Landslide2008: Marvels of Modernism
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Designer Bio

M Paul Friedberg

M. Paul Friedberg (b.1931) was a leading designer of new public spaces including diminutive vest-pocket parks, municipal and corporate plazas and main street malls. Beginning with Riis Plaza in 1965 which served as a watershed event for the 34-year old designer, and through his subsequent designs in the 1970s and 80s, like Peavey Plaza in downtown Minneapolis and the Fulton County Government Plaza in Atlanta Georgia, Friedberg continually adapted and reworked the elements one finds at Peavey. For example, paths are interspersed among pools, water features immerse visitors in the landscape, and year-round use is encouraged, like skating at Peavey, Pershing Park in Washington D.C., or Calgary's 1987 Olympic Plaza in the winter. This flexibility was carried over from Friedberg’s earlier revolutionary playground designs as well as his continued observations of what made public spaces successful allowed for the interconnection of park features as a means to encourage discovery and initiate an active engagement with the urban environment.

Site

Peavey Plaza
Nicollet Mall, between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets
Minneapolis, MN 55403

Online

M. Paul Friedberg Letter regarding Peavey Plaza PDF

Print

Process Architecture 82: M. Paul Friedberg: Landscape Design Process Architecture Publishing Company, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, 1989.

Archives

Minnesota Orchestra Archives
Elmer L. Andersen Library
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

 

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List of Marvels

Boston City Hall Plaza
Boston, Massachusetts

Estates Drive Reservoir
Oakland, California

Heritage Plaza
Heritage Park
Fort Worth, Texas

Kaiser Roof Garden
Kaiser Center
Oakland, California

Lake Elizabeth
Allegheny Commons
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Manhattan Square Park
Rochester, New York

Mill Creek Canyon
Earthworks

Kent, Washington

Miller Garden
Columbus, Indiana

El Monte
Hato Rey, Puerto Rico

Pacific Science
Center Courtyard

Seattle, Washington

Parkmerced
San Francisco, California

Peavey Plaza
Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, Minnesota


education partners
Garden DesignGeorge Eastman House
Additional Sponsors

American Society of Landscape Architects’ Indiana, Pennsylvania/Delaware, Minnesota, Northern California, Texas, Upstate New York, and Washington Chapters • Astorino • Charles Butt • Design Within Reach • Topher Delaney • Sandy Donnell & Justin Faggioli • Fathom • Tom Fox • Hillman Foundation • Indianapolis Museum of Art • Lorraine Osmundson • Richard T. Murphy • National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Northeast, Southwest, and Western Offices- with funds from the Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation of New York, Dodge Jones Foundation Intervention Fund, and Eastern Massachusetts Preservation Fund • James Richards • Seibert & Rice • Diana & Bruce Shuman • Ann Stack • SWA Group • TBG Partners • Michal and Jeffrey William Tincup • Unilock Inc. • The Woltz Charitable Trust