SUNYESF
DEpartmENt oF LaNDScapE architEctUrE
GROUNDWORK
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ALUMNI PROFILE: RobeRt Page, ‘84 bLa CAMPUS MASTER PLAN NEw SChOLARShIP FUNDS
a contemporary view of the formal gardens at the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site in Hyde Park, photo courtesy of bill Urbin
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although the groups this year are in germany, Spain, Italy, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Morocco, and ecuador, they are in constant contact with each other by email, on social networking sites, Skype and through blogs. they all have international cell phones and many often make daily contact with their families and friends. My weekly letters come as emails and often include questions about their studies with the expectation that I will respond that day. television is now ubiquitous and english speaking channels are pervasive making it easy to keep up to date on current events. I can remember a time when students would lose any real ability to keep track of daily life in america. I used to pack a copy of the Daily orange and jars of peanut butter but now all these things are readily available in stores and on the internet. I can still remember the almost surreal feeling of watching Monday night football in a sports bar with the students in barcelona. My first off campus group was in Houlton, Maine and in retrospect that seems more remote than many locations abroad today.
MeSSage FROm the chaiR
this past year marked the 40th anniversary of the off campus program and the passing of the programs visionary george F. earle. george earle and george Curry accompanied the first group of 35 to antigua, guatemala in 1970. In 1972 the program took on its current format where students go to multiple locations and are visited by faculty advisers. Maybe it is the jet lag or the fact that I should think of some appropriate way to recognize the 40th anniversary of the program, but it seems like a good time to reflect on why we continue to value this experience and how it has changed. the first thing that comes to mind is the impact electronic communication is having on the students’ experience. For decades, a letter from many locations would take three weeks to get to Marshall Hall. the faculty needed to compose a response and then it took another three weeks for the letter to travel back to the location. In other words, the students soon realized that they had to make adjustments in their study on their own with little immediate feedback from faculty. those were the days when we used air mail stationary and kept the envelopes because the stamps seemed so exotic and precious. there was this dramatic outward bound sensibility that you were on your own. our hope was that the experience would engender a self confidence, resourcefulness, and self reliance born from intense independence. I think many of the groups bonded in very special ways because of their need to support each other. Professor Robin Hoffman laughingly tells me of the semester she spent in a small greek village Mavrosourala. the only phone was in the taverna and only available certain times and days. there was no direct dial; you had to go through an operator. there were no Internet cafes or atMs in those days; if you did not get money and do your shopping before the weekend you were often out of luck. It is amazing how quickly one learns when hunger is the possible result of poor planning. today things are different to say the least. Many of the groups see images of each room of the apartments, and sign a lease before they arrive. tVs, DVD players and high speed Internet are considered essential. this is a long way from the experience of someone like Louis Fusco, who in 1980 illegally squatted in a vacant building with no running water in genoa, Italy.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that digital communication is here to stay and needs to be embraced, not resisted. but given the current post 9/11 environment of xenophobia and need for instant communication it is all the more amazing that the program survived and thrives. I believe that students and their parents would no longer accept or at least feel comfortable with the isolation that previous groups accepted as the norm. I would also argue that despite the worldwide homogenization of culture the off campus semester continues to be a life changing experience for the majority of the students. their sense of accomplishment and increased confidence and personal growth is still apparent in returning students. I am so proud that we established the george earle lecture during the Festival of Places. as you know, each year we have an alumni reflect on the off campus experience and what it has meant to them. Last year, John Shields was the festival speaker. John received his bLa in 1980 and spent his off campus semester in Nice, France. John is a Disney Imagineer and recently worked on such projects as the animal Kingdom Park at Disney World in Florida, and on the expansion of Disneyland Park outside of Paris. John asked me at the aSLa conference in Chicago what should he talk about. I think he was surprised and excited about the fact that we like the lecture to be a personal journey of how did the oCP experience make a difference in your professional career and personal life. He said that in fact he went on an extended trip to africa to sketch and observe the landscape in preparation for the design of the animal Kingdom, which sounds to me a whole lot like the off campus semester . as a final a thought I need to plan how we should celebrate the 40 years of this remarkable program. It is an opportunity for retrospection and projection of what the off campus program should be in the 21st century. If anyone has suggestions feel free to send them to me at rshawks@esf.edu. better yet, for old time’s sake, send me a hand written letter, with sketches of course, and you might hear from me before the year is over. as always keep in touch. all the best from Marshall Hall,
Richard S. hawks, Chair Department of Landscape architecture
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La DePaRtMeNt HeLPINg WItH eSF CAMPUS MASTER PLAN
Timothy Toland, Assistant Professor, ‘98 MLA
What started as a request for a landscape plan from the administration has turned into a 2+ year effort by Richard Hawks and tim toland to develop a comprehensive master plan to help guide the growth and expansion of the college over the next 15 years. Not much has changed on campus since the construction of Jahn Lab in the late 1990’s, but the campus is in for some significant changes. to start with, the institution is growing. With high marks in most academic program rankings, the high profile of all things environmental, and the general increase in student enrollment, eSF is projected to grow its student body by about 20% by 2020. In addition, nearly all programs on campus need more teaching, research and office space. to accommodate this growth, the institution is planning on building two new academic buildings, student housing, a student center, and improve its use of existing campus building space.
Several site initiatives are being developed as well. Reductions in turfgrass and parking areas, the installation of lots of new plantings, the creation of outdoor spaces of all sizes, and the use of green infrastructure initiatives like rain gardens and bioswales to control stormwater are already being planned. guiding the development of this plan are several goals. the overriding one is helping the campus meet its stated goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2015. the institution has signed the american College and University President’s Commitment to Climate Change, and has set to our knowledge the most aggressive timeframe for achieving carbon neutrality at the institutional level. Strategies to achieve this include energy use reductions in buildings and operations, and carbon sequestration on the institution’s other land holdings in central New York and the adirondacks.
the first building is the gateway building currently under construction. architerra, an architecture firm located in boston, with andropogon, a design firm in Philadelphia, are the lead designers. alumni Darren Damone, ‘02, now at andropogon, is working on the project. the building will be built on the current site of the Moon Library parking lot, and will create a dynamic first impression for visitors coming to campus. the building will house a 300 seat conference center, admissions and outreach offices, a café and bookstore. In addition, it is envisioned as a net zero energy building, meaning it will not need power from the grid, utilizing instead a combined heat and power unit, photovoltaics, and passive solar heating and cooling. It is being designed to surpass the LeeD Platinum rating.
additionally, we are seeking to create a “green campus” that is distinctive from all other university campuses, and reflects the values and mission of the school to all who visit us. We seek to become a precedent for green infrastructure, sustainability and environmentally sensitive development in the urban environment.
the second building will be an academic Research building, which will house the environmental and Forest biology program. Due to it size, this building will be located adjacent to the campus on property to the west. It will also have a parking structure, to help meet the demand for parking but also allow us to reduce the amount of parking we have on campus.
the master plan and sustainability plan have been titled “Sustaining the green”, and can be found online at eSF’s website (www.esf.edu/ sustainability).
Several individuals from across the campus have been involved in the development of these plans. Richard and tim have relied heavily on students to facilitate the planning process. In particular, Cheryl Doble’s LSa 470 class facilitated public workshops to gather campus community input and ‘00 MLa students Michael Komm and au ta developed a draft plan.
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RobeRt R. PaIge
alumni PROFILE
DLA: what is Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation (OCLP)? how/why did it come about?
RP: the olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation is a National Park Service program that serves to strengthen the capacity of parks to preserve and manage their cultural landscapes. the Center provides a full range of technical assistance to historic properties in cultural landscape preservation that includes research, planning, stewardship and education, and technology development. the Center’s work is focused in the Northeast Region that includes 79 national park areas in 13 states. However, the Center is involved in project work throughout the country. the olmsted Center was established in 1992 to assist national parks in preserving their cultural landscapes. It was established in response to the growth of the field of cultural landscape preservation in the U.S., which broadened the view of historic preservation beyond the singular historic building or urban district to include the cultural landscape that provides the setting and context for a property. the olmsted Center was established as a component of a new formalized National Park Service program to provide direction and demonstrate high quality preservation practice regarding cultural landscapes in the national park system.
bob Page, ’84 bLa began to work with the National Park Service (NPS) at a time when the field of landscape preservation was just emerging. His early work with the agency was focused on establishing a foundation for professional practice regarding cultural landscape preservation. bob has provided direct support to national parks across the country in preserving and managing some of our nation’s most outstanding landscapes. In 2007 bob was inducted into the Council of Fellows (FaSLa) among the highest honors the american Society of Landscape architects (aSLa) confers its members.
DLA: what is your role as Director of OCLP?
bob is the director of the olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation and a member of the SUNY eSF Department of Landscape architecture alumni Council (LaaC). We had the pleasure of speaking with bob about his career, eSF experience and the future of the profession.
DLA: what is the future role of Landscape Preservation within the profession and NPS?
DLA: what got you interested in Landscape Architecture? RP: growing up in a small town outside of boston, Massachusetts, early on I developed a keen interest in both history and landscape gardening. I pursued a career in landscape architecture based on a desire to work in a field devoted to improving the quality of the physical environment. During my landscape architecture education I became interested in the role of historic preservation in community planning and design. this interest quickly developed into a passion for preserving our built heritage to understand our past and inform decisions about our future.I found a perfect venue to pursue my interest in both landscape architecture and historic preservation with the National Park Service, an agency in which landscape architects have played an instrumental role since its inception.
RP: as Director of the olmsted Center, I am responsible for developing, implementing and overseeing a comprehensive landscape preservation program that includes research, planning, stewardship and education, and technology development. I directly manage and supervise fifteen professional staff members and an annual budget of $1.7 million. a large part of the role of director is establishing and maintaining partnerships with national parks, universities, government agencies, and private nonprofit organizations that can assist with accomplishing our mission. I am very proud to say that the SUNY eSF Department of Landscape architecture is one of our most important partners and has been since 1990.
