MICHIGAN ASLA 2006 AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Twenty-first Annual Michigan Chapter ASLA Awards Program

Congratulations to our six award winners!

Honor Award Winner:

     JJR -- Exploring a Vertical Wetland The Sustainable Urban Stormwater Strategies Booklet

     Progressive AE -- Lena Meijer Children's Garden, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

     Hamilton Anderson Associates, Inc. -- Detroit Heritage River Water Trail

Merit Award Winners:

     Hamilton Anderson Associates, Inc. -- Almont Fountain Park

     R. Clark Associates, Inc. -- New Designs for Growth Development Guidebook

     Grissim Metz Andriese Associates -- William Beaumont Hospital South Tower Addition Landscape Atrium Garden Design

Check out our 2005 Award Winners Here.

Honor Award Winners:

Firm: JJR

Client: XY, LLC

Project Title: Exploring a Vertical Wetland The Sustainable Urban Stormwater Strategies Booklet

Project Location: Ann Arbor, MI

JJR developed a booklet entitled Sustainable Urban Stormwater Strategies, which is a visual and technical overview of the stormwater strategies being proposed for the William Street Station mixed-use development in downtown Ann Arbor.  Due to the unique and innovative nature of the proposed strategies, the booklet became a necessary vehicle for explaining the benefits of each technique, including green roofs, flow-through planters, street infiltration basins, and sub-surface infiltration chambers.

The strategies proposed for William Street Station are based on two concepts.  The first concept is that urban development is sustainable, and the second is that nature is the best model we have for sustainable development.  Therefore, the overall goal is to manage stormwater in an urban environment as close as possible to how it would be managed in a pre-development condition.  By embracing these two concepts, the team was able to change the problem statement from “How do we mitigate the negative effects of urban run-off?” to “How do we manage rain in a way that most closely resembles nature?”

The resultant stormwater strategy works more like a vertical wetland than a concrete vault (which is typically used in urban developments of this density).  At every level of the building, stormwater will be bio-retained, filtered, transpired, slowed and eventually infiltrated.  The upper level and lower terrace will both employ green roofs to reduce overall run-off by up to 70% and completely manage up to a 1/2” rain event.  The lower terrace and ground level will use flow-through planters to further bio-retain, filter and slow stormwater, and at the ground level, large events will be managed in infiltration chambers located in the alley adjacent to the building.  The combination of these strategies will allow the 13-story building on a nearly zero lot line site to bio-retain or infiltrate a portion of the 100-year storm event without the use of an underground vault.  Additionally, the system will reduce the urban heat island effect and provide habitat.

Along with these building strategies, the project is proposed to include a “green street” concept with infiltration basins on one of the adjacent streets that will infiltrate up to the 25-year event for its drainage area.  The inclusion of this concept will extend the building’s influence into the right-of-way where stormwater is often forgotten about, yet where the majority of any city’s impervious surfaces exist and pollutants originate.

While these strategies have been employed in other parts of the U.S. and in Europe, they are relatively new to the Midwest.  Therefore, there were many questions relating to the specific conditions of the Midwest climate that needed to be addressed before the design was able to move forward.  A multi-disciplinary approach became invaluable in answering these questions, as landscape architects, civil engineers and architects each played a role in researching and illustrating the opportunities and constraints that existed.  Armed with a wealth of research, the team documented the approach in the Sustainable Urban Stormwater Strategies booklet in a format that could be easily understood to a wide range of constituents.

Firm: Progressive AE

Client: Frederik Meijer Gardens

Project Title: Lena Meijer Children's Garden, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

Project Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Progressive AE believes in encouraging today’s children to be tomorrow’s stewards of our environment.  The Lena Meijer Children’s Garden, inside the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, was a rare opportunity for the firm to work with a team including Gardens staff and EDAW, Inc., from Colorado, to illustrate environmental teaching and learning.  For kids and families, it is a place to explore and enjoy garden plants, the natural environment, and the arts at a child-friendly scale. The Garden’s mission is for children of all ages and abilities to learn about nature and the arts through interactive play. 

