Laura Starr
Landscape architect Laura Starr is an expert
in the planning and design of urban parks. Her practice began
with a twelve-year tenure at the Central Park Conservancy during
its formative years as a public-private partnership, giving Starr
a rare insider’s experience with the workings of this new park
management structure. Growing into the role of the Park’s Chief
of Design, Starr mastered the process of consensus building among
multiple clients and stakeholders in order to implement a series
of award winning designs. Working on projects such as the reconstructing
the Harlem Meer and developing a master plan for the west side perimeter,
Starr absorbed the Olmsted’s artful choreography and sequencing of one’s
landscape experience that has greatly influenced her practice.
“What’s important to me as a landscape architect is to create spaces
that capture the essence of the site, and express the culture of
its users. Landscape architects have the special opportunity to
bring designed nature into cities, creating places of renewal,
recreation and relaxation, while increasing biodiversity, managing
storm water, and contributing to sustainable settlement.”
Since entering private practice, Starr has developed a client-based
approach towards the design of large landscapes. Starr directed the
architectural landscaping of the Battery in Lower Manhattan,
including the Battery Bosque, an award-winning, naturalistic garden,
and the Upper Promenade. In her work in the Battery, Starr relished
in building and leading the team in a complex collaboration. Ms. Starr’s
leadership in park design, planning, and management has been recognized
nationally and internationally, garnering her numerous consulting projects,
most recently for the design of Forest Park in St. Louis and for the
planning of Ayalon Park in Tel Aviv.
Stephen Whitehouse
Stephen is a landscape architect and urban planner
whose diverse pursuits share a concern for the environmental quality
and social vitality of places. Raised in Cleveland and educated at Harvard,
his professional training and practice has been based in New York City’s
environs. He formerly served as Chief of Planning for the New York City
Department of Parks & Recreation, where he was instrumental in many
facets of New York’s physical rejuvenation: launching the City’s Greenway
system, nurturing public-private partnerships, acquiring natural lands
and neighborhood parks, setting standards for park creation and
operation by private developments such as Riverside South, and managing
the expansion of the USTA National Tennis Center. As a Principal of Saratoga
Associates, his urban work expanded outward to address the planning and
design issues of suburban and developing exurban communities. Starr
Whitehouse represents a deliberate next step to join together a group
of people who can serve clients, embrace complex planning issues, and
deliver responsive, innovative design.
Rather than focusing on a single aspect of the work,
he’s always been most fascinated by the juncture points. “Natural systems,
patterns of settlement, infrastructure – seeing all these come together
to make a place is interesting to me, not just as abstract concepts,”
he says, “but in terms of seeing good results in the end.” He describes
his role at Starr Whitehouse in terms of junctures as well. “I’m the translator,”
he says, “I serve as the mediator between the specialists and the public.
I like communicating with people, and seeing things shaped by the creative
interactions of people and institutions.”
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