Celebrating Pittsburgh’s Modern Landscapes

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The death of Lawrence Halprin at age 93 this week is another reminder that the generation of pioneering modernist landscape architects is passing into history.

Next week, The Cultural Landscape Foundation and Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will honor another of those trailblazers, Pittsburgh's own John O. Simonds, at a day-long symposium Nov. 6 at The Andy Warhol Museum.

Simonds, who died in 2005, worked around the country and is best known here for two important works: Mellon Square, Downtown, and the 1966 redesign of Allegheny Commons Park, most notably Lake Elizabeth, on the North Side. Also an urban planner, he designed four new towns, including Miami Lakes and Pelican Bay in Florida, and was the planner of record for more than 80 planned communities. Read full article