Press Releases
American Society of Landscape Architects Honors Charles A. Birnbaum with the President’s Medal
Award for Birnbaum, Founder and President of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, is
one of the Society’s Highest Honors
Washington, D.C. (October 5, 2009) – The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) honored Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR, founder and president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), with the 2009 President’s Medal at an awards dinner on the closing evening of ASLA’s annual conference. Birnbaum joins Rodney Swink, FASLA, and Deb Mitchell, FASLA, as a recipient of one of the society’s highest awards. The presentation was made by ASLA president Angela Dye in Chicago, Illinois.
In announcing the award, Dye said: “ASLA President’s Medal is presented to Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, in recognition of his dedication to communicating the value of historic landscapes to his colleagues and the public; for his tireless advocacy to preserve cultural landscapes, including those from the Modernist era and the recent past; and for his innovation in advancing the public visibility of landscape architecture through The Cultural Landscape Foundation, showing by example the powerful impact of public relations, communications and innovative fundraising.”
In receiving the award, Birnbaum recognized the generous support of ASLA, TCLF founding board members including Doug Reed, FASLA, and Peter Walker, FASLA, along with individual practitioners and those from the numerous firms that have assisted TCLF. Birnbaum also underscored the remarks of Joe Brown, FASLA, recipient of another award earlier that evening, who called landscape architects ”scholar warriors” and urged them to take a leadership role. He concluded by acknowledging the life, career and influence of award-winning landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, FASLA, whose firm is celebrating its 60th anniversary.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation, www.tclf.org, established in 1998, is the only nonprofit foundation in America dedicated to increasing the public’s awareness of the important legacy of cultural landscapes and the need to help save them for future generations. TCLF advances its mission of "stewardship through education" via its website (which receives more than 6 million web hits annually – 15,000 daily – and continuing to grow), conferences, publications, oral history projects and two significant initiatives: Landslide, an annual compendium of significant landscapes and landscape features at risk for alteration or destruction, and Pioneers of American Landscape Design, an ever-growing encyclopedia covering 250 years of American landscape architects and allied practitioners.