BSI Bybee Honoree: Laurie Olin
Olin, a partner at OLIN Studio in Philadelphia, accepted the award – given for his work and excellence in use of natural stone – on May 14 during the BSI awards ceremony at Yale University in Woolsey Hall’s historic President’s Room.
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A distinguished teacher, author, and a renowned landscape architect, Olin studied civil engineering at the University of Alaska and pursued architecture at the University of Washington, where Richard Haag (founder of the school’s landscape-department, and now professor emeritus) encouraged him to focus on landscape.
Olin’s involvement often marks the signature of his studio’s distinguished portfolio of projects, which span the history of the studio from Bryant Park in New York to the Brancusi Ensemble in Targu-Jiu, Romania. Recent projects include Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland, Ore., and the new Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Olin and his fellow partners at OLIN recently received the 2008 Landscape Design Award from the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum for excellence and innovation in landscape design and dedication to sustainability.
Olin is currently practice professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught for 30 years, and is former chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and recipient of the 1998 Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Gold Medal from the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2005.
During the ceremony, Olin presented a retrospective detailing his legacy of work and then accepted the award from Devin Bybee, son of the award’s namesake.
The award – a Corinthian column – intricately carved from Indiana limestone, signifies the heritage of stone fabrication work crafted by the Bybee family. It honors James Daniel Bybee, a long-standing BSI member and past president.
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