From Picturesque to Process

From Picturesque to Process: Post-War Housing Landscapes as the Vanguard of Integrated Planning

By David Fletcher and Daniel Phillips

Preface

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 5

Tom Leader

The lure of the local is that undertone to modern life

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Mar, 2009

that connects it to the past we know so little and

consectetuer auctor vestibulum in orci, donec semper

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Principal. Tom Leader Studio

the future we are aimlessly concocting.

amet erat, commodo et ac donec. Sodales vehicula

lectus sed dolore, lectus litora id in pede, dui interdum

—Lucy Lippard

vel nunc lacus, risus sed nec viverra. Amet libero massa

Introduction From the Picturesque to Process Comparative Scale Analysis Case Studies

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Introduction

From Picturesque to Process

The following survey of California’s post war hous-

transit oriented development, and solar orientation-

ing landscapes traces the evolution of Landscape

-representing a fascinating body of accumulated

Architectural design and planning practice through-

knowledge that will inform how we make and

out the course of the 20th century from 1950

remake cities in the future. Brought together in

to 2000, with the aim of charting the increasing

relative focus, these projects represent a legacy

complexity, and performativity of the landscape

of advanced landscape practice that continues to

discipline across a variety of scales, regional

evolve to this day, with a varied lineage that can be

contexts and dynamics of cultural values. The mid-

traced from the California housing projects of the

century, community oriented housing experiments

1940’s through the contemporary discourse of

of Parkmerced (1952), Ladera (1948), The Sea

Landscape Urbanism that presently informs pat-

Ranch (1968), Village Homes(1981), Village Green

terns of urban development worldwide. Crucial to

(1949) and Playa Vista (2006), and the visionary

the success of these projects throughout the 20th

agendas of their associated landscape architects,

and into the 21st century, (and thus their vital

among them Thomas Church, Lawrence Halprin,

contribution to the discourse of landscape practice

Garrett Eckbo, Robert Royston and others, have

today) lies in their resistance to the limited visual

paved the way for contemporary legislation

biases of the picturesque and their early position-

requiring the provision of features such as open

ing of landscape at the intersection of urban form,

space, stormwater management, recreation,

natural processes and social ecology.

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by David Fletcher & Daniel Phillips

Once understood as a peripheral practice dealing

human requirements of shelter and the need for low

with abstract representations of nature, Landscape

impact, economically viable, ecologically responsive,

Architecture has become a powerful medium through

and socially intelligent housing solutions has emerged

which to address the larger environmental, social, and

as one of the greatest challenges we face today, and

economic concerns of our time. Globally, a substantial

will continue to drive the adaptive re-use of our existing

and potentially lasting environmental consciousness,

cities into the 21st century and beyond.

born in part of an awareness of resource scarcity,

and exponential projections for urban population is

California experienced the most rapid population

compelling our governments and our communities

growth in its short history. Veterans and their families

to demand design and planning solutions capable of

would need new housing, jobs, and schools. Many GI’s

addressing the shifting dynamics of today’s urban

would purchase homes with government backed low

regions. Sustainability imperatives, to which many

interest loans. A massive new system of interstate

urbanists, architects, and landscape architects are

highways began to extend the suburbs into rural and

presently responding, inject many unprecedented

agricultural areas. Millions of people moved to the

challenges and potentials into the equation of urban

suburbs, and many of the inner cities were deterio-

design that require radically new modes of understand-

rating. The industrial capacity of the nation, built up

ing and engagement with the city. The fundamental

intensively during the war, could now be redirected

by David Fletcher and Daniel Phillips

After the conclusion of the Second World War,

5

THOMAS CHURCH

6

toward peacetime purposes. Vast tracts of agricultural land at the

scenery. It was this narrow conception of landscape as a disen-

Record, they often cited Thoreau, Benton Mackaye, and Lewis

development of 500 homes in Palo Alto. Royston’s notion of a “land-

fringes of urban centers would soon become fields of detached

gaged, scenographic, two-dimensional surface that constrained

Mumford, which gives insight to their varied intentions and inter-

scape matrix” provided an organizing principle for clustered zones

single family homes, shopping centers, garden apartments, and sup-

landscape design until the mid-century to a realm of relative taste

ests. They believed that the rapidly developing cities and suburbs

of residences interwoven with a network of verdant recreational

portive infrastructure. Fueled by a housing shortage and industrial

and secondary exercises in “free-plan”—never considered more

lacked enlightened planning in which ‘place’ and spatial planning

landscapes and service facilities. The existing topography of the

expansion, this boom accelerated and provided unique opportunities

than an obedient background or merely complimentary pedestal to

would encourage discourse and shared community values, bringing

site was carefully considered in determining the layout of roads

for innovation in city planning relative to housing development. As

architecture as the conceptual “foreground” of spatial design and

groups together for celebrations and recreational activities.

(which follow the existing contours of the land) and the placement

anonymous expanses of new suburban development began to

experience, The preoccupation with The Picturesque was described

The following excerpt from The Things Telesis Has Found Important

of housing on the western and eastern edges of the site, allowing

leapfrog carelessly into distant hinterlands, before the alienating

succinctly by landscape theorist John Dixon Hunt, who observed

illustrates their collective interest in the broader issues of social

an existing valley to be utilized as a centralized linear park. In lieu

domestic hyper individualism or ecological implications of this living

that “concentration upon formal matters [had] bypassed the matter

ecology: “People and the Land make up the environment which has

of excessive vehicular through-streets, an extensive circulatory

arrangement were fully understood), unique alternative models for

of experience in the fullest sensual-emotional-imaginative, and intel-

four distinct parts--a place to Live, Work, Play, and the Services

armature of pedestrian paths provides a multitude of optional

organizing California’s residential terrain were imminent.

