A Look Back at the Year in Landscape Architecture

In a wide-ranging assessment, Birnbaum finds much to like about 2013, from trends in design criticism to "a banner year for [Modernist] sites added to the National Register of Historic Places and/or designated National Historic Landmarks (NHL)."

"In a 2011 column, I called for architecture criticism to transcend its fascination with objects and to understand and recognize the interconnectedness of landscapes and buildings, and the holistic planning innate to landscape architecture," notes Birnbaum. "Increasingly, this is happening." 

Other topics for praise include a new project by Halvorson Design Partnership and HGA Architects at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis and HM White's three-acre project at New York's Brooklyn Botanical Garden. 

The year's developments aren't all positive, however. A proposals to move the historic Aluminaire House to Sunnyside Gardens, NY and a new project by Stoss Landscape Urbanism at Harvard University come in for criticism.