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April 28, 2005

Group gets kids thinking about landscape design

  • Local chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects will be visiting schools throughout the state.
  • By DON BENSON
    URS Corp.

    The Washington Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects next month will visit several schools around the state in conjunction with the national association's effort to educate K-12 students about the profession. The goal is to get more college students majoring in landscape architecture.

    The visits will include brief presentations by landscape professionals from the local chapter, and maybe a student in the University of Washington's Department of Landscape Architecture program. Presentations will be given at a nearby park or at the school.

    After the presentations, each student will be asked to design a small portion of a conceptual park. Local ASLA professionals will follow up with a second visit to discuss the results. Some of the designs may be hung up in the classroom and students will talk about them. ASLA members will show how they would typically organize the park spaces and provide feedback for the students.

    About two dozen schools have been contacted to participate in the program. The first visit is expected at Olympia High School.

    In 2003, the local ASLA chapter received a grant from ASLA national to produce an educational brochure describing landscape architecture and what landscape architects do.

    The brochure was completed last year and sent out to the prospective schools. It portrays the professions' role in developing prominent and historic parks on both sides of the state: Volunteer Park in Seattle and Riverfront Park in Spokane.


    Don Benson, ASLA, AICP, is a senior planner/designer with URS Corp. and chairs Washington ASLA's Visibility Committee. He has over 25 years of planning and design experience.


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