lectual range”.

which integrate these and make them operate. These compo-

walking and biking routes between the two residential plateaus.

nents must be integrated in the community and urban region

These strategies signify an early exploration of the programmatic

political will, and economic strength with which to realize bold new

Yet despite an abundance of resources, societal demand,

California Landscape architects Thomas Church, Robert Royston,

through rational planning, and through the use of modern building

and connective potential of landscape in the delicate equation

patterns of development nationwide, it was the relative poverty of

and Garret Eckbo turned to science, new materials, and shared

technology.”

of community life. Resisting the utopianism of passive physical

discourse endemic to the discipline of landscape architecture itself

ambitions to do something greater than the single-family garden.

adjacency—arguably the central fallacy of the suburban living

at the time that threatened to severely limit its role in the formula-

At this time, they were designing and planning for a predominantly

architects to view natural areas and recreation as a part of a

arrangement—Ladera’s planners demonstrate that a sense of

tion of new methodologies of urban design. Inscribed by historical

materialistic culture that considered land, wildlife, vegetation and

larger system. He sought to create urban open space systems, as

place must be actively facilitated and nurtured by a synthesis of pic-

legacy that has roots in the formal traditions of the Beaux-Arts as

climate as “commodities” and they were seeking new ways to help

interconnected patches and corridors, that he termed a “landscape

turesque open spaces, programmed landscapes, carefully scaled

well as the English gardens and landscape paintings of the 1800’s,

inhabitants, including humans, adapt to changing environments

matrix”. He further envisioned these systems as bringing amenity

and sited domestic architecture, and mixed use. Ladera achieves

the design of landscape, indeed the very notion of a “landscape”

and new technologies. All were a part of Telesis, a group of design-

and order to rapidly developing suburbs.

this balance with provision of no less than 10 playgrounds, a

itself was tightly bound to the aesthetic politics “The Picturesque”- a

ers and planners concerned with the cultural and environmental

centrally located community center and other publicly utilized build-

detached mode of composing and visually objectifying naturalistic

problems of the Bay Area. In their early writings for Architectural

Eckbo and John Funk, the community of Ladera is a 260 acre

Leveling a timely critique of the deficiencies of the discipline,

Robert Royston was perhaps one of the first landscape

Designed in the mid-1940’s by Royston along with Garrett

ROBERT ROYSTON

ings, and a number of local businesses and stores to stimulate and

7

JOSEPH ALLEN STEIN

8

sustain a condition of localized economic interdependency.

Church’s genius was his insistence on designing and grading the

courtyards on an individual basis, and to counter the geometric

southern California Landscape architect Fred Wyman, Village Green

considerations of ecological processes, site sensitivity, and resource

by architect Leonard Schultze, and landscape architect Thomas

rigidity of the buildings with curvilinear gestures of circulation and

is a 64 acre development in the Baldwin Hills district of Los Angles.

management as overt design agendas per se. Conceived well

Church, Parkmerced was originally developed by the Met Life

planting. No two courtyards are alike, contributing to gestalt condi-

The team’s original plan inverted the traditional figure ground

before the term “sustainability” had entered the American lexicon,

Insurance Company and became home for many returning veter-

tion that has been described as “unity within variety” (Weinstein),

relationship of the Los Angeles single family home to provide an

Parkmerced’s position of insensitive proximity to Lake Merced, (A

ans of World War II. Promoted as “a city within a city”, its highly

and scripting moments of spatial idiosyncrasy within the formal

articulated perimeter of two story apartment buildings at the edges

vital source of water for San Francisco at the time), excessively

formalized radial plan (a product of Shultz’s brazen affection for the

constraints of an otherwise regimented master plan.

of the site as a intermediary between pedestrian, vehicular and

attenuated blocks, oriented arbitrarily to prevailing wind and solar

Beaux-Arts) includes both high-rise residential towers and low-rise

domestic realms.

patterns and its boulevards originally devoid of commercial use,

“garden apartments” for over 2,000 residents.

and process in landscape design, Church’s principles of “Function”

stifled Parkmerced’s claims of becoming a “City within a City”,

and “Simplicity” signify a profound understanding of the human as

a series of natural surface draining strategies, and a series of

and necessarily call into question (in the present day) its man-

Simplicity, and Scale—can provide an appropriate lens through

an indispensable agent in any landscape’s unfolding development

programmed landscapes, playgrounds, public water features that

agement of energy and resources. However, beyond any of its

which to analyze the vital role that landscape has, and will continue

over time. More than merely providing a disengaged naturalistic

served as attractors of community life. However, after the failure

individual shortcomings (appraised from five decades of hindsight)

to play in the future success of Parkmerced. The issues of unity and

backdrop for architecture, or a series of exterior views for private

of a nearby reservoir flooded and devastated many of these original

Parkmerced’s lasting contribution to landscape practice should not

scale, defined respectively by Church as “intimacy between house

domestic consumption, Parkmerced’s landscapes are spaces

features in the 1960’s, a series of neutral, formalized landscapes

be understated. Church’s unique approach to landscape integrated

and garden”, and “the relation of one part of the design to another”

of compulsory social friction. They provide a series of “outdoor

were constructed in their place. Although still a successful commu-

planning provided an early catalyst and successful model for similar

(church 39) are expressed here in the dynamic tension between

rooms”, suspended in a murky state of “co-ownership” between

nity today, organized around a centralized 800 foot semi-oval lawn

modes of residential development in the southern California region,

parts and the whole. Radiating symmetrically from a centralized

multiple residents and thus provide opportunities for multiple modes

interspersed with rare specimen trees, Village Green exemplifies

including Village Homes, Ladera, and Sea Ranch.

