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Houston’s first botanic garden opened in September 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, offering locals a green escape from the confines of their living spaces into 132 acres of living museum. Some 2.5 miles of walking trails guide visitors along a bayou meander and through six outdoor gallery spaces displaying a collection of tropical, sub-tropical and arid plants from around the world to showcase the biodiversity that thrives along the Texas Gulf Coast. Claudia Gee Vassar, President and General Counsel of the Garden, joined the institution’s long journey towards establishment (18 years from nonprofit formation to opening day) in 2016. She shares her insights with StreetChat about the creation and growth of a very rare thing in 2020: a brand-new botanic garden. 1. What inspires you? I am inspired …

An inductee into the Design Hall of Fame and Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, Mark Armstrong was Co-founder and Director of Blue Sky Design Group, the company that designed the Sydney Olympic Torch and Qantas check-in experience. He is now a Practice Professor in Design with Monash University and advises Street Furniture Australia’s design team in an era of great technological change Professor Armstrong provides industrial design expertise to several strategic research projects, utilising user-centered design methods to change outcomes for end-users. When and why did you start Blue Sky Design Group, and what was your vision? Blue Sky is a multidisciplinary design firm based in Sydney. The company was started in the early eighties by myself and partner. When it was founded I was working in Europe with Philips and was …

As Founding Executive Director of the Smart Cities Council Australia New Zealand, Adam Beck has a mission to accelerate sustainability in cities and towns through technology, data and intelligent design. The Council partnered with AILA and the Internet of Things Alliance Australia to demonstrate these ideas in action in Sydney with the Future Street, designed by Place Design Group as part of the 2017 International Festival of Landscape Architecture. Beck is also an Ambassador with Portland-based think tank EcoDistricts, a former lecturer and studio lead in social impact assessment and community engagement at the University of Queensland, and spent 15 years with global consulting firms like Arup. He shares his Future Street findings and vision for next-gen cities in a smarter, more sustainable world. What can we learn from Future Street? Future Street exceeded our …

Alex Crowe is a young landscape architect, part of the AILA Fresh NSW project team delivering the AMP Activation for the 2017 International Festival of Landscape Architecture: The 3rd City in Sydney. The design team includes Alex Crowe, Michael White, Anina Carl, Ashley Darby and Faid Ahmad, partnering with Street Furniture Australia, AMP Capital, WE-EF LIGHTING, Andreasens Green and Blue Scope Steel to create a daytime hangout and evening event space. Furnished by Street Furniture Australia, the activation runs from October 11 to 15, between the AMP Towers on 33 Alfred Street and 50 Bridge Street, Circular Quay. Enter via Philip Street to see the efforts of the AILA Fresh NSW team and be inspired by young people imagining the future city. You’re currently involved in a ‘space activation installation’ by AILA Fresh NSW. What …

Mark Frisby was elected National President of AILA at a time of great change for the organisation. With new CEO Tim Arnold officially announced this week to take the reins from Shahana McKenzie during the Festival of Landscape Architecture in October, new shifts are coming. StreetChat talks with Mark about his vision for AILA, and the spaces he’s most proud of as a Melbourne-based landscape architect. Having presided at the AILA at both a state and national level, can you map out for us some of the changes you have seen and your thoughts on the future? My involvement in AILA has been extremely rewarding both personally and professionally. At a state level, it has been great to see the evolution of AILA Fresh and the Victorian state manager, which started when I was …

Konstantin Dimopoulos is New Zealand–raised artist who has worked extensively in Melbourne, Australia and is currently based in Tennessee in the US. His successful environmental art installation The Blue Trees has been re-created around the world, including at Sydney’s Pirrama Park in 2016. StreetChat talks to him about activist art in urban spaces. The Blue Trees has been installed multiple times around the world. What have you observed from presenting the work to different cultures? I think that people around the world are basically the same. They all realise the huge issue that we have with global warming and the importance of rainforests and old growth forests to our survival as a species. Purveyors of water, consumers of carbon, treasure-houses of species – the world’s forests are ecological miracles. People want …