Southern California group recognizes ‘outstanding advancement’ in landscape architecture
(IRVINE, Calif.) October 23, 2018 — LPA earned the “Award of Excellence” in the American Society of Landscape Architects-Southern California Chapter’s 2018 Quality of Life Awards for the design of interactive outdoor learning environments for Tarbut V’Torah (TVT).
LPA also was presented with a merit award for its work on the redesign of the corporate headquarters for Edwards Lifesciences, the medical device manufacturer.
“This is a great honor and recognition that our collaborative approach to design can achieve better results,” said Wendy Rogers, chief executive officer of LPA.
The Quality of Life awards are presented every two years; this year there was a record 107 submissions from throughout the region. The Award of Excellence recognizes one project that “represents an outstanding advancement in leadership, contribution, understanding, and/or achievement in the field of landscape architecture and that improves the quality of life in Southern California and beyond," according to the ASLA.
LPA’s design for the re-imagining of the TVT campus features an array of different outdoor learning and play areas to support a new maker building and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) curriculum. Students and teachers were included in design charettes to develop the plan, which includes learning labs, a farm, an outdoor art courtyard, an interactive water play creek and reading nooks.
The design also turns sustainability into a functional learning experience, with a stormwater retention and treatment system, drought resistant plants and a green roof on a new fitness facility.
“The TVT School expansion project excelled in every aspect of judging for the Quality of Life awards; design, grading, education, sustainability, civic responsibility all came together in a dynamic living landscape,” Dave Watts, a member of the 2018 ASLA SCC awards jury.
ASLA judges said the design—which also earned an “Honor Award,” a first place in the Institutional category—reflected the 2018 awards theme, “Celebrating the Tapestry of Southern California…Diversity Woven Together.”
“LPA has worked with Tarbut V’Torah for more than 20 years and this latest design update to the campus exemplifies the school’s values and focus on ‘joyful learning,’” said Kari Kikuta, Director of Landscape Architecture at LPA.
The Edwards Lifesciences design incorporates vegetated swales that capture and treat 100 percent of the new parking structure’s rainwater runoff and two 30,000-gallon rainwater harvesting tanks, as well as one of the largest living wall systems in North America. As an integrated firm, LPA’s team of landscape architects, architects, engineers, and interior designers worked with Edwards to design a facility that earned LEED-NC Platinum certification.
About LPA
Founded in 1965, LPA specializes in creating innovative environments that work better, do more with less and improve people’s lives. An integrated design firm with six locations in California and Texas, LPA’s team includes more than 450 in-house architects, master planners, engineers, interior designers, landscape architects and research analysts, working across a wide array of sectors. For more information, visit http://www.lpadesignstudios.com.