and circular meadow (Juan Bautista Circle), the wedge shaped

of direct and daily use, while facilitating serendipitous interaction

the ways in which the issues of risk management and maintenance

blocks of apartments are configured to partially enclose dozens of

between neighbors. Whether this friction manages to produce

can serve to neutralize the initial intentions and performative poten-

the gathering environmental consciousness movements that

large open courtyards to be shared by the occupants of several

enduring friendships or bitter feuds, the simple shared courtyard,

tials of landscape with the limited visual purview of the picturesque.

designers began to make reference to a more sensitive form of site

units. Yet rather than consent to the bland economies of scale

exemplified in Church’s vision for Parkmerced designates a vital

analysis which took into account the issues of microclimate, geo-

that may easily have produced a series of identical open spaces,

spatial typology for community-oriented planning.

precedents of the 1940’s and 50’ (despite their progressive focus

Also appearing in the 1940’s and designed in collaboration

Church’s four central garden design principles---Unity, Function,

Precluding (perhaps anticipating) discussions of program

Planned in 1942 by Reingold Johnson, Clarence Stein, and

Wyman’s initial treatment of the project’s landscapes provided

It is crucial at this point to note that many of the planning

on issues of lifestyle, recreational space and civic life) preclude

GARRET ECKBO

It was not until the 1960’s and 70’s, drawing inspiration from

graphic and ecological concerns, and the enhancement of existing

9

HIDEO SASAKI

10

site features. Hideo Sasaki a site planner at Skidmore, Owings, and

new design process capable of yielding urban forms appropriate to

Merrill (SOM) in New York was an early adapter of these agendas,

the total environment.

Ranch is its early demonstration of interdisciplinary design thinking,

lineages that can be traced to Ebenezer Howard’s late 19th century

identifying two binary trajectories for the practice, one toward “the

expressed in the spatial and material integration of architecture

conception of the “Garden City”, Village Homes is comprised of

betterment of human environments” and another toward superficial

design issues, as exemplified in his collaborations with Al Boeke

and landscape as mutually supportive systems. This condition is

220 single family homes, 20 apartments and a series of shared

embellishment. Sasaki proposed a simple, ontological question:

at The Sea Ranch. Developed along a 10 mile stretch of Sonoma

beautifully exemplified in many of the individual residential building

community buildings. With a density of 7-8 dwelling units per acre,

“What significance, in design terms, may be found in the ecological

county coast just north of San Francisco, The Sea Ranch is an

projects, many of which were designed on an individual basis, yet

the basic organization of the residences inverts the traditional

relationship of man and nature?” that contributed to a shift in the

ongoing experiment in ecologically responsive community planning,

within a framework of general principles. In what has become

relationship between the house, street and yard, shifting domestic

conception of landscape as a merely decorative horticulture to an

Radically departing from the prevailing conventions of real estate

known as the “Sea Ranch Style”, the buildings are simple volumes

focus away from the street and inward onto a densely vegetated

integrated ethic of environmental planning in which the Landscape

development at the time, Halprin’s unconventional approach to the

clad in untreated wood shingles with characteristic sloped roofs

pedestrian thoroughfare (Corbett 25). Operating in much the same

Architect assumed greater agency as the intermediary between the

planning process was based on intensive investigation of the unique

that are said to resonate with the angles of the weathered bluffs.

manner as the shared courtyards of Parkmerced, (between des-

market driven patterns of real estate development and the environ-

existing features, and ecological contingencies of the site itself.

Many of the buildings also incorporate the use of green roofs to blur

ignations of “private” yard and “public” park) these areas comprise

ment at large. Ian Mcharg, another key figure in the positioning of

Robert Reynolds (a cultural geographer and ecologist) assisted

the physical distinction between building and site. Beyond provid-

a critical category of open space that could be termed “integrated

landscape at the intersection of natural process, developed new

Halprin in conducting a series of detailed studies on microclimate,

ing the fodder for a codified sub-genre for architectural style, The

commons”, providing a vital corridor of circulatory connection and

methodologies of research, analysis, and synthesis with regard to

topography, soil composition, hydrology, and local wildlife that

Sea Ranch represents a pattern of development that eschews the

contiguous green space that supports vital ecological process.

large scale problems of housing, planning, and land use. Mcharg’s

provided the ethical and aesthetic basis for “living lightly on the land”

anthropocentric conception of man vs. nature to engender direct

Another feature in the master plan is an integrated approach to

influential 1969 book entitled “Design With Nature” was a break-

(Lyndon 24). The low-density, low-impact plan proposed clusters of

modes of engagement with and response to natural processes.

on-site storm water management, which was finally approved after

through in ecological analysis—the ability to diagram and overlay

homes be set amid the site’s existing cypress hedgerows to provide

Yet another example of landscape’s engagement with natural

nearly a decade of resistance from the local department of public

complex natural systems of drainage patterns, vegetative patterns,

a natural barrier from chilling coastal winds. These clusters of 7-8

process is Village Homes, located in Davis, and designed and by

works. Rather than grading lots to drain toward the street or into

soil conditions, flora and fauna, and a host of other contextual forces

residences were set amid expansive meadows of native grasses

Michael and Judy Corbett, which provides integrated networks of

subsurface storm channels, runoff is instead directed through a

to yield quantitative conclusions about which areas are suited to

unencumbered by fences, sidewalks, lawns, or other distinct barri-

public space and productive agricultural landscapes as the central

series of naturalistic surface swales which facilitate percolation and

development. “Design with Nature”,provided the feedstock for what

ers of individual ownership, all comprising an open public commons

focus of community life.

groundwater recharge and provide irrigation for the orchards and

became modern day GIS imaging, and created the foundations of a

for human interaction and grazing animals alike.

