The Architectural League kicks off American Roundtable Project with Appalachia Rising Report

“The American Roundtable reports are being published in a period of profound challenge and turmoil in the United States, a time when it is very easy to lapse into despair about our prospects...We offer these reports with the conviction that the best hope for our common future lies in understanding, respecting, embracing, and encouraging the many peoples and histories and aspirations of our variegated, complex, multicultural, multiracial society.” -Rosalie Genevro, Executive Director, The Architectural League of New York

This week, ”Appalachia Rising” kicks off The Architectural League’s American Roundtable initiative. The American Roundtable project is a new initiative of the Architectural League that brings together on-the-ground perspectives of the condition of American small to mid-sized communities and what they need to thrive. The League commissioned nine design-led reports from across the country. “Appalachia Rising,” edited by Merritt Chase’s Nina Chase, features visions of alternative landscape futures for West Virginia, inspired by letters written by current and former West Virginians, and showcases emerging examples of land-based projects that are already showing what is possible across the state. The report includes the work of a multi-media team of Appalachian collaborators including Rebecca Kiger, Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Brittany Patterson of WV Public Broadcasting, Caroline Filice Smith of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and Sarah Rafson, of Point Line Projects.

Click here to read the full “Appalachia Rising” report.

Merritt Chase welcomes Terrie Brightman

Merritt Chase is pleased to welcome Terrie Brightman as a Senior Associate to our team in Pittsburgh.

As a project manager and registered landscape architect, Terrie has significant experience leading conceptual design, construction documentation, and construction administration for complex urban projects. Her past work has included waterfront parks, public plazas, multi-modal projects and campus gathering spaces. Prior to joining Merritt Chase, Terrie worked at Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects in New York City and Strada in Pittsburgh.

Read Terrie’s bio and learn more about our full team on our About page here.

Bow Market wins 2020 Boston Society of Landscape Architects Design Honor Award

©2019 Christian Phillips Photography

This week Bow Market was awarded a 2020 Boston Society of Landscape Architects Design Honor Award. Thank you to the BSLA and the BSLA Awards Jury. Congratulations to the entire Bow Market team!

The Jury commended the “clever design for this compact and comfortable space which provides a multitude of public and semi private areas throughout the year. The dramatic transformation of an area that was a complete afterthought responds well to Somerville’s eclecticism, and the material selections and reuse of the Longfellow Bridge materials were applauded. The overall integration is seamless and smart.”

Check out all the 2020 BSLA Award Winners here.

Merritt Chase joins SOM for Bloomington hospital redevelopment master plan

Courtesy of SOM

The Bloomington Hospital Redevelopment Master Plan in Bloomington, IN, will envision a new future for the current Bloomington Hospital property, located south of the city’s downtown. In the words of Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton, the master planning process is “an exciting opportunity for Bloomingtonians to thoughtfully reimagine this important location in our city.”

Merritt Chase joins the SOM-led team for landscape architecture and public realm design.

More information on the project and the process can be found on the project’s website here.

We invite you to participate in the American Roundtable West Virginia Report

Calling all West Virginians (current/former residents and/or anyone who is dedicated to the state),

As part of our work for the Architectural League's American Roundtable report, we are collecting ideas and perspectives about West Virginia’s future. Are you interested in contributing?

We invite you to participate in the project by writing a letter to a hypothetical relative living in West Virginia in the year 2120. Who do you imagine? What do they do for fun? What do they do for a living? What are your hopes and dreams for their community? Our goal is that by writing a letter into the future, you are inspired to envision a new reality for your family and the state, 100 years from today.

You can download the letter writing template with more information on the project and prompts for the letter writing activity (including how to submit) here. We are collecting letters through June 22nd.

Black Lives Matter

Over the past two weeks, the visible and violent culmination of generations of racism against Black Americans has demanded that we work to dismantle the systems that disproportionately benefit White Americans. We felt the urge to respond quickly given the immediacy of the moment, but also feel a sense of responsibility to educate and examine ourselves. 

We are a White-led firm that benefits from the structure of a predominately White profession that answers to predominantly White clients. While we may have felt that we acknowledged these facts internally and have worked to make change, it has not been enough, within our firm or within the profession of landscape architecture. There is so much work we have to do. 

Below are the actions we are taking to do the work:

Learn - We will continue to learn by reading, listening, and discussing. We will add to the list below and are open to comments, suggestions, and critique.   

