26. January 2012 /
American Planning Association Awards
The American Planning Association (APA) named the winners of the 2012 National Planning Excellence Awards. The planners and others responsible for the 14 projects selected for outstanding planning and advocacy will be honored during APA's 2012 National Planning Conference in Los Angeles, April 14-17. The National Planning Excellence, Achievement, and Leadership Awards pay homage to the best planning efforts and individuals that create communities of lasting value. The following projects...
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Recent Issues
Recent Issues
24. January 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Landscape as Facilitator, Landscape as Mediator
A recent trip up to Copenhagen allowed a look at a range of landscape projects in a difficult season – winter. The winter in Copenhagen is cold, stormy and due to its position in the north, fairly dark. At mid-winter the sun is only up for about six hours. This is balanced during the year by pleasant summers with coastal breezes, warm temperatures, and a night that feels as if it never falls. The city is certainly one of extremes, but has one of the highest quality of life ratings in the world....
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23. January 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Malene Hauxner, 1942 - 2012
Malene Hauxner, a well known Danish Landscape architect, author and professor has passed away at the age of 70 in Denmark, on January 18th, 2012. She will be remembered as one of the most important theorists working in landscape architecture. Her research on landscape architecture is collected into three volumes - Fantasiens Have (The Garden of Imagination, 1993), Med Himlen som Loft (2000)(Open to the Sky, 2002) and Supernatur (2010). The books chart the development of the modernist movement...
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12. January 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Le:Notre Forum: A New Kind of Landscape Event
From 18 - 21 April 2012 the first Le:Notre Forum event will take place in Antalya, Turkey. Hosted by Akdeniz University, and organized by the Le:Notre Institute, the Forum is intended as a new approach to international landscape conferences in the European context. The theme of the event is: "Landscape Architecture in a Changing World: Linking Education, Research and Innovative Practice." A series of workshops and site visits will hopefully foster informal and formal interaction and exchange...
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09. January 2012 / Jessica Bridger
Focus On: South Africa
As many Topos readers know, the 2012 International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) Congress will take place from the 5th to the 7th of September 2012 in Cape Town South Africa. South Africa, and more importantly Africa in general, have historically been a challenge for Topos to cover. The practice of landscape architecture in a formal sense is still developing in most regions of Africa, and education in landscape architecture is underrepresented in universities.
However, some...
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04. January 2012 / Asan Suwanarit
Big Cleaning Day: The Challenge for Thai Landscape Architects after the Floods
This year the celebrations of His Majesty the King’s 84th birthday have given new hope to Thailand. On December 5th, King Bhumibol Adulyadej appeared on the balcony of the Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall within the Grand Palace, and gave a grand public speech that urged Thai people to help to revive the country after the recent floods, the worst disaster to hit the country for many years. For a long time King has not only initiated numerous significant royal projects aimed at solving the...
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20. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Kijong Dong – Potemkin Landscape
Oddities in the built environment as the result of political forces underline the power of the landscape. North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il recently passed away in mid-December 2011. The eccentric leader of the world’s only communist “monarchy” – Kim’s father, Kim Il Sung was leader before him, and his third son Kim Jong Un will succeed him as the leader of North Korea. The village of Kijung Dong is one example of the reliance of the North Korean state on appearances that deviate...
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20. December 2011 / Stefan Leppert
A painter with a modest plant palette - On the death of Wolfgang Oehme
The German-American landscape architect Wolfgang Oehme has passed away. He died on 15 December in Baltimore aged 81. Even though he emigrated to the USA in 1957 he always maintained links with Germany which gave many people the privilege of meeting this one-off gardener/planner or planner/gardener in the flesh. His lectures and other public appearances will never be forgotten by those who heard or saw him. Oehme was always Oehme and was unlike any other...
From his start as a New World...
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19. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Hot off the Press! Topos 77: Making Space
Here is a preview of the cover of Topos 77: Making Space. Featuring articles by Kongjian Yu, Matthew Urbanski, Christophe Girot and Jörg Rekittke, and many more the issue is an exciting look into what it takes for landscape architecture and landscape architects to make spaces that truly have an impact. The issue also features a special section by Antje Stokman, the 2011 Topos Landscape Award winner. More coming soon...
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19. December 2011 / Jessica Bridger
Film Review: Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
The 2010 film, Happy People by Werner Herzog and Dimitry Vasiyukov comes as a landscape revelation. The film is shot as a year-long documentary of the lives of fur trappers living in the Taiga in Sibera. The film opens with Werner Herzog in voice-over reminding us that "we should keep in mind that this colossal landmass is one-and-a-half times the size of the United States." The scale of the place is merely the starting point of this spectacular landscape. Untouched by rapid urbanization yet...
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