2015

Olmsted Scholar Feature: Exploring Relationships Between People and Water

rory — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 18:14:43 +0000

Olmsted Scholar Feature: Exploring Relationships Between People and Water

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By Sarah Bolivar, 2015 University Olmsted Scholar

Now that I am in my third and final year of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) Master of Landscape Architecture program, I think back to the query that brought me to the design field: how people manage water, a transboundary resource. In retrospect, this interest has remained constant, although I could not have imagined the various scales and issues I’d study pertaining to water. Through the GSD, I have been fortunate to examine stormwater in Nepal, the role of paths in the context of tsunami evacuation, and now, a thesis around tribal salmon harvest in the Pacific Northwest.

During the summer of 2014, with the support of the South Asia Institute and GSD Community Service Fellowship, I traveled 15 hours by plane and 16 hours by bus to Surkhet, Nepal, a verdant valley overlaid by housing, commerce, and agriculture in the subtropical Terai belt. A friend at Kopila Valley, a school serving 350 students, connected me with the managing non-profit, BlinkNow, which invited me to provide landscape design strategies for a new school complex. I led hands-on workshops so students could learn about landscape architecture and I could learn about their favorite spaces, but I struggled to find the best ways to integrate students’ voices into the project. One clear element was the monsoon season that would soon come, and with it, potential flooding or erosion throughout the school. Part of the design strategy revolved around tackling and revealing these water flows. A week after I returned to the states, a monsoon caused rivers to swell, and massive flooding coupled with landslides left hundreds without homes.

Surkhet, Nepal (Image: Jack Cochran)

Given that Nepal is prone to earthquakes and landslides, I was eager to learn more about places that could serve as precedents for responding to natural disasters. With the financial support of the Asia Center and GSD Penny White Fund, my friend, Jessie Booth (MLA ‘16), and I traveled to low-density coastal cities in Japan, Kamaishi and Ishinomaki, both devastated by the 3/11 Tsunami. We sought to understand the role that landscape could play in supporting natural disaster preparedness. Specifically, we wondered how pedestrian evacuation paths could become imprinted in the collective memory to serve residents during emergency and non-emergency times.

Coastal infrastructure in Ishinomaki, Japan

One of the biggest takeaways was each city’s reconstruction plan did not necessarily work in tandem with neighboring cities’ plans. Each city could be broadly characterized either by a “bottom-up” or “top-down” reconstruction approach. Additionally, most affected cities are continuing to invest in structures that have a singular use and narrow lifespan, such as tetrapods and seawalls. This spring, Jessie and I will synthesize our research findings into a document we can share with our friends and partners in Japan.

Working in Japan and Nepal allowed me to be acutely aware of the challenges designers face when the site has a different cultural context than one’s own, the site is thousands of miles away, the work is pro-bono, and the work is conceived within an academic umbrella. Each of these conditions renders its own opportunities and challenges.

I reflect constantly on the politicized nature of my role as I develop a thesis around a place that is dear to me, the Salish Coast, located in the Pacific Northwest. In this region, I’ll be exploring the role that design can play in supporting salmon habitat and harvest to thereby protect indigenous sovereignty rights for the Lummi and Nooksack Nations. Given that indigenous people have been systematically oppressed through physical force and political contracts, I must understand that my language and actions are too, as my friend Elizabeth Bragg of the Blackfoot Nation would put it, “colored by colonizing practices of the past.”

Map of salmon in the Nooksack River, general thesis site in the Pacific Northwest

And as I begin to develop the project, I come back to the issue of water, in this case, the hydrological conditions that affect salmon reproduction. With the guidance of my thesis advisor, Jane Hutton, and thesis cohort, I look forward to continuing to explore the relationship between people and water in all its multifaceted forms.

Sarah Bolivar is currently working on her thesis, as well as planning International Women’s Day on March 08 with the GSD Women in Design team.

Olmsted Scholar Feature: Spaces of Conflict, Spaces of Opportunity

rory — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 18:17:01 +0000

Olmsted Scholar Feature: Spaces of Conflict, Spaces of Opportunity

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By Logan Littlefield, 2015 University Olmsted Scholar

The effects of conflict on the urban landscape are far-reaching and multi-faceted.

