Multiple park projects were among the winners of ASLA’s 2024 Professional Awards. The 39 Professional Award winners this year, selected from 465 entries by jury panels representing a broad cross-section of the landscape architecture profession, showcase innovation and represent the highest level of achievement in the landscape architecture profession.
For the second year, the ASLA / International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) Global Impact Award is presented to a project in the Analysis and Planning category. The award is given to a work of landscape architecture that demonstrates excellence in addressing climate impacts through transformative action and scalable solutions, and adherence to ASLA’s and IFLA’s climate action commitments. The 2024 award goes to the Puente Hills Landfill Park Plan in Los Angeles, by the landscape architecture firm Studio-MLA and their client the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks & Recreation. Puente Hills Landfill Park repurposes what was once the nation’s second-largest landfill into a park for all. The plan identified extreme heat and drought as the most likely climate impacts over time.
The Professional Awards jury also selects a Landmark Award each year; this year’s Landmark Award celebrates Xochimilco Ecological Park by Grupo de Diseño Urbano, S.C. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988, the 3,000-hectare cultural landscape of the Chinampas region is home to a sustainable agriculture system that is prehispanic in origin. The park includes a plant and flower market, a sports complex and wetlands that are home to more than 200 species of birds and host 2.5 million visitors annually.
“These winners showcase landscape architecture as the profession that’s leading the way in helping communities thrive,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen. “These projects successfully address multiple challenges and have set a high bar for excellence. Equitable design, economic growth, capturing more carbon and increasing the health, safety and well-being of communities all at the same time is a stunning display of leadership and innovation.
Honor Award winners in the General Design category include:
- EcoCommons – Social and Ecological Resilience in the Campus Landscape by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
- Alpine Garden and Amphitheater by Z’scape
- Benjakitti Forest Park: Transforming a Brown Field into an Urban Nature by Turenscape + Arsomsilp
- Tom Lee Park: “Come to the River” by SCAPE Landscape Architecture PLLC; Studio Gang
- The Bay: “One Park for All” in Sarasota by Agency Landscape + Planning
- Sandy Hook Memorial: The Clearing by SWA Group
- African Ancestors Memorial Garden by Hood Design Studio
- Louisiana Children’s Museum: A Joyous Landscape in City Park by Mithun
- St John’s Terminal: An Ecology for Technology and Innovation by Future Green Studio
Other awardees in the Urban Design, Analysis & Planning, Communications and Research categories include the Atlanta BeltLine (by Perkins & Will); Wild Mile: Transforming an Urban River into a Floating Eco-Park (by Omni Workshop; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill); The Wharf’s 7th Street Park and Recreation Pier (by Michael Vergason Landscape Architects); Sojourner Truth State Park for Scenic Hudson (by OLIN); Ellinikon Park: Planning for Climate Action and Carbon Positivity (by Sasaki Associates Inc.); University of California, Berkeley Accessible Paths and Places Plan (by Sasaki Associates Inc.); Connecting to Our Indigenous Histories at Machicomoco State Park (by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects); The Community First Toolkit: A Framework for Equitable Public Spaces (by Grayscale Collaborative); Race and the Control of Public Parks (by Isaac Cohen, ASLA; buildingcommunity WORKSHOP).
To see a full list of awardees, including project details, visit www.asla.org.