Landscape Architect Articles

Ohio ASLA Recognizes Knowlton Students01-06-16 | Education

Ohio ASLA Recognizes Knowlton Students
Merit Award Presented at OCASLA Gala

A wildlife habitat restoration project at a site in downtown Columbus, Ohio,
has earned four Ohio State-Knowlton School students an award from the Ohio Chapter of the ASLA.

Four Knowlton School landscape architecture students were honored by the Ohio Chapter of the ASLA for their work to restore a wildlife habitat at a watershed in downtown Columbus. Aaron Rumbaugh, Shelly Drees, Alex Martin and Blythe Worstell received the 2015 OCASLA Student Merit Award for a project at a site called Confluence Park, where the Scioto and Olentangy rivers converge. The Ohio State students were presented with the award during the OCASLA's Gala in Cleveland.

"While recent dam removals have led to an improvement in river ecology, they have disturbed the character of the existing wildlife habitat," a news item on the Ohio State-Knowlton School website states. "Through a restoration of the mussel habitat and facilitation of water's agency throughout the site, this project connects people back to the river and redefines the public pool experience." Two other Ohio State student projects achieved honorable mention status.

Students Staci Betsch, Alyssa Garcia, Alex Kelley, Alex Pisha, Tameka Sims and Haley Wolfe developed the Goodale Park Vision Plan. Through their project, they seek to "ensure that Goodale Park remains true to its original intention of providing a "pleasure ground' for Columbus residents, to help shape the immediate and long-term direction of the park and establish it as the guiding influence in the continued development and redevelopment of the Short North neighborhood." Kaitlyn Heskett, Tian Wu, Shellie Miqbel, Torrance Abrams developed the Griggs Bathhouse/Griggs Reservoir project. "Their park design highlights the diverse ecology of Griggs Reservoir through an experiential path system, which allows humans to observe other systems and habitat," it states on the Knowlton School website.

Ohio State, Knowlton School:
https://tinyurl.com/hkyrdsr

Iowa State University's undergraduate landscape architecture program has consistently been ranked high on the list of "America's Best Architecture and Design Schools," compiled annually by DesignIntelligence. In fact, the school in Ames, Iowa, has been in the top 15 of DesignIntelligence's honor roll in 10 of the last 11 years.

In 2016, Iowa State is tied with Ball State University as the eighth best landscape architecture school in the nation. Louisiana State University is the top-ranked program, with Pennsylvania State University in second, and Cornell University in third.

There are 44 accredited undergraduate landscape architecture programs in the U.S. Thirty of those maintain bachelor of landscape architecture programs, including Iowa State. The American Society of Landscape Architecture (ASLA) recognized Iowa State's landscape architecture department with a Community Service Award of Excellence during its Annual Meeting and Expo in Chicago from Nov. 6-10. The university received the award for a landscape design-build project at a women's correctional facility that was completed in 2013-2014.

Iowa State's landscape architecture department has 154 undergraduate majors and 19 faculty members.

DesignIntelligence is a bimonthly publication for design professionals. "America's Best Architecture and Design Schools" is the only national college ranking that focuses exclusively on design. Its rankings cover accredited programs in architecture, industrial design, interior design and landscape architecture. The 16th annual survey was conducted in mid-2015, and the results were published in the November-December issue of DesignIntelligence.

Source: Iowa State website
Link: https://tinyurl.com/pcfobr7