people in is its exquisite sculptural execution."

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award

CROSSWATERS ECOLODGE, NANKUN

MOUNTAIN RESERVE, Guangdong Province, China

EDSA Inc., Jacksonville, Florida

Longmen Mount Nankun Zhongheng Ecotourism Development Company Limited

 

 

THIS PROJECT, among the first ecotourism destinations in Chi­na, aspires to create an immersive educational experience. The client wished to protect the nature reserve, established in 198 i, and enrich the lives of the 5,000 locals whose income depends a]­Most exclusively on harvesting bamboo from the forest. From the outset, the design team engaged this community as it devised a I 0-year plan to develop lodging, interpretive, activity, retail, and civic facilities on the subtropical mountain. The Crosswaters lodge is the first phase of that plan. Its grounds and facilities highlight the importance of bamboo and its place as "Friend of the people," as the plant is known in China. All of the plantings in the facility's botanical gardens and grounds are na­tive to the region. The landscape architect meticu­lously studied the topography and social makeup of the area to develop the project's sustainability guidelines for design and construction. "This proj­ect stands out in this region for using found and salvaged local materials and collaboration," said the jury. "This is a place we'd like to visit."

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award

 

THIS LINE, SECTION 1. NewYork City

James Corner Field Operations (project lead) and Diller

Scofidio + Renfro, New York City

The City of New York/Friends of The High Line

 

 

 

 

THIS ALREADY RENOWNED URBAN PARK (see "Back on Track," Landscape Architecture. October 2009) serves as a timely lesson in ecological sustainability, urban regeneration, and rile cre­ative reincarnation of infrastructure. For 50 years, the High Line separated freight mains from streets. The crick was abandoned in 1980 and became an eyesore threatened with demolition-until the appearance of opportunistic plants triggered die idea of creat­ing a park. In 1999, a group that called itself the Friends of the High Line formed to realize this extraordinary transformation through a strategy the design team terms "agri-tecture." This first section extends for more than half a mile. Its combination of hard and soft surfaces creates areas for heavy foot traffic while leaving plenty of room for rich vegetation. Because the innovative open­ grid concrete plank paving system allows visitors to meander amid the ^plantings, the space encourages a more peaceful pace as people enjoy the vistas of Manhattan and the Hudson River. Besides its providing wildlife habitat and Valuable open space for New York City, the High Line has become an economic generator for the neighborhood. The jury said it looked forward to seeing how the public continues to use the park as it matures.

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award

 

NUEVA SCHOOL, Hillsborough. California

Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture, San Francisco

Nueva School

 

This SEMISUBURBAN prekindergarten no eighth grade exper­imental school emphasizes ways to develop children's imagi­nations. The LEED Gold campus design replaces a parking lot with expanded facilities and a central plaza that visually connects to the larger landscape and to the bay beyond. Woodlands next in the site are laced with trails to extend the learning environ­ment, which the designers highlight by including local flora in the material palette and preserving a majestic heritage oak chat anchors the campus center. Shifts in grade, planting, and pave­ment break the plaza into functionally smaller outdoor rooms. A stormwater runnel with a row of ginkgo trees filters rainwater and further breaks down the scale of the plaza. The landscape ar­chitect collaborated closely with the design team on native - grass­covered berms that shelter the library's eastern facade and a green root system that replicates the endangered native California grass­land habitat. Cypress for shade screens, decking, and outdoor furniture was milled from ailing trees on the site The jury admired the project for its well-designed scale and thoughtful blending of architecture and landscape architecture.

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN. Honor Award

 

THE QINHGANGDAO BEACH RESTORATION:

AN ECOLOGICAL SURGERY, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. China

School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing

The Municipal Guvernment of Qiuhuaungdao City

 

 

 

HEAVTTY ERODED AND BADTY ABUSED coastline has been restored as a living, harmonious system. Located in a coastal tourist destination in northern China, the 6,4 kilometers of littered sand dunes, once a national bird reserve, had been destroyed by development and then deserted. This reformative design pro­tects the dunes from erosion on the windy shoreline with a board­walk that maintains established native plant communities while reconnecting people to beach views. The recovery plan includes replicating tidewater holes that catch rain and allow wetland plants and animals to settle in once again. Nine green islets built in a once-barren artificial lake also serve as nesting areas. A new wetland museum teaches visitors about aquatic ecology and pro­vides a physical connection to it. Replacing shoreline concrete with riprap and hard-surface pathways with a boardwalk increas­es the permeable surface, supporting ground-cover planting. "It is so simple," said the jury. "It makes nature accessible and uses all native plants. 1r is a project of hope."

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN. Honor Award

 

ROOFTOP HAVEN FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE, Chicago

Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architect., Chicago

Gary Comer Youth Center

THE GARY COMER YOUTH CENTER ROOF GARDEN is an after school teaming space for youth, and also a space for sen­iors, in a neighborhood with little access to safe outdoor environ­ments. In its third year, the garden produced more than 1,000 pounds of organic food. It converts 8,160 square feet of space that otherwise might have gone unused into a place of beauty and respite. It also helps lower the costs of climate control. The land­scape architect worked closely with the architect and donor to develop this roofscape of flowers and vegetables. A full-time gar­den manager maintains the gardens and develops educational programs. The roof system, with soil 18 to 2-1 inches deep, is built to let rambunctious kids dig for potatoes and carrots and tend to cabbage, sunflowers, lettuce, and strawberries. Because it is warmer than ground level, the roof is used through the winter and is surrounded by the school's third-floor corridor and class­rooms. Circular metal skylights scattered throughout the garden become sculptural figures on the roof and illuminate the spaces below. "This project is so ^{straightforward} a collaboration between landscape architect and architect, it is redeeming," said the jury.