There are several challenges with a project with this specific mission within an established setting.  One was to design a large Children’s Garden that will accommodate a great number of visitors, yet maintain an intimate scale for a child.  This was addressed by considering every aspect of the Garden’s design from the child’s perspective as it related to scale—from the size of restroom fixtures to the height of seat walls and steps to the unique child’s entry feature.  The overall Children’s Garden is divided into smaller-scaled theme areas that can be explored at a child’s or family’s preferred pace. Each theme area has one main point of entry off the central pathway system allowing parents to safely monitor their children. Walkways throughout the Garden contain texture and detail that break up the larger paths, allowing children to stop and examine animal footprints and leaf prints, or playfully follow an undulating ribbon of labyrinth pavers. Similar detail was incorporated in the entry plaza where children helped create a border of handprints.

Since Michigan is rich in natural features, the Children’s Garden provided a unique opportunity to highlight the state of Michigan.  For instance, at the Great Lakes Water Garden, children can manipulate the water and learn about the hydrology of the Great Lakes. The Lakes are of varying height to emulate their flow of water from lake to lake and are painted to graphically portray the depths of the lake bottom. Fun facts are engraved along the edge of each lake.

Other challenges included the incorporation of sculpture with fanciful structures, balancing circulation and intimacy because the project stretches traditional boundaries for a children’s garden size. Careful siting of theme areas and gentle sloping walkways met the challenge of overcoming hilly terrain and low wetlands to provide universal access to all areas of the Children’s Garden.

The Children’s Garden site is centrally located within the larger Meijer Gardens. This presented a construction administration requirement to allow construction activity to take place while maintaining safe circulation for patrons who were visiting other Gardens areas. A phasing plan was developed to include changes to visitor pathways and contractor access over the two-year construction period.

The Garden is used extensively by school systems within a 100-mile radius for field trips that supplement classroom education. Many are from urban districts where children have had limited exposure to nature and the arts. Over the last three years, an average of 8,000 students has visited the Gardens during the month of May. Students experience many aspects of nature, from the Kids Sense Garden to the different types of tree bark in the Treehouse Village to the beauty and function of wetlands. They learn about art from observing a broad variety of sculptures and creating their own with clay or charcoal sketching.

Firm: Hamilton Anderson Associates, Inc.

Client: Metropolitan Affairs Coalition

Project Title: Detroit Heritage River Water Trail

Project Location: Southeastern Michigan

Southeastern Michigan’s cultural significance can be best expressed through the interpretation of its riparian corridors.  The unique configuration and interconnectivity of the Rouge, Huron, Raisin and Detroit rivers provides a transportation system that has accounted for the sustained existence of humans in this area for thousands of years; from Native American fishing camps to European American ribbon farms to industrial giants.  Stories of this region’s people have always been founded on the rich resources provided by these rivers.  Years of degradation reduced the river system to a conduit for sewerage and industrial waste.  Recent efforts to clean the rivers have met with great success, as local communities now recognize their river system as a crucial asset to their future. 

The Metropolitan Affairs Coalition (MAC) began planning for a regional network of water trails in Southeast Michigan, realizing that water trails demonstrate recreational, educational, economical and cultural value in both natural and urban environments around the country.  The goal of the project was to create a river version of a greenway trail, providing opportunities for canoeing, kayaking and small boat paddling.   The resulting Detroit Heritage River Water Trail [DHRWT] project fits perfectly into a vision for the region’s future based on current economic trends and growing environmental/health awareness.

Project goals included increasing water recreation and entertainment opportunities; educating residents and visitors by telling the “rivers’ stories” about the ecology and heritage; and linking the water trail with existing and future greenways to further strengthen connections between metropolitan Detroit communities. Hamilton Anderson Associates worked with a Steering Committee that included community representatives and key federal, state and local agencies with an interest and stake in the successful development of the water trail. Many Stakeholder interviews and public meetings were conducted throughout the summer of 2005; enabling stakeholders to share their knowledge of the existing waterways and communities.  Data relating to points of historical, cultural and ecological interest, existing and potential launch points, parking, hazards (dams, portages, obstacles, weirs, fast currents, etc.) and greenways/nature trails were collected at these meetings to guide the development of the water trail.

