Among Richard Bell's lasting works is the Meredith College Amphitheatre in Raleigh, N.C.

The ASLA Board of Trustees has selected Richard Bell, FASLA, to receive the 2014 ASLA Medal, the Society's highest award for a landscape architect.

Through his practice, Bell is said to have expanded the reach of modernism in landscape architecture to the Southeast, and he brought an entire generation of young people into practice. A founder of Bell Glazener Design Group in Raleigh, North Carolina, he has designed more than 2,000 projects during his career and received many awards and accolades for his work. His influence is still felt across the state and region by both the profession and the public who experience his landscapes on a daily basis.

A native of Manteo, N.C., award-winning landscape architect Richard Bell is a fellow of both the American Society of Landscape Architecture and the American Academy in Rome. He was educated at the North Carolina State University School of Design, graduating as a member of its School's first graduating class in 1950. He apprenticed under Simonds & Simonds of Pittsburgh, and Frederick Stresau of Fort Lauderdale.

In 1951, at the age of 21, he was the youngest designer to receive the Prix de Rome. He founded his first firm in Raleigh, N.C., in 1955, introducing the practice of landscape architecture as a registered profession to the state, and was the first person elected to the registration board. He has completed over 2000 landscape architecture projects ranging from major city and highway corridors to city parks, university plazas and amphitheaters, mixed-use beachfront developments, and individual residences. A recognized leader in environmentalism and sustainable design long before the words became part of the general lexicon, he was inducted in the Raleigh Hall of Fame in 2008 and continues his practice in Atlantic Beach, N.C.

Daniel Howe, ASLA, AICP, assistant city manager for Raleigh, N.C., refers to Bell, along with Gil Thurlow and Lewis Clarke, as defining the Modernist movement in landscape architecture in North Carolina and the region. Bell studied at the North Carolina State University School of Design, graduating as a member of the school's first graduating class in 1950. Howe notes, however, that Bell's "education" came from his travels, primarily to Greece, Rome, Egypt and Spain.

Susan Hatchell, FASLA, past president of ASLA, commends Bell's dedication to promoting the profession and helping it grow.

Richard Bell will formally receive the award Nov. 24, in Denver during the President's Dinner, an annual event of the national ASLA annual meeting.