The winter edition of CITE, the publication of Rice University’s Design Alliance, features an interview with respected landscape architect Peter Walker. Deeply aware of landscape architecture’s history, Walker focuses on Jim Burnett, his contributions to the discipline over the years, and his recent ASLA Design Medal award.

Astutely familiar with the many movements within landscape architecture, Peter places Jim’s works within the third wave of modernist landscape designers and attributes his success in part to his ability to seamlessly blend various influences while creating programmable outdoor spaces. He continues, alluding to the timelessness of Jim’s designs.

Key excerpts:

“Landscape architecture has to be viewed through the lens of time. Individual projects and the broader movements or “lines of inquiry” within the profession can be evaluated only over time, because landscape, at its core, is a discipline of change and context. Burnett’s work is rooted in precedent while remaining inventive and expressive to meet the needs of landscape and the people who inhabit them today.” – CITE

“My own feeling is that landscape should be visible. I disagree with the McHargian idea that you shouldn’t even know you were there. Landscape is a cultural phenomenon, and Jim believes that, too. I think legibility has to do with how the public sees it, recognizing it as the hand of a person and not the hand of God.” – Peter Walker

To read the article in its entirety, visit CITE to subscribe.