Built in 1838, the Federal House served as a family home, stagecoach shop, and a safe house on the Underground Railroad. Now owned by Penn State University, the Federal House will soon be the home of Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Community Outreach, Research, and Evaluation (CORE), a program that focuses on fostering positive outcomes for at-risk youth in Erie County, PA. The Federal House is the oldest brick structure on Penn State's Behrend campus. A renovation and addition will define an inspiring flexible space of inclusion, community, security, and growth. We are excited to be starting work on this project with our partners at GBBN Architects. More information on the project and the partners can be found on Penn State’s website here.
Staging Urban Landscapes Book Review Published
Check out Nina Chase’s recent review of Cannon Iver’s book Staging Urban Landscapes: The Activation and Curation of Flexible Public Spaces. Read an excerpt from the review below. The full review can be found on Land8 here.
“Cannon Ivers’ Staging Urban Landscapes: The Activation and Curation of Flexible Public Spaces is a beautifully designed and expertly choreographed survey of urban landscapes at the intersection of public space design and programming. As Sergio Lopez-Pineiro argues in his essay “Scratch That!”, “public space is no longer considered to be only physical space but…seen as a combination of physical space with a curatorial program.” Ivers makes a strong case for the advantageous mixing of both. The book includes essays, case studies, historic reviews, and a visual index all focused on the alignment of design and activation. Ivers playfully and intentionally provides a little something for everyone.
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For the students of design (life-long or currently enrolled), take note. The insatiable rise in public space programming is driving the execution of urban landscapes globally. The challenge to design truly unique and culturally relevant landscapes is more important now than ever. In his afterword “Design, Curation, and Identity,” James Corner sums up the potential downfall of the “great design plus great programming” equation. “’Programming the urban surface’ and a design vocabulary of sheds, platforms, stages, plinths, theatres, frames, equipment, infrastructures, utilities and similar invitations for infinitely flexible use can all too easily lead to impoverished or formulaic physical designs.” As designers, we cannot fall victim to homogeneity, but rather leverage the contemporary demand for flexible public space to compliment the culture of a community and elevate its diversity. Ivers’ Case Studies are successful because they represent their constituents and provide space for individual interpretation. To remain relevant, we cannot simply copy and paste their successes in place.”
Merritt Chase Presents at the BSA Space
This week, Merritt Chase participates in the Plazas, Parklets, & Pop-ups in the Public Realm workshop at the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Space. The workshop, hosted by A Better City, will explore recent tactical public realm projects throughout the City of Boston, including Birch Street Plaza and the Jamaica Plain Parklet.
In September 2018, the City of Boston released the Tactical Public Realm Guidelines, which have guided the creation of new public spaces across the city. The workshop will include a panel of experts and a keynote presentation by Mike Lydon, author of Tactical Urbanism. Breakout groups will discuss project specifics, including permitting, project costs, funding, timelines, community input, and materials.
Details on the workshop can be found here. We hope to see you there!
Merritt Chase heads to San Diego for ASLA
It’s that time of year again! Merritt Chase joins landscape architects from across the country at this year’s annual American Society of Landscape Architects Conference on Landscape Architecture in San Diego from November 15th-18th.
Join Nina Chase for Friday’s 1:30pm Education Session The Business of Innovation: Three Case Studies in Unconventional Practice with Falon Mihalic of Falon Land Studio in Houston, TX, and Sara Zewde of Studio Zewde in Harlem, NY.
Follow up with Alexandra Mei’s Friday 3:00pm Education Session Fundamental Materials, How They Weather, and Their Surrounding Cultures with William Baumgardner of STOSS Landscape Urbanism and Kotchakorn Voraakhom of Landprocess.
Be sure to get your ticket to the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s 34th Annual Benefit on Friday here.
We hope to see you there!
Nina Chase joins the Mayors' Institute 74th National Session in Richmond, VA
Source: MICD
Nina joins the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) for its 74th National Session in Richmond, VA, November 6-8th. The MICD is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors. Since 1986, the Mayors’ Institute has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities. Learn more about the 74th National Session here.
Birch Street Plaza to Become Permanent Plaza in Spring 2020
©2019 Christian Phillips Photography
The duct tape stuck! Birch Street Plaza will become a permanent plaza in Spring 2020. Earlier this month the project received final approval from the City of Boston’s Public Improvement Commission. City of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced the project today in Roslindale. Learn more about the projects and partners here.
Merritt Chase Selected to Activate City Steps in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Art and BikePGH have selected Merritt Chase to activate Pittsburgh’s city steps as part of the City Steps Activation Initiative. Four artist teams have been paired with four community organizations to design a series of public events and installations to celebrate the city’s steps in the Fall of 2019. We’re looking forward to working with the Polish Hill Civic Association to design and program the steps in Polish Hill!
Learn how we envisioned Pittsburgh’s steps, one the city’s most unique public space systems, as vertical parks in Landscape Architecture Magazine’s October issue here.
Boston's Birch Street Pop-up Plaza Debuts!
This past week, our team set up shop in Boston for the installation of the six-day Birch Street Pop-up Plaza in Roslindale Village. The temporary installation prototyped, in real-time, the locations of future plaza elements including paving, seating, and trees. Through in-person and online surveys, observation, and conversation we gathered feedback from the community. The input is directly informing the final design of the permanent Birch Street Plaza, slated to be constructed this fall. For more information on the pop-up plaza and the project’s future, check out Roslindale Village Main Street’s website here. Thank you to the incredible network of Roslindale and City of Boston volunteers who made the installation and feedback gathering possible!
Nina Chase heads to University of Virginia for Final Reviews
This week Nina will be at the University of Virginia School of Architecture as an invited external guest critic for the Master of Landscape Architecture Final Reviews. Learn more about the featured Spring 2019 courses and the final review schedule here.
We're Growing!
Nich Steinkraus, ASLA
Alexandra Mei, ASLA
Merritt Chase is growing! Read more about our teammates Nich Steinkraus and Alexandra Mei on our About page here.
Nich joined Merritt Chase this past Fall as a landscape and planting designer. With almost a decade of professional landscape architecture experience working with firms including OLIN, Sasaki, and David Rubin Land Collective, his work encompasses a wide range of typologies including residential, campus, urban, governmental, and design competitions. His planting designs incorporate form, color, and texture of native and adapted plant species. Nich studied landscape architecture and horticulture at Purdue University, during which he was awarded a Student Honor Award by the American Society of Landscape Architects' Indiana Chapter and the Donald J. Molnar Scholarship Award.
Alexandra joins the team after two months of traveling in Japan as the Harvard GSD Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship recipient. As a landscape designer with Merritt Chase, Alexandra works to infuse a subtle, yet powerful presence of art into our surroundings. Prior to joining Merritt Chase, Alexandra worked at Munden Fry Landscape Associates, Surfacedesign, and Gensler. She graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Design with a Masters in Landscape Architecture and received her Bachelor of Design in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis. She has received multiple honors including the GSD Thesis Award in Landscape Architecture, the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s University Olmsted Scholar nomination, and the 2017 GSD Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship.