TCLF Provides Exclusive Access to Icons in the Mile High City

U.S. Air Force Academy, photo by Lisa Delplace.

Denver was the site of the American Society of Landscape Architect’s (ASLA) Annual Meeting this November 21 – 24, 2014, which drew thousands of landscape architects and related professionals, and an array of TCLF events, including the launch of the What’s Out There Denver Guide, a sold-out excursion, reception and silent auction. Proceeds benefitted TCLF programs including the Pioneers of American Landscape Design_^® oral history series. 

(upper) Rocky Mountain Mod Tour, photo by Charles Birnbaum;
(lower) Chihuly Exhibition at the Denver Botanic Gardens, photo
by Barrett Doherty.The featured highlight was the sold-out Rocky Mountain Mod tour with its centerpiece, a private visit to the great Modernist U.S. Air Force Academy campus in Colorado Springs, which includes Dan Kiley’s 27-acre Air Garden and the Cadet Chapel, a soaring structure designed by Walter Netsch of the architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, part of the National Historic Landmark Cadet Area. The 50 participants were fueled with coffee and a continental breakfast provided by event sponsor Maglin Site Furniture, before heading to the Academy.

Alan G. Brake, Executive Editor of the Architect’s Newspaper said: “Touring the National Air Force Academy with The Cultural Landscape Foundation was one of the highlights of ASLA 2014. Making culturally significant places more legible and accessible is a hallmark of TCLF's work, and the opportunity to see the Air Force Academy illuminated an important legacy of modern design for the federal government.”

Suzanne Turner, TCLF Board Member and Co-Chair observed of the event: “As a long-ago student of architectural history, the Air Force Academy has always been on my list of landmarks to see, especially the chapel. Its geographic isolation (for a girl from Louisiana) made that unlikely. Enter TCLF. I was prepared for the architecture, and its amazing state of preservation is a tribute to the Academy. But the scale of the place, and the way it works with 4,000 cadets marching is unimaginable. What a great day, with much thanks to Duane Boyle, Deputy Director of Installations and Campus Architect, the most articulate and thoughtful guide we could have had.”

(upper) What's Out There Denver Guide; (lower) Carolyn and
Don Etter accept the 2014 Stewardship Excellence Award,
photo by Matthew Traucht.Participants at TCLF’s annual excursions have come to expect several things – exclusive access and great destinations, provocative and interesting attendees (a.k.a. great “arm candy”) and, of course, a superb meal. This year’s lunch destination was True Food Kitchen – known for its seasonal, sustainable, simple and pure food – founded by natural health and wellness icon Dr. Andrew Weil.

The day concluded at the 24-acre Denver Botanic Gardens, with a private visit to the Rocky Mountain Region’s first major outdoor exhibition by internationally celebrated glass artist Dale Chihuly. The timing was perfect - guests arrived in the afternoon to see Chihuly’s vibrant, elaborately colored and dramatic glass sculptures in daylight, dusk and nighttime.

The evening was capped off in style with a reception at Marnie's Pavilion at which nearly 200 attendees celebrated the launch of the What's Out There Denver Guide, the first in a new series of online city guides focusing on the landscape architectural heritage of the nation’s urban centers. The guide, subject of a glowing review in the Denver Post – “A guide to Denver's best landscaped spaces, deep and free” - features more than 60 sites and 24 designers, and was produced in tandem with the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) National and the Colorado Chapter, landscape architecture students at the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado Denver, and with support from Design Workshop. The evening culminated in the presentation of the 2014 Stewardship Excellence Award to Don and Carolyn Etter, the only husband-and-wife team ever to be Co-Managers of Denver's Department of Parks and Recreation.  They were recognized for their visionary and long-standing leadership efforts in Denver as citizen advocates for historic preservation, and their stewardship of the land through an unrivaled body of regional publications, presentations, projects and photographic work. We are grateful for the participation of the sponsors who underwrote the reception including Bartlett Tree Experts, Coldspring and Kelco Landscaping and Construction.

2014 Silent Auction at the Colorado Convention Center, photo by
Matthew Traucht.On Saturday morning TCLF’s tenth annual two-day Silent Auction opened in the expo hall of the Colorado Convention Center. It was made possible by Presenting Sponsors Deeproot, Kornegay Design, and ASLA, and featured exquisite paintings, prints, photographs, and even a living necklace. The array of works by nearly 70 landscape architects and artists including Roberto Burle Marx, Ken Smith, Michael Kenna, Garie Waltzer, Claude Cormier, and Delaney + Chin drew fevered bidding. By Sunday evening and the close of the auction, the event, excursion and reception had raised nearly $200,000 for TCLF’s educational programming.

On Monday, TCLF received ASLA’s 2014 Award of Excellence in Communications for The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley, the traveling photographic retrospective currently booked into 2017. The exhibition is currently on view in Pittsburgh, where it has received enthusiastic critical reception – “Kiley's work demonstrates landscapes matter as much as structures” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review).