The Boston Society of Landscape Architects recently honored 21 projects by Harvard Graduate School of Design students, faculty, and alumni with its annual design awards. The program recognizes outstanding landscape architects, students, and projects based in Massachusetts or Maine.
This year the awards were presented to projects that merited recognition in one or more of the following areas:
- Exemplary social, cultural, educational, or environmental significance.
- Outstanding quality, craftmanship, creativity, or artistry.
- Unique and innovative technologies, techniques, or concepts.
- Advancement of the public’s awareness and perception of the field of landscape architecture.
The GSD student awardees are:
Echo Chen (MLA ’21), Kongyun He (MLA ’21), and Michele Chen’s (MLAUD ’23) “Local Forest Coalition”—Student Merit Award
Jury Comments: The jury appreciated the approach of treating this like a handbook that could be used by different communities to invest in the management, with unique and interesting graphics and compelling representation methods. The project demonstrates an exciting and interesting concept, investing local residents in the management and creation of the built environment in their communities.
Estello Raganit (MLA ’19) and Joan Chen’s (MLA ’19) “Slowlands: Making the Inter-Loughs Wilds”—Student Merit Award
Jury Comments: The jury appreciates the ambitiousness of taking on this polarizing topic, and doing so at a variety of scales—from global to national to microscopic. The jury was very impressed with the graphics, each of which feels like a work of art, and they were intrigued to see something that’s not a site intervention—rather more of a thought intervention.
Andreea Vasile-Hoxha’s (MLA ’20) “After Plastics”—Honor Award
Jury Comments: The jury found this to be a brilliant piece of research, in which siloed concepts became integrated thinking within a futuristic framework. The jury appreciated the exploration of ecological and botanical interventions in dealing with the emergence and persistence of microplastics, and found the communication strategy compelling and rich. The range of scales in thinking and graphic communication make for an impressive package.
Minzhi Lin’s (MLA ’23) “Retreating Plan”—Excellence Award
Jury Comments: The jury deemed this project an ambitious plan demonstrating incredible restraint. They celebrated the submission for its thoughtful process and beautiful and nuanced graphics. The proposal focuses equally on ecology and humanity, celebrating the interaction between the two, and the designed forms are as beautifully articulated as they are justified by the research.
GSD faculty and alumni were also among the professionals awarded by the BSLA. GSD affiliated winners include:
- Agency Landscape + Planning, founders Gina Ford (MLA ’03), design critic in Landscape Architecture, and Brie Hensold (MUP ’07), design critic in Urban Planning and Design
- Carolina Aragon (MLA ’04)
- Copley Wolff Design Group, Inc, president and principal Lynn Wolff (MLA ’81)
- Crowley Cottrell, LLC, principal Naomi Cotrell (MLA ’02)
- Halvorson – Tighe & Bond Studio, principal landscape architect Cynthia Smith (MLA ’85)
- IBI Placemaking, principal John N. Amodeo (MLA ’82)
- Reed Hilderbrand, co-founder Gary Hilderbrand (MLA ’85), Peter Louis Hornbeck Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture
- SASAKI, principal James N. Miner (MUP ’01) with other GSD affiliates
- SCAPE, founder and principal Kate Orff (MLA ’97) with other GSD affiliates
- ScenesLab, founder and director Wendy Yifei Wang (MLA ’14) with other GSD affiliates
- Stoss Landscape Urbanism, founder and director Chris Reed, co-director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design Degree Program and Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture
- The VELA Project, co-principal Samantha Solano (MLA ’16)
Browse the full list of 2021 BSLA Award recipients.