Arkansas Landscape Architecture Society Honors Faculty, Alumni

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The Ecological Design Group, Inc., won an Award of Excellence in the professional design category for the William E. Clark Presidential Park Wetlands in Little Rock. (Photo courtesy of Ecological Design Group)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects honored several landscape architecture alumni and current faculty and staff from the Fay Jones School of Architecture earlier this fall.

The 2013 Arkansas Chapter American Society of Landscape Architects Professional Awards were presented at a banquet in Little Rock. Projects were judged by members of the Michigan Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The Ecological Design Group, Inc., won an Award of Excellence in the professional design category for the William E. Clark Presidential Park Wetlands in Little Rock. The design team included Tanner Weeks and Shannon Norman, both Fay Jones School alumni. This design restored the Arkansas River sandbar habitat to filter urban runoff and create a natural relief within the urban riverfront context of the city.

The Ecological Design Group, Inc., also won an Honor Award in the professional design category for the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in Birdeye. The design creates a place that recognizes the value of individuals, culture and honors veterans within an emotionally rich setting that is enhanced by the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape. Weeks and Norman again served as the design team.

Building Neighborhoods that Build Social and Economic Prosperity: Manual for a Complete Neighborhood, a design for Kigali, Rwanda, was recognized with a Merit Award in the professional design (unbuilt) category. The design team included the Fay Jones School of Architecture; the University of Arkansas Community Design Center; Allison Thurmond Quinlan; Peter Rich Architects in South Africa; the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology; and Cano|Vera Architectura in Mexico.

The project's generative principles promote increasing complexity among local social, ecological and economic systems. These principles emphasize sustainability, resiliency, flexibility and net energy production in the evolution of 21^st century living environments – all addressing new notions of prosperity and security in a lower-energy future.

Christopher Bakunas won a Student Merit Award for the Urban Marsh Project in Virginia Beach, Va. Bakunas graduated from the Fay Jones School with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture in 2012. This design is a landmark project for environmental restoration in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay. It uses cutting-edge strategies for alleviating the impact of development in a sensitive marsh watershed, while staying true to the practical aspects of economic and social prosperity.