RP: I think the future for both is incredibly positive. the field of cultural landscape preservation represents the culmination of preservation activity in the 20th century, and today it is an integral component of historic preservation both in the U.S. and abroad. the stories that historic landscapes reveal are powerful and they resonate with the public. I also believe the strength of cultural landscape preservation like the profession of landscape architecture, encourages a more holistic approach to resource preservation and provides an understanding of the inter-relationships among cultural and natural resources. DLA: Please share with us how your ESF Off-Campus experience influenced you. RP: the off-Campus experience had a profound impact on me and it was, by far, the greatest experience that the landscape architecture program afforded me. Prior to the off-Campus experience, my only travel outside the U.S. had been to Canada to visit family. as a result, I decided to use the experience to see as much as possible and choose a study location in europe (Stuttgart, germany) that would provide me with easy access to many different countries. I traveled
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before and after my formal off-campus study and spent a total of six months exploring. the opportunity to experience the landscapes that form the foundation of landscape architectural history and practice, along with a variety of cultures – the art, architecture, languages, food – broadened my perspective of the world in many ways that have shaped my professional and personal path. DLA: how have you worked with the students and faculty at SUNY-ESF Landscape Architecture program? RP: I have had the good fortune to work with the students and faculty at SUNY-eSF Landscape architecture program on a regular basis during the past 19 years. I generally lecture once each semester in george Curry’s Introduction Course and Preservation Seminar and meet with the graduate students. the partnership between the National Park Service and the landscape architecture program predates the establishment of the olmsted Center. based on the interest and expertise of george Curry in cultural landscape preservation, in 1990 the agency entered into a formalized cooperative agreement with SUNY-eSF. that partnership is by far our most active, has been the most successful and has grown. today, we have a Research Scientist on the faculty, John auwaerter, who works full-time on NPS work. We have hosted several summer internships and graduate assistantship to provide students an opportunity to explore this aspect of the profession. Recently, we have initiated a biannual Cultural Landscape Field School where a group of students spend six week living in a national park conducting landscape inventory work. We’ve spent two summers in Shenandoah National Park and last year the Field School was in acadia National Park. DLA: who influenced you during your undergraduate years at ESF? RP: george Curry served as my faculty advisor when I transferred from Syracuse University and he quickly became my mentor. george remains a mentor, colleague and dear friend today. I also can’t think of my undergraduate years at eSF without Caroline bailey coming to mind. I was a work study student in the La office my entire time at eSF and Caroline provided me with a tremendous amount of moral support during those years. Finally, Christine Capella-Peters, ‘80 bLa, ‘90 MLa had a great deal of influence on my eventual career path. I worked with Christine in a variety of internships with the City of Syracuse that exposed me to the value of public sector work and historic preservation. DLA: what advice would you give to an incoming freshman? RP: Pursue as many opportunities as possible that will expose you to the profession of landscape architecture - both during the academic year and summer breaks. through each experience you will gain insight into what excites and inspires you, as well as what you don’t particularly enjoy. one of the greatest benefits of the landscape architecture profession is the breadth of career paths that are available to you once you graduate. However, this can also be one of the most difficult challenges to face…whether you pursue a career in private or public sector, urban design or regional planning, etc. For me, it is a true gift to be passionate about the work that you do and the contribution you are making to improve the environment.
CULtURaL LaNDSCaPe INteRNSHIP at tHe MaRIN HeaDLaNDS John Auwaerter, ‘00 MLA Historic Landscape Architect
Laura Roberts (MLa, 2010) completed an internship in cultural landscape preservation funded by the National Park Service’s olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation through the Student Conservation association (SCa). this three-month internship, begun in May 2009, was part of an eSF Department of Landscape architecture research project to develop a preservation plan for the cultural landscape of the Forts baker-barry-Cronkhite Historic District in Marin County, California that is now part of the golden gate National Recreation area. the historic 2,200-acre landscape comprises three former military reservations on the scenic headlands across the golden gate from San Francisco. Laura’s internship, which included a week-long site visit in June with project directors george W. Curry and John auwaerter, focused on inventorying the many hundreds of cultural landscape features in the district through photography, written description, and mapping. these features ranged from Monterey pine groves and iceplant groundcover, to harbor defense works including remnants of searchlights, fire-control stations, foxholes, and gun emplacements. Laura’s experience included scaling enormous concrete gun batteries that provided stunning views across San Francisco bay, to climbing the steep coastal trail along barren ridge tops to examine camouflaged World War II defenses that remain surprisingly intact despite more than sixty years of abandonment. another trek led to the lighthouse at scenic Point bonita, a rocky, narrow peninsula that juts far out into the Pacific ocean at the mouth of the golden gate, accessible only by a narrow suspension footbridge. over the rest of the summer, Laura used park databases, historic maps, and coastal aerial photographs to inventory landscape features and draw existing conditions plans using adobe Illustrator. Laura completed her work on the project during the 2009-2010 academic year as a research project assistant. Laura’s keen organizational and research skills have been a tremendous asset to the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2011.
