Xtreme LA - Water Water Everywhere
Washington University
On November 6 - 8 2017, Landscape Forms, North America's leading designer and manufacturer of high design site furniture and advanced LED lighting, sponsored its ninth Extreme Landscape Architecture(Xtreme LA) event at Washington University in St. Louis.
As in previous Xtreme LA events, the challenge for this fast-paced charrette focused on an issue in landscape and the built environment critical to the local community. Xtreme LA was funded by Landscape Forms and co-hosted by Kirt Martin, Landscape Forms Vice President of Design and Marketing; Rod Barnett, Chair, Landscape Architecture at Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University; and Barbara Deutsch, Executive Director of the Landscape Architecture Foundation.
The Challenge
Xtreme LA participants were charged with developing visionary designs and an actionable plan for a resilient green infrastructure system that meets Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) mandates for flood mitigation; addresses biodiversity, habitat, public health, and quality of life for residents; and engages the community in the process.
The 36-hour event included fifteen young design professionals identified by their firms as potential leaders and a like number of students from Washington University’s landscape architecture master’s program. The group was guided by two distinguished landscape architects: Chip Crawford, Senior Principal, Forum Studio; and Keith Bowers, Founder and President, Biohabitats.
More Xtreme LA Challenges
Propose ideas and solutions surrounding the Bison Bridge project – the prospective transformation of the I-80 bridge between LeClaire, Iowa and Rapids City, Illinois into a wildlife crossing, outdoor recreation destination, and potential new national park.
Xtreme LA: Bison Bridge
On October 7, 2014 a group of twenty young design professionals, identified by their firms as potential leaders of their professions, arrived in Manhattan, Kansas for two days of intense charrette focused on envisioning a new urban landscape for the fast-growing city.
Xtreme LA: A New Vision
The sleeve rolling took place in Tucson. The occasion was Xtreme LA 2011, the fourth annual landscape architecture charrette sponsored by Landscape Forms and the Landscape Architecture Foundation.
Xtreme LA: Teamwork in Tucson
In October 2015, a two-day charrette sponsored by Landscape Forms and dubbed Xtreme LA (Extreme Landscape Architecture), brought sixteen young landscape architects and two award-winning leaders in the field to Saugatuck/Douglas in Western Michigan.
Xtreme LA: The Art Coast of Michigan
The focus of the fast-paced charrette was the design of resilient landscape solutions for a culturally, architecturally and economically significant part of Miami Beach. While a much smaller area of interest was considered in early planning, the project was expanded to encompass a site bounded by the intersection of Washington Avenue, a central north/south artery between the ocean and the city, and Lincoln Road, an east/west connector between beach and bay, and extending two full city blocks down Lincoln to the beachfront.
Xtreme LA: Envisioning Life on the Edge
On April 3, 2013, thirteen landscape architects selected by their firms as among the best and brightest gathered on the University of California Berkeley campus where they were joined by fifteen students from the UC Berkeley graduate program in landscape architecture for a two-day charrette calculated to engage, challenge and inspire future leaders of the profession.
Xtreme LA: Sea Level Rise in San Francisco Bay
This XtremeLA event, co-sponsored by the Landscape Architecture Foundation and site furniture manufacturer, Landscape Forms, provided an intense creative experience focused on a critical landscape planning and design challenge.
Xtreme LA: Towers and Trails...Bridges and Bats
Landscape Forms' eighth annual Xtreme LA (Extreme Landscape Architecture) event took place on October 4-6, 2016 in Blacksburg, VA.
Xtreme LA: A University. A Town. A Place to Call Home.