A series of water reconnaissance tours were conducted by the Steering Committee and HAA to better understand what one may experience along the water trail. The team realized there were many existing amenities, but several gaps in the overall network and numerous improvements would be required to create greater accessibility to this underutilized resource. Following these tours, preliminary concepts for the water trail were developed by HAA and reviewed by the Steering Committee. Final products of the planning initiative included a poster, highlighting the vision plan and a detailed Phase I plan, with supportive text and images to excite paddlers of all skill levels to “paddle through time and discover their wild side.” The final planning document serves as both a poster and a folded map that one may bring with them along their journey. The poster design was inspired by historic navigational maps and it identifies the rich cultural and natural assets that can be found while paddling through the highly urban to serene and pristine landscapes of SE Michigan.

“Paddle by your Refuge,” an additional community outreach event, was organized by the same grass roots organization that inspired the Heritage Water Trail project.  The goal of the event is to educate the public about paddling while discovering the ecological significance of the “International Wildlife Refuge”, the last undeveloped site along the U.S. side of the Detroit River. The well attended event will be held each year in September to promote the water trail project and demonstrate the overwhelming interest that people have in recreational activities on the river. 

The Detroit Heritage River Water Trail will be the first water trail planned for Southeast Michigan.  It is currently the only trail under development that is designated as a Heritage River by both Canada and the United States, offering access to an International Wildlife Refuge. It highlights the transformation of the greater Detroit area, from an industrial giant to a greener and cleaner place to live. For more information visit: www.mac-web.org

Merit Award Winners:

Firm: Hamilton Anderson Associates, Inc.

Client: Village of Almont

Project Title: Almont Fountain Park

Project Location: Almont, MI

Across the country it is fashionable for new greenfield developments to replicate characteristics of quaint historic towns complete with village shops, gas lights and town squares.  Mimicking historic street grids and street-side parking and preferential pedestrian space has become an enormously successful development model that is attractive to retailers and homebuilders.   Downtown Development Authorities (DDA) are now  working to promote authentic downtown business districts through business recruitment and retention projects, historic preservation, technical assistance and special events such as festivals and parades.  Rediscovered commercial centers in small communities are increasingly perceived as prime opportunities for development and catalysts for reinvestment.

Recognizing its potential, the historic Village of Almont and its DDA envisioned a rebirth of its main street.  The vision for this farming center community  in southeastern  Michigan (pop. 2,800) includes a vibrant downtown featuring retail, commercial, recreational and residential uses that attract a diverse mix of people and businesses.  The first physical development project from the vision plan is a tiny urban park on a 30’ x 130’ vacant parcel at the center of town known locally as “the four corners of Almont”.  The purpose in building the park was to beautify the downtown by providing a public greenspace that reflects the heritage of the village, serves as a public gathering place and provides a stimulus for future redevelopment.

Meetings with the DDA and the public, including supporters of an initiative to develop a “Farmers Market” in the downtown area, were instrumental to gathering valuable insight for an appropriate vision for the park.  Public dialogue revealed a traditional family-oriented community with a proud rural heritage.  People wanted a versatile park that would serve as a gathering space and double as a “Farmers Market”.  Almont also needed to accommodate a staging area for community events while still maintaining the scale and feel of a small, passive park space offering attractive views in and out to the surrounding streets and shops.  Meetings and discussions lead to concepts that were then shared with the DDA and public stakeholders. 

The site is located at the southeast corner of downtown where an historic building burned in 1991.  It is bordered on the west by a heavily traveled main street and on the north by a local street, and both were included in previous streetscape efforts by the village.  The east side abuts a busy alley leading to additional parking for the commercial district.  The south edge abuts a newly constructed but still vacant storefront previously known as Prella’s Restaurant.   Existing elements required to remain included walks along the north and west edges; an historic drinking fountain donated to the community in 1919, an underground vault; and a clock tower.   

