Boston Flora

Tag: The Cultural Landscape Foundation

  • Sunday, March 19 – Monday, April 3, 2017 – Japan’s Cultural Landscapes

    Following on the success of its annual excursions and Garden Dialogues, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is venturing overseas to offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the gardens, architecture, and museums of Japan with TCLF president + CEO Charles Birnbaum, along with the TCLF Board of Directors and Stewardship Council. Loosely based on the extensive travels of well-known landscape architect James van Sweden (who is the subject of one of TCLF’s Pioneers oral histories), the trip will include visits to traditional Japanese gardens, but will also focus on contemporary Japanese landscape architectural design.

    Travelers will learn the secrets of ancient design theory and see Japan through the eyes of landscape architects, architects, and historians. And this two-week immersion in Japanese design, culture, and history will be liberally supplemented with FUN—with TCLF Board Member Eric Groft leading the way, there’s bound to be plenty of sashimi, sake, and shopping as well.

    The full itinerary of the excursion can be found at http://tclf.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/TCLF%20Japan%202017%20Itinerary.pdf. For inquiries and registration, please contact Susan Gullia, Managing Director at Protravel International, LLC, at Susan.Gullia@protravelinc.com or 800.227.1059 (ext. 9556).

  • Saturday, September 17 – Garden Dialogues: Connecticut

    The Garden Dialogues program began five years ago at Manatuck, the Stonington, Connecticut home of The Cultural Landscape Foundation Board Member Barbara Dixon and her husband Chris, inspired by a casual conversation between Dixon and her landscape architect Douglas Reed, a founding TCLF Board Member, as they walked the property. The September 17 Dialogue at Manatuck will anchor a rich exploration of the cultural and environmental landscape of Stonington through the lens of an up-close and intimate tour along the town’s North Main street corridor.

    At the Dixon estate, with its unprecedented panoramic views of Stonington’s natural land form and breathtaking pastoral coastal views that connect farm to ocean, attendees will first hear about the town’s natural and cultural history from a renowned local historian. Next, Reed and the Dixons will elaborate on their on-going twenty-year collaboration, and the story of the project to open up the landscape and reconnect it with the earlier historic farmland.

    A short walk through the inner fields, meadows, woodlands and wetlands that parallel North Main street will lead to the historic Stone Acre Farm property (picture below courtesy of www.oldhouseonline.com), one of the state’s oldest farms. Attendees will be treated to lunch and a talk about the future of Stone Acres Farm, which will become a “Farm to Community Table” campus for sustainable living and practices conceived through a deep and abiding commitment to connecting the local community to its local, natural and human resources.

    The final stop is a mid-century Modernist residence once owned by John Lincoln, an architect and co-inventor of the Quonset and former chair of the Rhode Island School of Design’s architecture department. Here Joeb Moore, another TCLF Board Member, and Reed will present the recent major renovations and on-going transformations of the property and house.

    Thanks to the generosity of our hosts and sponsors, tickets for Garden Dialogues are tax deductible and proceeds benefit the educational programs of The Cultural Landscape Foundation.  $300.  Register online at http://www.tclf.org.

  • Saturday, June 18, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm – Garden Dialogues: Connecticut

    On June 18 from 10 – 1, get exclusive access to Langhorne and Steeple Chase in Greenwich, Connecticut, as part of the Garden Dialogues series from The Cultural Landscape Foundation.

    Conte & Conte Landscape Architects specializes in creating projects that maximize each client’s functional and aesthetic requirements. Langhorne Lodge, the private residence of John R. Conte and his wife Kimberly, is located on a wooded glen nestled in backcountry Greenwich, CT. This ideal setting with its rustic, yet elegant country homestead features more than a dozen, unique spaces to explore. John used fallen branches from the property to design and build an operational chicken coop and a relaxing gazebo. There are birdhouses scattered around the property as well as a meadow for wildlife to flourish. The tranquilly beautiful rose/vegetable garden provides the family with fresh, organic produce throughout the summer. The most recent addition is the party barn (functionally a three-car garage) with attached covered terrace for entertaining family & friends; spacious and inviting yet made delightfully intimate with the blazing outdoor fireplace. The cozy feel compliments the spectacular views of the contrasting wide-open lawn & surrounding woodlands.

