ASLA Announces 2005 Medal and Professional Award Winners

Jane Silverstein Ries, FASLA, the ASLA Medal, the highest honor the organization bestows upon individuals, “for her lifetime achievements and contributions to the profession, the welfare of the public, and the environment.” Ries began her 56-year career in 1933 as the first female landscape architect in Colorado. Within six months she started her own firm. ASLA describes Ries as “an early advocate of sustainable design, aesthetic green spaces, and raising the standards of urban life.”

ASLA also announced the winners of its 2005 Professional Awards. Several winners in various categories incorporate green strategies or grace prominent green projects. Two Award of Excellence winners, described below, were designed with notable consideration of environmental responsibility. For more information on these and other winners, visit www.asla.org. Both the ASLA Medal and the Professional Awards will be formally presented on October 10, 2005, at ASLA’s annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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The Heart of the Park at Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, submitted by master plan consultant Olin Partnership, Ltd., was given an Award of Excellence for General Design. The 18.5-acre (7.5 ha) site required $9.5 million and 12 years to complete. A passive biofiltration system on the 80' x 740' (24 x 226 m) reflecting pool eliminates the need for electricity and chemicals. The team used porous or semiporous decomposed granite for most hard surfaces, allowing stormwater infiltration. Equipment traffic near tree roots was limited during construction. Contractors performed all excavations within drip lines of trees by hand and wrapped each root with moisture-preserving insulation. Local materials and native plants were used to enhance the park’s continuity, longevity, and environmental responsibility. More information is online at www.hermannpark.org.

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The Noisette Community of North Charleston, South Carolina, submitted by BNIM Architects and Burt Hill Kosar Rittleman Associates, was given an Award of Excellence for Analysis and Planning. A 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) project at the historic center of North Charleston, Noisette is considered the leading sustainable redevelopment of an urban environment in the U.S. The master plan, developed through a five-year, collaborative process, calls for creating a mixed-use land-use pattern, restoring natural systems, restoring connections within the community, using neighborhoods as catalysts for change, and creating a new community on a portion of the former Charleston Naval Base, among other goals. Master planning team leaders Harry Gordon, FAIA, and Bob Berkebile, FAIA, and Noisette Company CEO John Knott Jr. are all

EBN Advisory Board members. For more on Noisette, see

EBN

Vol. 10, No. 5 or visit www.noisettesc.com.