Announcing Our First LAF Medal and Founders' Award Recipients
The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) is delighted to announce the first recipients of its new LAF Medal and Founders’ Awards. These two annual awards honor individuals and firms/organizations that have made a significant and sustained contribution to the LAF mission of supporting the preservation, improvement, and enhancement of the environment.
LAF Medal
The LAF Medal is conveyed to a landscape architect for distinguished work over a career in applying the principles of sustainability to landscapes. The first LAF Medal goes to Grant Jones, FASLA, co-founder of Jones & Jones Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
“Grant Jones has a depth and breadth of work focusing on natural systems. He was a real innovator of the 1980s and 1990s in many areas, from how site analysis informs planning to completely reinventing what it means to be a zoo,” said Awards Committee Chair Dennis Carmichael, FASLA. “His work, writings, poetry, and advocacy created the transformative change LAF seeks to make in the profession.”
LAF Founders’ Award
The LAF Founders’ Award is conveyed to a firm, agency, or organization that demonstrates a significant commitment to preserving, creating, or enhancing landscapes over a sustained period of time. The first LAF Founders’ Award goes to the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).
“ASLA is the first organization in the world to promote the practice and ethics of landscape architecture as a profession. ASLA serves as the premier advocacy and educational forum for landscape architects,” said Carmichael on behalf of the Awards Committee.
The LAF Board Emeritus Council manages the nomination and selection process for the awards. Members of the 2016 Award Committee were:
- Dennis Carmichael, FASLA, Parker Rodriguez, Chair
- Chip Crawford, FASLA, Forum Studio
- Chris Dimond, FASLA, AICP, PWP Landscape Architecture
- Richard Hawks, FASLA, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
- Len Hopper, FASLA, Weintraub Diaz Landscape Architecture
- Ginger Murphy, ASLA, U.S. Department of Agriculture
The recipients will be honored during LAF’s 50th Anniversary Celebration and Dinner, which takes place at the Constitution Center on Independence Mall in Philadelphia on June 10 during the Summit on Landscape Architecture and the Future.
