2022 ASLA Professional Awards

On Oct. 3, 2022, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) announced its 2022 Professional Awards. Twenty-eight Professional Award winners represent the highest level of achievement in the landscape architecture profession. All winners and their locations are listed below. … The 28 winners were chosen out of 506 entries.

General Design Category

Award of Excellence

Palm Springs Downtown Park, Palm Springs, California, United States
RIOS

Palm Springs Downtown Park is an inviting 1.5-acre urban oasis for residents and visitors to Palm Springs, a design-forward desert destination nestled along the base of the San Jacinto Mountains in the southwestern Coachella Valley in California’s Sonoran Desert. The park lies in the ancestral homeland of the Agua Caliente band of the Cahuilla people who migrated between the shady palm groves and meltwater creeks of mountain canyons in summer and the hot springs and temperate climate of the valley floor in winter. The park is also located on the historic site of Nellie Coffman’s Desert Inn. An early booster of Palm Springs, Coffman stressed the space, stillness, solitude, and simplicity of Palm Springs. Nellie’s “four S’s” inspire the park’s design, which amplifies the intrinsic qualities of this extraordinary place to immerse visitors in the multi-sensory beauty of the desert and celebrate Palm Springs’ legacy as a destination for health, nature, and pleasure seekers. The park is made up of three spaces: the Palm Grove, the Outcrop, and the Theater. Each offers distinct programmatic capacities and reveals facets of the region’s dynamic geology, distinctive vegetation, and rich history.

–

Honor Awards

10,000 SUNS: Highway to Park Project in Providence, Rhode Island, United States

DESIGN UNDER SKY

The sunflower was chosen because it’s visually striking, it can grow up to ten feet tall, it’s heliotropic, and it’s an excellent pollinator and food source. It’s also a phytoremediator, capable of sucking toxins out of the ground. The jury lauded the project as a great way to involve the community in the creation of a cherished public space.

See the project

–

A Community’s Embrace Responding to Tragedy: The January 8th Memorial and the El Presidio Park Vision Plan in Tucson, Arizona, United States

Chee Salette, Tina Chee Landscape Studio

photo: Iwan Baan

After an extensive planning process including four months of community input, a memorial was created with two large sharply curving forms “embracing,” symbolizing hope for the future. A Living Wall was constructed with a woven pattern of local quartzite stone and Sonoran plants. A 500-seat amphitheater, a café, and a Monument Sculpture Garden help activate the space. The jury praised the remarkable depth in layers of meaning across three overlapping spaces, each with distinctive geometries.

–

Domino Park in Brooklyn, New York, United States

James Corner Field Operations

From the jury statement, “The 5-acre riverfront park showcases the history of an iconic industrial waterfront site by integrating over 30 large-scale salvaged relics into an educational “Artifact Walk.” The artefacts include 21 original columns from the Raw Sugar Warehouse, gantry cranes, screw conveyors, bucket conveyors and syrup tanks. Native plant species reduce stormwater runoff. The jury appreciated how “the old infrastructure was given new life with the insertion of so many different types of public forums and landscapes.”

See the project

–

From Brownfield to Green Anchor in the Assembly Square District in Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

OJB

The design incorporates geometric and organic forms, native/adaptive plants, and local, sustainable building materials. Functional and sustainable green infrastructure includes a rain garden, detention ponds, and a large bioswale that overflows into a dry creek. Thoughtful placement of trees reduces street noise and the additional 333 trees sequester approximately 40,000 pounds of carbon annually. The jury called it a “truly remarkable articulation of space at numerous human scales with formal and informal geometries.

–

Riverfront Spokane in Spokane, WA, United States

Berger Partnership

The reimagined Riverfront Park honors the past while transitioning to a forward-looking gathering space, becoming the region’s cultural heart.”

–

West Pond: Living Shoreline in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, United States

Dirtworks Landscape Architecture P.C

With a team of marine engineers, ecologists, and community advocates, the designers planned a 2,400-foot living shoreline, creating over 9 acres of new habitat and restoring 14 acres. Implementation strategies included oyster shell breakwater structures, recycled Christmas trees for fascines, and construction fill screened into clean sediment for the shoreline and habitats. The jury remarked on the “purposefully understated design that didn’t clutter the beautiful open spaces and allowed for healing and regeneration of soils.

