Unearthed. Karen M'Closkey
UNEARTHED
UNEARTHED
THE LANDSCAPES OF HARGREAVES ASSOCIATES
KAREN M’CLOSKEY
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
Philadelphia
PENN STUDIES IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
John Dixon Hunt, Series Editor
This series is dedicated to the study and promotion of a wide variety of approaches to landscape architecture, with special emphasis on connections between theory and practice. It includes monographs on key topics in history and theory, descriptions of projects by both established and rising designers, translations of major foreign-language texts, anthologies of theoretical and historical writings on classic issues, and critical writing by members of the profession of landscape architecture.
The series was the recipient of the Award of Honor in Communications from the American Society of Landscape Architects, 2006.
Copyright © 2013 University of Pennsylvania Press
This book is supported by grants from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
The University of Pennsylvania Press acknowledges the generous funding provided by a David R. Coffin Publication Grant from the Foundation for Landscape Studies, and PennDesign at the University of Pennsylvania.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
Unless otherwise credited, all images courtesy of Hargreaves Associates.
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
M’Closkey, Karen.
Unearthed : the landscapes of Hargreaves Associates / Karen M’Closkey.— 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Penn studies in landscape architecture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8122-4480-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Hargreaves Associates—History. 2. Urban landscape architecture—United States—20th century. 3. Urban landscape architecture—United States—21st century. 4. Public spaces—United States. I. Title. II. Series: Penn studies in landscape architecture.
SB469.9.M35 2013
712′.5—dc23
2012046478
BOOK DESIGN BY JUDITH STAGNITTO ABBATE / ABBATE DESIGN
CONTENTS
Crissy Field, San Francisco, California
21st Century Waterfront and Renaissance Parks, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Los Angeles State Historic Park, Los Angeles, California
CHAPTER 2. TECHNIQUES
Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, Australia
Guadalupe River Park, San Jose, California
Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Facility and Northern Mitigation Area, Snohomish County, Washington
CHAPTER 3. EFFECTS
Louisville Waterfront Park, Louisville, Kentucky
University of Cincinnati Master Plan, Cincinnati, Ohio
William J. Clinton Presidential Center Park, Little Rock, Arkansas
AFTERWORD
PROJECT TEAMS FOR CITED PROJECTS
PREFACE
THE INCREASING PROMINENCE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE OVER THE PAST TWO DECADES IS UNDENIABLE, DUE IN NO SMALL PART TO THE WIDESPREAD ATTENTION TO ISSUES OF SUSTAINABILITY AND THE SENSE OF URGENCY THAT ACCOMPANIES
our current environmental problems, which are now understood in a global context. Landscape’s centrality to addressing these issues—the form of future urban settlement, and the importance of ecological and recreational networks to guide such settlement—is becoming more apparent to those outside of the field, which has helped reestablish landscape architecture in the significant position it previously and deservedly enjoyed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, such increased visibility of the discipline has been accompanied by a narrowing comprehension of its full cultural efficacy, due to the ways in which the terms “sustainability” and “ecology” have been uncritically adopted as the primary justification for the contributions that landscape architects make to the built environment. Certainly, landscape architecture is a “practical” discipline that engages the myriad social, political, and ecological realities that constitute our landscapes; however, landscape architecture is also a “projective” or imaginative discipline because it envisions the intersections among those realities in critical or challenging ways by making places that are unique, expressive, and experientially compelling.
Two recent developments have overshadowed these latter concerns. First, a turn in the profession that emphasizes “ecofriendly” or “green” design has resulted in a set of predictable responses to environmental sustainability, such as green roofs or constructed wetlands. The prominence of this utilitarian approach to function has eclipsed questions about how such approaches engage the equally relevant social, experiential, and symbolic functions of landscape. And second, academic discussions concerning “landscape urbanism” have gained traction