OvS Named ASLA Firm of the Year

John Hill

23. June 2014

New York Botanic Garden's Native Plant Garden. Photo: © Robert Benson (All photos courtesy of OvS)

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has selected Washington, DC's Oehme van Sweden & Associates (OvS) for its 2014 Landscape Architecture Firm Award, the organization's highest honor it bestows on a firm.

Wolfgang Oehme (1930 - 2011) and James van Sweden (1935 - 2013), who are credited with creating the "New American Garden" style of landscape architecture, established OvS in 1977 after working in Germany and the Netherlands, respectively. In a tribute to Oehme, The Cultural Landscape Foundation describes their style as "[making] use of large prairie-style drifts of grasses and herbaceous plant material used in a painterly fashion to create a diversity of form and color in the garden and highlight the seasonal aspects of the plants." This diversity of form and color continues to this day and can be found in numerous residential projects as well as commercial and public projects in the United States, some of them highlighted here in photos.

Residence in Bethesda, Maryland. Photo: © Paul Warchol

Residence in East Hampton, New York. Photo: © Richard Felber

New York Botanic Garden's Native Plant Garden. Photo: © Robert Benson

Chicago Botanic Garden PCSC Green Roof. Photo: © Chicago Botanic Garden

Chicago Botanic Garden Trellis Bridge. Photo: © Chicago Botanic Garden

Oehme van Sweden's trailbreaking work is carried on now by principals Sheila A. Brady, Lisa E. Delplace (CEO), and Eric Goft, who also "develop forward thinking contemporary and innovative landscapes," per the nominating materials for the firm's award. These contemporary projects include botanic gardens, green roofs, vertical screens, and habitat restorations. OvS will receive its Landscape Architecture Firm Award at the President’s Dinner on November 24, held during the 2014 ASLA Annual Meeting & EXPO, November 21-24, in Denver.

L-R: Sheila A. Brady, Lisa E. Delplace, Eric Goft

OvS's award is one of many being given out by the ASLA in 2014; other honors include:

ASLA Medal: Richard Bell, FASLA
ASLA Design Medal: Andrea Cochran, FASLA
Jot D. Carpenter Teaching Medal: William Tishler, FASLA
LaGasse Medal - Landscape Architect: Ramiro Villalvazo, ASLA
LaGasse Medal – Non-Landscape Architect: Will Rogers
Olmsted Medal: Adrian Benepe, Hon. ASLA
Medal of Excellence: Friends of the High Line
Community Service Award: William Flournoy, FASLA