Journal of Landscape Architecture

ISSN: 1862-6033 (Print) 2164-604X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjla20

The Landscape Architecture of Richard Haag: From Modern Space to Urban Ecological Design

Gunilla Lindholm

To cite this article: Gunilla Lindholm (2018) The Landscape Architecture of Richard Haag: From Modern Space to Urban Ecological Design, Journal of Landscape Architecture, 13:2, 86-87, DOI: 10.1080/18626033.2018.1553398 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/18626033.2018.1553398

Published online: 14 Dec 2018.

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The in and the Bloedel within nature, takes very different shapes in Reserve on Bainbridge Island_two famous and the four gardens, the sequence itself open to award-winning projects by Richard Haag_both interpretation. Way relates beautifully the col- have a specific chapter devoted to them in Thaïsa laboration between these two men, by quoting Way’s book The Landscape Architecture of Richard Haag explaining the design as ‘a reflection of the Haag: From Modern Space to Urban Ecological garden rather than a document that led to the Design. They both synthesize Haag’s lifework, garden’ (p. 173). while, at the same time, express his philosophy Thaïsa Way and aesthetics, his urge to experiment with the As the title indicates, Way’s story of Richard Haag The Landscape Architecture of unknown, and his intention to design outstand- and his vast contribution to landscape architec- Richard Haag: From Modern Space ing ecological and social environments. Yet, they ture is related to an important and still ongoing to Urban Ecological Design represent the evolution of his design approach, paradigmatic shift in the profession, reflecting Seattle: University of Press, 2015 which moved from attention to public, socially, the changing character of the interdependence ISBN 978 0295994482 and ecologically challenging sites and issues to between form and performance. 232 pp., 125 colour and 60 b/w illustrations a research on the most individual and intimate € 40 (cloth) relationship between human beings and their The book can be read as a biography, starting environment. The Gas Works Park, completed with the influential role that the place where he Review by Gunilla Lindholm in 1975, has been a role model for the transfor- grew up, a nursery in Kentucky, had in shaping Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) mation of brownfields into experiential public his interests for the landscape and its manage- parks worldwide. Yet (or maybe therefore) it is ment. The choice of education followed suit, in a an eye-opener to read about this urban park as dynamic period, with important encounters with a process, as presented by Way. The driving force professors and fellow students. The next chapter behind the process were ideas about, for example, focuses on his formative experience in Japan and on-site remediation of polluted soil and the ecological the instrumental role Japanese culture played in significance of land form that had never been tested his understanding of the intimate relationship before, emanating from Haag’s deep and broad between nature, aesthetics, and experience; as understanding of a site as a dynamic whole, Haag himself said: ‘Going to Japan changed my consisting of materials, volumes, and organisms, whole life’ (p. 25). Haag was a member of the first under the influence of a diverse array of actors: group of Fulbright fellows who travelled to Japan owners, authorities, political groups, users, and in 1953–1955. Thaïsa Way succeeds in delivering a designers. Way offers a narrative of this paradigm narrative of Haag as a landscape architect deeply of a new way of conceiving urban parks point- inspired by Japanese culture, but also as a highly ing beyond generic, glossy visual renderings influential teacher (sharing with his students of ‘industrial cool’1 (the label borrowed from his practice as well as his design philosophy), and Swedish ethnologist Robert Willum). With the as an urban environmental activist (inspired by completion of the sequence of gardens in the Jane Jacobs and Rachel Carson). Richard Haag Bloedel Reserve in 1985, on the other hand, Haag never left any of these duties unattended to. He set in action the gestures of a master, displaying designed, taught, and took part in society simul- variations of a persistent theme. Any attempt to taneously. The book is, however, according to the put a label on this theme would at the same time author’s preface, not written with the purpose diminish and vulgarize it, but it is likely a vision of celebrating Haag’s work, but rather of using it of Haag’s (maybe born out of a tour to Japan in as ‘a lens through which we might discover the the 1950s) finding its place at this estate owned emergence of urban ecological design’ (p. xiii). by Prentice Bloedel, a client who became an ally. This theme, whispering about man’s existence

