Interviewed by Cathy Sivak
  EnviroEducation.com Contributing Writer
  June 13, 2006

YOU & YOUR CAREER

How did your landscape architecture career unfold? What led you to form your own company, Thomas Balsley Associates?

I fully intended to open a practice in New York City when I graduated from school, but I was recruited by a firm that flattered my ego and talked me into working for them right out of school. I was there for about nine months, then I struck out on my own. I should note that my education was interrupted every other year with work for a professional firm as a junior designer. By the time I graduated, I had enough experience to take my license, and I was pretty seasoned from having four years of work in a professional office.

I was reasonably prepared to open my own practice, though I can't say I had a business plan. Back in those days all you needed to open up shop was a kitchen table and a t-square. What led me to open my own company was a fierce sense of independence that I've had throughout my life. I like to take credit for my successes and take the blame for my failures.

We specialize in the urban landscape. But we do work that runs the gamut in the landscape profession: golf courses, multi-family houses, corporate campuses, universities and single family houses. The mainstay of our practice is projects that are in the urban environment such as small urban parks, plazas, residential projects within the city and waterfront projects.

Trump Rooftop Garden

A lot of us use the term urban. It's not a licensed profession; you can practice it and go about it as an architect, a planner or as a landscape architect. What most smaller landscape architecture firms mean when we say urban design is the practice of landscape architecture with urban design principles. We take into consideration many things urban designers take into consideration, therefore we overlap, and a lot of what we do is urban design related. I don't think there are many of us that create massings of high rise building in an urban environment, but we do participate in the urban design process.

We don't work do much work on individual projects. Urban design is more related to an area of the city, a neighborhood of the city or a district or a precinct. We've done projects that are complete new communities that are planned, with 20 buildings and parks and open spaces. Streetscape is urban design, a lot of projects fall under that urban design umbrella, so we have to be sure we know which part of urban design work we are doing in conjunction with other urban designers such as planners or architects who look at the buildings, streets, massings, designs and streetscape.

Having one foot in urban design, the other in landscape architecture is so important to our work. One creates park space through the urban design process, the other, the design of the park, takes its cues from the streets and buildings and sunlight, public transportation and all of those others issues that come up in urban design.

These organizations have contributed in a couple of ways. Early in my career, I wasn't exactly plugged into the fast lane in terms of professional success. I was sort of fiddling around, not really having a great plan. A lot of the work I was doing is what we call community advocacy planning. Instead of presenting plans that would be impacting the community, I was in the audience representing the community voice, helping community groups plan their communities and effect the decisions made by municipalities that would affect the communities. It honed my art of listening; a key trait of a designer is to listen and be able to actually repeat what was said. Whether it is someone in a blue collar who drives the bread truck or a white collar community member in a business suit, each deserves to be listened to and responded to. Having sat on that side of the table prepared me well for my design process, particularly the part that requires public review.

The second category of that type of activity is my desire to give back, to find organizations whose mission statements are dear to my heart and offer me a chance to, in some way, and give back to a city that I've been fortunate to be successful in. I feel I'm contributing to the betterment of the city by being involved in these organizations.

It's become more important later in my career. Early in my career, I was sort of on a fast track of caring less about peer approval and caring more about getting things done. I would have to say that I've softened, and I care more about peer approval now. The recognition is very flattering, although it was never the priority of my work. To me the greatest reward of all is seeing people in my parks living a good urban life. It almost brings me to tears sometimes when I go to visit my spaces. There's no award in the world that anyone in the world could give me that could be greater than that. But next to that, the awards are nice.

That's tough after some 30-odd years, but there are some that do stand out in my mind. There is a new waterfront park in New York that we competed about six years ago, Gantry Plaza Sate Park, which has set a higher bar for waterfront parks around the country and the world. It's really looked at as an important turning point in the way in which we approach waterfront parks. I'm very proud of it, and I think it is one of my best works. I did it in collaboration with another landscape architect, who unfortunately had to leave the process early, so I carried it out on my own. Others include: another waterfront park that has just recently been completed, Riverside Park South; Gate City in Tokyo is probably one of the best that I've done; we won a design competition for Peggy Rockefeller Plaza in New York; and we redesigned a plaza on 57th St, it was named after me, Balsley Park, so of course it's a favorite.

Some people do this much earlier, but honestly I think I have much more to say now than I did 20 years ago, which is demonstrated by the response I get. I have something unique to say not only to my fellow professionals, but also to people involved in the subject of revitalization of our cities. There are many organizations that invite me to speak that are dedicated to that goal, and I bring a perspective they've never considered. I can help bring change within my profession by helping my peers think about things in a different way, as well as to people dedicated to changing the city, who many times become our clients.

