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Vintondale Correctional ParkIn coal country near Pittsburgh, a 35-acre site completed in 2002 was a landmark. Why? Why?
It was an excellent, multidisciplinary team of engineers, hydrogeologists, architects, artists, historians and landscape architects. We learned all about acid mine drainage treatment to design a natural filtration system that handles years of pollution from mine runoff. Excavators reshaped the 19th-century sleeve furnaces used to convert coal into coke to make steel. We pulled them out from behind those chain fences and made the science visible, beautiful. It’s now a neighborhood park next to a historic bike path. I mean, boom. They all came together. People are starting to pay attention. There really wasn’t any pattern in the US back then, and from that moment on I could point to something in rural Pennsylvania and say, “It’s totally possible.”
Talk more about reusing materials recovered at sites.
I’m obsessed with resourcefulness. Maybe it’s because I’m from a big family. That’s why I say this, as usual, when the construction business sends debris to Maine because the landfills in Massachusetts are closed. I still can’t stand the word “sustainability” – it’s just a general sentiment. I am particularly in love with concrete. One person sees it as a wreck. I see this wonderful patina. I imagine who is standing on it, I see the work on that surface and I think, how beautiful is that?
I understand you naming your materials.
I have no idea how to refer to something until you name it. Barney and Betty Rubble, Wilma and Bamm-Bamm were on the site of a historic shipyard that is now the Urban Outfitters headquarters in Philadelphia. The team loved it.
How did you react to being the first person to win an Oberlander award?
The award made me really proud, quite deeply. He kind of said, “Please do this.” I think the jury did a pretty great job not only by looking at the number of works built, but also by looking at the impact someone’s work had on design education and how much someone was willing to take the risk. Cornelia Oberlander [a landscape architect who died in 2021] he was a pioneer. He was a risk taker. It’s not enough in our discipline.
Have you heard personal anecdotes about your job?
My brother Joe recently told me about meeting a grandmother on Urban Outfitters. He was watching his grandchildren play, and Joe asked him what his relationship was with the decommissioned US Navy Yard. “I was the cook in that building,” he said with a smile. “I’m so happy to see it live.”
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