Boston Preservation Alliance 25th Anniversary of the Preservation Achievement Awards

In October the Boston Preservation Alliance celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Preservation Achievement Awards. My beautiful wife was in charge of organizing the event and it went wonderfully. Mayor Menino was awarded the Codman Award for Lifetime Achievement. The event took place at the Historic Paramount Theater and had amazing music by my brother who is studying music therapy at the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Mark Frazee on stage with Mayor Menino.

Alison Frazee, Nathan Frazee, and Mark Frazee at the reception following the awards ceremony.

Lancaster, CA revitalized Boulevard

The downtown street is finally coming back to American communities. The promise of safe and healthy living in the suburbs left little amenities and resources for many downtown areas across America. However, there has been a shift that has brought people back. This movement was originally called downtown beautification. This insinuates that the physical aesthetics were the reason why people had left these areas and the is a flawed view. People had left because many of the amenities such as grocery stores, doctors, and restaurants had left.

Thankfully, with people becoming more knowledgeable about our impact on the environment it appears that communities and municipalities are making a choice to reinvest in these areas. One place that has embraced this mindset is Lancaster, CA. The town was selected by the EPA as a 2012 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement. The community made a stand and demanded more housing options, transportation options and public amenities.

 The architecture and urbanist firm that tackled this project was Moule & Polyzoides. The first thing they had to do was slow traffic in the downtown area. They implemented a boulevard layout with a rhombus parking layout with public gathering spaces. Additionally, the streets were downsized and were made much more walkable and bikable. The redevelopment provided residents with a full service of amenities and is a destination for shopping and entertainment now. A unique element is the opportunity for "random acts of music" with a variety of pianos included in along the sidewalks.

You can watch a great video provided by the EPA on their YouTube channel. The community has taken over ownership of the area and now has a website called TheBlvd that provides a full set of information on activities in the area. This engagement of community and opportunity for interaction has immeasurable public benefits.

Boston by Ferry

This past week Alison and I attended an Emerging Professionals outing that provided us with the opportunity to meet a lot of great young people in the landscape architecture field. The event took place on the Boston Harbor Ferry which goes all the way to Quincy and back. The ferry leaves Long Wharf North and serves beverages and if you leave at the right time you can catch the sunset over the city. If anybody is interested in taking advantage of the ferries, the website is www.bostonharborislands.org.

I89 Sharon, VT Rest Stop

The rest stop northbound on I89 in Sharon, VT is home to the first Vietnam Memorial ever in the United States. It also has a self contained water treatment system and greenhouse. The water system is called "the living machine." Included are several images from my visit to the site with my nephew who was excited to see actual bananas growing in the trees. It is interesting to note that this was not the first time a living machine was used at Vermont rest stop. There was originally one placed in the Guilford rest stop in I91 in 1996. Unfortunately, that system was shut down only after a year. Not because of failure but because a newer rest stop was constructed that was connected to Guilford town sewer lines. Information on this site can be found on the USDOT FHWA website. The site has been well advertised in the New York Times. .

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Landscape Architecture Exhibit

From June 27th to September 2nd the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum will have an exhibit on the origins of landscape architecture through photography. The cost is $15 and is located at 280 Fenway in Boston, MA. See www.gardnermuseum.org for more information. If you are able to read the article in the photo attached to this post you will notice that Charles Waldheim, chair of the landscape architecture program at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, is quoted saying "landscape first emerged in painting in western Europe, particularly in the British Isles." I seem to remember instances of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian images that incorporated the landscape well before the English started.

Movement on Main competition to reimagine Wyoming Street in Syracuse, New York

Recently, Stoss Landscape Urbanism from Boston, MA won the Movement on Main: Designing the Healthy Main Street competition for Syracuse, NY. The competition was put on by Arts at the Educational Foundation of America. Movement on Main has a goal to tie investments made on Wyoming Street into the revitalization of the impoverished Near Westside neighborhood. The design seeks to create new public spaces that encourage and foster community engagement with movement through various new technologies.

Landscape Architecture Foundation - Olmsted Scholar Program

The Landscape Architecture Foundation created an award program titled Olmsted Scholar. Schools are able to nominate one graduate student and one undergraduate student as a University Olmsted Scholar and compete for the National Olmsted Scholar Award. This year I was privileged to be nominated as the graduate student at the University of Massachusetts. This post is not about me though, as I was not selected as the National Olmsted Scholar or finalists. The undergraduate selected from UMass, Eliza Rodrigs, was one of the finalists with her studies concentrating on food deserts and urban agriculture. Although I was sad I did not win, it was exciting that a finalist came from UMass.

First Blog Post

Welcome to my blog. Now that I have finally finished school I have time for other things. I am hoping to utilize this blog as a way to keep up with current trends and research in the field of landscape architecture. With that in mind, my first post has to contain a link to the American Society of Landscape Architecture. I began my studies in landscape horticulture at the University of Maine and after realizing that I had more interest in design I decided to transfer. I moved to Kentucky and established residency before entering the University of Kentucky's Landscape Architecture program. While in my last year at Kentucky I was privileged to receive an internship at CDP Engineers in Lexington, KY. Following the completion of my education at Kentucky and my internship at CDP Engineers I decided to attend grad school for my Masters of Landscape Architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. While at UMass, I was able to work with a lot of great professors and students on various projects and fully develop my skills. I look forward to filling you in on various articles, research, and current events in landscape architecture and related fields.