Ron Henderson Wins Three Awards

Three projects by Landscape Architecture Director Ron Henderson and his professional studio, L+A Landscape Architecture, were recognized with regional design awards by the ASLA-RI.

Henderson's The Gardens of Suzhou received a Special Recognition Award. In his book, the scholarship of these Chinese gardens is realigned away from their well-documented literary associations and symbolism toward an understanding based on visual proportions, spatial qualities, experiential sequences - and even urban ecology - in order to extend their influence in the contemporary discourse on gardens and landscapes. 

Kiruna City Hall Square was recognized with an Honor Award for Unbuilt Landscapes. The project is situated in Kiruna, Sweden, where ground subsistence from the world's largest iron ore mine requires relocation of the town center. In collaboration with Petra Gipp Architects and Jarmund Vigsnaes Architects, L+A designed a rigorous grid based on the bell tower relocated from the original town hall that establishes a regulating order for the proposed town hall and square. Groves of birches in the square bring dynamic processes and vitality to enliven this ordered grid. A generously-scaled ground floor hall serves as a protected winter square and works in association with the town hall square as a series of connected public volumes and spaces that accommodate public life in a subarctic climate.

Lastly, City Walk Providence was recognized with an Honor Award for Analysis and Planning. City Walk is a network of connected urban landscape spaces that enhance the everyday life of the city. A 2014 study by L+A culminated seven years of advocacy for this 7.8 mile long and narrow route which increases equitable access to new urban assets and development eight Providence neighborhoods