Gail Wittwer-Laird and Jacob Lange Elevated to Principals
Starr Whitehouse is proud to announce the promotion of Gail Wittwer-Laird and Jacob Lange to firm Principals. Jacob will continue his directorship of Starr Whitehouse’s Atlanta office, while Gail will spearhead the creation of our new office in Hudson, New York. Congratulations, Gail and Jacob! We look forward to providing public realm design and open space strategy to new clients and communities under your leadership!
Starting Monday, March 16th, Starr Whitehouse will operate primarily as a remote workplace as we continue to monitor developments surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19. A copy of our remote work protocols is available here.
We are proud to announce the groundbreaking of the Battery Playscape! Moving off the premise that an early appreciation for ecological diversity fosters environmental consciousness in adulthood, the upcoming Battery PlayScape (a collaboration with BKSK) is a state-of-the-art play area with five zones designed around five typologies local to the Hudson River Valley. The design was recently awarded a Merit Award by the New York chapter of ASLA. We look forward to seeing the PlayScape come to life and add richness and ecological awareness to the play experience in Lower Manhattan’s most visible open space.
Starr Whitehouse is excited to have the ASLA-NY honor four of our projects with awards this year: an honor award for Southwest Park, and merit awards for The Battery PlayScape, East 92nd Street Bonus Plaza, and A Vision for a Resilient East Harlem. A warm thank you to the awards committee, and to all our wonderful clients, collaborators, and staff who worked tirelessly to make these projects happen! Read the ASLA’s press release here.
Congratulations to Associate Kristen Reardon and Landscape Architect Kirk Hiatt on receiving their landscape architecture licensure! We are proud of you!
Starr Whitehouse is proud to contribute the conceptual design for the Amy Erwin Memorial Garden, located in Candler Park in Atlanta, GA. Designed by Jacob Lange, Director of Starr Whitehouse’s Atlanta office, the garden features a drift of native perennials along a woodland edge with a 10 month bloom cycle. A series of granite slabs bisect the drift of plantings and form a seating area and viewing platform where visitors can engage with the perennials and adjacent woodland ravine. Visit the Candler Park Conservancy website for more information, or to make a contribution.
Starr Whitehouse is excited to be working with The Durst Organization, Handel Architects, Langan Engineering, and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation (DRWC) on one of the most significant waterfront development efforts on the East Coast, Philadelphia’s upcoming Vine Street Development. Starr Whitehouse leads landscape design on the project, which includes a new public park to improve connections to the water, preserve the site’s 17th century archaeological heritage, and extend DRWC’s recent efforts to create new waterfront public spaces such as Race Street Pier and Cherry Street Pier. The project will also expand on Starr Whitehouse’s previous work developing innovative stormwater and resilience strategies integrated into a rejuvenated public realm for our dense coastal communities.
Stephen Whitehouse chaired a week-long Urban Land Institute Advisory Panel for Downtown Parks and Open Spaces in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which culminated in a presentation of recommendations to downtown stakeholders on Friday, October 18th. Hosted by the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority (FTL/DDA), the panel’s recommendations included expanding the network of open spaces, making climate-adaptive spaces, augmenting management of new park funding, identifying additional resources for acquisitions, and creating a public/private partnership to manage and activate downtown’s public spaces. FTL/DDA has posted the process and draft recommendations.
Part of the Design Resource Team at this year’s Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute in Cleveland, Starr Whitehouse’s Michael Haggerty collaborated with designers, planners, and policy specialists to advise five affordable housing developers from across the United States on the role of design in making the built environment healthy, inclusive, and resilient.
Starr Whitehouse is excited to be honored at this year’s Battery Gala! As both leaders of teams and as subconsultants, Starr Whitehouse has collaborated with the Battery Conservancy on over a dozen projects. For twenty years, we have watched the park evolve and foster a new community of open space advocates in downtown Manhattan.