October 18, 2024 - Opening tomorrow, India Basin Waterfront Park unites the historic boatyard of 900 Innes and the underutilized India Basin Shoreline Park into a single, new park. The park completes 1.5 miles of accessible shoreline along the San Francisco Bay that links the Bay Trail and Blue Greenway. Fostering better access from the neighborhood to the water has been a prime project goal that began with GGN’s 2016 winning competition entry.
In today's San Francisco Chronicle, Sam Whiting provides a preview of tomorrow's opening celebration.
“It feels amazing, unreal,” said Darryl Watkins, 23, who was raised and still lives in the Bayview, and now works full time for the Recreation and Park Department. “This signifies hope,” Watkins said as the dock swayed beneath his feet, riding the tide. “It’s a reason to get the community out and connect.”
Today’s article also highlights the significance of the groundbreaking Equitable Development Plan that ensured park design development, programming, and features would truly serve and represent the local Bayview community, while being developed in a partnership with the community and A. Philip Randolph Institute.
“This is the most important park project in modern San Francisco history,” said San Francisco Recreation and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg.
Tomorrow’s opening is the completion of Phase 1. When Phase 2 opens in 2027, India Basin Waterfront Park will be the most significant park construction project undertaken by the city since Golden Gate Park opened in 1870.
Learn more on the opening event’s website.
October 3, 2024 – Shannon Nichol is giving a virtual presentation, Forms, Weeds, and Real Life, as a guest speaker for the New York Botanical Garden’s Annual Landscape Portfolio Lecture Series on Tuesday, October 15th.
As co-founder of Seattle-based landscape design firm GGN, Shannon Nichol is committed to specifying local native plant palettes through long-term and norm-breaking collaborations with local horticulturalists and landscape managers around the world. Stemming from a lifelong enthusiasm and amateur familiarity with her home region’s under-used native plants, Nichol has documented the successes and failures of incorporating native plantings into her own gardens over the last 15 years, a process that has heavily influenced her professional work and led to many creative explorations and friendships along the way.
Hear from Nichol as she shares learnings and insight from projects including; Chicago’s Lurie Garden at Millennium Park, the Gates Foundation Campus in Seattle, and the Seattle Residence: Native Gardens.
The three-part lectures series will continue with Shane Coen, the founder and CEO of Coen+Partners on October 28; and Lauren Stimson, a Landscape Architect, Principal, and Partner at STIMSONon November 19.
Learn more on the New York Botanical Garden's website.
October 3, 2024 – Rodrigo Abela is a field session leader at this year’s ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture in Washington, DC, on Sunday, October 6th.
Constructing National Memory: Composition, Renovation, and Adaptation within the Monumental Core will discuss the evolving commitment to making the American story “accessible and sustainable” through the following landscapes of memory: the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the World War II Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial.
Brenda Sanchez, FAIA, Senior Architect and Senior Design Manager at the Smithsonian Institution will join Rodrigo in leading the discussion about the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Field session leaders for the memorials include Sara M. Downing, ASLA, PLA, Principal at Oehme, van Sweden and Associates; Mary Katherine Lanzillotta, FAIA, Partner at Hartman-Cox Architects; Yue Li, Chief od Professional Services Division at National Mall and Memorial Parks; Bill Eubank, LEED AP, and Duane Krueger, Regional Sales Managers at Cold Spring; Roy Jach, Senior Project Manager at Sigal Construction; Holly Rotundi, Executive Director at Friends of the National World War II Memorial; and Kara Lanahan, ASLA, Principal at Horn & Company.
Attendees can be expected to learn the following:
Understand the complexity associated with renovating or adding to an existing memorial with regard to the design review process, including expectations and maintenance considerations.
Analyze strategies for incorporating accessibility and sustainability into the visually sensitive context of the National Mall.
Examine how materials and planted form can be used to capture emotional content for each landscape’s narrative.
Review a range of different design strategies that both accommodate modern-day needs and honor the context of historically sensitive sites.
This is one of many field sessions that will be taking place throughout the first and last day of the conference. With a total of 31 field sessions scheduled for this event, there are many exciting opportunities for attendees to learn from and connect with fellow landscape professionals.
Learn more on the ASLA Conference website.
