Further thoughts on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
This Event Has Passed
Thursday, June 7, 2018
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Center / Architecture + Design, 1218 Arch Street
Laurie Olin will give a brief illustrated talk on the history of Philadelphia's grand City Beautiful boulevard, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and further suggestions and proposals from the past two decades, including another this past winter when he declared at a public presentation in celebration of the Parkway Centennial that "It isn't yet finished", a variation on Lewis Mumford's remark that "Trend is not destiny."
Previous DAG Monthly Events
US Embassy London
The Metropolitan Opera House: Past, Present & Future
The Land Bank: Realizing a Vision for a Greater Philadelphia
Laurie Olin
Laurie is a distinguished teacher, author, and one of the most renowned landscape architects practicing today. From vision to realization, he has guided many of OLIN’s signature projects, which span the history of the studio from the Washington Monument Grounds in Washington, DC to Bryant Park in New York City. His recent projects include the AIA award-winning Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland, Oregon.
Laurie studied civil engineering at the University of Alaska and pursued architecture at the University of Washington, where Richard Haag encouraged him to focus on landscape. He is currently Practice Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught for 40 years, and is former chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University. Laurie is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and recipient of the 2012 National Medal of Arts, the highest lifetime achievement award for artists and designers bestowed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the President of the United States. In 2017, he was honored by the National Building Museum with the Vincent Scully Prize and by the Olana Foundation with the Frederic Church Award.