OLVER TRANSIT CENTER
OLVER TRANSIT CENTER
GREENFIELD, MA
2012
The transit center’s busway cuts through a newly planted forest of native beeches, hornbeams, and oaks. Only a quarter of the site could be planted, so GV created a dense, unremitting plant pattern, to create the feeling that surfaces and structures were carved from an established landscape. Plant areas will evolve from even geometries to wilder, layered densities.
Boston Society of Architects Honor Award
architect: Charles Rose Architects
civil engineer: Nitsch Engineering
mechanical engineer: Arup
HAWKEN UPPER SCHOOL
HAWKEN UPPER SCHOOL
gates mills, oh
2017
Implementation of the GV-designed landscape masterplan for the Hawken School greatly reduced the presence of cars, allowing students and teachers to freely walk the grounds. An exception for vehicles is the loading drive pictured here. This new arrival and departure loop overlays twenty-two parallel loading stalls and an 88 tree cherry orchard. Most of Hawken’s students come and go through the orchard each day.
architecture: Westlake Reed Leskosky (Jonathan Kurtz)
CHUCKIE HARRIS PARK
CHUCKIE HARRIS PARK
SOMERVILLE, MA
2013
This swing was designed by GV to be extra tall, which makes its arc long and high to suit older kids while also safe for younger kids. One of many custom designs, this swing is surrounded by some of the more than 70 trees and thousands of grasses and shrubs in this small new park. Many of these plants are located just outside a play structure’s safety zone. Throw up your legs at the peak of a swing and you’ll nearly touch the tree branches.
Boston Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award
“At New Somerville Playground, A Quiet Revolution In Play Design” -WBUR
KOHL PLAZA — OBERLIN COLLEGE CONSERVATORY
KOHL PLAZA
OBERLIN COLLEGE CONSERVATORY
OBERLIN, OH
2010
GV designed a long, thin, landscape that stretches between Oberlin’s new jazz building and three 1960s (Yamasaki) buildings. Architecture Critic, Stephen Litt, praised the project, for its series of “… superb public spaces, including a handsome ground-level plaza.” Kohl Plaza’s stepped terrain functions as a minimal stage set — for musical performances and those of everyday life.
Boston Society of Landscape Architects Merit Award
architect: Westlake Reed Leskosky (Jonathan Kurtz)
“Oberlin College Scores Big Time” – Cleveland Plain Dealer
Chuckie Harris Park
CHUCKIE HARRIS PARK
SOMERVILLE, MA
2013
GV designed Chuckie Harris Park to include classic play elements like swings and slides. But instead of a typical play structure with clustered activities, they were layered upon a sloped and vegetated terrain. GV spread out the play structures so that circulation becomes part of the game and encourages exercise. The play structures and topography include overlapping ‘circuits’ that allow many ways of moving through this half-acre site.
Boston Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award
lighting design: Lumen Studio
play structure consultant: PlayArtDesign
play structure fabricator: Custom Fabrications
