The National Design Awards were conceived by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to honor the best in American design. First launched at the White House in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the annual Awards program celebrates design in various disciplines as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world.
This year Olin Partnership won the Landscape Design category of the Awards who were against finalists Gustafson Guthrie Nichol
The recipient of the Landscape Design Award, which is presented for work in urban planning or park and garden design, is Olin Partnership, one of today’s leading American landscape architecture firms. The Philadelphia-based studio has been dedicated to sustainability and green design since its inception in 1976. Olin Partnership collaborates with renowned architects, planners, public agencies, corporations, institutions, development groups and foundations worldwide. Its diverse projects include public parks, civic spaces, educational and cultural institutions, and mixed-use urban developments, such as the Fran and Ray Stark Sculpture Garden at the J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Gap headquarters in San Francisco, the Bryant Park restoration and reconstruction and Columbus Circle in New York, Exchange Square in London and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, in collaboration with Peter Eisenman in Berlin.
The finalists honored in the Landscape Design category are Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, a multidisciplinary practice led by partners Kathryn Gustafson, Jennifer Guthrie and Shannon Nichol specializing in high-use landscapes in complex urban contexts; and Stoss Landscape Urbanism, a Boston-based studio that practices at the juncture of landscape architecture, urban design and planning.
The 2008 jury was comprised of a diverse group of leading figures in design, including:
• Tim Brown, jury chair and chief executive officer and president, IDEO
• James Carpenter, principal, James Carpenter Design Associates
• Francisco Costa, creative director, Calvin Klein Collection for women, Calvin Klein, Inc.
• Camilo Pardo, design chief, Special Vehicles Team and Living Legends Studio, Ford Motor Company
• Mark Robbins, dean, Syracuse University School of Architecture
• Georgianna Stout, founding partner and creative director, 2×4
• Raquel Tudela, global creative director, Bloomberg L.P.
• Lauren Zalaznick, president, Bravo and Oxygen Media
SOURCE: National Smithsonian Press Release