Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Landscape Architecture is "Designing Awesome"

Today via Twitter, LANDMARK WEST! learned about the American Society of Landscape Architects' (ASLA) pop-up signage project "Designed by a Landscape Architect".


Columbus Circle, NY. August 17, 2011.

The open, green spaces we enjoy--public plazas, college campuses, roof gardens, and more!--don't design themselves!  The pop-up signs, complete with QR codes to drive curious passersby to more info online, remind us of that.  LW's Cristiana and intern Kate G. scooted over to Columbus Circle this afternoon to check it out for themselves!

LW! has recently been at the front lines of advocating for the preservation and protection of a public concourse in Central Park, itself the product of thoughtful and successful landscape design: Cherry Hill.  As LW! and our preservation colleagues have testified before not one but two city agencies, Central Park--New York's first Scenic Landmark!--is all about layers! 

And the 1980s renovation and redesign of Cherry Hill by Gerald Allen (the paved concourse and fountain restoration) and Philip Winslow (the surrounding landscape) is a significant layer worthy of protection.  The 1980s is a momentous time in the life of Central Park as it was then that New York's urban oasis was rescued from its deleterious state and progressively restored to the urban green we know it to be today!


Kate G. uses her iPhone and the ASLA QR code to learn more.




LW! inspired someone else to check out the ASLA pop-up sign, too!


The northern edge of Columbus Circle.



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