Beirut, Lebanon is a case in which the continued political instability spawned by its 15-year civil war (1975-1990) has exacerbated a physical and cultural erosion of the public realm. This has allowed areas of natural, cultural, and civic heritage to be co-opted by private luxury development, preventing them from serving as potential devices to foster social cohesion and civic identity. The unprecedented tabula rasa reconstruction of Beirut’s central district by a private development company exemplifies this condition.

My graduate thesis project, Confronting the Present: Towards a Civic Realm on Beirut’s Urban Fringe, explores the opportunities presented by peri-urban infrastructural landscapes to address this condition. To do so, my research was two-fold: an inventory of designated and spontaneous public space types in Beirut and a rationale for civic space in more unlikely spaces.

The peri-urban Beirut River became a testing ground for a new prototype of civic space. Opportunity lies in its ambiguous ownership, neglect, infrastructural qualities, and tenuous identity as a natural feature, where an intervention is less likely to spawn gentrification. It was also consistent with inventory findings that the dominating adjacency for more informal forms of public manifestation was infrastructure.

Though the space is aesthetically unlikely, socially and demographically speaking however, it is fitting for social cohesion since, though situated in the largely Christian eastern half of Beirut, the site is located within the most prominent Armenian neighbourhoods. This community resisted taking sides during the war, making their areas relatively neutral grounds for interaction compared to other more cloistered Christian or Muslim districts. There is also increasing ethnic and religious diversity here due to affordable rents, urban migration and the influx of refugees.

The proposed design prototype deploys and hybridizes local spatial types onto the infrastructural landscape to create a new urban topography, the next iteration in the evolving transformation of the Beirut river from seasonally flooding estuary to channelized riverbed.

A series of platforms are created, some programmed and others not, which together form a transverse connection of civic space across the river and multiple highways to meet the needs of surrounding neighbourhoods.

Some of the approaches or tactics used in my thesis work were generic, and others are very specific. This is something that I am grappling with as I relate these research interests to my new locale: South Africa. Public realm erosion is an issue here as well, as is a history of conflict and and social instability, albeit for different reasons. However, the fragmentation or lack of use of the public realm by all often has to do with fears of violent crime due to wealth inequality, which is a much different social context than in Beirut.

My thesis project was the recipient of a 2015 ASLA Student award and can be viewed in more detail at: https://www.asla.org/2015studentawards/index.html

Logan completed his MLA from the University of Toronto in May 2015 and is currently living in South Africa. He is beginning work at a firm in Cape Town in January 2016.

Olmsted Scholar Feature: Sustainable Sediment Management in the Los Angeles Basin

rory — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 18:26:27 +0000

Olmsted Scholar Feature: Sustainable Sediment Management in the Los Angeles Basin

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By Nathaniel Oakley, 2015 National Olmsted Scholar Finalist

Towering above the Los Angeles basin at the kink in the San Andreas Fault lies the transverse San Gabriel Mountain range. Rising over 10,000 feet into the sky at its highest point, it is known for its destructive debris flows as written about extensively by John McPhee and others. The tectonic force of the Pacific Plate grinding against the North American plate uplift the mountain range at the rate of one millimeter per year (fast in geologic time), and the repeated cycle of denuding conflagrations and orographic precipitation erase much of that progress.

Toward the western end of the range, the headwaters of the Arroyo Seco River (a major tributary of the Los Angeles River) make their way into a watershed that is over 95% urbanized. At the moment, this highly developed watershed is protected from flooding and the ever-eroding San Gabriels by a series of anthropogenic infrastructural interventions, the largest being the Devil’s Gate Dam and a series of concrete channels that the Arroyo now flows through.

A week ago the rains began in Los Angeles, slicking the streets into road accidents, crumbling the mud from the hillsides and toppling the houses into canyons, washing the world into the gutters and storm drains... When the rains come in Los Angeles, they always take people by surprise.

Neil Gaiman, American Gods

The Dam, plagued by a history of sedimentation, is now at half of its original capacity. Normally, excess sediment is excavated and brought to nearby landfills, but recent fires and rain events have left L.A. County playing catch-up in order to maintain reservoir capacity. If storage behind Devil’s Gate is compromised, communities along the Arroyo are potentially at risk of flooding. Surprisingly, many of these nearby inhabitants were unaware there ever could be a flood risk as most of the time the channel remains dry, save for urban runoff trickling through the low-flow portion of the channel.

