dirt.asla.orgTHE DIRT – UNITING THE BUILT & NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS

THE DIRT – UNITING THE BUILT & NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS Primary Menu Home RSS THE DIRT by E-mail About Submissions Search Search for: THE DIRT UNITING THE BUILT & NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS A More Resilient Dia Beacon 05/08/2024 05/13/2024 Jared Green Leave a comment Dia Beacon, New York / Studio Zewde When designing a new, more resilient landscape for Dia Beacon , a contemporary art museum in the Hudson River Valley of New York, landscape architect Sara Zewde, ASLA, first looked to the past. She looked to how indigenous people used the river landscape and how water once flowed through meadows. For Zewde, designing a landscape that honors the past is the way to achieve resilience in the future. Zewde is founder of the landscape architecture and urban design firm Studio Zewde and assistant professor of landscape architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design . She shared her design for a new 8-acre landscape for the museum during a lecture at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Dia Beacon lies on the Hudson River , a water body that runs both ways.” For centuries, it formed a border between different Indigenous peoples. And today, it separates New York from New Jersey. Hudson River Valley, New York / Harry Gillen, courtesy of Studio Zewde The site of the museum has had a long history — Native American land, railroad brickyard, Nabisco box printing plant, and now contemporary and land art museum. The Dia Art Foundation was born out of the environmental movement of the 1960s,” Zewde said. Dia is a counter institution” — it was created to counter or undo environmental degradation. Every aspect of visitors’ experience of the museum, which opened in 2003, has been carefully choreographed. When redesigning the former box plant as a museum, artist Robert Irwin and architectural firm OpenOffice sought to de-register the hierarchy and grid system” of the building. Their goal was for its interior to have no central axis.” Dia Beacon, New York / Bill Jacobson Studio, New York, courtesy of Dia Art Foundation At the north end of the building, Irwin and team designed the parking lot and public spaces to guide visitors to the museum. But at the south end, the sense of movement simply stops,” Zewde said. To regain that movement, Zewde looked to the flow of historic peoples and water for inspiration. Indigenous peoples moved across the Hudson River on a seasonal basis to share ideas and technology.” View of Fishkill looking to West Point, New York / Painted by W.G. Wall; Engraved by I. Hill, Courtesy of Library of Congress Like these people, water also once flowed through the site’s meadows and wetlands. A quote from author Toni Morrison helped crystalize her ideas: ‘Floods’ is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding: it is remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.” Zewde sought to reveal the presence of water” on site and let its remembrance, its natural flow, guide the design. She envisioned a resilient landscape that would choreograph the flow of water around land forms and through meadows. Dia Beacon, New York / Studio Zewde For visitors, an evolving landscape can create a greater sense of connection to natural systems. They will be able to witness different water levels.” Dia Beacon, New York / Studio Zewde Sculptural land forms closer to the museum will guide water away and protect it from river rise and flooding. Dia Beacon, New York / Studio Zewde Dia Beacon, New York / Studio Zewde But further away from the building in the lower basin, wet meadows will be created to let water in. Dia Beacon, New York / Studio Zewde With meadow designer Larry Weiner , she designed meadows with 90 plant species. These plants form a palette to paint with.” Dia Beacon, New York / Studio Zewde Her design also calls for planting over 400 trees and shrubs, stabilizing soils, and repurposing natural materials found on the site. Water and how it interacts with people and places has been an enduring interest for Zewde. As a young student, a storm event led me to landscape architecture.” She saw political, cultural, economic, and social factors manifested in Hurricane Katrina.” Now, Zewde designs landscapes that act as nature-based solutions for flooding and river and sea level rise. Her design at Dia more closely connects people to their environment, making them more aware of change, perhaps reducing risks in the process. Biodiversity , Climate Change , Landscape Architecture , Public Spaces , Resilience ASLA Fund Announces Development of New Guides on the Economic Benefits of Landscape Architecture and Nature-Based Solutions 05/02/2024 Jared Green Leave a comment ASLA 2023 Professional Urban Design Honor Award. St Pete Pier: Revitalization of Waterfront and Historic Pier Site. St. Petersburg, Florida. KEN SMITH WORKSHOP / Rich Montalbano, RiMO The guides will be released at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan The ASLA Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, has announced a new grant to the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center (EFC) in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation to create two new resource guides on the economic benefits of landscape architecture and nature-based solutions. The lead developer of the guides is Dr. Jennifer Egan , PhD, program manager, EFC. Landscape architects maximize the benefits of nature-based solutions through design. Their work on nature-based solutions creates economic benefits in five key areas : Improved Human Health and Livability Expanded Investment and Sustainable Jobs Increased Biodiversity Going Beyond Net-Zero Strengthened Resilience Dr. Egan will develop guides that outline the economic benefits of landscape architecture and nature-based solutions across these areas: One guide will make the economic case for nature-based solutions and the added value of landscape architects’ planning and design work to broad public audiences. Another guide will introduce the tools landscape architects can use to make the economic case for their climate and biodiversity projects to clients. ASLA’s Climate Action Plan identified the need for these guides, which will be published on ASLA.org in advance of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. ASLA is an official observer of the COP process and its representatives will attend COP29. Last year at COP28, five delegates represented the landscape architecture community. Landscape architects bring nature-based solutions to where people live – to their streets, parks, plazas, and recreational areas. With Dr. Egan’s research, we will be able to show the economic benefits of this important work to policymakers and the public,” said Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA CEO. We know that landscape architects design nature-based solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises. But how they do that is key: they design them to be even more effective and inclusive and to provide even greater benefits.” Dr. Egan has completed project reports for the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of Agriculture, with the University of Washington and American Planning Association ; Pew Charitable Trust and National Coastal Resilience Fund ; and the Trust for Public Land . Her doctorate is in water science and policy from the University of Delaware Department of Applied Economics and Statistics in the College of Agricultural and Natural Resources. Her doctoral research involved a legal and economic analysis of policy interventions for nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. She also teaches sustainable development and agricultural and natural resource economics at the University of Delaware Department of Applied Economics and Statistics. Climate Change , Health + Design , Inclusive Design , Landscape Architecture , Policy and Regulation , Resilience New Constitution Gardens Will Be a Biodiversity Mecca 04/24/2024 05/02/2024 Jared Green 1 Comment Constitution Gardens, Washington, D.C. /...