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AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS, NEW YORK (ASLA-NY)
ANNOUNCES 2020 ASLA HONORS RECIPIENTS

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Annual Program Recognizes Excellence in the Practice of Landscape Architecture
New York, New York (June 25, 2020) – The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the 2020 Honors and Medals recipients. Selected by ASLA’s Board of Trustees, the honors represent the highest recognition ASLA bestows each year. Medals will be presented to recipients at the ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture in October. Two honors have been awarded to New York landscape architects: Martha Schwartz, FASLA will receive the ASLA Design Medal and James Corner Field Operations will receive the Landscape Architecture Firm Award. ASLA-NY Chapter President, Elizabeth Moskalenko, RLA comments,

“On behalf of ASLA-NY, I congratulate Martha Schwartz, FASLA and James Corner Field Operations for their outstanding achievement as our two New York recipients of the 2020 ASLA Honor Awards!”

The ASLA Design Medal recognizes an individual landscape architect who has produced a body of exceptional design work at a sustained level for a period of at least ten years. In her nomination statement, Thaisa Way PhD, FASLA, FAAR, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington writes,

“Schwartz’s practice as a landscape architect deeply embedded in the art of design has shaped the field and discipline in multiple ways. The beauty and thoughtfulness of her designed landscapes have inspired generations of young designers as they discover the power of design as an art.”

Martha Schwartz, FASLA

Martha Schwartz is a landscape architect and artist with major interests in cities, communities, and the urban landscape. As senior partner of Martha Schwartz Partners, she has over 40 years of experience as a landscape architect, urbanist, and artist on a wide variety of projects located around the world with a variety of world-renowned architects. She is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the Honorary Royal Designer for Industry Award from the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts; the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award; the Women in Design Award for Excellence from the Boston Society of Architects; a fellowship from the Urban Design Institute; an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects; Council of Fellows Award by the American Society of Landscape Architects and most recently a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Boston Architectural College.

Martha is a tenured Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, advancing design for Climate Change Mitigation, a founding member of the Working Group of Sustainable Cities at Harvard University and an active member of the Landscape Architecture Foundation Climate Change Task Force. She has lectured nationally and internationally about sustainable cities and the urban landscape, and her work has been featured widely in publications and gallery exhibitions.

View nominating and supporting materials

The Landscape Architecture Firm Award is the highest honor that the American Society of Landscape Architects may bestow on a landscape architecture firm. This award recognizes landscape architecture firms that have produced bodies of distinguished work influencing the professional practice of landscape architecture. In the nomination letter of support, Adrian Benepe, Hon. ASLA and Senior Vice President & Director of City Park Development at the Trust for Public Land writes,

“The firm has produced some of the profession’s most lauded built work, including New York’s much-acclaimed High Line, and proven to be a leader in increasing landscape architecture’s visibility and relevance, especially in cities around the country. The firm raises the bar for the profession. Their efforts to help educate and push the profession to new horizons is a distinguishing mark of this firm.”

In a statement of support, Jennifer Nitzky, RLA, ASLA and Trustee of the ASLA NY Chapter comments:

“Through their masterfully crafted designs, James Corner Field Operations has elevated how people experience the landscape offering a creative and memorable celebration of place. With a portfolio of highly recognizable projects of international acclaim, this firm is pushing the envelope of complex design solutions that broadens the reach of landscape architecture with beautiful places that will endure through time.”

James Corner Field Operations

Founded in 1999, James Corner Field Operations is a leading-edge landscape architecture and urban design practice based in New York City, with offices in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Shenzhen. Field Operations is renowned for strong contemporary design across a variety of project types and scales, from large urban districts, master plans and complex planning sites, to small well-crafted, detailed design projects. Regardless of scale, there is a special commitment to the design of a vibrant and dynamic public realm, informed by the ecology of both people and nature, rooted in place and context.

Project types range from entire sectors of cities to urban development districts, institutional campuses, urban waterfronts, large public parks, urban squares, public places, roof terraces, and small intimate gardens. This range of project types exemplifies our capacity to think creatively in terms of ecology, economics, development and programming, and experientially in terms of physical design, spatial experience, and the poetics of place. Field Operations’ work has been recognized by both peer groups and those outside the field of landscape architecture. The firm’s work has also been published and exhibited internationally.

View nominating and supporting materials

For full details on all ASLA Medal and Honor Award recipients, please go to: https://www.asla.org/2020honors.aspx 

For a listing of all past recipients of ASLA Medal and Honor Awards, go to: https://www.asla.org/HonorsAwards.aspx 

About the American Society of Landscape Architects, New York Chapter:

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is the national professional association for landscape architects. Founded in 1899, the association represents over 15,000 members and features 49 professional chapters and 76 student chapters. The New York Chapter, founded in 1914, encompasses the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, and Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and Rockland counties. The Society’s mission is to lead in the planning, design and care of both our natural and built environments. While keeping pace with the ever-changing forces of nature and technology, landscape architects increasingly have a profound impact on the way people live, work and play.

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