In addition to the sediment build up, downstream conditions of the Arroyo Seco are bleak. Wildlife habitat has been replaced with cold concrete, and most of it remains inaccessible to the public as the invert can drop off precariously to depths of 30 feet in some reaches and can quickly turn dangerous during storms. During heavy rains motorists have found themselves stranded, clamoring to the channel walls, requiring swift water rescue. Very little water that stems from the Arroyo Seco is allowed to recharge groundwater supplies, and the habitat-building sediment it delivers from the San Gabriels is trapped, destined for nearby landfills.

A strengthening El Niño climate cycle is predicted heading into 2016, which will hopefully give drought-stricken California much needed precipitation. With the return of wet weather, fast-moving stormwater will return to the Arroyo Seco delivering sediment from the crumbling slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. Devil’s Gate Dam will be tested, while potential aquifer-replenishing rainwater will be sent directly to the ocean via impervious channels. Herein lies an opportunity for discussion and implementation of unique water conservation and sustainable sediment management design strategies that go beyond the business as usual, Sisyphean, approaches of fighting sediment and flushing rainwater out of the city.

My Senior Project at UC Davis, The Barrier: Seeking Sustainable Sediment Management Solutions for Devil’s Gate Dam, discusses these issues and proposes regenerative design strategies and interventions to balance natural sediment delivery, water storage, flood control, and habitat restoration.The report and a short video discussing this research can be accessed at:

The Barrier: Seeking Sustainable Sediment Management Solutions for Devil’s Gate Dam: http://issuu.com/send2nate/docs/oakley_thebarrier_final
Short video: https://vimeo.com/141816349

In May, Nathaniel Oakley received his Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture degree from the University of California, Davis. He is currently working as a Landscape Architect Assistant at Callander Associates in the Sacramento area.

Thanks for a Great Year!

rory — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 18:32:23 +0000

Thanks for a Great Year!

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The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) invests in research and scholarships to increase our collective capacity to achieve sustainability and cultivate the next generation of design leaders. We’d like to thank our many friends, donors, and partners whose generous support helped us accomplish the following in 2015:

Awarded over $120,000 to students through scholarships, fellowships, and research assistantships.
Produced 17 new case studies of exemplary landscape architecture projects with 6 faculty-student-practitioner teams.
Recognized 72 new Olmsted Scholars, including the $25,000 graduate and $15,000 undergraduate national winners.
Awarded $12,500 in mini-grants to faculty to develop and test models for integrating landscape performance in design education.
Launched the new $20,000 LAF Honor Scholarship in Memory of Joe Lalli, FASLA.
Received two ASLA Professional Awards: The Award of Excellence in Communications for the Landscape Performance Series and an Honor Award in Research for the Case Study Investigation (CSI) program.

The coming year is even more ambitious as LAF celebrates its 50th anniversary with a landmark event and the launch of several new initiatives. Save the date for LAF’s New Landscape Declaration: A Summit on Landscape Architecture and the Future on June 10-11 in Philadelphia. And look for the unveiling of a new Leadership program to help practitioners build capacity for transformative change. Stay tuned for announcements about these initiatives – and more! – in the coming months.

We couldn’t deliver these innovative programs without our many supporters. Please consider investing in the Landscape Architecture Foundation in your year-end giving by making a tax-deductible contribution online or learn about the giving [at] lafoundation.org (many ways to support LAF).

LAF is a tax-exempt organization under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Your charitable contribution is deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters Study Complete

rory — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 18:33:23 +0000

U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters Study Complete

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From October 2014 through September 2015, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) partnered with the General Services Administration (GSA) to evaluate the performance of the U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters site on the St. Elizabeth’s West campus in southeast Washington, DC, the largest federal redevelopment project since the Pentagon. This acclaimed project earned LEED Gold certification and features an extensive stormwater management system.

GSA is charged with providing workplaces for the federal government by constructing, managing, and preserving government buildings and by leasing and managing commercial real estate. Because GSA has committed to incorporate sustainability principles — including sustainable site design and management — in all of its real estate transactions, the agency was interested in studying the U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters site to test assumptions, assess materials, and understand the built condition.

