The month of April is recognized as National Landscape Architecture Month—an event celebrated by landscape architects from around the country. As I look back at the industry's history, I see how it's influenced the work we do here at Dewberry today.

A Brief History of Landscape Architecture

• Population upswing in cities drove the need for open space to provide better health and respite for residents.

• The National Park Service was established and many national parks and scenic byways were developed. Skyline Drive in Virginia embodies the principles of a naturalistic landscape design, utilizing materials that appear naturally in the area, with views directed towards sweeping vistas.

• The modernism movement influenced the design of landscapes, parks, and plazas with geometric structures and layers of the built form, plants, and water features.
• The environmental movement combined site analysis and environmental constraints with a design that encouraged people to interact with nature.

• "New urbanism" created walkable neighborhoods and reduced sprawl, combining a variety of housing types with open space and town centers where people could walk to work, retail, or recreation—now known as "mixed-use" developments.
• Landscape urbanism brought landscape architecture to the forefront of urban planning and development.

• "Green" and "sustainable design" are current industry buzzwords. The USGBC's LEED^® process is increasingly in demand, and landscape architecture expertise is now obtained earlier in the planning process. The Sustainable Sites Initiative is a similar process being developed to create guidelines and benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction, and grounds maintenance.

Examples of Today's Design

At Dewberry, we're currently rebuilding the entryway to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland. Like Skyline Drive, we're incorporating the principles of naturalistic design, integrating the scenic views of the site's historic and environmental resources into our design.

At Smith Home Farm—a large mixed-use development in Prince George's County, Maryland, pictured above—we're designing the area to preserve stream corridors and include a trail system that utilizes existing valleys. A historic mansion on the property was the inspiration for our site-wide conceptual theme and entry sequence, using historic architectural details in the signage, lighting, fencing, and bridges to create a sense of place for the community.

While the needs and approaches to landscape architecture may change from decade to decade, one element remains the same: we want to create natural areas for communities to gather and enjoy. By looking at past movements in the industry, we can better design these common areas.