Celebrating Olmsted 200


April 29th, 2022
Berkeley, CA



April is World Landscape Architecture Month (WLAM); April 26th, 2022, marks the bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsted was America’s visionary maker of parks and public places. He was also the first to use landscape architect as a professional title. He believed landscape architecture was more than a craft: it was a work of art to affect emotions and promote wellness.

Olmsted was a park maker, in the course of his career, he designed 100 public parks and recreation grounds. Gently curving paths, an expanse of meadow, an indefinite boundary of trees, and gracefully contoured terrain were, to Olmsted, essential pieces of a public park. Parks were to function as a public square where people from all backgrounds could come together.

Parks for all people was one of Olmsted's guiding principles. After the successful construction of Central Park in the 19th-century, city after city in America sought to create public spaces accessible by foot, carriage, and horseback to ensure that all people could find pleasure and recreation. Today, equitable access to parks' health, economic, and environmental benefits remains out of reach for many.

While celebrating Olmsted’s 200 years legacy, as the fellow landscape architects, PLAT Studio also strives to improve urban landscapes to ensure they support people and environmental processes alike. We believe, that by renewing public park infrastructure throughout neighborhoods, we can assist in public health and community goals, benefiting society.




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Source cited:
https://olmsted200.org/


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2550 Ninth Street, Suite 113A
Berkeley, California
Mark