![]() ![]() T he joy in this book isn’t just in learning how the couple overcomes such challenges, however, but also in reading how they work with their clients and collaborate with each other. Living Land: The Gardens of Blasen Landscape Architecture (Oro Editions $40) chronicles 11 of their residential projects, some involving unique challenges, such as a steep, weed-covered backyard or an exposed narrow lot located in the hairpin of a popular trailhead. Living Land: The Gardens of Blasen Landscape ArchitectureĮ ric and Silvina Martierena Blasen are a husband-and-wife team based in Northern California - he’s a landscape architect she holds a degree in horticulture - who together tackle the shape and feel of how people spend time outdoors. Trainor added a terrace to this Big Sur property so that the homeowner could enjoy the Pacific Ocean views. Loking at the photos of Trainor’s completed work, it’s easy to think, “I love the California landscape.” rather than, “This is great landscape design.” And that’s the highest compliment a reader can give a man who has made a career of channeling nature. With few hard lines to indicate where nature ends and design begins, it would be easy to miss the nuances in the work, but Susan Heeger ably describes the subtle details - how Trainor brought a field of tall grass right up to the side of a swimming pool at one home or based another design around an ancient tree - that contribute to living spaces that appear to be part, not the center, of dramatic landscapes. His projects have an appealing, feral flair that highlight home and landscape alike. One look at Landprints: The Landscape Designs of Bernard Trainor (Princeton Architectural Press $50) and it’s clear that he never lost his love of the dramatic topography of his native land. ![]() Landprints: The Landscape Designs of Bernard TrainorĪpNow based in Monterey, California, Bernard Trainor grew up in Australia, surfing and exploring the country’s rugged coasts. This spring, books about three top contemporary practitioners - Bernard Trainor, Blasen Architecture and Nelson Byrd Woltz - illuminate just how central gardens have become to the world of design and how magnificently they improve the way we live. ![]() Widening public interest in the form and increased demand for eco-friendly design has been a boon to people who create outdoor spaces, providing them with clients more willing to experiment (witness all the new buildings sprouting green roofs) and to embrace new definitions of landscape (as evidenced by the crowds walking the former elevated train tracks of New York City’s High Line). This is a good time for landscape architecture. ![]()
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