vineyards. The use of this unconventional yet effective system saved

Lawrence Halprin espoused similar interest in these emerging

Among the most enduring and relevant aspects of The Sea

Based in part on the Corbett’s interest in the “greenbelt”

communities of Europe and elsewhere as well as theoretical

IAN MCHARG

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LAWRENCE HALPRIN

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occupants thousands of dollars in initial construction (which was in

the most ambitious efforts yet toward reversing today’s prevalent

transport to and from real economic prospects outside its walls

to developers and residents alike, and include the following:

turn invested in the many community landscapes) and still is fully

and destructive pattern of auto-orient¬ed sprawl”. (Katz 179)

that are required sustain its exorbitant mortgages. Like the

operational to this day, serving to foreground hydrology as a legible

fabled Spruce Goose constructed by Howard Hughes on the very

community and stewardship by bringing residents together within

and beautiful process rather than a mysterious infrastructure

plan was completed in 2006 after sharp resistance from local

site a half century prior, this 2.7 billion dollar urban experiment is

programmatically rich, agriculturally productive landscapes, and

hidden from view.

preservationists who questioned the development’s adjacency to

simi¬larly marked by looming doubts as to its magnitude, its cost,

shared exterior space.

Ballona Wetlands (one of the few remaining freshwater marshes in

and the likeli¬hood of its ultimate success, underscoring an ongoing

precedent of Playa Vista provides an interesting case-study in urban

the state). The strategic response of Playa’s developers included

debate about the viability of New Urbanism as a model for develop-

cal sustainability, but as a measure of immediate cost savings

form, program, open space, and context. Developed in what was

significant investment in conservation and enhancement of these

ment in the future.

for residents and sustained property value over time. Strategies

once an empty rift between the beach cities of Marina Del Rey

contextual features to promote them as a vital amenity to com-

include: creating a linked network of spaces that facilitate modes of

and Westchester in Los Angeles’ west side, Playa Vista proposes

munity life, as well as a basis for a brandable identity. Playa Vista’s

management, and public open space, California’s post-war housing

alternative transportation. The flexible use of streets and thorough-

a high density, walkable, mixed-use scenario for 30,000 residents

generous public promenades are placed on a north to south axis,

landscapes have transformed design strategies that may have once

fares for commercial activity, public gathering, and stormwater

as an antidote to the conditions of polycentric sprawl, placeless-

oriented to maximize views of these surround¬ing geographical

been considered heretical, into the common substance of contem-

management.

ness and auto-dependency that have characterized the traditional

features, and its street titles present residents with a didactic nar-

porary practice. However, beyond their tangible contributions to

development patterns of post-war suburbia. Its 1087 master-plan

rative of sea-side pedestrianism—including “Seawalk Drive”, “Seabluff

the policies of the built environment, these case studies represent

and minimize dependence on air conditioning. Landscape Based

was designed with an emphasis on pedestrian scale, regional

Drive” “Bluffcreek Drive”, and “Discovery Creek”.

a continuum of design thinking and methodology that has contrib-

energy conservation strategies include: minimizing heat gain or loss

context, eclectic architectural style, internal transit routes and

uted to a significant conceptual transition out of a period in which

through proper block layout and building orientation and through

bikeways, and connected networks of programmed public space.

surrounded by mixed use apartment blocks which offer a series

the understanding of the landscape discipline was marked by the

the planting of shade trees, vine structures, and vegetation that can

Playa Vista’s original plan came together in the early 1990’s, a joint

of services and restaurants to residents. However, pending the

deficient nostalgic language of the picturesque, and into a period

screen or funnel prevailing winds.

effort that included contributions from many avid proponents of

completion of its second phase, which will include a large industrial

marked by renewed imaginative potential, and a greater measure

New Urbanism—including Stefanos Polyzoides, Andres Duany, and

park with a corporate anchor and more residences, Playa Vista’s

of agency for Landscape as a primary determinant of urban form.

approaches to design that result in creating and enhancing wildlife

Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. Best described as L.A.’s anti-L.A., Playa Vista

has yet to reach a demographically diverse critical mass necessary

The cumulative effects and experiences of this newly expanded

habitat functionality and biodiversity.

is hailed by many as a beacon of hope, and referred to as “one of

for a vibrant community life, and continues to be reliant individual

understanding of urban and residential design are of equal concern

Shifting now in both scale and region, the contemporary

The first primarily residential Phase of Playa Vista’s 3 phase

Operating as Playa’s civic heart is Concert Park, a public space

Early vanguards of green infrastructure, integrated resource

--The unique ability for landscape to actively nurture a sense of

--Transportation efficiency not only as a measure of ecologi-

JUDY CORBETT

– The use of landscape to mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect

--The emergence of bio-regional and micro-climmatic

--The inclusion of stormwater management into the planning

13

ELIZABETH PLATER-ZYBERK

and design process to improve water quality and supply. Water

“flexibility”, “indeterminacy”, “temporality” “succession”, “adaptation”,

and the shortcomings of the original plan, tempered with a willing-

greenways employed by the Corbett’s in Village Homes, this system

quality strategies include: retaining, infiltrating, filtering, and mitigat-

“mutation”, Landscape as Urbanism supplants the static formal

ness to embrace the new materials and technologies of the 21st

of performative landscapes reveals and celebrates water infra-

ing the adverse impact of storm runoff. Reuse strategies include

hierarchies of Architecture with the combined knowledge and tech-

century. The new plan generally focuses its interventions within the

structure and its interface with local food production as a central

filtering and storing greywater for irrigation, building cooling, and

niques from such disciplines as environmental engineering, urban

categories of transportation, public space, density, and ecology.

component of a vibrant community life. Conceived in the context of

groundwater replenishment.