86 Journal of Landscape Architecture / 2-2018 Haag’s strong engagement in all-encompassing ‘unity diversified’, but with his very own ideas of add to this curiosity.) The book becomes bigger landscapes is related, also in combination spatial relations. Among the modernists, Haag than what its title promises and also, richer than with his sometimes ingeniously simple design was at the vanguard of environmental issues. its substance. This appraisal of the volume is, at solutions, to his early and lifelong contact with But Thaïsa Way’s book on Richard Haag is not the same time, a critique of the title. Maybe it Japanese culture, philosophy, architecture, just a biography of one of the practitioners and also questions Way’s description of her interest as and garden art. Many of his photos from his teachers of a modern landscape architecture. a historian in taking on the assignment to write Fulbright travel to Japan reveal his fascination It is not just a thorough description of Haag’s this narrative (p. xiii). Her statement that the for the transitions from indoor to outdoor space, significant projects, thematically ordered to landscape architecture of Richard Haag shows or between a building, a garden, and their sur- outline the various qualities he became famous the transition from the design of modern space rounding landscape, sometimes articulated as for. Neither does this book only give homage to to urban ecological design indicates an almost views, spatially framed, defining a project’s pres- the man who more than anyone else should be deterministic purposiveness, a journey from ence and significance at multiple scales. honoured for founding and imbuing his spirit in A to B. The book’s contents, not least by continu- the same educational programme Way herself is ous references to Japanese philosophy, give rather Richard Haag’s own studies, discoveries, experi- a part of. It is all this, but offers something even an aftertaste of the opposite, of another task: not ments, and practices give a necessary background more outreaching. a direct journey from A to B, but a circular route for (or rather parallel to) his maybe most notable including both A and B, giving them a common mark in history, as founder of and long-time If we oversee all the ways in which Richard context and a new relationship. teacher in the landscape architecture programme Haag’s career and projects are remarkable, we at the . Very much would still be able to recognize in this book how NOTES thanks to personal relations, he brought in landscape architecture is an art of synthesis, 1 Robert Willum, Industrial Cool national and international networks to take part incorporating the changes of the world, disas- (Lund: University of Lund, 2008). in its development, thereby influencing not only trous as they may be, into beautiful and socially generations of landscape architects, but also as well as ecologically functioning entireties. (through his societal presence and appreciation) In this way Haag as a representative reflects the contributing to the general acquaintance and represented. But in this very first monograph on propagation of landscape architecture all over the Haag, he is certainly also portrayed as an indi- continent and, somewhat delayed, to Europe. vidual, with a detailed reading of his work, with full references to his texts, and with many refer- What distinguishes Richard Haag from many of ences to what and who influenced him as well as his likewise famous colleagues from the same on what and how he has been influential. period is perhaps that his repertoire and designs were less concluded, refined, and typically For being quite a comprehensive account of an referred to as recognizable style. Haag is pre- unusually productive and influential profes- sented as an example of the landscape architect sional lifespan, affording contextual reference as a professional, who not only focused on the in terms of ideas, persons, movements, and ongoing project for a specific site, but also placed events, this book could be said to be remarkably it in a historical context, as the project served to short, also considering the rich visual material connect the site’s past and its future and, at the illustrating it. The result, however, is a dense same time, as an expression of present conditions. historical narrative. While, sometimes, the text He seemed to be continuously ‘on the move’, takes a compendious character, the rich and searching for new designs to reflect the evolving informative notes and index sections, together knowledge of humankind, its societies, and its with the generous bibliography, leave the reader environment. The book describes an ingenious quite content, but also curious for more. (The and versatile design intellect who, along with foreword by Marc Treib and the afterword by Walter Gropius (and many others), worshiped , filling in aspects and details, only

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