A Fight to Save Landscape Architect's Work

By Jenny Boyle

Lawrence Halprin received the National Medal of Arts in 2002.
Photo courtesy of asla.org

Lawrence Halprin, a long admired landscape architect who in 1967 was given the honor of creating ?EUR??,,????'??Water Garden?EUR??,,????'?? on the Washington Capitol grounds, now faces the possible destruction of many of his works across the country. Halprin, a modernist, has designed several projects all over the world, including the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington D.C., the Haas Promenade, which overlooks the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Seattle World's Fair design. Many of these projects were completed years ago and have since succumbed to wear and tear and improper maintenance.

This fact has spurred some communities to move the designs they find out-dated or unsightly. Last year, Skyline Park in Denver, a major Halprin work, was almost entirely demolished. Proponents of the demolition argue that his works are no longer enjoyable by today's standards. But fans of Halprin's designs have begun a movement to try and save his works, and the works of other modernists. Charles Birnbaum, coordinator of the National Park Service Historic Landscape Initiative, has founded the Cultural Landscape Foundation to help preserve works he believes are part of our national heritage. Other privately funded initiatives have been set up as well. Halprin, 88, is still putting out new designs. Currently, he is developing a landscape for the new Lucas Film campus at the Presidio in San Francisco, and recently helped upgrade a visitor area at Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park.

As quoted in the Olympian (Wash.), Halprin says, ?EUR??,,????'??I think constantly of these pieces I make as pieces of theater, and what we're designing is the choreography for the people to enjoy.?EUR??,,????'??

The Halprin designed Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial opened May 1, 1997, in Washington D.C.
Photo courtesy of maxonline.lsu.edu