    Steeple Chase Farms, a thirteen-acre private residential horse farm also in Greenwich, includes a 7,000 sq. ft. home, stables, indoor riding arena, grazing paddocks, run-in sheds and an equipment garage with groom’s quarters. The goal was to create a working equestrian facility for this client and her family while incorporating all of the comforts of home and respecting the residential character of the neighborhood. The house was placed in such a way as to preserve a large stand of trees, setting it high atop a rolling hillside. This allowed for sensational seasonal views of its verdant setting. Siting was also important for the recreational areas, circulation, and building sites all of which were positioned in order to reduce the impact of views for neighboring properties. The equestrian buildings were set down, lower on the property and arranged to fit into the topography instead of overpowering it.

    Thanks to the generosity of our hosts and sponsors, tickets for Garden Dialogues are tax deductible and proceeds benefit the educational programs of The Cultural Landscape Foundation.  $200.  Purchase online at http://tclf.org/event/garden-dialogues-connecticut-2016

  • Thursday, May 21 – Sunday, May 24 – Second Wave of Modernism III: Leading with Landscape

    Join The Cultural Landscape Foundation for a What’s Out There weekend conference in Toronto May 21 – May 24 at the Isabel Bader Theatre, University of Toronto, 93 Charles Street West in Toronto. Leading with Landscape will tackle numerous issues including those that deal with the city’s identity – what does it mean for a 21st-century city to be historic and modern at the same time? – and stewardship – what new models for public/private financing and management are emerging?

    The international implications of this planning and development strategy will be to address whether a 21st-century city can be both regional and global, and whether we can we use landscape as an engine to meet market demands while cultivating a sustainable urbanism.

    Participating speakers, including internationally significant private-sector practitioners working on current and proposed projects in Toronto, municipal leaders, leading critics and thinkers, and academics from Canada, the US and the Netherlands, will also examine how existing parks and open spaces are adapted to accommodate contemporary and future needs and expectations, and how innovative landscape planning and design techniques developed in Toronto apply to other cities, and vice versa – and the impact of imported ideas on local conditions.

    The opening reception takes place Thursday May 21 at the Gardiner Museum, 111 Queen’s Park. This event will launch the conference, What’s Out There Weekend Toronto, and the What’s Out There Toronto Guide. The evening will also honor the tremendous efforts by students and faculty at Ryerson University, who have done extensive research and produced entries for the What’s Out There database, the inaugural site outside of the US. Finally, the evening will culminate in the presentation of TCLF’s Stewardship Excellence Award to an individual, group and/or organization that embodies and promotes sound stewardship of the city’s landscape legacy.

    Toronto – recently ranked by the Economist magazine as “the best place to live” and North America’s fourth largest city – is the center of world-class landscape architecture projects, the world’s largest ravine system and a substantial legacy of extant parks. These will all be the focus of a daylong conference, and other events including What’s Out There Weekend Toronto, featuring two days of free, expert-led tours, and the launch of a free, online What’s Out There Toronto City Guide.

    Much of the new activity, which is leading an unprecedented period of the city’s growth, is occurring along the Don River where parks by internationally significant practitioners that incorporate ecology, culture and design excellence have been built to the highest standards. Stewardship of these parks, designed and currently maintained by private enterprise, will eventually fall to the city.

    Second Wave of Modernism III: Leading with Landscape will tackle numerous issues including those that deal with the city’s identity – what does it mean for a 21st century city to be historic and modern at the same time? – and stewardship – what new models for public/private financing and management are emerging?

    The international implications of this planning and development strategy will address whether a 21st century city can be both regional and global, and whether we can use landscape as an engine to meet market demands while cultivating a sustainable urbanism.

    Participating speakers, including internationally significant private sector practitioners working on current and proposed projects in Toronto, municipal leaders, leading critics and thinkers, and academics from Canada, the US and the Netherlands, will also examine how existing parks and open spaces are adapted to accommodate contemporary and future needs and expectations, and how innovative landscape planning and design techniques developed in Toronto apply to other cities, and vice versa – and the impact of imported ideas on local conditions.