Design elements reflect the agricultural heritage while creating an environment that draws people in by providing an attractive respite from traffic and the street.  Subtle conceptualized abstractions of farmland patterns such as ‘furrows’ of landscaping acknowledge the importance of agriculture to the community.  A small fountain is the feature amenity.  The sitting wall surrounding the fountain offers the opportunity for people to engage the water.  The fountain shoots the water only three feet into the air , appropriate for the size of the park while still effective in providing the necessary sound and movement to soothe the senses and reduce vehicular noise.  Low walls mimic farm carts that once lined at this intersection. The walls give visitors a variety of vantage points for people-watching while creating varied opportunities for relaxation and socializing.  Materials used in the park are both cost effective and tied to the character of the Village.  Brick and limestone construction reflect traditional materials used throughout the Village.  The parkscape accents the established streetscape, the 1919 drinking fountain, clock and the constraints of a narrow lot with paving patterning and rows of plant material placed on a diagonal.  Brick columns and arches buffer the adjacent alley and serve as vertical elements to strengthen the pedestrian circulation.  Custom decorative iron work abstracts various produce grown within the region. 

The park is programmed on weekends as an art fair venue and musician’s stage for showcasing local talent.  The DDA utilizes the park to host concessions during their “Spooky Time” and “Holly Day’s” parade events.    

While mature communities hold unique character and authentic architecture, they are typically saddled by tight construction and operational budgets.  Almont was no exception.  This park was built for $275,000.  Previously purchased benches were provided by the DDA for incorporation into the design.  The specified fountain company was ‘value engineered’ out of the project by the contractor.  The contractor initiated discussions with the DDA about less expensive materials as alternatives, in addition to new design solutions.  The DDA rejected the new design solutions but chose less expensive suppliers.   In addition, the construction budget was impacted by undesirable soils, buried rubble and foundations.    

Almont was first settled in 1827 and is located in the southeastern corner of Lapeer County, near the borders of St. Clair, Macomb and Oakland counties.  The Village is surrounded by rural country side and is home to a variety of farming activities including road side “Farmers Markets”, orchards, blueberry bogs and various livestock activities.  Farmers markets are one of the oldest forms of direct marketing by small farmers.  From the traditional “mercados” in the Peruvian Andes to the unique street markets in Asia, growers all over the world gather weekly to sell their produce directly to the public.  In the last decade, they have become a favorite marketing method for many farmers throughout the United States and a weekly ritual for many shoppers.  The new park provides a venue for a variety of home grown products as well as a community gathering place for strengthening community ties and perpetuating the tradition of “Farmers Markets”.

Firm: R. Clark Associates, Inc.

Client: Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce

Project Title: New Designs for Growth Development Guidebook

Project Location: Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau Counties

In 1991, Grand Traverse Bay region residents, government officials, and business owners realized that while development could not be prevented, it could occur in a manner that preserved the area’s natural resources, environment, and unique character.  This prompted the formation of New Designs for Growth, and, over the past fifteen years, the organization has worked to guide development in a direction that was both environmentally and economically beneficial.  A 2004 survey of local government officials, however, revealed the need for a guidebook with sufficient detail and practical tools for communities to address development pressures and related natural resource issues.  These findings prompted the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce to hire R. Clark Associates, Inc., a local landscape architecture and planning firm, to lead the formation of a new guidebook.  R. Clark Associates, Inc., with Borealis Design, worked closely with a volunteer committee comprised of planners, landscape architects, engineers, and realtors from throughout the five-county region to ensure the document would meet the region’s needs.  R. Clark Associates, Inc. staff is pleased to have produced the New Designs for Growth Development Guidebook.

The New Designs for Growth Development Guidebook educates government officials, developers, and local citizens on best-management planning practices and site-design techniques in order to obtain development that is environmentally sensitive, economically beneficial, and socially equitable.  Neither anti- or pro-growth, the Guidebook stems from the premise that growth is inevitable and that development, with good planning and design, can be compatible with the environment. 

The Guidebook’s format makes it an easily utilized reference by a diverse audience within a five-county region.  With planning topics organized in five sections – Critical Design Practices, Residential, Mixed-Use, Commercial, and Agriculture & Forestry, specific information can be easily located.  The Critical Design Practices section, nearly half of the document, includes guidelines applicable to development regardless of size, use, or location.  The other four sections demonstrate the application of the Critical Design Practices to specific development types.  For ease of use, the Guidebook includes a table of contents for each section, a detailed index of topics, an extensive glossary of planning terms, and the Guidebook’s printed three-ring binder format can be inserted behind a local planning official’s planning documents (e.g., master plan, zoning ordinance) for quick reference. 