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alumni NEwS landscape architecture advisory Council — laaC update
Proposed Marshall Hall Studio addition
Louis Fusco, ‘81 BLA, LACC, Chair our dream of a Marshall Hall Studio addition may become a reality sooner than any of us could have imagined. Richard Hawks and tim toland from the faculty, Ken gifford, ’71 and I representing the advisory council presented to President Neil Murphy initial concepts, current conditions and studio facilities offered by competitive institutions. President Murphy expressed his sincere support and has already included the project in his annual budget request to albany. He has also authorized Richard to seek funding approval for a preliminary architectural design study. the wheels have been set in motion. We will keep you updated. once again, thanks for your support.
news from Paul Brogna, ‘08 Bla I’m doing great here in barcelona. I can’t believe it’s been two years since I’ve graduated. Currently, I’m working on developing a business with Kyle Cornell, ‘08 bLa. Somehow we knew that our experience at eSF with the LaND¦scape Club would bring us together as business partners post graduation. We are now business partners in Urbanbuddy, an international travel service that connects students and travelers to places around the globe. Since May of 2008, I’ve moved to barcelona, Spain, accepting an internship with architects Miralles tagliabue eMbt. I have learned the Spanish language, started a business and most recently completed the barcelona Marathon dedicated to Richard Hawks. the racecourse, 26 miles, weaved the medieval streetscapes of barcelona, Spain, encompassing most city landmarks including gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familia Church and the ‘92 olympic beachfront villa. I completed the race, sporting the SUNY logo, in just less than 4 hours. this fall, our company, Urban buddy, in concert with IaaC (Institute of advanced architecture, Catalunya), hosted the first of what we hope will be an annual Workshop devoted to the fabrication of architectural and landscape architectural designs. From october 19, sixteen eSF students attended the five day event, gaining access to building sites
in barcelona’s 22@ district, a visit to the offices of Ricardo bofill; eMbt and Martorell, designers of Parc Diagonal; and Martorell, bohigas and MacKay, planners of the 1992 olympics and generators of barcelona’s post 1992 urban development. a log of the workshop along with photos is available at http://urbanbuddy.com.
CoNgRatULatIoNS to SUNY-eSF DePaRtMeNt oF LaNDSCaPe aRCHIteCtURe aLUMNI eLeCteD aSLa FeLLoWS 2009 Left to right: Kevin b. Cavaioli, ’79bLa Dennis e. bryers, ’78 bLa Keith H. Wagner, ’88 bLa Stuart D. appel, ’79 bLa
Charles a. birnbaum, ’83 bLa Received the 2009 aSLa President’s award
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eco-Laboratory
alumni NEwS
Diane Dale, ’78 BLA Diane Dale was elected to the aSLa Council of Fellows in 2010
Jeanne Gorham, ’90 BLA Jeanne gorham was promoted to Supervising Landscape architect and is Chief of the office of Landscape architecture for the Division of Design for the California Department of transportation
Dan albert, ’07 Bla, a landscape designer at Weber-thompson, a Seattle-based landscape architecture firm was runner-up in the Metropolis 2009 competition - Next generation Prize-Fixing our energy addiction. Dan and his colleague Myer Harrell created Communicating green a proposed Web-based teaching tool. Its aim is to create a greater awareness of green design and its connection to the built environment.
Susan herrington, ’86 BLA Susan Herrington, associate Professor of landscape architecture and environmental design at the University of british Columbia has written On Landscapes, Routledge 2009.
this past fall Dan gave a campus lecture on vertical farming. Dan and his colleagues have designed the eco-Laboratory, one of the more recent and successful examples of verticalfarming. Increasing food production without negatively impacting the environment is at the heart of vertical farming, a new approach to fresh-food distribution that provides urban centers with healthy, “just picked” food, grown within the controlled environment of a multistory building. the exhibit will be part of the National Design triennial Why Design Now?. this is the fourth installation in the exhibition series launched by Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in 2000. the triennial provides a sample of contemporary innovation, looking at what progressive designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and citizens are doing in diverse fields and at different scales around the world. Included are practical solutions already in use as well as experimental ideas designed to inspire further research.
Caroline Smyser, ’06 Bla has been accepted into the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. “I am excited to be back in Japan again! I’m teaching with the Jet program at two Junior High Schools, and so far it’s a lot of fun. I’m living in Ibaraki Prefecture, so I’m close to tokyo and some famous Japanese gardens. I hope to do a lot more sightseeing and studying more gardens, while working on learning more Japanese so I have the possibility of working in a Japanese landscape architecture firm some day.”
NeW INItIatIVe! the traditional department Welcome letter to accepted students was recently given a face-lift. We now send students an oversized postcard with an off-campus photograph or sketch by a 5th year student. this includes a personal statement about their experience both abroad and at SUNY-eSF. all of the 5th years participate by contributing a personal (handwritten) message to the incoming class.
