What Landscapers Can Teach Landscape Architects

July 26, 2023 Ι Bloomberg CityLab  At one of the nation’s most prestigious landscape architecture schools, the summer studio of Ohio State University professor Michelle Franco has students learning how to pull up weeds, prune trees and mix soil. Sometimes, this calls for expertise beyond what Harvard-educated Franco can provide. So she brings in the… Continue reading What Landscapers Can Teach Landscape Architects

The restoration of Chicago’s former Pullman Company Town commemorates a pivotal site of progressive American labor

October 25, 2021 Ι Architect’s Newspaper When Andrea Terry, a principal at the Chicago architecture firm Bauer Latoza Studio began working on the renovation of the Pullman Administration Clock Tower Building in 2017, it had no floor, lots of racoons, and trees growing inside. “It was in a terribly sad state,” she said, a tragic… Continue reading The restoration of Chicago’s former Pullman Company Town commemorates a pivotal site of progressive American labor

The Divining Rod

Landscape Architecture Magazine Ι November 2020 Like a lot of landscape architects, Stephen McCarthy spends much of his time managing hydrology and restoring native ecologies. The sites he works on, in Milwaukee’s exurban fringe, are often landscapes of subtle differences: gentle rises and shallow streams, small agricultural plots hemmed in by hills and wetlands. At… Continue reading The Divining Rod

Three Walks in the Woods

The Chicago Reader Ι May 1, 2020 There’s an overpass hill that arches Lake Shore Drive over Foster Avenue where we could make camp and inflate the beach ball and spread out our snacks. It’s a space I’ve walked and driven by hundreds of times without a glance or a thought, but my four-year-old daughter… Continue reading Three Walks in the Woods

A Second Look at Edith Farnsworth and Her Mies van der Rohe–designed Retreat

Architectural Record Ι July 15, 2020 During a visit to the latest exhibition at Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois, visitors are more likely to encounter a deer (as this writer did) than a single Mies-designed Brno Chair. That’s because the year-long, multi-part exhibition called Edith Farnsworth Reconsidered unfolds across nearly 60 acres of forest… Continue reading A Second Look at Edith Farnsworth and Her Mies van der Rohe–designed Retreat

After Rahm, What Comes Next for the Obama Library?

September 25, 2018 Ι The Atlantic’s CityLab Public safety, the city’s pension load, and public schools were the major issues haunting Rahm Emanuel’s assumed re-election bid earlier this month, all of which were upended by his surprise announcement that he wouldn’t throw his hat into the ring for a third term. Given the power that… Continue reading After Rahm, What Comes Next for the Obama Library?

Perpetual Neglect: The Preservation Crisis of African-American Cemeteries

Places Journal Ι May 30, 2017 In late February, Raphael Morris pulled his car onto the gravel path just off St. Louis Avenue in northern St. Louis County, and saw something he’d hoped was a thing of the past: a large pile of garbage dumped in Greenwood Cemetery, near where he grew up and where several… Continue reading Perpetual Neglect: The Preservation Crisis of African-American Cemeteries

Underneath, Overlooked

Landscape Architecture Magazine Ι February 2017 In 2002, the Design Trust for Public Space published Reclaiming the High Line, a critical voice of support that helped jump-start the growing momentum to preserve that rusting hulk of a rail bed in Lower Manhattan. Now a city- and pedestrian-scaled outdoor art walk and landscape, the High Line is likely the most influential… Continue reading Underneath, Overlooked

Redesigning Lathrop

Architect Magazine Ι January 2017 The Julia C. Lathrop Homes, built in 1938, are one of the oldest Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) projects in the city. Inspired equally by Ebeneezer Howard’s English Garden Cities and company towns like Pullman on Chicago’s far South Side, Lathrop was designed by a cadre of architects punching below their weight… Continue reading Redesigning Lathrop