    On Friday, May 22 from 6:30 – 11, a Toronto the Good Reception at The Fermented Cellar, Historic Distiller District, 28 Distillery Lane, will be a highlight. In its eleventh year, Toronto the Good, an annual party hosted by ERA Architects, will take place at The Fermenting Cellar in the historic Distillery District. The restored red brick, Victorian-era complex that once housed the Gooderham & Worts whiskey distillery is now an exciting destination with more than 70 cultural and retail operations. Join us for free hors d’oeuvre, cash bar, and a lively crowd of people passionate about design and democracy in Toronto. Admission is free but registration is required.

    Saturday, May 23, from 6 – 9, join us for a late afternoon tour and twilight reception – featuring creative, local cuisine paired with Ontario’s top wines and craft beers – in the BMO Atrium at Evergreen Brick Works, 550 Bayview Avenue. The former Don Valley Pressed Brick Works Company (see below,) which produced bricks that built many of Toronto’s landmark buildings, is now a global showcase for green design and urban sustainability – and it was named one of the world’s Top Ten geotourism sites by National Geographic.

    Speakers include Jane Amidon of Northeastern University, Paul J. Bedford, Charles A. Birnbaum, Geoff Cape, Claude Cormier, Adriaan Geuze, Jennifer Keesmaat, Bruce Kuwabara, Nina-Marie Lister, Janet Rosenberg, Marc Ryan, Elizabeth Silver, Brendan Steward, Mayor John Tory, and Thomas L. Woltz.  An early bird rate is available until April 1. Register at www.tclf.org.

  • Wednesday, April 1, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Native Meadows: Let’s Get Real

    Native meadows are increasingly popular, particularly as alternatives to lawn, yet few types of landscapes are more misunderstood. Inadequate planning and use of poorly adapted plants commonly lead to failure. Better results can be achieved when the patterns and processes of naturally occurring meadows are incorporated into all aspects of design, installation, and management. More than one-year wonders, meadow plantings modeled on actual meadow communities provide long-term, easily managed landscapes that harbor a myriad of birds and butterflies, and provide color and texture throughout the year.

    Join native meadow expert Larry Weaner on Wednesday, April 1 at 7 pm at the Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway in Cambridge, to learn concrete, practical ways of creating dynamic and stunning long-lived meadows. Case studies of both multi-acre projects and small-scale residential meadows will be shown.

    Larry Weaner has been creating native landscapes since 1977. His firm has a national reputation for combining ecological restoration with garden design traditions. His projects have received numerous awards and been included on tours given by the American Horticultural Society, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and many other organizations. He is the founder of New Directions in the American Landscape, a conference series with a national following that has run for more than two decades. This free program is sponsored by Grow Native Massachusetts.

  • Thursday, November 14, 4:30 pm – Opening Reception: The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley

    Modernist landscape architect Daniel Urban Kiley (1912-2004) achieved acclaim for his visionary landscape designs, numbering more than 1,000 worldwide. In 2013 The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s annual Landslide compendium will be presented as a special retrospective of Kiley’s life and prolific body of work. As a part of the retrospective, an exhibition of photography, showcasing some of Kiley’s most important commissions as they appear today, will open at the Boston Architectural College where it will remain on display through 2013, before traveling to other venues nationwide.

    An exclusive opening reception will be held at the College’s McCormick Gallery, 320 Newbury Street in Boston, on November 14, 2013 beginning at 4:30pm.

    http://tclf.org/sites/default/files/flickr/4586994637_320c53eb29_o.jpg

  • Saturday, May 18 – Sunday, May 19, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm – What’s Out There Weekend: Philadelphia

    The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s What’s Out There Weekend, scheduled for May 18 and 19, features free, expert-led tours at more than two-dozen significant examples of Philadelphia’s landscape architecture, including hidden gems in Fairmount Park (below,)  the Beaux Arts grounds of the Rodin Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Colonial Revival design near Independence Hall, the groundbreaking Modernist expressions of Society Hill, and the Postmodernist plazas of Venturi Scott Brown. The tours reveal the back story about city shaping, landscape architecture and the design history of significant landscapes all over the city. Many are places people pass daily, but do we know their background stories?