The New Designs for Growth Development Guidebook can be used in the Grand Traverse Bay region’s ongoing efforts to ensure residents’ and visitors’ quality of life by balancing the protection of natural resources and community character with future development.  While R. Clark Associates, Inc. created the site-design reference to specifically address the needs of the Grand Traverse Bay region, it can serve as a model for other communities that wish to address their own development concerns.

The underlying goals of the Guidebook include:

•   Encouraging the preservation and enhancement of communities

•   Providing economically and environmentally sustainable alternatives to conventional development practices

•   Demonstrating how development can complement the natural landscape

•   Encouraging good design beyond legal restrictions and minimum standards

•   Promoting the renovation, remediation, and adaptive reuse of existing sites

•   Promoting the preservation and improvement of historical and cultural resources

•   Referencing Smart Growth Tenets

Firm: Grissim Metz Andriese Associates

Client: William Beaumont Hospital

Project Title: William Beaumont Hospital South Tower Addition Landscape Atrium Garden Design

Project Location: Royal Oak, MI

Healing, Multi-Sensory Gardens to Enhance the Patient and Visitor Experience

As key features in the new eight-story South Tower Addition for William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, the atrium Debra Saber-Salisbury Memorial Garden and the atrium Pediatric Garden in the William & Marie Carls Children’s Medical Center expand the concept of healing gardens to create a multi-sensory environment for patients, families, visitors, and hospital staff.  The themed gardens are inviting destinations within the interior of the new patient bed tower.  Each garden provides a unique and memorable experience that is uplifting, comforting, and relaxing; inspiring, stimulating and enriching.

The state-of-the-art $227 million South Tower Addition opened in September 2004 and is the largest single construction project in the history of William Beaumont Hospital.  Beaumont is a 1,061-bed tertiary care, teaching and referral center ranking third in the nation for inpatient admissions and second in outpatient surgeries. 

The gardens reflect the overall project goals of creating an exemplary environment that promotes healing and well-being, and focuses on the patient experience.  Under the non-profit Beaumont Foundation, a partnership of private donors, philanthropic foundations, and businesses contributed more than $20 million in gifts for the new 656,000 square foot replacement facility.  One such gift was donated by David Salisbury and his daughter Katherine Salisbury in memory of wife and mother Debra Saber-Salisbury, founder of one of the country’s top five anesthesia recruitment firms, to create a spectacular garden that bears her name.  The Pediatric Garden was funded through community donations to the Children’s Miracle Network.

Enclosed by the dramatic architecture and full, vaulted skylight of the South Tower Addition atrium, the gardens are fully controlled environments, yet with the spaciousness and simulation of the outdoors.  The insertion of a healing garden as a centerpiece of the Tower creates a stunning amenity and an innovative approach to meeting the requirements for daylight in inpatient rooms in the interior of the hospital. 

The Debra Saber-Salisbury Memorial Garden – Soothing Comfort and the Timeless Grandeur of Michigan

A bridge walkway leading from the sixth floor of the new South Tower Addition opens to a tranquil yet spectacular inner garden.  Soothing and familiar outdoor qualities, a soft play of light and shadow, and a harmonious mix of colors and textures invite patients, families, and staff to a comforting sense of calm yet engaging interest.  A special destination, the garden serves as a sanctuary, helping to relieve stress and burden. 

As an oasis and refuge within a busy hospital setting, the Debra Saber-Salisbury Memorial Garden extends the healing environment of William Beaumont Hospital as a memorable place for individuals or larger gatherings.  Inspired by the Arts integrated with the building architecture.  Circulation borders the rectangular, central court made of synthetic grass.  This central axis is reinforced by large stylized planted urns evoking the geometric patterns and arrangements of Cranbrook.  A bronze sculpture surrounded by large benches and colorful plantings will terminate the garden and progression from the walkway with an artistic touch.

