2011 ASLA Awards (GardenDesignOnline)

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The American Society of Landscape Architects has announced the winners of its professional awards for 2011. In all, 37 winners were selected for their work in designing residential and public spaces, campuses, parks and urban planning projects. Some of the residential award winners are profiled here. (Click on images to enlarge)

How would you like to be on this roof terrace in NYC, atop a contemporary townhouse in Carnegie Hill? Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects of Charlottesville, VA, created a series of outdoor terraces, a "nest" that's a retreat for the owners and their children, as well as a habitat for migratory songbirds.

A green wall on the 6th floor, shown here, was designed as a work of art. Framed in teak, the wall, just above the children's sandbox, is planted with herbs and other edibles (including strawberries) at lower levels, within easy reach of the children.

(photos: Eric Piasecki/ASLA)

In Little Compton, Rhode Island, Landscape Architect Michael Vergason of Alexandria, VA, renovated the landscape of a 70 acre oceanfront farm to honor its historic 18th and 19th century components. New stone walls were integrated perfectly with existing stonework, and a fountain and watering trough for two cows marks the intersection of new and old elements.

Plantings, mostly native, were kept to a minimum in keeping with the original agrarian nature of the landscape. As the judges noted, the plan feels "both contemporary and permanent... All the stone is salvaged from the site and the water is made visible from the house."

(photos: Nic Lehoux Architectural Photography/ASLA)

It takes a client with somewhat extraordinary creativity to even think that someone might be able to provide them access to a completely inaccessible marsh in the middle of their property. But Reed Hilderbrand of Watertown, MA, created a half-mile long boardwalk, completely hand built, winding through woody thickets, marsh grasslands, and open water. The awards jury said the plan is "beautifully composed" and it extends the definition of the garden path. "It's fabulous," they added, "that someone wants to go into this area and embrace it. Bravo to the client to invest in something so tied to nature."