    What’s Out There Weekend dovetails with the Web-based What’s Out There, the nation’s most comprehensive searchable database of historic designed landscapes. The database offers a broad and interconnected way to discover the breadth of America’s historic designed landscapes, while What’s Out There Weekend gives people the opportunity to experience the landscapes they might see every day in a new way.  Registration is available on line at www.tclf.org.

    http://fairmountpark.c-b.com/Cover_page.jpg

  • Friday, May 17, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Civic Horticulture Conference in Philadelphia

    The 21st century concept of Green is rooted, in part, in 19th century civic horticulture, a pioneering and concerted effort by authorities and individuals to bring the garden (and nature) into the city to address economic, social and quality of life issues. So what about civic horticulture today in this post‐Earth Day generation? Its benefits and vocabulary have expanded, leveraging the interconnectedness of the natural, cultural and ecological systems that provide the essential foundation for civic horticulture, while recognizing its prominence in fostering healthy, vibrant cities.

    Perhaps no organization has the legacy of tackling this issue more that the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Founded in 1827, a meeting with a group of gentleman farmers, botanists and other plant enthusiasts resolved “to establish a Horticultural Society in the City of Philadelphia for the promotion of this interesting and highly influential branch of Science.” Today that mission to “motivate people to improve the quality of life and create a sense of community through horticulture” is still strong and is a fitting lens to visit the topic of civic horticulture.

    The goal of the Civic Horticulture conference (and associated tours) is to first position the idea of civic horticulture in its historic context (from the Victorian era through the City Beautiful movement up to the Age of Ecology) and then go topically deep, placing a spotlight on such critical themes as The Street; The Productive Garden; and Parks and Plazas. Speakers will come from across the country and will include landscape architects, horticulturists, architects and historians.
    Registration will be coming soon – visit www.tclf.org/civic-horticulture-conference-philadelphia.  Photo from Philadelphia Style magazine.

  • Saturday, September 29 – Sunday, September 30 – 2012 Auction of The Cultural Landscape Foundation

    In 2003, TCLF launched the Pioneers of American Landscape Design initiative in partnership with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), with the goal of documenting, collecting, and preserving the unique, first-hand perspectives of renowned landscape practitioners. To support the development of this and other important educational initiatives, TCLF is conducting its eighth annual silent auction of artwork. This year’s auction will feature more than 75 sketches, paintings, photographs, books, clothing, and other ephemera executed by notable landscape architects and artists. In addition to the diverse collection of work by both veteran and emerging landscape architects, the auction will include more than a dozen works by celebrated photographers from across the country.

    TCLF is extremely grateful for the generous support of all our auction donors and sponsors, the American Society of Landscape Architect’s and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. ASLA’s continued support of this project assures that all of the funds raised go directly to support our education initiatives and promote our mission of stewardship through education.

    To arrange an absentee bid or for more information on the Silent Auction, please contact Amanda Shull at amanda@tclf.org. Painting below by Michael Van Valkenburgh. View the entire catalog at www.tclf.org/event/2012-silent-auction.

  • Saturday, July 14 and Sunday, July 15, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Garden Dialogues: Connecticut

    The Cultural Landscape Foundation will provide exclusive access to private gardens in Connecticut on Saturday, July 14 and Sunday, July 15.  Hear directly from the landscape architects and their patrons about the design process.  How do patrons and designers work together?  What makes for a great, enduring collaboration?  Garden Dialogues provides unique opportunities for small groups to visit some of today’s most beautiful gardens created by some of the most accomplished designers currently in practice.  On Saturday, July 14,  from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, see Twin Maples Farm, owned by Douglas and Wilmer Thomas, designed by Larry Weaner Landscape Associates.  This 450-acre northwest Connecticut estate features dramatic vistas, more than 40 acres of seeded meadow and shrubland, and an environmentally sensitive integration with the surrounding woodlands.

    Sunday, July 15, from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, see Diamond Hills Gardens in Redding, designed by Richard Hartlage, AHBL (see his book Bold Visions for the Garden below.)  This eight-acre estate garden features native meadows, a sunken garden, woodland walks, sculpture and beautiful water features.  The garden artfully balances rustic and sophisticated through the use of local stone and salvaged barn wood.  Register for either or both tours ($35 per person) at www.tclf.org.