TCLF Welcomes SWA Group Cultural Landscape Fellow Barrett Doherty

Dallas City Hall, photo by Barrett Doherty, 2014.

The inaugural SWA Group Cultural Landscape Fellow Barrett Doherty, chosen from more than forty candidates, has taken up residence for the summer in Dallas and Houston, Texas. Barrett will leverage his talents as a professional photographer during the past 15 years and broad professional experiences to research and document significant cultural landscapes in the Lone Star State in support of TCLF’s What’s Out There Texas program, funded in part by a 2014 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works grant. The opportunity provides a unique opportunity to work directly with designers in the office setting while also partnering with local preservation organizations.

Barrett Doherty, photo by Lyndsey Folse.Barrett received his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Virginia and then embarked on a career in the U.S. Navy as a Communications Division Officer aboard the USS Independence stationed in Japan. Upon completion of his service, Barrett taught English in Tokyo and then worked as a graphic designer in New York City. From 2010 to 2013 he attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Design where he received his Master of Landscape Architecture.

As a master’s candidate, Barrett held internships with Atelier Dreiseitl in Germany and James Corner Field Operations in New York. Stemming from his travel experiences, he was compelled to document American landscapes for the online international landscape architecture database Landezine. Working independently, Barrett documented and promoted projects by Louis I. Kahn, James Corner, and Andropogon. Prior to disembarking for Texas, Barrett volunteered as a garden docent for the Historic Charleston Foundation Festival of Houses and Gardens in South Carolina.

By spending four weeks at SWA’s Dallas office and then moving to their Houston location for the second half of the Fellowship, Barrett gets quick, immersive exposure to the firm. For more than 50 years, SWA Group has been recognized as a world leader in landscape architecture, planning, and urban design. Along with SWA, Barrett will liaise with our partner organizations and faculty from some of the state’s university landscape architecture programs including University of Texas at Austin and Arlington.

Dallas City Hall, photo by Barrett Doherty, 2014The What’s Out There Texas program will increase documentation of Texas’s landscape legacy by adding more than 150 significant sites to TCLF’s online database. Launched in 2009 What’s Out There is the nation’s most comprehensive and authoritative searchable database of historic designed landscapes. Currently featuring more than 1,500 sites, 10,000 images, and 900 designer profiles, What’s Out There was recently optimized for iPhones and similar handheld devices. What’s Out There Texas will document Picturesque, Beaux Arts/Neoclassical, and Modernist-style sites, among others, as well as increase scholarly research on such designers as Marie and Arthur Berger, George Kessler, Hare & Hare, and Paul Cret. In documenting the artistic intent of these and other designers, the program will be instrumental in raising awareness of the significant landscape heritage in Texas.

TCLF is proud of our partnership with SWA Group on this program and we are excited to see Barrett begin his Fellowship.