The Cultural Landscape Foundation® Pioneers of American Landscape Design® ___________________________________ CORNELIA HAHN OBERLANDER ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT ___________________________________ Interview conducted August 3-5, 2008 Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR Tom Fox, FASLA, videographer The Cultural Landscape Foundation® Pioneers of American Landscape Design® Oral History Series: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Interview Transcript Table of Contents Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Interview Transcript ............................................................. 4 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 4 Childhood and Education ............................................................................................... 5 Memories of Family Life in Europe .................................................................................... 5 Coming to America ............................................................................................................ 6 Smith College ..................................................................................................................... 7 Smith Professors Made a Difference ................................................................................. 8 Lessons from Harvard ........................................................................................................ 9 Meeting Larry Halprin ...................................................................................................... 11 Harvard Faculty and Friends Make Lasting Impressions ................................................. 12 Professional Practice ................................................................................................... 15 The Early Years ................................................................................................................. 15 James Rose ................................................................................................................................. 15 The Citizen's Council on City Planning ....................................................................................... 16 Oscar Stonorov........................................................................................................................... 17 Dan Kiley .................................................................................................................................... 18 Louis Kahn .................................................................................................................................. 20 Vancouver, BC Beckons ............................................................................................... 21 How Peter Oberlander settled in Vancouver .................................................................. 21 Cornelia Oberlander begins her Vancouver Practice ...................................................... 22 Her Office ................................................................................................................................... 23 Advancing the Profession of Landscape Architecture ................................................... 24 Contributing to the Profession ........................................................................................ 24 Advice to Women Entering Landscape Architecture ....................................................... 25 Collaboration .............................................................................................................. 25 Arthur Erickson ................................................................................................................ 25 Kiyoshi & Eva Matsuzaki .................................................................................................. 26 Dan Solomon .................................................................................................................... 26 Elements of Design ...................................................................................................... 27 © 2011 The Cultural Landscape Foundation, all rights reserved. May not be used or reproduced without permission. 2 The Cultural Landscape Foundation® Pioneers of American Landscape Design® Oral History Series: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Interview Transcript The Importance of Play .................................................................................................... 27 Planning as a Passion ....................................................................................................... 28 Minimalism in the Landscape .......................................................................................... 29 Presenting Plant Material ................................................................................................ 29 Designing a Green Roof ................................................................................................... 30 The City and the Future ................................................................................................... 31 Inspiration is All Around .................................................................................................. 33 Principles for Practice .................................................................................................. 34 Embracing New Technologies .......................................................................................... 34 Landscape Architecture and the Future .......................................................................... 34 Consulting the Experts ..................................................................................................... 35 Teaching the Next Generation ......................................................................................... 35 Appreciating the Work of Others .................................................................................... 36 LEED is not Enough .......................................................................................................... 36 Projects ....................................................................................................................... 38 Friedman Garden ............................................................................................................. 38 Tick Tack Toe House ......................................................................................................... 39 Children Creative Center- Expo ‘67.................................................................................. 40 Oberlander Garden .......................................................................................................... 41 Museum of Anthropology Realized ................................................................................. 44 Museum of Anthropology Revisited ................................................................................ 45 Robson Square ................................................................................................................. 46 Restoring Robson Square ................................................................................................. 50 National Gallery of Canada .............................................................................................. 52 New York Times Building ................................................................................................. 53 The Waterfall Building ..................................................................................................... 54 The VanDusen Botanical Garden - Looking Forward ....................................................... 55 © 2011 The Cultural Landscape Foundation, all rights reserved. May not be used or reproduced without permission. 3 The Cultural Landscape Foundation® Pioneers of American Landscape Design® Oral History Series: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Interview Transcript Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Interview Transcript This transcript documents a three-day interview August 3-5, 2008, conducted by Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR, with Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, and documented by videographer Tom Fox, at Oberlander’s home, her office, and at residential and civic projects in Vancouver, British Columbia. The interview begins at the Oberlander home, during which Oberlander leads a tour of her garden. She discusses its development, design decisions and the changes which have occurred to its design in the past forty years. A walking tour through the Oberlander’s neighborhood leads to insights on current building practices. The day concludes at the Friedman garden, an early residential project in Vancouver. On day two the interview continues at her office, where Oberlander talks about her design philosophy and reveals the design history of her many projects. A site visit to Robson Square to review the renovation to the three-block roof garden concludes the day. On the final day the conversation continues in the Oberlander office and finishes on site at the Museum of Anthropology, where Oberlander is joined by her long time friend and colleague architect Arthur Erickson. Introduction I am Cornelia Oberlander. I am a landscape architect who has worked for 60 years. I'm married to Peter Oberlander, a classmate of mine at Harvard, who was in planning while I was in landscape architecture; and we have three children, very grown up, Judy, Tim, and Wendy, and their offspring, our grandchildren. For 60 years I've tried to bring the profession to a stage where it is understood