Landscape Architecture / April 2006

letter to the Editor
Move over Brad and Angelina

By Charles Birnbaum

Has a landscape architect's work ever been featured for two consecutive months on the cover of Landscape Architecture ? It appears that it has. The profession brought in 2006 with the January and February issues of the magazine dedicated to two recently completed California projects by Lawrence Halprin at the Presidio (January) and Stern Grove (February). For our profession, this might be the star power equivalent of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. For the 90-year old practitioner and the 96-year old publication, this is a first for both parties.

So what does this mean for the over 35,000 landscape architects practicing in America today? In addition, for the thousands of students of landscape architecture who are getting their first exposure to Halprin, will they read these back-to-back cover stories and transfer this value to other revolutionary projects by the only living landscape architect to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts? Was this a happy accident? Is Mr. Halprin's approach to landscape architecture fashionable again?

Pondering this question it reminds me of a reflection by George Bernard Shaw, (1856-1951) included in his 1950 biography, Bernard Shaw: A Chronicle. Here biographer R. F. Rattray quotes Shaw: "Fashions change more quickly than manners, manners more quickly than morals, morals more quickly than passions. . . Every 'immortal' play will run the following course. First, its fashions and manners will begin to date. If its matter is deep enough to tide over the danger, it will come into repute again. But after some time it will to date again in respect to ethical conception. Yet if it deals so powerfully with the instincts and passions of humanity as to survive this also, it will regain its place, this time as an antique classic."

So, as we spotlight these new works we should ask - what does this mean for the rest of Halprin's built legacy? What about the municipal stewards for these new commissions - will they ultimately be absentee landlords as with earlier celebrated Halprin works which will lead to their diminished design integrity, which in turn erodes their public constituencies? As we ponder these questions let's realize that we have recently seen the bulldozing and redesign of Skyline Park in Denver (2003); the current destruction of Halprin's sculpture garden at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, spiraling controversy at Seattle's Freeway Park, and reports of inadequate maintenance at Heritage Park, Fort Worth, TX and the FDR Memorial. Will these new projects ultimately suffer a similar fate?

Here's what I think: The time has come for us to stop walking on egg shells when it comes to our own legacy? The time has come for us to lead - to raise our collective voices for our shared heritage - beyond Olmsted. I am not suggesting that these places be mothballed, but besides a tabula rasa approach, responsible stewardship decisions can be made to guide these new landscapes and their predecessors into the future. In the past few years, post-war architecture has achieved significant attention - witness the thematic 2005 postage stamps dedicated to twelve icons of modern architecture (e.g. Glass House, TWA Terminal, Hancock Center, etc); recent books and exhibitions on Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler; the battle to save Edward Stone's 2 Columbus Circle that secured national media attention and dozens of high-profile supporters; and, the emergence of popular shelter magazines dedicated to celebrating modern living and modern architecture ( Nest, Egg and Dwell ). Collectively, these initiatives are building a constituency for this work, which will lead to informed stewardship decisions. The results: there are over 1,000 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places that are less than 50 years of age (while there are less than five works of landscape architecture from the same period).

Let's take a card from the architect's public relations and education playbook. Otherwise, does anyone think that these newly minted works will have a different fate? During my recent visit to these California commissions it was clear that they have the potential to be loved to death - and are already being heavily used. But will they have an adequate level of maintenance to insure their ongoing care and management?

Finally, let's also look back while we look ahead. Where will the professional society and these built projects be in 2010 when the magazine turns 100? Will we continue to bemoan the loss of other significant designs that were previously celebrated by the profession while others quietly fade through neglect? What will be the educational role for the profession's "official communication organ" (its mission as articulated in the magazine's 1910 premiere issue)? To the editors of Landscape Architecture the ball is in your court.

Charles Birnbaum is founder of the Cultural Landscape Foundation.