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CeNteR FoR CoMMUNItY DeSIgN ReSeaCH (CCDR) SeRVICe LeaRNINg aND PRoJeCt UPDate Maren F. King, Director, CCDR
Moss Island the junior studio, LSa 326, prepared conceptual design studies for Moss Island. Located in the Mohawk River/barge Canal and adjacent to an active lock, the City of Little Falls would like to use this unique natural feature to attract more visitors to its waterfront. as part of their design process, the students explored the site with representatives of stakeholder groups and toured the surrounding waterfront context area. Market Square Park the 2nd year graduate studio students, LSa 601, worked with a group of Sackets Harbor community members to develop ideas for the redesign of historic Market Square Park. they facilitated a series of workshops to reveal and understand existing and desired uses, historic narratives, community values and existing conditions. Student teams developed three alternative master plan strategies for the downtown waterfront and individual site design studies for the park. Downtown Savannah Vision Plan the CCDR staff, and graduate and undergraduate student assistants designed and facilitated a vision planning process with the citizens of Savannah to guide the revitalization of their downtown. Located at the heart of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex midway between Syracuse and Rochester, this participatory process helped the Savannah community determine ways that their abundant natural and cultural resources could reinforce the agriculture-based economy. Catskill Route 28 Corridor Regional Planning and Design Exploration Students in the Regional Planning thematic studio, LSa 470/670, under the direction of assistant Professor Margaret bryant
investigated and documented the natural, historical, recreational and social characteristics of 50 miles of the Rt. 28 corridor through the lower Catskills. Prepared in anticipation of a corridor vision-planning project with the Catskill Center, students also engaged individual planning and design studies that brought forward ideas that can be explored further in the future. East Syracuse Main Street Vision Plan offered as an independent study studio under the direction of Cheryl Doble and Maren King, seven undergraduate and graduate students facilitated community workshops and developed design studies to illustrate the vision and characteristics of the Village of east Syracuse’s Main Street. The New York State Community Seminar Series Working in partnership with the New York State Department of State and the Department of environmental Conservation, the CCDR has developed the NYS Community Seminar Series. these seminars, provide guidance and best practices in community design and planning to community leaders, municipal staff and consultants in revitalization initiatives funded through the environmental Protection Fund (ePF) grants and brownfield opportunity area funding.
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UPDateS oN CCDR PaSt SeRVICe LeaRNINg PRoJeCtS Canal Landing Park (Advanced Site Design Studio, Spring 2006) the Village of Fayetteville has secured a $500,000 grant for phase one design development, construction documentation and construction. For more information see http://blog.syracuse.com/east/2009/05/ fayetteville_gets_500000_to_cr.html Save the County Riverwalk (LSA 326, Fall 2006) the land trust is acquiring the 104 acre wooded wetland, officially announcing the acquisition with an open house at the site. they showcased the proposed trail plans prepared by La students.
bLa StUDeNt WINS SCHoLaRSHIP Timothy Toland, Assistant Professor,’98 MLA
bLa student Jared Russell, class of 2010, won the 2009 Steven g. King Play environments Scholarship, sponsored by the Landscape architecture Foundation. Steven g. King, FaSLa, founder and Chairman of Landscape Structures Inc., and the inventor of the “continuous play” concept created this scholarship. applicants were required to demonstrate interest and aptitude in the design of play environments. Jared demonstrated this with his Manlius Pebble Hill School (MPH) courtyard project. Rendering of MPH Courtyard project by Jared Russell, “10 bLa
Congratulations to Mark a. Simonin, ‘11 bLa and Michael F. Scholtz, ‘11 bLa, for receiving the 2010/2011 Sigma Lambda alpha International Honor Society travel grants. Mark is studying in Copenhagen, Demark and Michael is in Paris, France.
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eSF StUDeNt aND tWo FaCULtY MeMbeRS oN MISSIoN geNeVa gReeN teaM Nine U.S. landscape architecture students, including one from the SUNY College of environmental Science and Forestry (eSF), worked with three faculty advisors in Switzerland to help craft a design to green the grounds of the United States Mission to the United Nations in geneva. eSF fifth-year landscape architect student Michael Scholtz of goshen, N.Y. and eight other landscape architecture students were selected from 130 applicants in a nationwide search overseen by the american Society of Landscape architecture. the american students and three Swiss students spent two weeks, from aug. 1 to 14, 2010 studying the grounds and developing a design to benefit the local environment and demonstrate the United States’ commitment to sustainable living. “this was a great opportunity to showcase the sustainable landscape design practices that we teach and our students demand because of the central role landscape architecture can play in addressing environmental issues,” said Richard Hawks, chair of eSF’s Department of Landscape architecture. Hawks, eSF assistant Professor timothy toland and assistant Professor terry Clements, ( ‘85 bLa) at Virginia Polytechnic Instittute (Vt) were the faculty advisors selected for the project. toland said, “the students took a comprehensive look at the entirety of the grounds, making suggestions to improve the site to meet the needs of the Mission while also reducing its environmental impact. the goal is to have ideas generated by the students develop into actual site changes over the next five years.”
the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in geneva represents the United States at the United Nations and other international organizations and is a major center for multilateral diplomacy in europe. the building regularly hosts diplomats from around the world for important bilateral and multilateral discussions on a variety of security, economic and political issues, including the recent negotiations on the New StaRt nuclear treaty. the prominence of the Mission building in international geneva and the fact that it is regularly visited by diplomats and political figures from around the world were factors when the U.S. State Department selected geneva as its “Flagship Post for energy and Sustainability.” the building is the site of the installation of the largest solar energy project ever undertaken by the Department of State overseas and home to an innovative magnetic levitation chiller air conditioning system that runs a virtually friction-free compressor. the geneva region is a major international center for conservation and the environment. the city is home to the european headquarters of the U.N. environment Program and to major organizations such as the World Meteorological organization (WMo) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Nearby gland is the site of two of the world’s most important conservation organizations: the World Wide Fund for Nature and the World Conservation Union. During their stay in geneva, the students had an opportunity to visit some of these organizations; meet with international diplomats, UN staff and representatives of non-governmental organizations; and exchange ideas with major players in the environmental community in Switzerland.