strategy, landscape ecology, and geography into a practice that is

In addition to consolidating vehicular traffic to a limited number of

diminished water resources state-wide, SOM’s proposed improve-

both anticipatory and adaptive. This nascent practice refocuses

neighborhood streets, the imposing and and overly attenuated scale

ments will also include an attempt to reduce the amount of lawns

the land and reducing the urban foodshed footprint. Strategies

Landscape Architecture’s fundamentals: temporality, scale, ecology,

of Parkmerced’s original city blocks will be strategically intersected

and re-generate native plant communities suited to the varying soil

include producing food products for local consumption through the

infrastructure, and environmental ethos. In many cases, it bridges

by a fine grain network of bike paths and pedestrian-friendly street

moisture conditions naturally available throughout the site. The

establishment of community gardens, and roof terraces.

the divisive dichotomies that plague the spatial disciplines—artificial/

modifications and services that will work to humanize and integrate

programmatically activated riparian corridor works in concert with

natural, inside/outside, form/function, human/animal, void/mass.

its formerly dispersed and isolated uses. Operating as the “social

the bio corridor to conceptually and physically reconnect the city

Strategies include:the provision of active playfields, interactive

Rather than formulating end-state solutions, it proposes scenarios

heart” of the city will be a walkable mixed-use neighborhood center

to the Lake Merced ecosystem and mitigate wasteful and locally

fountains, swimming pools, and passive trail systems for circulation.

and strategies that can adapt to change. Throughout, ecological

served by low-emission shuttle routes that will further streamline

harmful water practices. Taken together, the various pedestrian

principles such as succession, normally applied to environmental

internal transit among residents and provide increased opportuni-

linkages, public courtyards, productive landscapes will all comprise

These disparate historical tendencies find perhaps their

systems, are applied to political, cultural expression, economic and

ties for economic diversity in Parkmerced’s “Park District”. To

an interconnected and interdependent network of green spaces

ultimate expression in the contemporary discourse of Landscape

social systems. All are considered as equally vital parts of the urban

provide a micro-climate more conducive to pedestrian activity,

that support the various ecologies of the city.

Urbanism—a new mode of urban design practice that seeks to

ecosystem.

hedgerows will be utilized to alleviate the negative effects of the

reconceptualize the relationships between architecture, land-

sites westerly winds and maximize daylight penetration of the north-

Parkmerced’s existing infrastructures of community, free of

scape and city. This emerging discourse synthesizes and actively

of Parkmerced, headed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM)

south streets.

unnecessary design pomposity, reinforces and expands upon

re-interprets the early methodologies of Church, Eckbo, Halprin,

working with local Landscape Architect Tom Leader demonstrates

many of Church’s original principles, and reaffirms the experience

Corbett, and others, adapting them to the social, economic, and

the complex demands placed on today’s urban landscapes and

strategy for on-site water management that includes a network

landscape as a vital organizing principle in its continued develop-

ecological complexities of the urban environment of the 21st

those who design them. Parkmerced’s visionary yet sensitive

of rain gardens, bioswales, and lush riparian corridors that feed

ment. As Parkmerced’s density is set to increase, SOM’s Vision

century. Drawing upon its inherent vocabularies of “layering”

redesign is rooted in the equal understanding of both the successes

a series of productive organic agricultural zones. Similar to the

Plan demonstrates a continuing understanding of the ability for built

14

--The role of Urban agriculture in connecting communities to

--To combat provision of active and passive recreation.

The recent planning proposal for the contemporary adaptation

Operating at the core of this new plan will be a comprehensive

ANDRES DUANY

SOM’s practical approach to the enhancement of

15

TOM LEADER

References

architectural form to define and “create a neighborhood of outdoor

and isolated triumphs, it is now possible to synthesize the lessons

rooms that are linked by exterior circulation that encourages walk-

of these projects into a design methodology capable of simultane-

ing and outdoor activity, enlivens the public realm and promotes a

ously addressing the issues of energy conservation, agriculture,

Corbett, Michael N., “A Better Place To Live” Pennsylvania Rodale

socially vibrant neighborhood where people are the most important

recreation, water quality, pollution control, microclimate, and social

ingredient” (Vision Plan 6). The social vision of communal gathering

interaction. As we begin to reverse engineer our cities to become

spaces is continued with the inclusion of private patios and public

more sustainable and ultimately more habitable in the future we

Parkmerced Vision Plan, Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM.)

courtyards for outdoor living at a variety of scales. And the design

must continue to look more readily to landscape, it’s systems, its

of these spaces continues to be informed by the interplay and

vocabularies, and its processes, as a catalyst for renewal.

Press Emmaus. 1981.

2008

juxtaposition of varying families of form – the rectilinear against the

Lyndon, Donlyn and Alinder, Jim “The Sea Ranch”

curvaceous, the vertical against the horizontal—and the repeating

New York, NY. Princeton Architectural Press, 2004

rhythms of composed topography that create interlinked networks of public open space.

Thus, placed back into the hands of a design

Parkmerced, DOCOMOMO, 2007

team who clearly respects Church’s initial intent, the new vision for Parkmerced adapts the city into a sustainable urban ecology of

Katz, Peter. “The New Urbanism” Toward an Architecture of

21st century while leaving its original spirit intact.

Community. New York, NY McGraw Hill,. 1994.