The collaboration followed the model of LAF’s award-winning Case Study Investigation (CSI) program, with an academic team (Professor Christopher D. Ellis, Ph.D. and student research assistant C. Dylan Reilly of the University of Maryland) leading the research and members of the design team (Emily McCoy of Andropogon and Brandon Hartz of HOK) lending their insights. Because of the longer timeframe, the partnership provided the opportunity for a more expansive study than what is possible through the 6-month CSI program.

The year-long partnership allowed the 31-acre site to be studied through all four seasons in order to achieve a more balanced and nuanced picture of its performance. The research looked at a variety of ecosystem services provided by the site’s most notable features: 985 new trees, over 400,000 sf of green roofs, and a 2.4-acre stormwater pond. It also assessed workers’ use of and satisfaction with the outdoor open spaces, and use of alternate modes of transportation.

The researchers used temperature loggers to record and compare surface temperatures on areas of conventional black rubber roof, sedum green roof, and green roof planted with tall grass. They also compared native plant species and average site surface temperatures to those at a traditional office landscape. For the two courtyards, they used time-lapse photography to quantify the number of people using the space and determine the most common uses. They also observed commuter traffic to document the modes used and conducted a survey of employees to determine their satisfaction with the outdoor spaces.

The products of this collaboration are a Landscape Performance Series Case Study Brief and an internal report for GSA that discusses performance, provides recommendations for site management and maintenance, and suggests areas for further research.

LAF was proud to be part of this important study and will continue to pursue opportunities for longer-term research partnerships to evaluate the performance of exemplary built landscapes.

Welcome 2015-2016 Board of Directors

rory — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 18:43:17 +0000

Welcome 2015-2016 Board of Directors

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The 2015-2016 LAF Board of Directors began its term on November 6 at LAF’s Annual Board Meeting in Chicago. Kona Gray, ASLA of EDSA became President, following now Past-President Mark Dawson, FASLA of Sasaki Associates, whose leadership and business savvy guided LAF through a critical year of program development and planning for the foundation’s 50th anniversary in 2016. Jennifer Guthrie, FASLA of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol became President-Elect.

Director Adam Greenspan became Vice President of Communication, succeeding Laura Solano, who returned to the role of Vice President of Finance. Director Susannah Drake became Vice President of Development. Three other officers continue in their positions on the executive leadership team.

Vice President of Education:
Kristina Hill, Ph.D., Aff. ASLA, University of Virginia
Vice President of Research:
Forster Ndubisi, Ph.D., FASLA, Texas A&M University
Vice President of Leadership:
Lucinda Sanders, FASLA, OLIN
Vice President of Communication:
Adam Greenspan, ASLA, PWP Landscape Architecture
Vice President of Finance:
Laura Solano, ASLA, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
Vice President of Development:
Susannah Drake, FASLA, AIA, dlandstudio

Chris Fannin, ASLA of HOK, Lynda Whiteman of Hunter Industries, and Uwe Brandes of Georgetown University retired off the Board at the end of their four-year term. Andrea Gaffney of Gehl Studio rotated off after serving a two-year term as past Olmsted Scholar representative, and Mark Focht, FASLA rotated off after serving for a year in an Ex Officio capacity as an ASLA Representative. Thank you for your service!

Nine new Directors joined the LAF Board, bringing experience and insights from landscape architecture practice and academia. Leann Andrews, LAF’s 2013 graduate National Olmsted Scholar, was selected for the open Director position for past Olmsted Scholars. ASLA Immediate Past President K. Richard Zweifel, FASLA will serve as the ASLA Representative, and Charlene LeBleu, FASLA continues as the CELA Representative. Welcome to the new Board members:

Leann Andrews, University of Washington
Elen Deming, D.Des., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Brian Jencek, ASLA, HOK
Michael Johnson, ASLA, SmithGroup JJR
Jim Manskey, TBG Partners
Jim Stickley, ASLA, WRT
Lisa Switkin, Field Operations
Monte Wilson, JACOBS
K. Richard Zweifel, FASLA

The 32 members of the LAF Board of Directors bring their vision, passion, and thought leadership to the foundation at an essential time with a number of new programs and initiatives on the horizon. We look forward to working with this accomplished group and continuing the momentum. Thanks to all for your commitment and service!