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bRooMbaLL ambEr rohE, ‘11 mLa
Let me introduce you to the most interesting MLa group, the class of 2011, better known as the Lumber Pirates. these twelve students joined forces to create the greatest broomball team ever! What is this ‘broomball’? Well, broomball is a fantastically fun sport, involving 3’ long wooden sticks with plastic ‘broom’ wedges, a small soccer ball, and sneakers on bare ice. Watching can be hilarious, though competition on the ice is fierce. Led by amber Waery, our extraordinary goalie, this fearless team of Lumber Pirates swashbuckled and pillaged their way to a glorious victory. Waery was the only team member with experience in the sport. However, almost everyone in the entire class participated, and found athletic talents previously undiscovered. Kristy barhite surprised us all with her power-packed plays. brian Hettler and andrew Walsh were the top scorers, pulling together impossible plays. thaler barnes kept the opposing team on their toes and led the defensive line. Charles Hamilton was an aggressive offensive player, as well as being chief strategist. Rebecca Kanfer inspired us all with unexpected assertiveness and exciting sockware. Chris Henry, Nicole Heater and amber Rohe rounded out the team with their myriad of talents and laser-like focus on victory. the final game of the fall season was hands-down the most intense, and we won in sudden death overtime! the Lumber Pirates reign supreme over all SU and eSF broomball teams.
though the fan base has been small so far, we have basked in their idolization and adulation. We expect the La department to be out in full supportive force during the upcoming season! We found that broomball is the perfect release for a week of stress, and working as a team in this way has been a great bonding experience. Most excitingly, however, has been the formation of a second eSF La team! Let the games begin! Dare anyone else take on the mighty Lumber Pirates? arrrrrgh! We thought not.
WateRFRoNt PRoJeCt IN gReeCe Five of our 2010 bLa students and Scott Shannon, project coordinator, participated in a project in greece for the municipality of Pigalia on the island of Karpathos in the Dodecanese Islands near Rhodes. the project origins come from anne Papageorge (‘83 bLa) whose family is from the island (her mom maintains a home on the island), and her cousin, Michael opii, an architect who practices out of athens and Karpathos.
left to right: Micheal opii (anne’s cousin, architect and advisor), governors right hand man, Jarod Russell, governor, aaron Lehman, Dave exley, alex belding, brittney Desantis, Scott Shannon.
the study included the entire waterfront (about 3-4km) of the town, which is the main town on the island. the intent was to analyze the visual character of the waterfront, and propose design guidelines for the preservation of the historic character of the harbor and beachfront areas, particularly in light of the threat of increasing development pressure due to rising tourism.
FReeDoM gaRDeN RIbboN CUttINg City representatives and members of the eSF community joined North Side residents to celebrate the completion of phase 1 construction of the Freedom garden. eSF’s involvement in the project began during the spring of 2007, when a group of fifth year landscape architecture students facilitated community design workshops and prepared a design proposal for the garden.the following year the Northside Collaboratory organized a community steering committee that has continued to guide the project. With funding from the city’s Department of Community Development and the Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative, the earthwork, planting bed and plaza were completed in late summer. During the fall, eSF Faculty and students worked with community residents and the Northside Collaboratory to complete the planting around the Plaza. In addition to faculty and students, a number of Department of Landscape architecture alumni played important roles in the project through volunteer efforts Peter auyer, ‘02 MLa, bruce appel, ‘66 ba, terry Luckett, ‘07 MLa and Jonathan Logan, ‘02 bLa. groundwork11 | SUNY ESF | esf.edu/la/ | 11
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SChOLARShIPS WE aRE PlEaSED TO annOunCE THE ESTaBliSHmEnT OF THREE nEW SCHOlaRSHiP FunDS The James E. Glavin ’48 Scholarship Fund honors Jim glavin for his unwavering commitment to the school, the profession and the american Society of Landscape architects (aSLa). tom balsley, ‘68, gave the founding gift in recognition of the mentoring role Jim played in tom’s early career. the scholarship is to be awarded to La students to pursue their course of academic study and professional development. the recipient(s) of the award shall be selected by the Chair of the Department of Landscape architecture. The Robert G. Reimann Scholarship and Travel Fund honors bob’s dedication to advancing the quality of landscape architecture education. Steve buechner,’64, Ricardo Dumont,’78, Richard Hawks,’72 and Joe Hibbard, ‘69 were early contributors to the Reimann Scholarship and travel Fund. these funds have reached the endowment level, its annual investment return will support the education and training of deserving Landscape architecture students at SUNY-eSF. The Nan Dorr Memorial and Syracuse Garden Club Scholarship has been established to honor grace “Nan” Dorr and the Syracuse garden Cub. the $100,000 gift will fund a scholarship to support deserving undergraduate Landscape architecture students, with preference given to the children or grandchildren of active members of the Syracuse garden Club, as selected by the Department Chair. Recipients will be given the opportunity to speak at the Club meeting and/or to participate in one of their projects. this gift came to the Department partially because of the public service lectures george Curry has presented to the garden Club over the years. once again this demonstrates how our public service activities can benefit the department in ways that go far beyond the initial activity.
