Hear Revered Landscape Architects Tell Their Stories
Who designed the landscapes that define our neighborhoods and our nation? The Pioneers of American Landscape Design initiative chronicles the lives and careers of nearly 1,000 of those individuals and firms who have created our gardens, parks, streets, campuses, cemeteries, suburbs, and the innumerable other environments in which we live.
In addition to three hardbound books and the short- and long-form biographical profiles posted on our website, the Pioneers Oral History Project is an ever-growing, award-winning series of videotaped first-person interviews with significant practitioners. To date there are sixteen video oral histories with practitioners in the United States, Canada, and Israel. Each oral history includes a series of one- to six-minute clips about the practitioner’s biography, thoughts about design, and built projects. In addition, each oral history is accompanied by a downloadable full transcript, as well as recollections from friends, colleagues, and clients.
Highlights include: Lawrence Halprin describing the “aha” moment that led him to become a landscape architect; Laurie Olin on the power of drawing, and why Olmsted is a hero; Cornelia Hahn Oberlander on working for Dan Kiley, and the future of landscape architecture; M. Paul Friedberg on defining modernism and designing with water; and Harriet Pattison on her work at the Kimbell Art Museum with Louis Kahn and George Patton.
Of special note, TCLF recently unveiled an oral history with Robert Royston, and the oral history with Pamela Burton is set to premiere this summer.
Now more than ever, we need your support as we continue to make visible the the lives and stories of those who have helped create our shared landscape legacy.
