Landscape Architects Receive Honors

Ernest Wong and Peter Schaudt , both landscape architects based in Chicago, have been named Chicagoans of the Year, honors that have been awarded since 1995. The annual list includes architects, clients, historic preservationists, landscape architects, structural engineers, urban designers and others who have contributed to the creation of Chicago's storied built environment.

The Chicago Tribune has named two landscape architects —Peter Schaudt and Ernest Wong — Chicagoans of the Year for 2010 in design.

Schaudt, whose credits include the lush new riverfront plaza at Trump International Hotel & Tower, and Wong, designer of Chinatown’s lively riverfront Ping Tom Memorial Park, have much in common. Both are modernists in their early 50s, were influenced by the space-shaping natural forms of the eminent landscape architect Dan Kiley, and have thrived as a variety Chicago clients embarked upon bold landscape designs under the leadership of Mayor Richard M. Daley.

For more than two decades, Schaudt has achieved numerous design awards and honors, highlighted by the coveted Rome Prize Fellowship in Landscape Architecture and Fellowship with the American Society of Landscape Architects. His career is marked with strong credentials in the art of design, stewardship, and social responsibility.

During his tenure as principal of Peter Lindsay Schaudt Landscape Architecture, he designed award-winning and iconic Chicago public spaces, including the campus landscape at Illinois Institute of Technology and the renovation of Daley Center Plaza. He enhanced Chicago’s lakefront green spaces by adding 17 new acres of parkland and by using innovative green roof techniques over a parking garage at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

The founder and Principal of Site Design Group, Ltd., Wong has been instrumental in the development of both the firm and the landscape architecture profession in the city of Chicago.

In managing the landscape architecture and urban design firm for over 15 years, the firm has grown to twelve professionals, including licensed landscape architects, planners and architects. Under his direction, the firm has been successful in establishing a reputation for providing creative design, thoughtful solutions and detailed projects in the urban fabric.