STuDEnT SCHOlaRSHiPS anD aWaRDS NU ChAPTER OF SIGMA LAMBDA ALPhA wELCOMES NEw MEMBERS Robert J. brittain, bLa Diane burkard, bLa Sean R. Creighton, MLa annalena K. Davis, MLa - PReSIDeNt 2009-2010 brittany Lynn DeSantis, bLa – VICe-PReSIDeNt 2009-2010 Kyle eddy, bLa Paul L. Fusco, bLa timothy M. gazzo, MLa - SeCRetaRY/tReaSUReR 2009-2010 Makoto Hagi, MLa Charles Hamilton, MLa brian Michael Hettler, MLa Rebecca J. Kanfer, MLa Michael J. Komm, MLa Sara Katherine Mills, MS Mariah Lynn Phillips, bLa Jack Rader, bLa Matthew J. Renkas, bLa amber L. Rohe, MLa Laura e. Roberts, MLa Michael F. Scholtz, bLa thomas edmund Shiah, bLa Mark a. Simonin, bLa Paul b. Silverberg, bLa Linyao Su, MLa tsai Chieh Wang, MLa David F. Washburn, MLa Li Zhang, MS Yian-Kim Zhang, bLa honorary Members, 2009 Douglas R. brackett, bLa,’68 Steven H. Curtis, bLa,’69 honorary Member, 2010 James R. Urban, bLa ’71
amERiCan SOCiETy OF lanDSCaPE aRCHiTECTuRE aWaRDS Certificate of honor Shirah L. Cahill, MLa Sean R. Creighton, MLa Paul L. Fusco, bLa timothy M. gazzo, MLa Katy M. Johnson, bLa timothy C. Mayhew, bLa Henry Paul Sombke, bLa Jeffrey tunkey, bLa Melissa Michelle Whitney, bLa
2010 awards Ceremony
Certificate of Merit annalena K. Davis, MLa brittany Lynn DeSantis, bLa Kelsey D. Haigh, bLa avery Myers, bLa Matthew J. Renkas, bLa Laura e. Roberts, MLa thomas edmund Shiah, bLa Paul b.Silverberg, bLa au t. ta, MLa
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StUDeNtS aFIRM tHe VaLUe oF ReCeIVINg SCHoLaRSHIPS
Katy Johnson in albert Park in auckland, New Zealand (Day 1- auckland)
I was fortunate enough to receive the George F. Earle Scholarship for my off-campus semester in New Zealand. Not only was I was I thrilled to be able to take advantage of more opportunities during my study and travel throughout New Zealand and to australia with the assistance provided by this award, but I was incredibly honored to receive it in the name of such an outstanding individual with a long-standing and revered reputation in the landscape architecture program here at eSF. Katy Johnson, ‘09 bLa Shirley Knight in Sonora Desert, Phoenix, arizona
the Dann Colvin Scholarship came at a time when it was needed badly in my life. I was preparing to leave on my required off-campus trip to New Mexico when news of this scholarship arrived and it was instrumental in my ability to go and complete my degree in Landscape architecture. Having received good grades on my paper and field studies I am happy to report I received a 4.0 for the fall semester. Shirley a. Knight, ‘09 bLa
SCHoLaRSHIPS PRoVIDe SteaDFaSt SUPPoRt FoR StUDeNt aND FaCULtY eNRICHMeNt, aND tHeY PLaY aN INtegRaL RoLe IN tHe CoNtINUeD SUCCeSS oF tHe LaNDSCaPe aRCHIteCtURe PRogRaM. Melinda Stockman in eSF Landscape architecture Studio
the E. Scott Kasprowicz scholarship has been of tremendous help to me in completing a master’s degree in landscape architecture. because both of my parents grew up in large families, neither of them had the opportunity to go to college. the Kasprowicz scholarship has also enabled me to receive a teaching position for one rather than two semesters this year due to state budget cuts.
MAKE A GIFT online at www.esf.edu. If you wish to discuss a gift, or would like more information, please call the SUNY-eSF Development office at (315) 470-6683.
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FACULTY / STAFF nEWS CHeRYL S. DobLe
MattHeW PotteIgeR
associate Professor Cheryl S. Doble received the Undergraduate Student association Distinguished teacher award and Distinguished Faculty advisor award. both awards recognize a faculty member’s high level of interest in eSF students, their activities and providing students with outstanding academic and social support.
MaReN F. KINg
Photo taken by C. McCarthy
‘ 86 MLa
‘78 bLa, ‘02 MLa
We are pleased to announce that Maren King has been appointed the new director of Center for Community Design Research (CCDR)
Professor Matthew Potteiger received the Imagining america (Ia) grant for his proposal Syracuse eats: Designing the Urban Food System. Matt’s spring thematic studio produced an installation exhibited at the Design gallery, a Rochester Regional CDC. the installation, FooD IS LaNDSCaPe - PRoJeCtS FoR a SUStaINabLe FooD SYSteM, reveals the connection between the food we eat and the landscape we make. It identifies critical issues in the Central New York food system and offers a series of design proposals aimed at making a more sustainable and socially just food system.
RobIN e. HoFFMaN ‘82 bLa, ‘97 PhD.