The challenge of designing within a large-scale atrium — 200’ x 80’ overall with a 75’ high skylight ceiling — required garden elements to correspond in scale with the massive volume of the space.  Trees 24’ in height reduce the ceiling height to human scale, and provide filtered shade effects of the outdoors from the vaulting skylight above.

These large trees flank the center, identifying seating areas on each side.  Sheltered by hedges and planting, the alcove areas provide smaller scale spaces within the context of the large garden room.  These alcoves serve as welcoming, quiet places for reflection or private conversation.  The calming sounds of music; the soft comfort of cushions in Cranbrook-style fabric and colors; and the restful effects of reading lights and diffused natural light from above combine to create a multi-sensory experience that promotes healing and offers a respite and sanctuary for visiting families and hospital staff.

Addressing the imperatives of indoor air quality and maintenance critical to the healthcare environment, as well as the structural challenges that would make heavy soil loads prohibitive, Grissim Metz Andriese worked with Nature Makers of California to fabricate trees and boxwood hedges with a natural, permanent appearance and texture.  HB Stubbs served as contractor. Natural materials of bluestone, brick, black slate, and limestone enhance the outdoor effect and sense of nature which is essential to the garden concept.

The Pediatric Garden –

Celebrating the Healing Power of Play

Going through the portals in the oversized arbor hedge, children enter a magical world of wonder and exploration, filled with color and activity.  Children create their own stories on a center stage and play with soft toys under the watchful eyes of nurses and caregivers.  Teens command personal computer stations at a cyber café of their own.  Young children play gardening within the Garden Works at colorful potting benches scaled just for them. Backlit with LED, a ceiling twinkles with star-like effects, as changing lights, sounds, and colors animate the space.

The Pediatric Garden is a unique and creative environment that celebrates the healing power of play, laughter, and diversion.  Grissim Metz Andriese worked closely with physicians, nurses and staff of Beaumont’s pediatric department to create a functional and flexible interior garden that engages children in a variety of interactive and multi-sensory activities. 

Five “rooms within a room” are themed for various individual needs, users and age groups of the hospitalized children.  Hedges, topiaries, and plant materials specially fabricated for durability and maintenance take on fanciful shapes.  Brightly colored furniture, moveable seating and benches, shelves and bins are designed by Grissim Metz Andriese for functional use and ample storage.  Cut-outs, doors, gates, and fences spark the imagination and capture a child’s desire for discovery and exploration.  Playful benches with decorative elements such as large tulips provide seating for nurses, staff and caregivers.  Each corner garden has its own independent LCD monitor to operate specialty programs keyed with its theme.  The Pediatric Garden spaces are accessible for wheelchairs and hospital beds and incorporate technology and services for medical equipment.  Grissim Metz Andriese worked with Exhibit Works to construct the garden elements.

Like the rabbit hole and Alice in Wonderland, a large-scale arbor hedge draws children into the central space of the Pediatric Garden with the sense of an outdoor magical world.  Here, the Wizard’s Garden serves as a theatre-in-the-round, with a brightly colored, raised stage and spring floor for open play, programmed activities by pediatric staff, or productions by visiting performers.  Whimsical frames of bright colors surround eight LCD screens that project current films and videos, moving scenes from nature, or programs from Beaumont’s own network or the Internet.  Music and the Starbright World Program play through the special sound system.  Touch-screen technology and lighting fill the space with special effects.

Doorways in the arbor hedge lead to the four smaller, specialty “gardens” surrounding the central space.  A Builder Garden provides construction-type toys, soft blocks, soft moveable furniture, and tricycles geared toward toddlers.  Space for storytelling, shelving for games and video/Internet/sound interactives offer opportunities for less active forms of entertainment.

The Garden Works is a highly functional craft area, stocked with gardening and sandbox type activities, work table, storage, moveable table and seating, and sink supplies.  An arts and crafts creation communicates the theme of “hands-on” creativity.  Computer interactives, garden learning shows, and craft techniques are displayed on monitors.

Teens have a place of their own in the Cyber Café Garden, where computer games with flat screens and joy sticks, movies, and music entice older youth to a “hip” play area.  A game table for cards, foozball table, book shelves, soft seating for reading, and a “Starbuck’s” styled themed sitting area appeal to teens.  Interactive monitors allow kids to change sounds and colors of lighting, as well as do activities on the computer.