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN. Honor Award

 

SQUARE FOUR, BEIRUT, Lebanon

Vladimir Djurovic Landscape Architecture, Broumana, Lebanon

Solidere (Societe Libanaise de Developpement et Reconstruction)

 

 

A SMALL YET PIONEERING PRESENCE in a newly rebuilt section of Beirut's city center, this is one of the first public spaces com­missioned after Lebanon's civil war, and it now welcomes people to the heart of a reborn capital. The challenge was to create, within 815 ,square meters, a refuge dedicated co the city and its people while addressing its context and prominent location. Nestled among an­cient ruins, modern buildings, mosques, and churches, Square Four (see "Two Trees Grow in Beirut," Landscape Architecture, November 2007) responds to the abstractions of its surroundings and is defined by the essential constituent elements of its location. Two towering historic focus trees frame the square's composition as surviving wit­nesses to Beirut's long periods of strife. The square's ocher main components are a raised water mirror along the street, which be­comes a boundary as it visually expands the space; a 20-meter solid stone bench facing the warm and a long wooden deck embrac­ing the trees. "Within a prescriptive site," the jury said, "the de­sign amplifies the impact of the panorama and reflections-its context to transform the corner into a city landmark."

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award

 

THEATER GROUP RETREAT, Western Maine

Landworks Studio, Boston 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR YEARS, THIS LAKEFRONT CAMP RETREAT in rural western Maine had been neglected and disorganized. Its salvation came when a prominent New York City theater company, working with its landscape architect, focused on restoring the site's ecological and cultural integrity. The goals were to remediate erosion, decreased water quality, deforestation, soil compaction, and shrinking habi­tat while increasing plant and wildlife diversity, making it easier for people and cars to move around and incorporating meaningful gathering spaces and performance areas on its 10 acres. The clients wouldn't al low large machinery on the site, so al I work has been by hand, resulting in an intimate, collaborative effort. Forest bands, a hedgerow, and a centrally connecting boardwalk guide movement on the site and diversify the spaces and their functions. Native un­derstory plantings and various earthworks catch stormwater and create localized ecological hot spots. "A simple diagonal axis makes this place very special," the jury remarked. "The thematic econo­my and its importance to the user really come through

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award

 

TIANJIAN QIAOYUAN PARK, THE ADAPTATION PALETTES, Tianjian City, China

Turenscape, Beijing. and Peking University Graduate School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing

The Municipal Government of Tianjian City

 

 

THROUGH ALTERED LANDFORM and plant adaptation, a de­serted shooting range and garbage dump have been turned into a low-maintenance urban park that contains and purifies stormwater, remediates salinated alkaline soil, and provides envi­ronmental education. This 54-acre urban park in northern coastal China arose from a heavily polluted site. Inspired by the adaptive vegetation that enlivens the landscape in this region, the land­scape architects let nature work by digging a series of pond cavi­ties. With the rains, cavities turned into ponds, wetlands, and sea­sonal pools. Some remained dry. Soil pH improved and diverse habitats arose as workers initiated plant community evolution by both seeding and allowing native vegetation to grow unhindered. Platforms and paths ^allow visitors to sit or scroll among vegetation patches, learning from an environmental interpretation system along the way. The park achieved its goals in two years, with the seasonally changing landscape attracting thousands of people every day. "The transformation is remarkable," the jury noted. "There is a lot of complexity despite its apparent simplicity."

 

 

GENERAL DESIGN, Honor Award

 

UNDERWOOD FAMILY SONORAN LANDSCAPE

LABORATORY, Tucson, Arizona

Ten Eyek Landscape Architects Inc., Phoenix

The University of Arizona

 

 

THE SONORAN LANDSCAPE LABORATORY (see “Drowning in the Desert," Landscape Architerture, January 2010) is both a high-performance outdoor classroom and the entry plaza to a Facility that has landscape architecture, architecture, and planning students working side by side. It is its own case study in water har­vesting, climate regulation, air and water cleansing, recycling, ur­ban wildlife habitat enrichment, and human well-being. The for­mer grayfield is now a thriving habitat that shades the southern exposure of the new College of Architecture and Landscape Archi­tecture expansion with a vine-covered scrim. An 11,600-gallon rank collects graywater from the building and supports a native­planting garden demonstrating sustainable design in the arid Southwest. The project, which is a collaboration between a pub­lic university and private-sector supporters, turned a problem ­ponding runoff, including from the adjacent parking lot-into an asset: a low-cost arroyo and a cleansing, cooling biosponge garden and urban wildlife habitat chat students find interesting and attractive. "This project honestly commits to its laboratory Intent, even as it creates a pleasing social space," the jury observed.