We are pleased to announce that assistant Professor Margaret bryant received the Dr. Nuala Mcgann Drescher leave award for spring semester 2011. this award will enable Margaret to further her research on “extreme Heat and Use of outdoor Space: Potential for Designenhanced adaptation”.
photo taken by C. McCarthy
RICHaRD S.HaWKS ‘72 bLa
the Council of educators in Landscape architecture (CeLa) has elected Department of Landscape architecture Chair Richard S. Hawks to their academy of Fellows in recognition of “his leadership, outstanding teaching and his continued service to the university, community and CeLa”. In May 2009 Richard was elected the american Society of Landscape architects (aSLa) Vice President for education 2009-2011
Photo taken by C. McCarthy
M. MaRgaRet bRYaNt
During her fall 2008 sabbatical, associate Professor Robin e. Hoffman worked with the New York State Department of transportation (Dot) on a visual resource project. the initial focus of the project was to study the visual impact of guiderails along state roads within the adirondack Park. However, during a series of project meetings it was determined that a comprehensive catalog of visual resources within the Park would be a valuable tool for current and future planning and design projects. Robin’s role in the project included the identification of the landscape attributes, specific to the adirondack Park that a driver and passengers could see while traveling along state highways. attribute with both positive and negative impacts were considered. once the set of attributes was agreed upon, gIS specialist, Karen Henry (FRM MPS 2004) developed a system to record data about the landscape attributes in a scene. For example, was there water in the view, and if so, was it a lake or river? and, if it was a lake, how many acres did it cover? What Robin enjoyed most about the project, besides spending time in the adirondacks was working with eSF bLa and MLa alumni. alumni included: Jon adams (bLa 2001), Lynn Jordon godek (bLa 2006), Richard ambuske (bLa 1978) alexandra Morgan (MLa 1995),Mark Woods (MLa 1982), Robert Hetzler (bLa 2001, MS 2003), Peter Dunleavy (bLa 1978).
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eMaNUeL J. CaRteR associate Professor emanuel J. Carter is principal investigator for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Urban Long-term Research area (ULtRa) Project. the project team includes other SUNY-eSF faculty and researchers with the USDa Forest Service Northeast Research Station. the team has received this highly competitive grant for $300,000 (January 2010 to December 2011). this two-year project is about multiple ways of evaluating the “social-ecological metabolism” of Syracuse, NY. Carter’s role is in addressing urban green infrastructure as viable urban design. He is supporting one eSF MLa student and one eSF MSLa student. the publishable products will be due by December, 2011. If the National Science Foundation is pleased with the collective work, the joint SUNY-eSF / USDa Forest Service team will be awarded seven years of funding for exploratory projects.
SCott SHaNNoN SeLeCteD aS NeW aSSoCIate PRoVoSt FoR INStRUCtIoN aND DeaN oF tHe gRaDUate SCHooL We are pleased to announce the appointment of associate Professor Scott Shannon, ‘82 bLa, ‘88 MLa, to associate Provost for Instruction and Dean of the graduate School. Scott’s position is to administer the academic policies for both undergraduate and graduate programs on campus (i.e. curriculum development, academic standards), as well as oversight of the graduate recruiting and admissions process. Scott will continue to teach in the department of landscape architecture and work on capstone projects with graduate students and other creative work. He is currently working with NYS agriculture & Markets to redesign Chevy Court at the State Fair.
tIM toLaND ‘98 MLa assistant Professor tim toland continues as the aSLa representative to the Council of tree and Landscape appraisers (CtLa). aSLa is one of seven organizations that make up CtLa, the others being the american Nursery and Landscape association (aNLa), the american Society of Consulting arborists (aSCa), the association of Consulting Foresters of american (aCF), the International Society of arboriculture (ISa), the Professional Land Care Network (PLaNet), and the tree Care Industry association (tCIa). Currently this group is working on revising the guide for Plant appraisal and is looking for input from its organizations members. If you have any ideas for improving any aspect of the guide, please contact tim at trtoland@esf.edu. Due to growing interest from its members, National aSLa has asked SUNY-eSF’s landscape architecture department to help produce a Landscape architecture technical Information Series (LatIS) paper on phytoremediation. Phytoremediation is the use of plants to clean soils of various pollutants, and is one mitigation strategy in the remediation of brownfields. tim toland and Richard Hawks will be working on this over the coming year.
geoRge W. CURRY NeW booK… tHeN & NoW aRMoRY SqUaRe Professor george W. Curry has published a new book, then & Now armory Square. the book describes the rise, fall and rebirth of the armory Square area in downtown Syracuse. george helped initiate the rehabilitation of armory Square by redeveloping the historic Labor temple building. He co-authored the book with Robert Podfigurny, an active member of the armory Square association board of Directors. the book is printed and distributed by arcadia Publishing, the leading local history publisher in the United States. the book is available at barnes and Noble, borders books, Powell books and amazon.com.
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SUNY college of Environmental Science and Forestry Department of Landscape architecture 331 Marshall Hall • Syracuse, New York, 13210-2787
NoNproFit orG. U.S. poStaGE
PAID
pErmit No. 248 SYracUSE, N.Y.
COpenhagen, Denmark JiLimbi, EcUaDor paris, franCe bErLiN, GErmaNY siraCusa, italy marrakEch, morocco rOtterDam, netherlanDs barcELoNa, SpaiN martha’s VineyarD, usa SYracUSE, USa
printed on recycled paper
2010 Off-Campus sites
5th Years in Palais Royale, Paris. l to r: Jessica Redish, brian Hamlin and Michael Scholtz
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