The Design Competition in Landscape Architecture

Pedagogy and Practice

By Katya Crawford and Kathleen Kambic; Foreword by Julia Czerniak

SERIES: New Century Gardens and Landscapes of the American Southwest, Path to Open

University of New Mexico Press

Many internationally known landscape architects and architecture firms—including Snøhetta, BIG, Scape, and Weiss/Manfredi—have originated from design-competition wins. The Design Competition in Landscape Architecture, written by award-winning landscape architecture educators Katya Crawford and Kathleen Kambic, is the first book devoted to helping professional and academic design studios comprehensively plan for successful entries. Divided into five sections, the book provides an overview of the history and development of modern design competitions; includes interviews with world-renowned architects and designers, including Julie Bargman, Henri Bava, Elaine Molinar, Michelle Delk, and Kate Orff; offers a pedagogical approach to competition studio as part of a college curriculum; serves as a guide for entering design competitions; showcases award-winning designs from landscape architecture faculty and students and subsequent built projects from landscape architecture practitioners; reflects on future directions of landscape architecture design competitions; and provides resources for finding competitions. A wealth of lively graphics, including site plans, sketches, and color photographs, accompany the text. Crawford and Kambic’s history and analysis of the modern landscape architecture design competition shines a spotlight on the critical role these events play for practitioners, educators, and students and highlights how they shape and give identity to the cities in which we live.

The Design Competition in Landscape Architecture invigorates the value of design competitions positioned in design studios. It delivers new historical insights from key competitions such as Parc de la Villette and offers some personal behind-the-scenes thoughts from a collection of key interviews from landscape architects involved in competitions, including Peter Latz, Ken Smith, and Walter Hood.’—Nadia Amoroso, author of Digital Landscape Architecture Now
“The Design Competition in Landscape Architecture invigorates the value of design competitions positioned in design studios. It delivers new historical insights from key competitions such as Parc de la Villette and offers some personal behind-the-scenes thoughts from a collection of ke

The Design Competition in Landscape Architecture is an incredibly insightful book that uses history, interviews, and examples to examine the important role that design competitions play in the field of landscape architecture.’—Marc L. Miller, professor of landscape architecture at Penn State University
“The Design Competition in Landscape Architecture is an incredibly insightful book that uses history, interviews, and examples to examine the important role that design competitions play in the field of landscape architecture.”—Marc L. Miller, professor of landscape architecture at

Katya Crawford is a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of New Mexico’s School of Architecture and Planning.

Kathleen Kambic is an associate professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of New Mexico’s School of Architecture and Planning.

Acknowledgments

Foreword. Competition Matters

Julia Czerniak

Introduction. The Design Competition in Landscape Architecture: Pedagogy and Practice

Part One. A History of Radical Thoughts: Competitions as Socio-Cultural Generators

Part Two. Interviews

Julie Bargmann: Tropes and Traps

Henri Bava: Code Source

Michelle Delk and Elaine Molinar: Perception and Participation

Walter Hood: Walk the Walk

Reed Kroloff: Discourse and Quality

Peter and Tilman Latz: Approach over Picture