Laurie Olin- Essays on Landscape Part 2

The Native Plant Podcast

One of the most influential landscape architects in practice today, Laurie Olin has created designs for the Washington Monument grounds and the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington, D/.D., Bryant Park in New York City, Getty Center in Los Angeles, and many other iconic landscapes. More recent projects include the AIA award-winning Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Apple Park in Cupertino, and Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland Oregon. All of these works were realized under the auspices of OLIN, the firm he cofounded in 1976. Laurie is a prolific writer and a Practice Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He began his career studying civil engineering at the University of Alaska and ended up earning a degree from the University of Washington where Richard Haag encouraged him to focus on landscape. (for those of you who don’t know of Richard Haag, google Gasworks Park in Seattle and Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island). He is a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a fewllow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recipient of the 1998 Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the recipient of the 2012 National Medal of Arts, the highest lifetime achievement award for artists and designers bestowed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the President of the United States. He also holds the 2011 American Society of Landscape Architects Medal, the society’s highest award for a landscape architect.