Meet the 2015 National Olmsted Scholar and Finalists: The Graduate Students

rory — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 18:45:42 +0000

Meet the 2015 National Olmsted Scholar and Finalists: The Graduate Students

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The Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Olmsted Scholars Program is the premier national award and recognition program for landscape architecture students. The program honors students with exceptional leadership potential who are using ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership to advance sustainable design and foster human and societal benefits.

Here, we showcase the 2015 graduate student winner and finalists, who were announced last spring. An independent jury of leaders in the landscape architecture profession selected them from a group of 43 graduate students nominated by their faculty for being exceptional student leaders. The winner receives the $25,000 graduate prize and each finalist receives $1,000. All of the 2015 Olmsted Scholars will be honored at LAF’s Annual Benefit in Chicago on November 6.

National Olmsted Scholar Grant Fahlgren of the University of British Columbia

Grant discusses the 7 generations philosophy of his Anishinabae ancestors, traditional ecological knowledge, and how it applies to landscape architecture, using the Fraser River watershed in the Cascadia Bioregion as an example.

Finalist Andrea Johnson of the City College of New York

Andrea discusses her interest in how design can empower communities that have historically been marginalized, including her work on land intervention strategies to improve quality of life in low-income communities in South Africa.

Finalist Teresa Pereira of Temple University

Teresa discusses her goal to expand the interdisciplinary boundaries of landscape architecture by utilizing filmmaking to address experiential, ecological, and social components of landscape analysis.

Finalist Harris Trobman of the University of Maryland

Harris showcases a recently completed design-build project at a school campus for 500 children in northern Haiti and discusses his current action-oriented research as a Green Infrastructure Specialist at the University of the District of Columbia.

Meet the 2015 National Olmsted Scholar and Finalists: The Undergraduates

rory — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 17:49:35 +0000

Meet the 2015 National Olmsted Scholar and Finalists: The Undergraduates

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Here, we showcase the 2015 undergraduate winner and finalists, who were announced last spring. An independent jury of leaders in the landscape architecture profession selected them from a group of 29 undergraduate students nominated by their faculty for being exceptional student leaders. The winner receives the $15,000 undergraduate prize and each finalist receives $1,000. All of the 2015 Olmsted Scholars will be honored at LAF’s Annual Benefit in Chicago on November 6.

National Olmsted Scholar Maria Muñoz of Louisiana State University

Maria discusses her research on food security in Puerto Rico and how enhancements to the existing network of local vendors and their sources of home-grown agricultural products could offer a more environmentally sustainable and resilient type of agricultural system.

Finalist Erin McDonald of Iowa State University

In this slideshow, Erin reflects on what landscape architecture and art mean to her. She also discusses opportunities as she embraces her new city: Houston, Texas.

Finalist Nathaniel Oakley of the University of California, Davis

Nathaniel shares his interest in finding sustainable and regenerative design solutions for landscapes affected by large-scale and aging flood control infrastructure, using the examples of the Devil’s Gate Dam in Pasadena and the Arroyo Seco channel in Los Angeles, California.

Finalist Daniel Zhicheng Xu of Purdue University

[Video coming in December]

Olmsted Scholar Feature: Ethnicity and Urban Park Design - Re-Envisioning South Omaha

rory — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 14:02:39 +0000

Olmsted Scholar Feature: Ethnicity and Urban Park Design - Re-Envisioning South Omaha

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By Katie Leise, 2015 University Olmsted Scholar

Public parks provide essential green space for people to congregate, exercise, and seek respite from the city. Since the conception of Central Park in the mid-1800s, planners and designers have strived to meet the evolving needs and profiles of urban park users. Therefore, understanding contemporary user recreation patterns and preferences is critical for relevant urban park design.

Several factors, including ethnicity, influence leisure styles and should be considered when designing parks. My Master’s Report, Re-Envisioning South Omaha Urban Parks with Community Diversity in Mind, tackles that subject with a focus on parks in South Omaha, Nebraska. Residents living in this area comprise over ten different ethnic groups. Notably, Omaha’s largest Hispanic community resides in South Omaha as well.