–

Residential Design Category

Award of Excellence

Edwin M. Lee Apartments in San Francisco, CA, United States

GLS Landscape | Architecture

Dramatic and effective integration of architecture and landscape architecture with circulation. Inclusive design quality rarely observed in affordable housing for veterans and the homeless.

–

Honor Awards

Coast Ridge Residence in Portola Valley, California, United States
Scott Lewis Landscape Architecture

Reflecting the client’s artistic interests, a sculptural planting bed of rough-hewn stone frames an extensive succulent collection in the central courtyard. An insulating roof garden of native grasses and wildflowers blends the shed-style architecture to the site. The jury called it a remarkable mix of conservation, design, and horticulture as a transition from meadows to woodlands.

–

Crest Apartments, A Restorative Parallel for Supportive Housing in Van Nuys, California, United States
Tina Chee / SWA Group

Photo: Iwan Baan

The landscape designer reinforced the ground plane with a geo web and used materials such as plants, gravel, decomposed granite, and concrete pavers, transforming typical single-use and impervious areas such as the fire lane and parking into multi-functional and pervious usable open spaces. The jury called it an “emotionally supportive landscape of retreat.

–

Quarry House in Park City, Utah, United States
Design Workshop, Inc.

Working with a team of geotechnical engineers, contractors, and surveyors, the landscape architect exposed the cross-stratified layers using specialized tools and hand techniques, turning an eyesore into a prominent visual feature that shelters outdoor spaces, reconciles challenging topography, and defines physical boundaries of the garden. The jury applauded the prodigious use of stone and vegetation to articulate the outdoor space of the house as well as integrate the architecture with the landscape architecture.

–

Refugio in Santa Cruz, California, United States
Ground Studio

photo: Marion Brenner

Subtle grading changes in the topography direct rainfall to infiltrate and recharge groundwater, and the greywater system is directed towards the native edge habitat planting. Water tanks store rainwater for irrigation and stone and steel basins intercept overflow from the rooftops and disperse storm water into the orchards. In all, over 60,000 gallons of water are harvested yearly.

–

Urban Design Category

Award of Excellence

HOPE SF: Rebuild Potrero in San Francisco, CA, United States
GLS Landscape | Architecture

The 38-acre neighborhood will have a unique open space network of terraces, sloping parks, community services, and streets linked together by landscaped staircases carved from the south-facing slopes of Potrero Hill. Also being added are 1000 units of market rate and affordable homes, daycare, pre-school, community center, recreational facilities, neighborhood serving retail, and open space amenities. The jury praised the urban design as a “masterful integration of affordable housing into intense topography that defines new hierarchies of public space.”

–

Honor Awards

Denny Regrade Campus in Seattle, Washington, United States
Site Workshop

photo: Stuart Issett

Central to the design is The Spheres, a publicly accessible conservatory that tests the limits of biophilic design for interior landscapes, with more than 40,000 plants and 400 species. The jury commended the design for offering a truly urban space with a remarkably rich array of accessible, open spaces for employees, residents, and visitors alike.

–

Midtown Park in Houston, Texas, United States
Design Workshop, Inc.

photo: Brandon Huttenlocher – Design Workshop

The once-underused lawn is now activated with a performance pavilion, trails, a marketplace, two restaurants, an arts garden, dog park, and social game courts. Bayou-inspired water features bring nature to the city to provide respite and sustainable water management – all built on top of a public underground parking garage. Rainwater is collected and stored within a 70,000-gallon subsurface cistern. Midtown Park serves as an early demonstration project for the ongoing development of a greener, more walkable Houston.

–

Shirley Chisholm State Park in Brooklyn, New York, United States
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

photo: Etienne Frossard

A repurposed pier has become a popular spot to cast a line and picnic, and beaches are now accessible for wading and shoreline exploration. Invasive species management allows native coastal plants to take hold in order to expand habitat and increase resiliency. The jury called it an “inclusive, diverse, and inspiring tribute to a truly remarkable woman.

–

For the full list and further categories, please visit ASLA Awards website.

FULL LIST OF ASLA 2022 AWARDS