Landscape architecture according to Olmsted: beyond purifying the air, pacifying the mind

Authors

  • Catherine Maumi École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-La Villette image/svg+xml

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52200/62.A.MC4LREXQ

Keywords:

Modern Movement, Modern architecture, Modern housing

Abstract

Although the works of Frederick Law Olmsted – such as Central Park, Prospect Park, Franklin Park, Riverside – are today widely recognized and appreciated, some of them having, in fact, been the object of important restoration work, the thinking which engendered them is much more unfamiliar, notably due to its complexity. The mission of landscape architecture, as it is defined by Olmsted, is above all social: to improve the living conditions of the population, beginning with the most unfavored. It is not just a matter of providing breathing spaces, but of allowing people to experience places capable of appeasing their minds.

How to Cite

Maumi, C. (2021). Landscape architecture according to Olmsted: beyond purifying the air, pacifying the mind. Docomomo Journal, (62), 28–35. https://doi.org/10.52200/62.A.MC4LREXQ

Published

2021-08-31

Issue

No. 62 (2020): Cure and Care

Section

Essays

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Catherine Maumi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Plaudit

Author Biography

Catherine Maumi, École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-La Villette

Architect, doctor of EHESS, HDR (Paris 8), presently full professor in History of Architecture at ENSA Paris La Villette, Research laboratory AHTTEP/AUSser. Her research focusing on the cities and the territory of the United States has been rewarded with diverse fellowships from the Canadian Center for Architecture, from CASVA (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). Her latest work published: Frank Lloyd Wright, Broadacre City: la nouvelle frontière, Editions de La Villette, 2015.

References

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BEVERIDGE, Charles E., HOFFMAN, Carolyn F. (Ed.), The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted. Supplementary Series, Vol. 1, “Writings on Public Parks, Parkways and Park Systems”, Baltimore, John Hopkins university press, 1997.

BEVERIDGE, Charles E., HOFFMAN, Carolyn F., HAWKINS, Kenneth, HUMMEL, Tina (Ed.), The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, Vol. 7, “Parks, Politics and Patronage, 1874-1882”, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins university Press, 2007.

BEVERIDGE, Charles E., ROCHELEAU, Paul, LARKIN, David (Ed.), Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape, New York, Universe Publishing, 1998.

CARR, Ethan, GAGEL, Amanda, SHAPIRO, Michael (Ed.), The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, Vol. 8, “The Early Boston Years, 1882-1890”, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins university Press, 2013.

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OLMSTED, Frederick Law, Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England, New York, George P. Putnam, 1852.

SCHUYLER, David, KALISS, Gregory, SCHLOSSBERG, Jeffrey (Ed.), The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, Vol. 9, “The Last Great Projects, 1890-1895”, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins university Press, 2015.

ZAITZEVSKY, Cynthia, Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Park System, Cambridge, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1982.