Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects

Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW) is an American landscape architecture firm based in New York, Charlottesville, and Houston, founded in 1985 by Warren Byrd and Susan Nelson, and led by Thomas Woltz.[1][2]

Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
Practice information
FoundedCharlottesville, Virginia, United States (1985 (1985))
LocationNew York, New York
Charlottesville, Virginia
Houston, Texas
Significant works and honors
ProjectsRothko Chapel Master Plan, Houston, Texas

Memorial Park Master Plan, Houston, Texas
Cornwall Park Master Plan, Auckland, New Zealand
The Public Square and Gardens at Hudson Yards, New York City
Citygarden, St. Louis, Missouri
Flight 93 National Memorial, Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Orongo Station Conservation Master Plan, Gisborne, New Zealand
Olana Strategic Landscape Initiatives and Farm Complex Restoration, Greenport, Columbia County, New York
Peggy Guggenheim Collection Gardens, Venice, Italy

Monticello Stewardship Master Plan, Charlottesville, Virginia
Website
www.nbwla.com

History

Warren Byrd and Susan Nelson founded Nelson Byrd Landscape Architects in 1985 in Charlottesville, Virginia.[1][2] Thomas Woltz became a named partner in 2004 and sole owner of the firm in 2013.[1][2][3]

Building upon the work of Byrd, who was Woltz's mentor and professor at the University of Virginia, the firm has expanded its focus over the past ten years to include restoring damaged ecological landscapes and developing projects that combine agriculture, ecological restoration, and cultural use.[1][3][4][5]

Today, NBW projects include public parks, academic institutions, botanical gardens, memorial landscapes, corporate campuses, and urban planning. The firm has worked in Mexico, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, China, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

The firm guided the cultural and ecological revitalization of Memorial Park, a nearly 1,500-acre municipal park in Houston. The project incorporated the many disparate parts of the park’s program while supporting its overall ecology.[2][6]

At the Citygarden Sculpture Park, NBW transformed an unused plot within the 1.1-mile-long strip of open space called the Gateway Mall, located on one of downtown St. Louis’s busiest streets, into a series of meandering paths meant to evoke the nearby Mississippi River. The park features sculptural work from contemporary and modern artists. The park, which opened in July 2009 to coincide with the Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game to be held in the city that year, was conceived to be a “sculpture garden, urban park, and urban garden” that took advantage of the existing change in elevation of the terrain to create distinct areas or bands containing trees, gardens, support and maintenance buildings, lawns, and water areas, with sculptures sited throughout.[7][8]

Another significant project is the Hudson Yards Plaza at the Hudson Yards development in New York City. Located within the largest private development in United States history,[9] the plaza is formed by a series of elliptical forms that give shape to landscaped spaces. The attached 5-acre (2 ha) public square has 28,000 plants and 225 trees,[10] located on the platform upon which Hudson Yards is built, which is itself located on top of an active train yard.[11][3][12]

The plaza's southern side includes a canopy of trees, while the southeast entrance also contains a fountain. A "'seasonally expressive' entry garden" stands outside the entrance to the New York City Subway's 34th Street–Hudson Yards station.[13] The plaza also connects to the High Line, an elevated promenade at its south end.[14]

Notable Projects

Awards

The American Society of Landscape Architects has recognized the firm's work numerous times over the last two decades, including in recent years Honor Awards for the Olana Strategic Landscape Design Plan (2017), Cornwall Park Park 100 Year Master Plan (2015), the Overlook Farm Master Plan (2015), Carnegie Hill House (2011), Citygarden (2011), and the California Institute of Technology Master Plan with architecture firm Cooper, Robertson & Partners (2010).[15]

The firm's monograph, Nelson Byrd Woltz: Garden, Park, Community, Farm, published by Princeton Architectural Press, received an ASLA Honor Award in 2014.[15][16]

In 2011, the Urban Land Institute presented the firm with the Amanda Burden Urban Open Space Award for the Citygarden project in St. Louis.[17] The firm has also received awards from Architizer,[18] the AIA Committee on the Environment,[19][20] the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects,[21] and the National Park Service.

See also

References
  1. Gordon, Alastair (November 6, 2013). "The Expansive Designs of Landscape Architect Thomas Woltz". The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  2. Hudson, Kath (2019). "LANDSCAPE DESIGN - Thomas Woltz". CLAD. CLAD. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  3. Vanamee, Norman (February 6, 2017). "How Thomas Woltz Is Shifting Landscape Architecture". 1stDibs. Introspective, 1stDibs. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  4. Griswold, Marc (February 2018). "A View of the World - Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects has restored what might have been Frederic Church's greatest work: the landscape of Olana, his upstate New York home". Landscape Architecture Magazine. American Society of Landscape Architects. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  5. Budds, Diana (October 17, 2016). "Landscape Architect Thomas Woltz Is Coming To A Park Near You". Fast Company. Fast Company. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  6. Lescalleet, Cynthia (March 5, 2019). "Conservation, Recreation A Balancing Act For Memorial Park Renewal In Houston". Forbes. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  7. Walker, Alissa (November 19, 2009). "St. Louis Gets Its High Line: Citygarden Sculpture Park". Fast Company. Fast Company. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  8. "Spirit of St. Louis". Metropolis Magazine. Metropolis Magazine. November 1, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  9. Pinto, Paula (December 12, 2019). "The Public Square and Gardens at Hudson Yards / Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects". ArchDaily. ArchDaily. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  10. Dunlap, David W. (July 22, 2015). "A Garden Will Grow With Fans, Concrete, Coolant and 28,000 Plants". New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  11. "Hudson Yards developers give update on project". AM New York. August 21, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  12. Whiteside, Katherine (January 1, 2014). "Thomas L. Woltz's Ecologically Regenerative Landscapes". Conde Nast. Retrieved March 11, 2020. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  13. "Progress Report: Hudson Yards". Chelsea Now. January 29, 2015. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2020.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  14. Plitt, Amy (September 14, 2016). "First look at Hudson Yards's enormous, interactive 'public landmark'". Curbed NY. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  15. "ASLA Honors and Awards". American Society of Landscape Architects. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  16. Keith, Kelsey (April 21, 2016). "Nelson Byrd Woltz Harnesses the Natural Elements". Dwell. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  17. Krueger, Robert (May 19, 2011). "St. Louis' Citygarden Chosen As 2011 Winner of ULI Amanda Burden Urban Open Space Award". Urban Land Institute. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  18. "Award Winners 2019". Architizer. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  19. "2018 COTE® Top Ten Georgia Tech Engineered Biosystems Building". American Institute of Architects. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  20. "2014 COTE® Top Ten Sustainability Treehouse". American Institute of Architects. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  21. "2013 Resene NZILA Pride of Place Landscape Architecture". New Zealand Institute of Architects. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
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