In recognition by Cal Poly Pomona's Department of Architecture, James Corner will accept the 2023 Richard Neutra Award for Professional Excellence and give a keynote lecture on November 1.

Named after acclaimed modernist architect Richard Neutra, the award honors architects and individuals who have dedicated their careers toward the research, design and development of innovative environments in which we live, work and play. “The Richard Neutra Award means a great deal to me,” Corner said. “I feel extremely honored to join the roster of esteemed past recipients. Neutra represented a view of architecture, landscape and urbanism as an integrated whole, a unity that served to advance both social and environmental good. His work is an inspiration, pointing toward design innovation in the service of improving quality of life for all.”

Learn more about the award from Cal Poly Pomona.

At this year's ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture, Field Operators Sarah Weidner Astheimer, Megan Born, Isabel Castilla, Hong Zhou, Eric Becker, Yitian Zhao, and Brooke Dexter will be participating in 5 panels and one field session. Spanning a wide range of topics—from biodiversity restoration in the city, to preservation and resilience, revitalizing modernist public space through public-private partnerships, producing authentic photographic narratives, telling the story of your work in the media, and the High Line's fifteen years of development—the panels demonstrate Field Operations' commitment to a breadth of work within landscape architecture and urban design.

We'll also be celebrating Founder & CEO James Corner's acceptance of the ASLA Design Medal and ASLA Honor Awards for both the Reimagine Middle Branch Plan and Qianhai's Guiwan Park.

Learn more about the sessions on the ASLA 2023 Conference on Landscape Architecture website.

This year, three Field Operations projects will be leading tours during Open House New York (OHNY): Cornell Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island, the High Line – Moynihan Connector in Manhattan, and Freshkills Park in Staten Island. Join Field Operators and collaborators to learn more about the projects as part of OHNY's public celebration of New York and the
“power of place."

Learn more about OHNY and check the full schedule here.

Field Operations is delighted to serve as design lead for the reimagining of Fifth Avenue, called “The Future of Fifth" by the City of New York.

Working with core engineering, planning, and design team members Arcadis, Sam Schwartz, and Public Works Partners and supporting consultants, the team will reimagine Fifth Avenue, engaging with community members and key stakeholders and developing a comprehensive plan and design that will make Fifth Avenue more appealing to residents, workers, and visitors with world-class public space.

Learn more about the "Future of Fifth" visioning and design process in the City of New York's press release.

Isabel Castilla and Alejandro Vazquez from Field Operations join 1000 Friends of Florida and Patrice Gillespie Smith, COO of Friends of The Underline, to share more about their work on The Underline with "The Underline: Innovative Approaches to Linear Park Planning and Landscape Architecture." With the third phase underway, Isabel and Alejandro will explain some of its most innovative and ambitious design elements, including bioretention ponds and bioswales designed to collect and filter rainwater runoff in a garden setting and the Miyawaki method for urban afforestation.

Tune in to the virtual event here.

Isabel Castilla, Associate Partner at Field Operations, joins Angelica T. Baccon from SHoP Architects, Adriana Chavez from ORU, Florencia Kratsman from FXCollaborative, and Irene Figueroa at NYC DOT for Latinos in Design's "Design Tertulia #1." The panel will bring a vibrant community of Latino designers in NYC to explore the intersection of culture, heritage, and design.

Register to attend the panel conversation here.

Megan Born, Associate Partner at Field Operations, joins the Shaping the City in New Orleans this fall to share work she has led at Field Operations that addresses resilience in waterfront cities, including the Tidal Basin Ideas Lab in DC and the Reimagine Middle Branch Plan in Baltimore. 

Organized by the European Cultural Centre in collaboration with NANO Architects, the forum brings together planners, academics, architects, and politicians to share about how they are designing effective solutions to preserve the future of their cities. Shaping the City seeks to share knowledge and best practices while stimulating new international collaborations and actions for our threatened cities and communities. 

Learn more about the forum and register here.

With client Two Trees Management and design architect Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), Field Operations celebrated the opening of The Refinery at Domino on September 27! 

The 15-story office building designed by PAU, inclusive of workspace, event space, and ground level retail and food and beverage features a new glass building nested within the landmarked brick facade. Field Operations designed the Refinery Plaza and the Refinery Garden, a new, living green space that inhabits the interstitial space between the brick facade and the new building. Forming a microclimate open to light, air, and weather, the aerial garden features a combination of hanging vines and baskets that climb up and a verdant shade garden that wraps the building on the 2nd floor, providing access to greenery and nature.

Read more about The Refinery in Fast Company and New York YIMBY.

Seth Rodewald-Bates, Senior Associate at Field Operations, joins Mississippi State University for their fall 2023 Harrison Lecture Series. He will share more about Field Operations' work and approach to landscape architecture as well as recent projects he has led at the firm.

Learn more and livestream the lecture via WebEx here.

The Underline's third and final phase celebrated with a groundbreaking on September 12!

Along with collaborators from Friends of The Underline, Miami-Dade County, NV2A Group, and Central Civil Construction and state, county, city officials, and the local community, Field Operations kicked off construction for an additional 7.36 miles of trails and 12 new community spaces, lined with native planting that includes 1,800 new trees under the Metrorail in Miami. This next phase will create a connection between SW 19th Ave near the Vizcaya Metrorail station and the Dadeland South Metrorail station, including the City of Miami, Coral Gables, South Miami, and Miami-Dade County.