How we continue to inhabit the ever-densifying cities of the

world in socially intelligent, economically viable and ecologically sustainable arrangements is arguably one of the most pressing questions of the 21st century. In the face of such urgency, many of the strategies exemplified in California’s housing landscapes have shed their previous auras of ethical or aesthetic choice to become obligatory existential imperatives. After decades of experimentation

16

17

LADERA

1950

18 PARK MERCED VILLAGE GREEN

1960

SEA RANCH VILLAGE HOMES

1970 1980

PLAYA VISTA

1990

CASE STUDIES

PARK MERCED

2000

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5

VILLAGE GREEN

6

LADERA

20

1 KM 1 MILE

5 4

MAP OF CASE STUDIES

COMPARATIVE SCALE ANALYSIS

21

40s DESIGN TEAM

Garrett Eckbo

John Funk

Joseph Allen Stein

1

LOCATION

PALO ALTO, CA

AREA

260/1.05 KM2

DENSITY

LOW

COMPLETED

1946

BUDGET

$4M

3

1

PUBLIC PARK

2

MIXED USE

3

PEDESTRIAN CIRCULATION

2

.5 KM .5 MILE

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

COMMUNITY OPEN SPACE

PLAYGROUNDS/RECREATION

Designed in the mid-1940’s by Royston along with Garrett Eckbo and John Funk, the community of Ladera is a 260 acre development of 500 homes in Palo Alto. Royston’s notion of a “landscape matrix” provided an organizing principle for clustered zones of residences interwoven with a network of verdant recreational landscapes and service facilities. The existing topography of the site was carefully considered in determining the layout of roads (which follow the existing contours of the land) and the placement of housing on the western and eastern edges of the site, allowing an existing valley to be utilized as a centralized 22

LADERA

AGRICULTURE

SOLAR ORIENTATION

TRANSIT ACCESS

MIXED USE

linear park. In lieu of excessive vehicular through-streets, an extensive circulatory armature of pedestrian paths provides a multitude of optional walking and biking routes between the two residential plateaus.

These strategies signify an early exploration of the programmatic and connective potential of landscape in the delicate equation of community life. Resisting the utopianism of passive physical adjacency—arguably the central fallacy of the suburban living arrangement—Ladera’s planners demonstrate that a sense of place must be actively facilitated and

nurtured by a synthesis of neutral open spaces, programmed landscapes, carefully scaled and sited domestic architecture, and mixed use. Ladera achieves this balance with provision of no less than 10 playgrounds, a centrally located community center and other publically utilized buildings, and a number of local businesses and stores to stimulate and sustain a condition of localized economic interdependency.

LADERA

23

50s

5

DESIGN TEAM

Thomas Dolliver Church

Robert Royston

Leonard Schultze

LOCATION

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

AREA

191.5 ac./.77 KM2

DENSITY

HIGH

COMPLETED

1952

BUDGET

$XXX

3

1

2

4 1

MEADOW, JUAN BAUTISTA CIRCLE

2

MID-RISE APARTMENTS

3

GARDEN APARTMENTS

4

SHARED COURTYARDS

5

RECREATION

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

.25 KM .25 MILE

COMMUNITY OPEN SPACE

PLAYGROUNDS/RECREATION

Designed in collaboration by architect Leonard Schultze, landscape architect Thomas Church, and Robert Royston, Parkmerced was originally developed by the Met Life Insurance Company and became home for many returning veterans of World War II. Promoted as “a city within a city”, its highly formalized radial plan (a product of Shultz’s brazen affection for the Beaux-Arts) includes both high-rise residential towers and low-rise “garden apartments” for over 8,000 residents.

Church’s four central garden design principles---Unity, Function, Simplicity, and Scale—can provide an appropriate lens through which to analyze the vital role that landscape has, and will continue to play in the 24

PARK MERCED

AGRICULTURE

SOLAR ORIENTATION

TRANSIT ACCESS

MIXED USE

future success of Parkmerced. The issues of unity and scale, defined respectively by Church as “intimacy between house and garden”, and “the relation of one part of the design to another” (church 39) are expressed here in the dynamic tension between parts and the whole.

Radiating symmetrically from a centralized and circular meadow (Juan Bautista Circle), the wedge shaped blocks of apartments are configured to partially enclose dozens of large open courtyards to be shared by the occupants of several units. Yet rather than consent to the bland economies of scale that may easily have produced a series of identical open spaces, Church’s genius was his

insistence on designing and grading the courtyards on an individual basis, and to counter the geometric rigidity of the buildings with curvilinear gestures of circulation and planting. No two courtyards are alike, contributing to gestalt condition that has been described as “unity within variety” (Weinstein), and scripting moments of spatial idiosyncrasy within the formal constraints of an otherwise regimented master plan.

Precluding (perhaps anticipating) discussions of program and process in landscape design, Church’s principles of “Function” and “Simplicity” signify a profound understanding of the human as

an indispensible agent in any landscape’s unfolding development over time. More than merely providing a disengaged naturalistic backdrop for architecture, or a series of exterior views for private domestic consumption, Parkmerceds landscapes are spaces of compulsory social friction. They provide a series of “outdoor rooms”, suspended in a murky state of “co-ownership” between multiple residents and thus provide opportunities for multiple modes of direct and daily use, while facilitating serendipitous interaction between neighbors. Whether this friction manages to produce enduring friendships or bitter feuds, the simple shared courtyard, exemplified

PARK MERCED

25

60s DESIGN TEAM

Reingold Johnson

Clarence Stein

Robnert Alexander

Frederick Wyman

2

LOCATION

LOS ANGELES, CA

AREA

64 acres/.25KM2

DENSITY

MEDIUM

COMPLETED

1942

BUDGET

$3.3M

1

OPEN PUBLIC SPACE

2

COURTYARDS

3

PARKING

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

1

3

.25 KM .25 MILE

COMMUNITY OPEN SPACE

PLAYGROUNDS/RECREATION

Planned in 1942 by Reingold Johnson, Clarence Stein, and southern California Landscape architect Fred Wyman, Village Green is a 64 acre development in the Baldwin Hills district of Los Angles. The team’s original plan inverted the traditional figure ground relationship of the Los Angeles single family home to provide an articulated perimeter of two storey apartment buildings at the edges of the site as a intermediary between pedestrian, vehicular and domestic realms.