Elevate - We will elevate our Black design colleagues by promoting their work with our clients and connections. Last year we worked with a client to compile a list of designers of color to lead a project in Indianapolis. We have made that document public here on our website and have added the same names and firms to lists that are currently being compiled to elevate BIPOC designers across the country.

Vote - We will use our individual power to elect anti-racist politicians and vote for anti-racist policies.

Donate - We will donate time and money to support the work of anti-racist organizations. We are currently an office with staff that works remotely in four midwestern cities (Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and St. Louis). We have donated money to anti-racists organizations in each of our cities and will continue to do so.

Advocate - We serve on boards and alumni councils. We teach. We volunteer. We will be a more adamant voice, both locally and nationally, to advocate for anti-racist programs, policies, and actions from organizations that have the power to make change and to teach the next generation.

Partner - We will actively seek out partnerships with clients, consultants, and communities who support anti-racist projects. 

Design - We design and build physical spaces. We will challenge clients to ensure that all landscapes are safe, inclusive, and welcoming. We have committed to the Design Justice for Black Lives Demands. We are ready to look, listen, learn, and design meaningful processes alongside local stakeholders that result in public spaces that are sensitive to context and reflective of the communities that they currently serve.

Emerald View Regional Park Master Plan Kicks Off

Emerald View Park, Pittsburgh, PA
Perspectrum Photography

Emerald View Park is the most recent addition to the City of Pittsburgh’s regional park system. Nestled along the slopes of Mount Washington, Emerald View Park comprises over 250 acres of public open spaces, including greenways, trails, Grandview Boulevard, Olympia Park, Mt. Washington Park, and Grandview Park. The regional park master plan aims to provide a unifying vision for Emerald View Park.

Merritt Chase, in partnership with Spackman Mossop Michaels, Civil & Environmental Consultants, Mon-Win Consulting, and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, is leading the regional park master planning effort with the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

The Architectural League of New York selects Merritt Chase for the American Roundtable project

Courtesy of Rebecca Kiger

Today the Architectural League of New York announced the commissioning of ten reports for its new American Roundtable initiative.

We’re excited to announce that Merritt Chase will be leading one of ten editorial reports alongside designer-led perspectives from across the country. The reports have been commissioned as part of American Roundtable, a new Architectural League initiative that will bring together on-the-ground perspectives on the condition of American communities and what they need to thrive going forward.

Merritt Chase’s report will highlight inspiring land-based projects in West Virginia that have positioned themselves to replace the region’s declining extraction economy. Through a series of contributions from an all-women group of regional landscape architects, artists, and writers, this multimedia project imagines alternate, post-carbon futures for West Virginia’s communities, acknowledging the state’s reverence for land and preparing the region for the inevitable effects of climate change.

We are excited to work with an incredible team of multimedia collaborators to make this report possible, including nationally acclaimed photographer Rebecca Kiger, Academy Award-nominated and Emmy winning film maker Elaine McMillion Sheldon, West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Brittany Patterson, Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Caroline Filice Smith, and Point Line Projects’ Sarah Rafson. Their collective dedication to expressing alternative narratives about Appalachia, specifically West Virginia, has inspired this work.

For more information on the American Roundtable project visit the Architectural League of New York’s website here.

Merritt Chase Provides On-Call Services to Pittsburgh Institutions

In recent months Merritt Chase has been selected to provide on-call landscape architecture, urban design, and community engagement services for the City of Pittsburgh, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, and Carnegie Mellon University. Merritt Chase is currently working with the City of Pittsburgh on the Emerald View Regional Park Master Plan and with Carnegie Mellon University on TCS Hall with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects and the 5th & Clyde Residence Hall with LTL Architects.

Merritt Chase invited to Harvard GSD's Landscape Practices Seminar

Harvard’s Graduate School of Design’s Spring 2020 elective seminar, Landscape Practices, will feature lectures by a wide range of landscape architecture practices from across the globe. Led by Chris Reed, “the seminar will shed light upon the ways in which a diverse array of practitioners and designers have both conceptualized what they do—the nature of and ideas behind their work—and operationalized it in terms of how they do it—the mechanisms, structures, and strategies that put their ideas into play.“

Merritt Chase was invited as a “Next Gen” firm and will present a range of current work and a behind-the-scenes peek into the mechanics of running a small, start-up design firm.