Read more about the event and design for the third phase in The Miami Herald.

Field Operations has been selected to receive the 2023 Witte-Sakamoto Family Medal in City and Regional Planning for the Reimagine Middle Branch Plan! 

The Witte-Sakamoto Family Medal in City and Regional Planning was established to recognize a firm, team, or professional for an exemplary plan that advances the field of plan making in at least four of the following areas: social equity, environmental quality, design, public health, mobility, housing affordability, and economic development.

Adopted by the Baltimore City Planning Commission on February 9, 2023, the Plan was led by the City of Baltimore, South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, and Parks & People Foundation, working alongside a team of expert consultants, stakeholders, and Baltimoreans. Field Operations is the Plan’s design lead and the planning team includes Mahan Rykiel Associates, Design Jones, Moffatt & Nichol, Toole Design, Biohabitats, Waldon Studio, Assedo Consulting, The Urban Studio, Kofi Boone, KG&A, Public Mechanics, Urbane Development, and Dharam Consulting.

Read more about the award and the Reimagine Middle Branch Plan from The Weitzman School of Design.

With Mayor of Cleveland Justin Bibb, Field Operations and the North Coast Master Plan team hosted a community conversation at the Great Lakes Science Center to share updates for the North Coast Master Plan and discuss the vision and reactions to initial concepts. Initial sketches that are representative of these early stages of the project create inclusive spaces that promote fitness, gathering, and recreation along the waterfront, inclusive of basketball courts, sun decks, cafes and restaurants, and cookout areas, all linked by an urban promenade inspired by natural "flow lines" found around the Great Lakes.

"As a Black kid growing up in the city, we always felt the lakefront was not for us. It was for rich white folks on West Side," said Mayor Bibb. "What gives me hope is that young people—not just the East Side or the West—and those yet to be born will now have a bit more hope that this lakefront will be for them, too."

Find the presentation, initial sketches, and a recording of the conversation on the Cleveland North Coast website and learn more in a conversation between Justin Bibb, Steven Litt, Lisa Switkin, Abigail Bottar, and Eric Cozza on Ideastream's "Sound of Ideas."

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's expansion plan moves forward with unanimous approval from the Cleveland Planning Commission!

Field Operations has collaborated with project lead and design architect PAU, as well as Cooper Robertson, L'Observatoire International, and LERA for the design of the museum's $100 million expansion. The design team reconceived the open spaces to strengthen connections to Cleveland and Lake Erie and extend the user experience of the Rock Hall into the surrounding public realm with a new community park, updates to the plaza, and a green roof as part of the expansion. 

Learn more about the expansion project in Cleveland.com and Cleveland Business Journal.

Celebrating with a ribbon cutting and opening to the public on June 22, the High Line – Moynihan Connector now links Moynihan Train Hall and the High Line, bringing a safe, green, and extraordinary pedestrian experience to Midtown West. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Field Operations, the Connector creates an episodic journey with the addition of two new bridges—the Woodland Bridge and the Timber Bridge—that connect the High Line at 30th Street with the Moynihan Train Hall through Brookfield Properties’ Manhattan West and its public plaza.

The creative design collaboration between SOM and Field Operations, under the leadership of Empire State Development, Brookfield Properties, and Friends of the High Line, led to the Connector’s strikingly original and unique character.

Learn more about the Connector on the High Line website and in Fast Company.

Field Operations will be hosting an Open Studio with ASLA-NY on June 15 from 6:30–8:30pm to welcome visitors to our office at Bryant Park. We'll be offering light food and drink and sharing ongoing project work with landscape designers from our New York office.

Register on ASLA-NY's website.

With community members, county officials, Amazon, development partners, and phase 1 building architects ZGF, Field Operations celebrated the official ribbon cutting and community opening of Arlington's Met Park and 19 rooftop terraces that are part of Amazon's new headquarters in Arlington.

At Met Park, a new type of park emerges, one that serves community and corporate Amazon employees alike. With over 50,000 new plants and over 160 distinct native species, Met Park is an extraordinary urban oasis, drawing inspiration from the area's natural context. Featuring a myriad environments and attractions, Met Park includes the meandering Forest Walk, captivating public art, generous lawns, natural playgrounds, overlooks, stepping stones, and community gardens.

Learn more about Amazon's Arlington Headquarters here and in Dezeen.

In recognition of his career, one that has advanced the field of landscape architecture and urbanism, James Corner has earned the ASLA Design Medal for 2023 from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Nominated by James Burnett, President and Founder of OJB, he says about James Corner, "He is the rare design polyglot: versatile in thinking, writing, teaching, design and advocacy."

Amanda Burden, Principal of Bloomberg Associates says, "His work shines with the power of regeneration, invention, and of course, beauty."

From James Corner: “Landscape architecture has probably never had so much to offer society than it does today: the field's capacity to work creatively with complex natural systems combined with social experience, public space and community, places it squarely in the vanguard of today's built environment and urbanization. Landscape architects do not only resolve problems and create breathtaking beauty in cities, towns and places where people live—they also address the deeper cultural issues of our time: our shared relationship to nature, environment and to one another. Here, the pragmatic poetry of landscape is the art of milieu, the art of human being and becoming in worlds of geography, ecology, place and time.”

Read more from ASLA and the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design.