A MEETING OF THE MINDS

A MEETING OF THE MINDS

BY DIANE STEEN
Special to the Journal

Landscape architects like to get together. In a profession built on the ability to bring of natural and man-made elements into a harmonious whole, it's understandable that collaboration is second nature.

Seattle architect Kenichi Nakano returned from a recent fellowship and personal sojourn in Italy -- where meals are long and discussion is endless -- determined to find more ways to share ideas with his peer group here.

He began recently with an informal get-together with Barbara Swift of Swift & Company, Bob Shrosbree of EDAW, and Diane Steen, a landscape architect/writer. They talked about some of the unrealized possibilities for collaborating and sharing ideas -- and making the more of the world liveable and beautiful.

Can creative teamwork between two or more landscape architecture firms result in a project that is better than sum of their separate efforts?

Nakano-Dennis and Swift & Company are now proving that this is true. They are currently working together on a housing project in Holly Park.

In this collaboration -- a match made by the client -- the Seattle Housing Authority saw the need for two perspectives on the same problems, and felt that the project was large enough and the schedule tight enough to justify hiring two firms. While Seattle Housing benefits from the combination of their areas of expertise, the two firms will emerge from the project with the benefit of each others experience.

Architects, lawyers, doctors have specialties -- and landscape architects have areas of special expertise as well. Clients can be encouraged to look at landscape architects as having specific skills within each office, and landscape architects can articulate the special benefits that result from a well mixed, specialized team.

On the national level, EDAW collaborated with SWA, another large landscape architecture firm, on the initial phases of design for Centennial Park in Atlanta. EDAW principal Bob Shrosbree said that the competition brought out the best in everybody. There was an air of cooperation -- but also a challenge to perform well in such company.

Landscape architects should not let opportunity pass by when someone unique comes to town to lecture or to work on a special project. Many leaders in the field stop in Seattle and most are flattered to be invited to share of their intellect and laughter with an appreciative audience. Inviting them into an office or out for a social hour gives everyone at the table a chance to let their own sparks fly.

Barb Swift cited the impact of having (landscape architect? something else?) Michael Vergason in her office to work on a project. The firm had the opportunity to work with an exceptional designer, and the benefits of his visit extended beyond her office to the region in general.

Historically, one of the best meeting of minds in the field was the Tashkent charrette that occurred in 1989. Volunteers met weekly for three months to work on a peace park with Seattle's sister city, Tashkent, then part of the Soviet Union. They came together with a mixture of faculty and students from the University of Washington's Landscape Architecture department. Nakano, one of the (leaders, participants?) likes to remember the high energy and creative work that resulted from the collaboration with the Tashkent community in the design of the park. Many participants went on after the initial three-month design phase to help build the project in the then Soviet Union.

More recently, the Seattle Commons provided a chance for a mix of talents to come together. EDAW used it as a summer design project, the results of which won the American Society of Landscape Architects Washington chapter (WASLA) award for student entry. Nakano also used this as a design problem with his studio at the University of Washington.

The four landscape architects cited publishing opportunities -- such as this special section of the Daily Journal of Commerce -- as a means of reaching a wider audience. The pen (or the lap top) has power to wield a wide sphere of influence. Other local periodicals offering space are the WASLA Newsletter; Arcade, a new architecure-oriented newspaper that addresses special concerns of the design profession; and The Weekly, which reaches a diverse and largely professional audience. There's the Sunday paper and there are national periodicals such as Landscape Architecture magazine, Architecture, and always the option of writing for engineering periodicals as well. Most journals are glad to have articles that expand their readers' horizons and challenge their perceptions.

There was agreement that we need to communicate to architects, engineers, urban planners and developers the broad vision of landscape architecture and the full spectrum of landscape architecture services.

We can work together as peers on projects, invite visitors to our studios, volunteer our ideas on design charrettes, and put our ideas into print.

What else? Lets talk.

Diane Steen is a landscape architect in Seattle. This article was writeen in collaboration with Kenichi Nakano, Barbara Swift and Bob Shrosbree.

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