Landscape architects are among "the new tastemakers"

I subscribe to House & Garden magazine using my frequent flight miles. I started receiving issues this spring. My favorite feature is in the June issue; a special titled "The New Tastemakers." Four landscape architects and one architect (who makes landscapes) are among almost 30 tastemakers! The landscape tastemakers are: (1) Steven Koch (Koch Landscape Architecture) received an ASLA award for a project located along the Columbia River Gorge. The approach of Koch LA is described as a synthesis of "the natural and social science of landscape architecture with the desire to enhance and activate people's daily lives through the design of functional and interactive environments." (Read House & Garden) (2) Katie Winter, an architect by training, designed a "play area" for the Church of Immaculate Conception in the Bronx. Katie told House & Garden that "play areas should be educational spaces." (Read House & Garden) (3) Jon Piasecki (Golden Bough) combines landscape architecture and land art in order "to connect people ecologically and culturally to the land." He won the Rome Prize in 2004. (Read House & Garden) (4) Kate Orff has received the commission to design a riverfront site in Brooklyn. She describes her firm, Scape, as "a design studio committed to the ecological and social transformation of the urban landscape. We work across the disciplines of science and architecture to merge design expertise with ecological strategies, and offer a synthetic, sustainable approach to the built environment." (Read House & Garden) (5) Pamela Palmer (Artecho) runs a firm with her husband-architect. She told House & Garden that "gardens connect us with a small part of the bigger picture and show us where we fit." (Read House & Garden) ASLA DIRT ran a story about these designers on May 29.