Tag Archives: landscape design

Focus on Contemporary Landscape Architecture

Posted on by

There’s a great collection of contemporary landscape architecture projects in the latest edition (Vol 5, No. 3) of ArchitypeReview. Make sure you head over there and check it out as the photographs are decent in both quantity and quality. Unfortunately there’s no editorial or commentary – just project descriptions by the landscape architecture practices. A grid of nine “iconic” landscape projects are also featured, although mysteriously, they are presented in black and white with no more detail. That aside, ArchtypeReview is still a good resource.

My picks of the curated projects include most of my favourite practicing landscape architects…

James Corner Field Operations

RE-USE... an aerial view of a typical section of The High Line, New York City

Office of James Burnett

URBANE... The Brochstein Pavilion rekindles the spirit of the legendary Dan Kiley

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

SYSTEMS... bioengineering replicates natural systems at Connecticut Water Treatment Facility

West 8

SURPRISE... it's the Garden of 10,000 Bridges (well, not literally) in Xi'an, China

Also, don’t miss the less known projects; Underwood Family Sonoran Landscape Laboratory by Ten Eyck, Schandorff Square by Østengen & Bergo and Shanghai Houtan Park by Kongjian Yu.

New Books: Siza, Kahn & Contemporary Masterpieces

Posted on by

With the start of another year a distant memory, you’re probably either embroiled in work (for those lucky enough not to have lost their jobs in the recent industry downturn) or perhaps you’re back at university. Either way, there’s always time to think about reading a few quality books.

Three major publishers come to mind when thinking about quality architecture or landscape books; Birkhauser, Phaidon and Thames & Hudson. Birkhauser are usually overpriced (depending on exchange rates) and occasionally include some very average quality images in their books (example) and while Thames & Hudson has published the odd classic, it doesn’t have much of interest coming up anytime soon.
Continue reading →