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Congratulations to our 2024 LAF Medal & Founders' Award recipients: Frederick "Fritz" Steiner and the International Living Future Institute

Through two annual awards, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) recognizes those individuals and firms/organizations that have made a significant and sustained contribution to the LAF mission of supporting the preservation, improvement and enhancement of the environment.

Launched in 2016 for LAF’s 50th anniversary, these awards are the Foundation's highest honors. Recipients are announced each year in January and honored at a special event later in the spring. Nominations and selections are made by the LAF Board of Directors and Board Emeritus Council.

Process

Both awards are conveyed annually, with the winners honored at the LAF Awards Dinner in the late spring. Nominations are made by the LAF Board Emeritus Council. Final selections are made by the Board Emeritus Council and LAF Executive Committee.

2024 Awards Committee Members:

  • Susannah Drake, FAIA, FASLA, Sasaki (Chair)
  • Gayle Berens, Gayle Berens Consulting
  • Kona Gray, FASLA, EDSA
  • Mia Lehrer, FASLA, Studio-MLA
  • Chris Torres, RLA,  Agency Artifact
  • McKenzie Wilhelm, Coen+Partners 

LAF Medal

This award is conveyed to a landscape architect for distinguished work over a career in applying the principles of sustainability to landscapes. The award recognizes lifetime achievements in design, research, innovation, advocacy, and/or policy with a focus on sustainability. Honorees come from private practice, academia, nonprofit and public sectors, exemplify the values of LAF, and have made a significant contribution to the advancement of the landscape architecture discipline.

  • Headshot of Fritz Steiner
    Fritz Steiner Dean, University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, Philadelphia, PA
  • Headshot of Randy Hester in front of a small tree
    Randolph Hester Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, Hesters Store, NC
  • Headshot of Elizabeth J. Kennedy, FASLA
    Elizabeth J. Kennedy Founder and Principal, EKLA, Brooklyn, NY
  • Karen A. Phillips headshot
    Karen A. Phillips Founder and Former Director of the Office of Sustainability, New York State Homes and Community Renewal, New York, NY
  • Bill Johnson, FASLA
    Bill Johnson Cofounder, JJR and Former Dean of the School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
  • Joe Brown, FASLA
    Joseph E. Brown, FASLA Former CEO (EDAW) and Chief Innovation Officer, AECOM, San Francisco, CA
  • Carol Franklin
    Carol Franklin Founding Principal, Andropogon Associates, Ltd, Philadelphia, PA
  • Cornelia Hahn Oberlander
    Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Vancouver, BC, Canada
  • Grant Jones
    Grant Jones Cofounder, Jones & Jones, Seattle, WA

LAF Founders’ Award

This award is conveyed to a firm, agency, or organization that demonstrates a significant commitment to preserving, creating, or enhancing landscapes over a sustained period of time. The award is not limited to groups within the landscape architecture discipline.

  • ILFI
    International Living Future Institute Portland, OR
  • SPUR logo - a simple, spur-like star followed by "SPUR"
    San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association San Francisco, CA
  • Logo of the The Nature Conservancy with a green sphere wrapped in 3 white leaves
    The Nature Conservancy Arlington, VA
  • MICD logo
    Mayors' Institute on City Design Washington, DC
  • Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition
    Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition Washington, DC
  • The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center logo
    Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Austin, TX
  • The Trust for Public Land square logo
    Trust for Public Land San Francisco, CA
  • National Park Service logo
    National Park Service Washington, DC
  • American Society of Landscape Architects ASLA square logo
    American Society of Landscape Architects Washington, DC

LAF is grateful to the many individuals and organizations that provide financial support towards fulfilling our mission to support the preservation, improvement, and enhancement of the environment.

Much of what LAF is able to accomplish would not be possible without the thought leadership and financial investment of our major supporters, including ASLA, which provides over $125,000 of in-kind support annually.

Supporters