Best of
Landscaping

2017

Poetry of Place: The New Architecture and Interiors of McAlpine


Bobby McAlpine - 2017
    This volume features the recent projects of McAlpine, one of the country's most highly respected architecture and interior design firms, renowned for its timeless houses exemplifying the charm and elegance of traditional and vernacular English, American, and European styles blended with a modern sensibility.Following from their first book, The Home Within Us, this book profiles twenty stunning projects, from a stone tower folly standing in the gardens of a Tudor-style house to a humble yet elegant wooden lakeside retreat. Through his poetic voice, Bobby McAlpine narrates the story of each residence, pointing out its unique qualities. Featured are an exotic Florida Panhandle beach house; a Tuscan-style horse farm; a rambling Colonial Revival compound; and a miniature European manor house, among others. These dwellings are classically understated and welcoming. With its gorgeous photography of inspiring interiors and exteriors, Poetry of Place will appeal to those interested in design romancing the past.

RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design: Planning, Building and Planting Your Perfect Outdoor Space


Chris Young - 2017
    Grasp the fundamentals of garden design, find a style that suits you, and bring your ideas to life.This design bible is packed with advice to guide you from planning to planting. From preparation such as choosing the correct materials for your structures and assessing your drainage, to laying patios, making ponds, and planting perennials, the RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design is with you every step of the way.Discover inspirational portfolios including modernist, sustainable, Japanese, urban, family, and cottage gardens. Understand the unique features of each garden style, create your own plan, and marvel at case studies showcasing the gold standard of each garden type. With a handy visual dictionary and coverage of all the latest gardening trends, this book combines style with substance to guide you as you plant your perfect outdoor space.Previous edition ISBN 9781409325741

James Rose


Dean Cardasis - 2017
    An artist who explored his profession with words and built works, Rose fearlessly critiqued the developing patterns of land use he witnessed during a period of rapid suburban development. The alternatives he offered in his designs for hundreds of gardens were based on innovative and iconoclastic environmental and philosophic principles, some of which have become mainstream today.A classmate of Garrett Eckbo and Dan Kiley at Harvard, Rose was expelled in 1937 for refusing to design landscapes in the Beaux-Arts method. In 1940, the year before he received his first commission, Rose also published the last of his influential articles for Architectural Record, a series of essays written with Eckbo and Kiley that would become a manifesto for developing a modernist landscape architecture. Over the next four decades, Rose articulated his philosophy in four major books. His writings foreshadowed many principles since embraced by the profession, including the concept of sustainability and the wisdom of accommodating growth and change.James Rose includes new scholarship on many important works, including the Dickenson Garden in Pasadena and the Averett House in Columbus, Georgia, as well as unpublished correspondence. Throughout his career Rose refined his conservation ethic, finding opportunities to create landscapes for contemplation, self-discovery, and pleasure. At a time when issues of economy and environmentalism are even more pressing, Rose's writings and projects are both relevant and revelatory.

Lawrence Halprin


Kenneth I. Helphand - 2017
    He took on challenging new project types, developing a multidisciplinary practice while experimenting with adaptive reuse and ecological designs for new shopping malls, freeways, and urban parks. In his lifelong effort to improve the American landscape, Halprin celebrated the creative process as a form of social activism.A native New Yorker, Halprin earned degrees from Cornell and the University of Wisconsin before completing his design degree at Harvard. In 1945 he joined Thomas Church's firm, where he collaborated on the iconic Donnell Garden. He opened his own San Francisco office in 1949, where he initially focused on residential commissions in the Bay Area, completing close to three hundred in ten years' time. By the 1960s the firm had gained recognition for significant urban renewal projects such as Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco (1962-68), Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis (1962-67), and Freeway Park in Seattle (1970-74). Halprin used his conception of a Sierra stream as the catalyst for the Portland Open Space Sequence, a series of parks featuring great fountains that linked housing and civic space in the inner city.A charismatic speaker and passionate artist, Halprin designed landscapes that reflected the democratic and participatory ethic characteristic of his era. He communicated his ideas as well in lectures, books, exhibits, and performances. Along with his contemporary Ian McHarg, Halprin was his generation's great proselytizer for landscape architecture as environmental design. Throughout his long career, he strived to develop poetic and symbolic landscapes that, in his words, could "articulate a culture's most spiritual values."