Archinect's resident landscape architect Heather Ring interviewed Julie Bargmann of D.I.R.T. Studio, wherein post-industrial landscapes, phytoremediation, landfills and quarries, Duisburg-Nord, the poetics of civil engineering, and the toxic sublime are all covered. Plus more outrageously interesting topics.
Previously, Heather interviewed 3/5 of the crew of NIPpaysage, a landscape collective based in Montreal. Last year the group was a co-winner in the design competition for Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. If you're thinking of starting your own firm, this one's an excellent read.
We get to hear Julie Bargmann again via the brilliantly-named Terragrams, “a series of conversations about the fundamental, all too often invisible, role that landscape plays in our lives -- An open dialog with the people in charge of making, designing and thinking about our constructed landscapes.” And also Bet Figueras and Elias Torres. Be warned though that the spotty quality of the podcasts may drive you insane. Meanwhile, we're still waiting for the Jane Amidon and James Corner interviews.
We're also still waiting for the complete interviews from the Landscape Legends Oral History Initiative by the Cultural Landscape Foundation. Only tantalizing tidbits of the interviews with Richard Haag, Ruth Shellhorn, Lawrence Halprin, and Walt Guthrie are available.
Care for more interviews? The Institut fuer Landscahftsarchitektur has six in its archive. The video interview of Alessandra Ponte is a must see.
And what's a laundry list of interviews without our two favorites of the year: 1) David Maisel by Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG. Topics discussed include “Californian hydropolitics, the line between architecture and photography, 'replicant' landscapes, the dusty fate of human remains, Iceland, The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard, Mars rovers, 9/11, and the aesthetic power of sterility.”
And 2) Wes Janz by Brian Finoki of Subtopia. Topics discussed include squatter urbanism, post-disaster landscapes, relief architecture, and low tech design tactics.
Finally, only because our post about an interview with Walter Hood by Andrew Blum for Metropolis was published a year ago almost exactly to the day, here it is again, wherein Hood confesses that he likes public space messy.
POSTSCRIPT #1: Tarnation! We forgot to mention the September edition of LAND Online Podcast, which include an interview with American Academy in Rome President Adele Chatfield-Taylor, and with Chris Hindle of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., discussing the second round of planting for the ASLA green roof.