Cornelia Hahn Oberlander is one of the most influential landscape architects of the 20th century, known particularly for her dedication to the principles of sustainability. Now, there's a new book out about her life and career, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Making the Modern Landscape
The foreward to the book was written by E. Marc Treib, Prof. of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He says that throughout her long career, which began shortly after the end of World War II, Oberlander has held the belief that one may control, through the design of form and space, "the perceptions of landscape that lead to enjoyment, instruction, and even revelation."
Oberlander was born in Germany in 1921 and escaped with her family to Britain in the 1930's and settled in the United States. After graduating from Smith College and Harvard's Graduate School of Design, she eventually settled in Vancouver. She's best known, perhaps, for her work on Robson Square and the Provincial Law Courts in Vancouver, but also for the design of children's playgrounds and her dedication to sound principles of conservation.
Herrington takes the reader chronologically through Oberlander's life and her major projects with great detail about her design process. As Herrington notes, Oberlander's "willingness to experiment and invent has enabled her to realize design solutions that challenger conventional approaches, providing an alternative vision of practice." The book is filled with photos and images of her plans, both residential and commercial. The book is engaging and very informative, and anyone in the field of design should find it mandatory reading.
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