THE OFFICE OF JAMES BURNETT WINS 2012 ASLA AWARD
SAN DIEGO (October 1, 2012) – At its annual meeting in Phoenix today, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) will award The Office of James Burnett (OJB) with a 2012 ASLA Professional Award for its Sunnylands Center & Gardens project in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Each year, the ASLA Professional Awards jury recognizes the greatest landscape architecture ventures around the globe. The Office of James Burnett is one of 37 winners selected from more than 600 international project entries. Winners receive coverage in many design and construction industry media, including Landscape Architecture Magazine, in which OJB’s Sunnylands Center & Gardens winning project is featured on the cover of the October 2012 issue.
The 15-acre Sunnylands Center & Gardens is an extension of the 200-acre desert retreat of publisher, diplomat, and philanthropist Ambassador Walter Annenberg. Sunnylands has served as a sanctuary for high-level national and world leaders to convene, as well as a vacation site for numerous celebrities and public officials. The new Visitors Center allows the general public to experience this historical retreat.
The art garden designed by the Office of James Burnett consists of more than 53,000 individual arid-landscape plants and 1.25 miles of walking paths. The landscape complements the character of the area’s Sonoran Desert by bringing the desert to life with changing colors. It also exhibits a new eco-friendly design for this region through plant selections that do not require intensive maintenance.
“This design is all about the plants and they are spectacular, adding texture and color to the desert and lawns,” an ASLA jury member said about The Office of James Burnett’s work. “This shows a real knowledge of plants. The feeling is lush and the colors are fabulous.”
James Burnett and his team are proud of the work attributed to this project.
“As you move through the landscape, you are aware of being under the dappled shade, next to the water; you hear the sounds, hear and feel the gravel underfoot,” Burnett said. “The experience should transport you from the everyday world.”
Burnett will share additional details of this project, as well as his team’s work on Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park, during his keynote speech at the Annual Conference of the Association of Architecture Organizations (AAO) on Nov. 8 in Dallas, Texas.
About The Office of James Burnett
The Office of James Burnett is a design-oriented landscape architecture firm founded in 1989 in Houston, Texas. Their work is a demonstration of the unified relationship between landscape and architecture. For more information on The Office of James Burnett, please visit Ojb.com.
About ASLA
Founded in 1899, ASLA is the national professional association for landscape architects, representing nearly 16,000 members in 48 professional chapters and 76 student chapters. The Society’s mission is to lead, to educate and to participate in the careful stewardship, wise planning and artful design of our cultural and natural environments. Members of the Society use their “ASLA” suffix after their names to denote membership and their commitment to the highest ethical standards of the profession. Learn more about landscape architecture online at asla.org.
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