The Quiet Garden provides a special space leading from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Carls Children’s Medical Center.  This is a quiet refuge for parents, families and infants, with soft chairs and large pillowed seating area for reading, loveseats and tables, music and movies and video wall appropriate to infant care.  A display of art provides soothing visual interest.

The Carls Children’s Medical Center at Beaumont Hospital has developed special pediatric programming to utilize the Garden for patient care, healing and well-being through the stimulation of free play, socialization, and an opportunity to safely be with other children.

“When you’re dealing with illness and tragedy, you need a place to go and get away.  This garden is quiet and peaceful, a small respite from life’s journey, a very fitting memorial for Debra.”

David Salisbury,

Donor of the Debra Saber-Salisbury Memorial Garden

“The new themed gardens for William Beaumont Hospital expand the concept of healing gardens to encompass an ultimate multi-sensory place for all – patients, families, friends, and staff.  The gardens are uplifting and inspiring, calming and relaxing – places of sanctuary and reflection, joy and enrichment; places where you simply ‘want to be.’”

“Beaumont Hospital’s vision is that of a truly extraordinary and unique healthcare environment.  The success of the gardens reflects what the Hospital wanted to accomplish, and the collaborative process and partnerships that made it possible.”

Randy Metz, ASLA, Principal,

Grissim Metz Andriese Associates, Inc.

AWARDS OPPORTUNITIES

ALL-AMERICA ROSE SELECTIONS KICKS OFF ITS SECOND ANNUAL "DESIGNING WITH ROSES" COMPETITION

Call for Entries is Extended to Professional Landscape Architects and Designers,
Students and U.S. Public Gardens

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 2, 2007 – For the second consecutive year, All-America Rose Selections™ (AARS™) announces the call for entries to its Designing with Roses Competition, which recognizes and honors excellence in landscape architecture and garden design. The competition is accepting entries from professional and student landscape architects and designers until July 2, 2007. Additionally, in this year’s competition U.S. public gardens will be judged as their own category, and are encouraged to enter to receive nationwide recognition.

Winning entries will be selected by a jury of experts, including members of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and garden writers from trade and consumer gardening publications.  The esteemed panel will evaluate all entries for design excellence, creativity and execution in the fields of landscape architecture and garden design.  To honor the AARS’ mission of introducing and promoting exceptional roses, all submissions must incorporate U.S. roses as a primary design element. The call for entries includes all types of landscapes, from commercial properties—including hospitals, corporate complexes and university grounds—to public gardens, private estates and homes. 

Selected winners will be announced and honored in September at the 59th annual Garden Writers Association symposium in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Winners will be recognized in both professional and student design categories. The first place prize for the professional winner will be a Sony VAIO® laptop computer with landscaping and design software; and a $1,000 cash prize will be awarded to the first place student entry. In addition, second and third place professional and student selections will also be awarded, and all finalists will be publicized in a variety of industry publications including the AARS newsletter and Web site, ASLA related newsletters, as well as other landscape trade and general interest garden publications.  For U.S. Public Gardens, first, second and third place recognition will include a plaque and national honors from the AARS. For more details on the selection process or prizes, visit the AARS Web site at www.rose.org.

“We were thrilled with the innovative and imaginative entries we received from our inaugural Designing with Roses Competition,” says AARS president Steve Hutton. “The landscape architecture and design community are thought leaders in garden trends, and it’s imperative that they continue to demonstrate to the general public that roses are suitable in many landscapes and can be at the forefront of design.”

For more information, official rules and to enter the competition, visit the AARS Web site at www.rose.org.

About All-America Rose Selections (www.rose.org)

All-America Rose Selections is a nonprofit association dedicated to the introduction and promotion of exceptional roses.  Since 1938, the AARS trial program has encouraged the rose industry to improve the vitality, disease resistance and beauty of roses for American home gardens.  Today, the AARS program is one of the most successful and highly regarded of its kind, having brought to the forefront such roses as Peace, Mister Lincoln, Knock Out™ and Julia Child.

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Submit Awards Opportunities by e-mailing chapterinfo@michiganasla.org.