2013 USA Landscape Architecture School rankings announced

2013 USA Landscape Architecture School rankings announced
Harvard GSD | Gund Hall | Image Credit Flickr User Peter Alfred Hess

Design Intelligence has announced the 2013 America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools including the top landscape architecture schools in the USA. This is the third year we are sharing the list with our readers. The ranking is determined by surveying respondents selected from lists of undergraduate and graduate landscape architecture programs accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board.

LSU and Harvard have maintained their top ranking for Undergraduate and Graduate programs, whilst Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has risen to second spot for both its Undergraduate and Graduate programs.

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Work commences on carbon-zero community park and school: Grontmij

Crouch Hill - Gronmij

Grontmij announced that work has commenced on the Crouch Hill Park and Ashmount Primary School development, in the London Borough of Islington.

The Crouch Hill development is a highly sensitive scheme and comprises Metropolitan Open Land, a Site of Metropolitan Significance for Nature Conservation and a local park. The site is adjacent to the Parkland Walk, a disused railway and a popular North London walking route between Finsbury Park and Highgate.

A new central green space will give the public access to out-of-hours community activities in the school including, a shared games court. New paths will link local housing and the Parkland Walk to attract visitors and improve safety. The whole site will become more permeable and accessible, with easy-access routes for wheelchairs, young children and parents with pushchairs. Paths through existing trees are designed as raised boardwalks, to ‘tread lightly’ through the site and a sensitive lighting strategy will improve community safety in key areas, while respecting bat foraging corridors.

Continue reading Work commences on carbon-zero community park and school: Grontmij

Academy of Art University Launches the School of Landscape Architecture

Academy of Art University, the nation’s largest private, accredited art and design university, launches the School of Landscape Architecture, offering accredited Associate’s (AA) and Bachelor’s (BFA) degree programs as well as continuing art education courses beginning Summer 2011 semester.

In keeping with the school’s rich tradition of preparing the artists and designers of tomorrow with instruction from leading professionals in their field, Heather Clendenin will take the helm as Director of Landscape Architecture.

Clendenin’s interest in landscape architecture began with one very memorable hike. Then a botany and rhetoric major, she returned with a group to a trail she had been on the year before. Her memory of the trail, which led out into a valley of virgin timber, was intense and inspiring.

“We got out to the overlook, and it had been clear cut,” said Clendenin. “It was then that I thought it was time to get out from behind the microscope.”

As the program Director for the Landscape Architecture Certificate Program at UC Berkeley Extension, Clendenin initiated and directed the Sustainable Environmental Design and Stewardship Professional Sequence program.

In line with those principles, Academy of Art University’s School of Landscape Architecture will incorporate sustainable practices into the framework of all courses. Students will be instructed to analyze landscapes and make responsible decisions based on that analysis.

Ultimately, graduates of the program will be prepared to create inspiring, memorable and functional outdoor environments. “This program provides future generations of designers the opportunity to use San Francisco as their studio,” said Clendenin. “Then they can take that knowledge and design process anywhere in the world.”

See courses available for Landscape Architecture beginning Summer 2011 semester.

Viñoly-designed New York architecture school opens

Building reports

Newly renovated New City College of New York Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture opens today

The City College of New York’s Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, Urban Design and Landscape Architecture has reopened, after a complete overhaul by Rafael Viñoly Architects.

On the building’s periphery, Landscape Architect Lee Weintraub’s design accentuates the main entrance, creating another accessible congregation point for students.

SOURCE: Building – Viñoly-designed New York architecture school opens

Natural Play Area for School in Scotland

A natural play area is being designed and constructed in at Merrylee Primary School in Scotland. It is going to be the only school in Britain with a natural play area within its grounds.

The Evening Times reports

It will have hills, long grass, a flower garden and eco-friendly features including badger set and fox’s den.
They worked with Felicity Steers, who is a parent and a landscape architect, and came up with the design of the Merrylee Urban Jungle.

For the FULL article & video go to the [SOURCE: Evening Times - Naturally Classy]

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT – Felicity Steers of erz studio