ASLA-NY announces winners of its 2024 Design Awards

Again, the American Society of Landscape Architects New York chapter (ASLA-NY) has recognized outstanding practitioners with its annual Design Awards. The award series is meant to showcase landscape architects who push the discipline forward, deliver high quality design, and have net-positive social impact.

This year’s winning projects span the state of New York from Brooklyn’s Botanical Garden and Battery Park to a guest house in Hudson Valley, as well as a project in Shanghai.

The 2024 Design Awards was juried by a team of interdisciplinary professionals from ASLA’s South Carolina chapter. The jury issued one award of excellence, eight honorable mentions, 16 merit award winners, and one entry received the board choice award. The awards will be presented on April 17 at the Center for Architecture.

The list of winning projects is reproduced below.

2024 ASLA-NY Award of Excellence

Brooklyn Botanic Garden (Courtesy Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates)

Setting a New Ecological Agenda for Brooklyn’s Oldest Public Garden | Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates is well known for the firm’s longterm project underneath the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO, among other canonical works. More recently, the office embarked on a project to improve the visitor experience at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The studio was tasked with adapting the garden for climate change, inserting new horticultural practices there, and transforming its use of water resources.

2024 ASLA-NY Honor Award

General Design

Battery Playscape (Sahar Coston Hardy/Esto)

Battery Playscape | Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners

Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners took home two honor awards this year. One of them was for the office’s work on Battery Playscape on the southern tip of Manhattan. There, Starr Whitehouse delivered a new play area that promotes ecological literacy in children. The project is a direct response to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Sandy in the area; it weaves narratives of ecology and climate resiliency into a challenging and vibrant play experience.

East Shore Shoreline Park (Courtesy Starr Whitehouse)

East Shore Shoreline Parks Plan | Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners

The second award given to Starr Whitehouse was for the studio’s East Shore Shoreline Parks Plan on Staten Island. That project presented a vision for adaptation and greenway enhancements along 1,000 acres of parkland on Staten Island’s East Shore. It integrates 5.5 miles of forthcoming Army Corps sea walls into existing parks and streetscapes, thus improving waterfront access and aligning programming with community priorities.

Morgan North Landscape | HMWhite

HMWhite took home an honor award for the 2-acre Morgan North Landscape it designed on the seventh floor of New York City’s largest postal distribution center. There, HMWhite created workspaces and event space that became integral to the 1933 building’s adaptive reuse into a 21st-century work environment.

SIPG Harbour City Park (Courtesy SWA Group)

SIPG Harbour City Parks | SWA/Balsley

On Shanghai’s Yangtze River, SWA/Balsey linked three multi-use development districts with a shared waterfront park called SIPG Harbour City Parks. The area was previously a rusting steel port which is now a mile-long verdant vibrant park. There, an elevated Ribbon Park caps a new highway below ground. The park leverages its topology into forested promontories, tunnels, and dramatic waterfalls teeming with public life.

Residential Category

Hudson Valley Guest House and Grounds | SCAPE Landscape Architecture

SCAPE’s project Hudson Valley Guest House and Grounds was given an honor award in residential design. The project took place at an 11-acre estate in Hudson Valley. There, SCAPE crafted a design that blends the Hudson Valley’s legacy of art and environmentalism with a landscape that showcases art, architecture, and local ecology. The design spotlights the context’s geological formations and native plantings.

Seascape | LaGuardia Design Group

LaGuardia Design Group also took home an honor award in the residential design category. Seascape is a LaGuardia Design Group project elevated 10 feet above grade as per FEMA regulations that integrates innovative stormwater management with rain gardens. The latter feature doubles as flood mitigators and habitat for native pollinators. Terraced steps connect the raised residence with nature, featuring outdoor living spaces, an infinity edge pool, and a fire table.

Community Impact

*Streetscapes for Wellness* (Courtesy Street Labs)

Streetscapes For Wellness: A Changing Course for Streets in New York | NYC Public Design Commission Publication Team

In the community impact category, a collaborative publication entitled Streetscapes For Wellness A Changing Course for Streets in New York by the New York City Public Design Commission Publication team won. The publication details how landscape architects can empower the communities they work in and shape the future of their own environs for the benefit of all.

Analysis, Planning, Research and Communications

New York Botanical Garden Master Plan (Courtesy OLIN)

The New York Botanical Garden Comprehensive Master Plan | OLIN

OLIN’s New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Comprehensive Master Plan is a bold program that reimagines the 250-acre institution’s future while preserving its past. The master plan proffers a precise vision with strengthened pedestrian and transit access, new visitor experiences; all while establishing NYBG as a leader of biodiversity and decarbonization.