Wyman’s initial treatment of the project’s landscapes provided a series of natural surface draining strategies, and a series of programmed landscapes, playgrounds, public water features that 26

VILLAGE GREEN

AGRICULTURE

SOLAR ORIENTATION

TRANSIT ACCESS

MIXED USE

served as attractors of community life. However, after the failure of a nearby reservoir flooded and devastated many of these original features in the 1960’s, a series of neutral, formalized landscapes were constructed in their place. Although still a successful community today, organized around a centralized 800 foot semi-oval lawn interspersed with rare specimen trees, Village Green exemplifies the ways in which the issues of risk management and maintenance can serve to neutralize the initial intentions and performative potentials of landscape with the limited visual purview of the picturesque.

VILLAGE GREEN

27

70s DESIGN TEAM

Lawrence Halprin

Al Boeke

Charles Willard Moore

Joseph Esherick

4

LOCATION

SONOMA, CA

AREA

5000 acres/16 KM2

DENSITY

LOW

COMPLETED

1966

BUDGET

$XM

1

HEDGEROW

2

RESIDENTIAL CLUSTER

3

BLUFFS

4

PACIFIC COAST HWY

5

MEADOW

5

2

1

3 .5 KM .5 MILE

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

COMMUNITY OPEN SPACE

PLAYGROUNDS/RECREATION

Developed along a 10 mile stretch of Sonoma county coast just north of San Francisco, The Sea Ranch is an ongoing experiment in ecologically responsive community planning, Radically departing from the prevailing conventions of real estate development at the time, Halprin’s unconventional approach to the planning process was based on intensive investigation of the unique existing features, and ecological contingencies of the site itself. Robert Reynolds (a cultural geographer and ecologist) assisted Halprin in conducting a series of detailed studies on microclimate, topography, soil composition, hydrology, and local wildlife that provided the ethical and aesthetic 28

SEA RANCH

AGRICULTURE

SOLAR ORIENTATION

TRANSIT ACCESS

MIXED USE

basis for “living lightly on the land” (Lyndon 24). The low-density, low-impact plan proposed clusters of homes be set amid the site’s existing cypress hedgerows to provide a natural barrier from chilling coastal winds. These clusters of 7-8 residences were set amid expansive meadows of native grasses unencumbered by fences, sidewalks, lawns, or other distinct barriers of individual ownership, all comprising an open public commons for human interaction and grazing animals alike.

Among the most enduring and relevant aspects of The Sea Ranch is its early demonstration of interdisciplinary design

thinking, expressed in the spatial and material integration of architecture and landscape as mutually supportive systems.

This condition is beautifully exemplified in many of the individual residential building projects, many of which were designed on an individual basis, yet within a framework of general principles.

In what has become known as the “Sea Ranch Style”, the buildings are simple volumes clad in untreated wood shingles with characteristic sloped roofs that are said to resonate with the angles of the weathered bluffs. Many of the buildings also incorporate the use of green roofs to blur the physical

distinction between building and site. Beyond providing the fodder for a codified sub-genre for architectural style, The Sea Ranch represents a pattern of development that eschews the anthropocentric conception of man vs. nature to engender direct modes of engagement with and response to natural processes.

SEA RANCH

29

80s DESIGN TEAM

Michael Corbett

Judy Corbett

LOCATION

DAVIS, CA

AREA

70 acres/.28 KM2

DENSITY

MEDIUM

COMPLETED

1981

BUDGET

$XXX

5 4 6 2

3 1

MAIN ENTRY

2

COMMONS

3

COURTYARDS

4

GREENWAY

5

VINYARD, COMMUNITY GARDENS

6

ORCHARD STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

1

5

.5 KM .5 MILE

1

COMMUNITY OPEN SPACE

PLAYGROUNDS/RECREATION

Exemplifying landscape’s engagement with natural process is Village Homes, located in Davis, California and designed and by Michael and Judy Corbett, which provides integrated networks of public space and productive agricultural landscapes as the central focus of community life.

Based in part on the Corbett’s interest in the “greenbelt” communities of Europe and elsewhere as well as theoretical lineages that can be traced to Ebenezer Howard’s late 19th century conception of the “Garden City”, Village Homes is comprised of 220 single family homes, 20 apartments and a series of shared 30

5

VILLAGE HOMES

AGRICULTURE

SOLAR ORIENTATION

TRANSIT ACCESS

MIXED USE

community buildings. With a density of 7-8 dwelling units per acre, the basic organization of the residences inverts the traditional relationship between the house, street and yard, shifting domestic focus away from the street and inward onto a densely vegetated pedestrian thoroughfare. Operating in much the same manner as the shared courtyards of Parkmerced, (between designations of “private” yard and “public” park) these areas comprise a critical category of open space that could be termed “integrated commons”, providing a vital corridor of circulatory connection and contiguous green space that

supports vital ecological process.

Another feature in the master plan is an integrated approach to on-site storm water management, which was finally approved after nearly a decade of resistance from the local department of public works. Rather than grading lots to drain toward the street or into subsurface storm channels, runoff is instead directed through a series of naturalistic surface swales which facilitate percolation and groundwater recharge and provide irrigation for the orchards and vineyards. The use of this unconventional yet effective system saved occupants

thousands of dollars in initial construction (which was in turn invested in the many community landscapes) and still is fully operational to this day, serving to foreground hydrology as a legible and beautiful process rather than a mysterious infrastructure hidden from view.

