Landscape Architecture Foundation
by Heather Whitlow

 
In 2021, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) awarded a total of $385,500 through its scholarships, research, and leadership programs. Of this, $239,500 went to students, an 18 percent increase over 2020 thanks to the addition of several new scholarships established by generous sponsors.
In February, the 2021 recipients of the LAF Medal and Founders' Award were announced: Karen A. Phillips, FASLA and the Mayors' Institute on City Design. They were honored at a virtual awards ceremony in April.
The $25,000 LAF Research Grant in Honor of Deb Mitchell was awarded to the winning proposal, "Developing a Disaster Adaptation Framework for Rural Resilience" The Principal Investigators are Travis Klondike and Andrew Fox of the North Carolina State University Coastal Dynamics Design Lab.
In May, the 2021 LAF Olmsted Scholars were announced, including the two national winners, Harshat Verma of The Ohio State University and Abigail Long of Temple University.
In June, LAF held its second virtual symposium where the six landscape architects selected for the 2021-2022 LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership presented their work. The next cohort of LAF Fellows began their fellowship year in July.
The Green New Deal Superstudio, an open call for designs that spatially manifest decarbonization, jobs, and justice concluded on June 30. Some 670 projects were submitted as part of the year-long initiative, which attracted the participation of over 90 universities in 39 states and 10 countries, as well as hundreds of practitioners from across the design disciplines. A curated set of 55 projects as well as the full set of submissions were released in October. These kicked off a series of discussions about how designers can meaningfully engage in a response to the climate crisis at local, regional, and national levels. These conversations will culminate in a summit on policy and design to be held in Washington, DC on April 8, 2022.
The final months of 2021 will include publication on LandscapePerformance.org of the 10 case studies produced through LAF's Case Study Investigation (CSI) research and training program, as well as the selection of faculty and projects for the 2022 program. www.lafoundation.org