Through quantitative and qualitative research, including site analysis, precedent studies, and community interviews, five central themes emerged:

Community Engagement
Range of Recreational Activities
Spatial Relationships, Design, and Design Details
Parks as Social Space
Maintenance, Operations, and Expectations

The themes, particularly Range of Recreational Activities and Spatial Relationships, Design, and Design Details, influence a strategy that strives to redesign urban parks in South Omaha with goals of form, function, and foundation. The design goals respond to the community’s unique ethnic composition while maintaining flexible use for all residents and visitors.

Conceptual redesigns for Lynch Park and Spring Lake Park illustrated the design goals. The proposals incorporated the leisure preferences and recreation patterns as revealed through community interviews of the Hispanic majority as well as the European, Asian, and African minority ethnic groups. The most commonly identified desires by South Omaha residents were flexible spaces, several picnic areas for large groups, continued park maintenance and upkeep, and scheduled events for residents to engage and grow relationships within their community. Connecting with local residents at convenient locations throughout South Omaha was critical to the design process.

Unprogrammed spaces are key to urban parks, particularly when the community exhibits various cultural roots. Flexible areas allow visitors to utilize the space as needed to fit their recreational desires on an individual or community-wide basis. Beyond design, scheduled events at urban parks also contribute to their overall success. Utilizing local organizations and encouraging them to host activities in the parks promotes continued use. People attract people, and in ethnic groups where social life is central, activating the park is as important as the design itself.

Maintenance and upkeep, though difficult tasks, also influence visitor participation. Maintenance plans that prioritize frequently used parks contribute to the appeal and popularity of the park. Additionally, knowledgeable staff and multi-lingual signage help ethnic minority participants feel comfortable in the park environment, promote safety, and discourage discrimination.

Ethnicity is one important consideration among many that should be incorporated into urban park design. Successful urban park design ultimately responds to a community uniquely, keeping in mind, but not singling out ethnicity. As the United States continues to diversify, community-oriented design is increasingly important to landscape architects.

To read the full Re-Envisioning South Omaha Urban Parks with Community Diversity in Mind report, visit: http://hdl.handle.net/2097/19020

Katie Leise completed her Master of Landscape Architecture from Kansas State University in May 2015. She is currently employed with Kimley-Horn & Associates in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Extraordinary Gift Launches New $20,000 Honor Scholarship

rory — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 14:04:18 +0000

Extraordinary Gift Launches New $20,000 Honor Scholarship

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A generous gift from Jeanne Dawson-Lalli has created the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Honor Scholarship in Memory of Joe Lalli, FASLA. This new $20,000 scholarship will be awarded annually to a student pursuing a Master’s degree in landscape architecture at an accredited university in the U.S. or Canada.

The scholarship was established in memory of Joseph J. Lalli, FASLA (1943-2014) and his 46-year career as a landscape architect, artist, philanthropist, mentor, and teacher. Joe was the chairman and former president of the firm EDSA and had more than 500 projects to his credit in 40 countries. He was a persuasive leader, well-known and admired for his modesty and generosity. Joe experienced great value in his master’s degree and wanted to help make the opportunity for graduate education accessible to others.

“We are honored to be able to offer such a significant award that serves as part of Joe’s wonderful legacy," said LAF Executive Director Barbara Deutsch, FASLA. “Joe exemplified ‘giving back’ and did much to support students and foster the development of the next generation of leaders in landscape architecture. This scholarship will help and inspire students for years to come.”

Candidates for the new scholarship must show commitment to some of the areas that Joe Lalli dedicated himself to, including drawing, artistic pursuits, the importance of travel, and service to one’s community and profession.

“Joe credited his graduate studies for making him the outstanding designer he was. He also learned so much from drawing, painting and traveling extensively — it influenced his designs and his way of thinking,” said Jeanne Dawson-Lalli, who established the scholarship in memory of her late husband. “Similarly, I hope that this award allows promising students to continue their studies and pursue their passions to feed their creativity.”

The LAF Honor Scholarship in Memory of Joe Lalli, FASLA is the largest scholarship offered by the Landscape Architecture Foundation. LAF is now able to offer a total of over $60,000 annually in scholarships and fellowships for students through ten different awards.

Learn more about LAF scholarships here.