The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) announced the winners of its 2009 Professional Awards. The jury considered nearly 600 entries—the largest number in ASLA history—from around the world and selected 49 projects for recognition in general design, residential design, analysis and planning, communications and research. The awards ceremony will take place at the ASLA Annual Meeting in Chicago on September 21.

General Design

Award of Excellence:

*Buffalo Bayou Promenade, Houston. Designed by SWA Group, Houston:

Buffalo Bayou Promenade, Houston. Designed by SWA Group, Houston: The project was created under challenging urban conditions, overhead freeways and utilities, steep slopes, limited access and critical flood elevations. (Photo: Tom Fox)

Project Statement

‘The Buffalo Bayou Promenade connected Houston’s downtown core to the river park to the west under and through a neglected and near impossible mess of freeways and bridges, adding 23 acres of parkland to Houston’s inner city. The landscape architect’s early visioning and then implementation converted a trash-soaked eyesore — intimidating to pedestrians and detrimental to flood control efforts — into 3,000 linear feet of urban park that provides a prominent gateway to downtown Houston. ‘

Honor Awards:

*Teardrop Park, New York, N.Y. Designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Cambridge, Mass;

Project Statement:

‘Teardrop Park transcends its small size, shady environment, and mid-block urban location through a meandering design formed with complex irregular spaces, robust plantings, strong materials and bold topography that creates places for prospect and refuge. Designed primarily as a landscape for children, the park’s spatial structure and reinterpretation of natural form makes a place for exploration and movement.’

*Macallen Building, South Boston, Mass. Designed by Landworks Studio, Inc., Boston:

Project Statement

‘Situated between South Boston and an expansive field of infrastructure, and addressing the Boston skyline, the Macallen Building and landscape form an icon of sustainable development for the city. The project establishes a sense of place centered on a shared ethos of ecological responsibility and smart urban living. Within each tier of Macallen’s tripartite landscape, this social and ecological imperative emerges according to its situation and program. The Macallen Building won LEED Gold in 2008.’

*Changi Airport Terminal 3 Interior Landscape, Singapore. Designed by Tierra Design (S) Pte Ltd., Singapore;

Project Statement

‘Large-scale vertical planting evoking a South East Asian equatorial rainforest was introduced into the interior of Singapore’s Changi Terminal 3 to structure and soften an otherwise cavernous industrial building. A woven tapestry of living plants not only divides the mega-building in plan into landside/airside sections but also connect the vertical space of the check-in/arrival areas, which are separated by a glass security screen.’

*The Museum of Modern Art Roof Garden, New York City. Designed by Ken Smith Landscape Architect, New York City:

The Museum of Modern Art Roof Garden, New York City. Designed by Ken Smith Landscape Architect, New York City: View from Warwick Hoel, Sixth Avenue and 54th Street (Photo: Peter Mauss/ESTO)

Project Statement:

‘The new roof garden on top of the Taniguchi building at the Museum of Modern Art in New York marks a contemporary addition to the landscape spaces at the museum, which also include the ”modern” sculpture garden designed by Philip Johnson and Zion and Breen in 1953. The garden breaks new ground esthetically in terms of design vocabulary, wit and irony, materiality and public visibility. While physically inaccessible the garden is highly visible as a viewing garden at the urban high-rise scale of Midtown Manhattan.’

*Observation Balloon Preview Park Orange County Great Park, Irvine, Calif. Designed by WORKSHOPWEST Ken Smith Landscape Architect, New York City and Irvine, Calif.:

Project Statement and Narrative

‘Known regionally as “The Great Park,” this 1,347 acre project will become the heart of future districts for living, commerce, and life-long learning on the former El Toro Marine Air Station in Orange County, California.

This long-term project will take many years to build and grow. Part of its development plan is a 27-acre Preview Park that serves as a visitor center, observation area and prototyping area for elements and features being designed for the Great Park. In Summer 2007 the first phase of the Preview Park opened with a large orange helium filled observation balloon. Other facilities were added in summer of 2008, and more features are planned. Anchored by an orange observation balloon that rises up to a 500-foot height for a commanding view, the Preview Park introduces several prototypes for the orange groves, stonework, and plantings that will eventually fill the entire park.’

*ChonGae Canal Project, Seoul, Korea. Designed by Mikyoung Kim Design, Brookline, Mass.:

Project Statement

‘This project is located within the two urban superblocks of the Central Business District in Seoul, the main source point of the ChonGae Canal. The design is comprised of individual stone sculptures, symbolizing the future unification of the nine provinces of North and South Korea, and celebrating the source point of cleansed surficial and sub grade runoff from the city. The stones, from provincial quarries, frame the urban plaza while bringing public access directly to the water’s edge. The canal design accommodates seasonal flooding, its appearance changing as stones are submerged and reappear.’

*California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. Designed by SWA Group, Sausalito, Calif.:

California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. Designed by SWA Group, Sausalito, Calif.: The 2.5-acre living roof realizes the central design concept-“lifting up a piece of the park and put a building under it”. The sculptural mounds relate to the museum’s interior exhibits and echo the seven major hills of San Francisco (Photo: Tom Fox)

Project Statement

‘The California Academy of Sciences, the “world’s greenest museum”, has earned LEED-Platinum certification through an ambitious vision for sustainable design. Landscape architecture played a major role in the realization of the design team’s concept of “lifting up a piece of the park and putting a building under it”, resulting in a sculptural 2.5-acre living roof that provides a unique interpretive experience and helps the project to achieve the highest level of sustainability.’

*Museo del Acero Horno3, Monterrey, Mexico. Designed Surfacedesign Inc.+ Harari arquitectos, San Francisco:

Project Statement

‘A team of international designers collaborated to transform a decommissioned blast furnace and a brownfield site into a modern history museum dedicated to the region’s rich history of steel production. Borrowing from materials endemic to the site, innovative landscape design weaves together with modern architecture to usher an old relic into the 21st century. Environmentally sensitive technologies – such as green roofs and a storm water collection system — offer a new approach to the landscape while respecting the original context.’

To see all winning projects visit: www.asla.org.