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Lawrence Halprin dies at his home on October 25, 2009.

Halprin enlists in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

1949

Halprin opens his own firm in San Francisco.

Collaborates with Al Boeke, Charles Willard Moore and others for the master landscape plan for Sea Ranch.

1971

Halprin creates Ira Keller Fountain located in Portland, Oregon.

1969

Is awarded Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

2005

Completes a new design for the Lower Yosemite Falls area in Yosemite National Park.

2002

Is awarded the National Medal of the Arts, which is the nation’s highest honor for an artist.

1997

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. is created.

Lawrence Halprin was born on July 1, 1916 in Brooklyn, New York. Halprin went to three different schools where at each, he earned different degrees. He first attended Cornell University, in 1935, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Plant Sciences. He was then given a Master of Science in horticulture at the University of Wisconsin in 1941. Lastly, he earned a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1942. After going to school, Halprin enlisted in the U.S Navy and was appointed as a Lieutenant during World War II. After surviving an attack, Halprin was sent to San Francisco on leave where he soon after began his career as a landscape architect. Once in San Francisco, Halprin joined the firm of San Francisco landscape architect Thomas Dolliver Church for four years. Soon after, Halprin opened his own office in 1949. Halprin was also on several national commissions such as White House Council on Natural Beauty and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Halprin met his wife, Anna Halprin, in college. Anna played a significant role in Halprin’s ideas about landscape movement. They were both interested in the collaborative process where they explored areas between choreography and the way the public moved throughout a public space. Together, Lawrence and Anna Halprin created “RSVP Cycles” which was a system of “creative methodology” for collaboration with others. Halprin tends to focus on human scale, public experience, and the social impact of his designs. Many of his projects display his vision of open space as a stage. During the 1950s, Halprin’s projects consisted of residential gardens, small housing projects, several campus mater plans, and shopping centers. He began to take on new types of projects that consisted of urban sites during the 1960s. After many trips to Europe, Halprin, and his partners, began to become known for their urban, rather than suburban, landscape projects. Halprin was awarded a great amount of honors. These honors include the American Institute of Architects Medal for Allied Professions, which was presented to him in 1964, Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, given in 1969, ASLA Gold Medal and Design Medal, and the National Medal of the Arts, which is the nation’s highest honor for an artist. Lawrence Halprin died, at the age of 93, at his home in Kentfield, California on October 25, 2009. Halprin’s legacy as one of the world’s leading landscape architects and environmental planners continues to live on to this day.

When creating the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Halprin had many fond memories of Roosevelt and wanted to create something that would increase the public’s involvement in the past. Halprin wanted this memorial to be observed by those with physical impairments. He created areas with braille writing for those who were blind.

The RSVP Cycles was created both by Lawrence and Anna Halprin. Although it is not a physical object, Halprin illustrates the creative process in the human environment through the use of this diagram. He created this process that could be applied to all disciplines.

1943

Lawrence Halprin had different ways about going to create a design. He paid much attention to human scale, user experience, and social impact. His main purpose of his creations is to provide an “environmental experience”. In order to make this possible, Halprin had a three step process. Part I requires Halprin to acknowledge all sections of the place of his design. He does this to demonstrate the development of his approach using his philosophy of choreography. Part II requires him, and his firm, to analyze their applications in order to produce form throughout his design. Finally, part III involves Halprin dissecting his application of sketches, or whatever he may have produced in his previous two steps, in order to structure the process of beginning to build his design. Lawrence Halprin used “scores” (a system of symbols that convey, guide, and control various elements such as time and space) to communicate his intent. Along with scores, Halprin uses movement notation, which is basically Halprin observing the people in his location and the way they react to their surroundings.

Flowers on tree

Tree branches

Vertical lines

Rocks

Leaves on tree

Horizontal lines

Boulders

Tree

Brick wall

Composition diagram1.5” x 3”

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Halprin earns a bachelor’s in Plant Science from Cornell University.

2009

Halprin designed Ira Keller Fountain with the intent to choreograph movement. He wanted to make a public space that would allow the public to bring in action and allow them to participate in activities. He wanted to present something to the community that says “come in” rather than “stay out”.

The Sea Ranch displays Halprin’s respect for the development of nature. He wanted to develop a place that was not just a place with many houses but to show the beauty of nature. He wanted to find a way for “people to inhabit this magnificent and natural system without destroying the very reason for people to come here.” He created a place where the structures would be able to become part of nature.

1964

The first lesson I learned from researching Lawrence Halprin is the strategy of considering how people will use, experience, and react to the environment that they are given. Halprin calls this “movement notation” which can be basically explained as combining time, space, people, and environmental movement. Halprin communicates movement notation throughout his designs by always keeping the public in mind before he begins to create his project. This is very useful because as a designer, you must always keep the public in mind. I used an image that I took of my OSU project because me and my partner created it with the public in mind because we wanted to create a space that would allow the public to move throughout it. The second lesson I learned was the first part of Halprin’s process. The first part of his process is basically visiting his site, taking note of what surrounds his location and sketching out what it is that he wants to occupy his location. I learned that it is always essential to start with an idea on where you want to go with your design. You cannot simply create a design and expect that to be the final design. You must acknowledge the site and its environmental surroundings in order to place something that the public will use. The image I created was a sketch of what it was that we first came up with. We made improvements based off this sketch in order to improve our OSU. Lastly, but not least, the third lesson I learned from Halprin is the use of scores. I inter-pret scores as a combination of diagrams as well as conveying your design intent through these diagrams. The picture I created to use for the lesson I learned is the diagram I used of my final OSU design. I believe I use scores properly because I am using a symbol of arrows to show what direction it is that I want the public to enter the space unit. I believe this conveys various elements such as space by applying the use of a human body in it. This conveys space because it shows just how wide or tall the object is by com-paring it to the human body.