VILLAGE HOMES

31

90s DESIGN TEAM

Stephanos Polyzoides

Andres Duany

Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk

1

LOCATION

LOS ANGELES, CA

AREA

1087acres/ 4KM2

DENSITY

HIGH

COMPLETED

2006

BUDGET

$2.7B

1

BALLONA WETLANDS

2

RECREATIONAL FIELDS

3

CONCERT PARK, MIXED USE

4

PROGRAMMED PARKS

3 4

2

1 KM 1 MILE

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

COMMUNITY OPEN SPACE

PLAYGROUNDS/RECREATION

`Playa Vista provides an interesting case-study in urban form, program, open space, and context. Developed in what was once an empty rift between the beach cities of Marina Del Rey and Westchester in Los Angeles’s west side, Playa Vista proposes a high density, walkable, mixed-use scenario for 30,000 residents as an antidote to the conditions of polycentric sprawl, placelessness and auto-dependency that have characterized the traditional development patterns of post-war suburbia.

Its 1087 master-plan was designed with an emphasis on pedestrian scale, regional context, eclectic architectural style, internal transit routes and bikeways, and connected networks of programmed public space.

32

PLAYA VISTA

AGRICULTURE

SOLAR ORIENTATION

TRANSIT ACCESS

MIXED USE

Playa Vista’s original plan came together in the early 1990’s, a joint effort that included contributions from many avid proponents of New Urbanism—including Stefanos Polyzoides, Andres Duany, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. Best described as L.A.’s anti-L.A., Playa Vista is hailed by many as a beacon of hope, and referred to as “one of the most ambitious efforts yet toward reversing today’s prevalent and destructive pattern of auto-orient¬ed sprawl”. (Katz 179)

The first primarily residential Phase of Playa Vista’s 3 phase plan was completed in 2006 after sharp resistance from local preservationists who questioned the development’s adjacency

to Ballona Wetlands (one of the few remaining freshwater marshes in the state). The strategic response of Playa’s developers included significant investment in conservation and enhancement of these contextual features to promote them as a vital amenity to community life, as well as a basis for a brandable identity. Playa Vista’s generous public promenades are placed on a north to south axis, oriented to maximize views of these surround¬ing geographical features, and its street titles present residents with a didactic narrative of sea-side pedestrianism—including “Seawalk Drive”, “Seabluff Drive” “Bluffcreek Drive”, and “Discovery Creek”.

Operating as Playa’s civic heart is Concert Park, a public space surrounded by mixed use apartment blocks which offer a series of services and restaurants to residents. However, pending the completion of its second phase, which will include a large industrial park with a corporate anchor and more residences, Playa Vista’s claims of urban vitality and economic autonomy remain largely unrealized. Thus, this 2.7 billion dollar urban experiment is marked by looming doubts regarding the likelihood of its ultimate success, underscoring an ongoing debate about the viability of New Urbanism as a model for development in the future.

PLAYA VISTA

33

00s DESIGN TEAM Craig Hartment Leo Chow Andrea Wong Angela Wu Sara Doran Tom Leader Gabriel Meil Akiko Ono

1

6

LOCATION

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

AREA

191.5 ac./.77 KM2

DENSITY

HIGH

2 4

1 COURTYARDS

2 ORGANIC COMMUNITY FARMS

5 3

.25 KM .25 MILE

3

RIPARIAN CORRIDOR

4

HEDGEROW TREES

5

RECREATIONAL FIELDS

6

RESERVOIR STORMWATER MANAGEMENT

COMMUNITY OPEN SPACE

PLAYGROUNDS/RECREATION

The recent planning proposal for the contemporary adaptation of Parkmerced, headed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) working with local Landscape Architect Tom Leader demonstrates the complex demands placed on today’s urban landscapes and those who design them. Parkmerced’s visionary yet sensitive redesign is rooted in the equal understanding of both the successes and the shortcomings of the original plan, tempered with a willingness to embrace the new materials and technologies of the 21st century. The new plan generally focuses its interventions within the categories of transportation, public space, density, and ecology.

In addition to consolidating vehicular traffic to a limited number of neighborhood streets, the imposing and and overly attenuated scale of 34

PARK MERCED-TODAY

AGRICULTURE

SOLAR ORIENTATION

TRANSIT ACCESS

MIXED USE

Parkmerced’s original city blocks will be strategically intersected by a fine grain network of bike paths and pedestrian-friendly street modifications and services that will work to humanize and integrate its formerly dispersed and isolated uses. Operating as the “social heart” of the city will be a walkable mixed-use neighborhood center served by low-emission shuttle routes that will further streamline internal transit among residents and provide increased opportunities for economic diversity in Parkmerced’s “Park District”. To provide a micro-climate more conducive to pedestrian activity, hedgerows will be utilized to alleviate the negative effects of the sites westerly winds and maximize daylight penetration of the north-south streets.

Operating at the core of this new plan will be a comprehensive strategy for on-site water management that includes a network of rain gardens, bioswales, and lush riparian corridors that feed a series of productive organic agricultural zones. Similar to the greenways employed by the Corbett’s in Village Homes, this system of performative landscapes reveals and celebrates water infrastructure and its interface with local food production as a central component of a vibrant community life. Conceived in the context of diminished water resources state-wide, SOM’s proposed improvements will also include an attempt to reduce the amount of lawns and re-generate native plant communities suited to the varying soil moisture conditions naturally

available throughout the site. The programmatically activated riparian corridor works in concert with the bio corridor to conceptually and physically reconnect the city to the Lake Merced ecosystem and mitigate wasteful and locally harmful water practices. Taken together, the various pedestrian linkages, public courtyards, productive landscapes will all comprise an interconnected and interdependent network of green spaces that support the various ecologies of the city.

PARK MERCED-TODAY

35