Mahan Rykiel Institutes Travel Fund

Terry Burns, a senior associate with Mahan Rykiel Associates, is the firm's first Travel Fund recipient.

When Catherine Mahan, FASLA retired in 2012 from the firm she founded in Baltimore in 1983, Mahan Rykiel Associates, she wanted to give something lasting to the firm. Reflecting on her career, she knew that experiencing outdoor spaces is crucial to the landscape architect.

"I have been fortunate over the years to travel around the United States and internationally [and] always felt I brought back some new perspective from visiting other landscapes and cultures," she explains. "Travel, with its attendant array of experiences, enriches our understanding of other cultures, histories and environments. For landscape architects, the insights gained from traveling can enliven their practice.

Thinking along those lines, she came up with a wonderful idea: The Founder's Travel Fund. This fund offers Mahan Rykiel design staff travel opportunities to increase their knowledge and appreciation of the broad range of built and natural landscapes in the U.S. and abroad.

A jury derived from members of the firm debated a mix of proposals, from developing a Healing Garden for the Navajo Indians in Arizona at Tuba City Regional Health Care Corp., to travelling to study how Portland, Oregon has successfully incorporated stormwater into a variety of public and private landscapes.

The jury decided the first recipient of the fund would go to senior associate Terry Burns for his proposal to explore the Prairie School style of landscape design, which focuses on elements of visual expression through natural materials. He will receive a travel stipend and a paid week off to pursue that interest. He has one year to complete his travel and present his findings to the office.

Terry will document the evolution of Prairie School design principles to more modern projects, using it as a platform to educate and inspire designers. He feels strongly that plant materials and their design in creating effective, memorable spaces are one of the cornerstones of landscape architecture.

"I've always been passionate and drawn to the more natural elements of the profession, such as planting design," he says. Designing with plants has it challenges, he notes, but he believes it can be as strong and effective in establishing connections to the way people experience spaces than more traditional hardscape elements. "This award gives me the opportunity to further my passion in the profession, and become an educator in the office," Terry adds.

Terry's itinerary will take him to Chicago, New York City, and Washington D.C., and to areas in the Midwest and New York state. He will visit projects designed by landscape architects Jens Jensen, Darrell Morrison, O.C. Simonds, Piet Oudolf and Oehme/Van Sweden.

Mahan Rykiel Associates www.mahanrykiel.com is a full service landscape architecture firm with a staff of 41 with offices in Baltimore and Hong Kong.