Design Team
Ken Smith is one of the most well known of a new generation of landscape architects equally at home in the worlds of art, architecture, and urbanism. Trained in both design and the fine arts, he explores the relationship between art, contemporary culture, and landscape. His practice, Workshop: Ken Smith Landscape Architect, was established in 1992 and is based in New York City with a southern California office in Irvine. He is committed to creating landscapes, especially parks and other public spaces, as a way of improving the quality of urban life. Much of his work pushes beyond traditional landscape typologies—plaza, street, and garden—to landscapes that draw on diverse cultural traditions and influences of the contemporary urban landscape. Smith’s approach is directed at projects of varying scales and types: temporary installations, private residential gardens, public spaces, parks, and commercial projects.
Frederic Schwartz is an internationally awarded architect and planner with an expertise in sustainable design. The firm has won 15 major national and international competitions and 24 American Institute of Architects awards. In the past year, the firm has won three invited international competitions for new airports in India and a master plan competition for an expansion equal to the size of Manhattan, for Guangzhou, China. Schwartz was selected by the City of New Orleans and the Rockefeller Foundation for the recovery plan for 9,200 acres including 21 historic neighborhoods including 40% of its post-Katrina population. The New York Times credited Schwartz with changing the course of post-9/11 planning in two profiles, “The Man Who Dared the City to THINK Again” and “The Man Who Listened.” He was unanimously selected by family members in competitions for the New Jersey and Westchester September 11th Memorials. Frederic Schwartz is a recipient of the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture and was selected by the Architecture League of New York for the Young Architect’s Award and as an Emerging Voice in Architecture. www.schwartzarch.com
Mary Miss has redefined how art is integrated into the public realm since the early 1970s. She is interested in how artists can play a more central role in addressing the complex issues of our times—making environmental and social sustainability into tangible experiences is a primary goal. Trained as a sculptor, Miss’ work creates situations that emphasize a site’s history, ecology, and aspects of the environment that often go unnoticed. Miss’ work crosses boundaries between landscape architecture, architecture, and urban design. Her vision favors site-specificity and human perception over traditional concerns of the public monument. Collaboration has been central to Miss’ work as she has developed projects as diverse as creating a temporary memorial around the perimeter of Ground Zero, marking the predicted flood level of Boulder, Colorado, or revealing the history of the Union Square Subway station in New York City. Through these initiatives, Miss has realized the potential for artists to help encourage the involvement of all citizens and inspire the personal and political will to create revitalized, sustainable cities. www.marymiss.com
