Here's
a fellow who was a landscape architect before there was such a thing
as a landscape architect!
Olmsted,
who was born on this date in 1822, was also a journalist and a public
administrator, and he probably called his work with landscapes
“designing,” but many now say that he was the father of landscape
architecture.
What
do landscape architects do? Well, Olmsted and a man named Calvert
Vaux designed New York City's Central Park and Brooklyn's Prospect
Park. They designed other major parks in other cities as well.
A
landscape architect designs outdoor public areas and landmarks. She
or he studies existing elements of an area—buildings, skylines,
trees, lakes or streams—and come up with a concept of what the
outcome should be. The hard part, of course, is figuring out what
plants and sprinkler systems, paving and storm drains, trees and
structures should be installed in order to achieve that outcome. The
job is a combination of architecture, urban planning, gardening,
environmental analysis, and recreation planning.
Central
Park is a huge public park at the center of Manhattan in New York
City. When it opened in 1857, the park had 778 acres of land (it is
now larger, with 843 acres). These days, about 35 million people
visit the park every year—making this the most visited city park in
the U.S.
Central
Park has several lakes and ponds, plenty of walking paths, several
bridle paths (for people on horseback), two ice-skating rinks (one of
which becomes a swimming pool in the summer!), a zoo, a formal
garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a forest. AND there is an outdoor
theater, a “castle” with a nature center, a marionette theater,
and an historic carousel. AND there are at least 3 fountains, 7 major
lawns, a meadow, a huge boulder outcropping, smaller swaths of grass,
and multiple enclosed playgrounds for kids.
It's
a great place! One of my favorite spots is the boulder area, and
another is the Alice in Wonderland statue.
The
thing is, these lakes and forests and meadows and boulder
outcroppings look so natural. It looks very much as if Olmsted and
Vaux just had to plan a few paths in between some great natural
features. However, almost all these features are landscaped. They
were carefully designed to look NOT designed! Cool, huh?
Did
you know...?
More
gunpowder was used to clear the area than was used at the Battle of
Gettysburg during the Civil War.
During
construction, more than 18,500 cubic yards of topsoil were brought in
from New Jersey, and more than 10 million cartloads of rocks and soil
was taken out of the park! More than 4 million trees, shrubs, and
other plants were transplanted in the park.
Sheep
used to graze on the Sheep Meadow in Central Park, but they were
moved to a more rural area of New York in 1934. City officials
worried that they would be killed and eaten by hungry people during
the depression!
Also
on this date:
Many
different nations celebrate Children's Day on various different dates. This
holiday is supposed to bring attention to the importance of
children's health and education. Mexico selected April 30.