Paul Freiberg, Lawrence Halprin and William Whyte. Paul Freiberg is a landscape architect who dedicated his career to urban landscapes, sort of a renegade; so I relate to that. Lawrence Halprin is a pioneer in intuitive landscape architecture that draws heavily from human psychology. William Whyte is a sociologist who wisely opened the design communities' eyes to the importance of the work we do for society. The work we do is for people, and we have to understand how people interact and behave in order to set the stage in a better way. He wrote some simple little books that are still my bibles, and are held up as design manuals for many people in my profession.

I might come up in the elevator thinking I know exactly what I want to do today, but then a co-worker gets on the elevator with me and tells me about an e-mail they got from Japan last night, and it turns my day upside down, its sort of like that expression, “God laughs as I make plans.” On a more serious note, my day consists of a lot of meetings with my staff, conversations with people, marketing, some pretty mundane things, about 80 percent of my time is spent in meetings and discussions, coordination and marketing, and maybe 20 percent is pure, uninterrupted design moments. So for me to get some serious design work done, above and beyond the collaboration part of it, I have to retreat to my studio in Connecticut and do work there on the weekends. .

My sketch book and a pen are my favorite gadgets.

The most challenging aspect is that the arena I've chosen to work in, public open space, has no one single client. There is an expression that the camel is a horse designed by committee, and in essence, I'm forever trying to make sure we produce a Thoroughbred, not a camel. The most rewarding is when the Thoroughbred comes out of the stable, and I see the people out in the parks; there's nothing more rewarding than that.

They are very important. We can't live in a vacuum, at least in the work that I do; it requires working closely with architects, lighting and graphic designers, engineers,. It seems I'm collaborating with everybody because of the arena I've chosen to work in requires enormous amounts of collaboration and I've learned to enjoy it while finding my own design voice.

My greatest professional success would be how I have been able to stay my course, stay committed and stay passionate, and I have successfully done that to this date.

To continue doing what I do with passion, and do it better each time. To reach a broader audience, have a greater impact on people whose lives I think my work touches.

I don't know how you can get up and go to work every morning without the passion I have in my belly. I reinvent myself and force myself to face brand new challenges, just to get those passions called up, and to get that adrenaline to flow. I don't put out formula work; I purposely turn the world upside down to maintain that level of passion. I hate to see anyone, in any profession, not have that kind of passion.

EDUCATION INFORMATION & ADVICE

How did you initially decide to study landscape architecture? How did you choose to the bachelor of landscape architecture program at Syracuse University and the bachelor of science program at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

The architecture profession has kids who were building blocks and thinking about building and becoming an architect at a young age, whereas landscape architects may have to do some catching up in terms of being drawn to the field.

For example, I am one of three brothers, and we are all landscape architects who went to SUNY at Syracuse University. My older brother had no idea what landscape architecture was, he just wanted to go to school with his friend who had a scholarship. My brother needed to go into the public branch of SUNY; he chose the forestry school, and went into landscape architecture. He brought the word back to me, and later, unbeknownst to either of us, my younger brother, who is nine years younger than me, followed in our footsteps and practices in New York as well.

I wished I'd pursed a graduate degree, but I just didn't have the money. When you begin to achieve some success and start getting into the higher profile projects, you find there are certain people who tend to judge you on your educational pedigree rather than judge you on your work. That becomes a liability for someone without their masters. That's my only regret, but not really, because there wasn't anything I could do about it. I go back to teach now. It proves there are a lot of ways to success. Look at Bill Gates, he never finished college. There is the straight and narrow track, and there are other circuitous routes, but what matters is that you get there, not how you get there.

Balsley Park

In some cases they don't know what they want to do; others feel pressure from their parents to decide. It's the old argument on a either getting a liberal arts education or pursuing what you think you want to do. I think there ought to be different curriculums and different choices throughout the nation's landscape architecture programs that provide that kind of diversity of education, so any high school student could find a home best-suited for them. One school could be specialist, another generalist; hopeful students can research and access the information on the program to help them choose; the curriculum is the most important part.

The other factor they should consider is that they should attend a school that includes faculty members who are actually practicing in the in the field, not pure lifers in the academic world. A faculty that has a mixture of the reality of the outside world as well as the richness of academics, both of these mindsets, is best for the students.

Some of the greatest minds in this country came out of the tuition-free City College in New York. I don't like the idea that one program is better than another. There's a certain elitism that comes with that, especially at the grad school level, which is totally unfounded.

There's a general pattern that suggests people who didn't go to Harvard or Yale are second class citizens, and that's not right. One of the top three architecture programs in the United States is at the University of Cincinnati, but no one will ever mention that.

It doesn't make a difference unless it's a good job where the firm's principals went to the same school. Across the broad cross-section of the country, other than on the East and West coast, you'd find it wouldn't make much difference at all. At least it doesn't when I'm hiring.

What is typically lacking in their resumes or portfolios is a demonstration of their people skills. It's important that they can demonstrate their sense of organization through the structure of the cover letter or of their portfolio; it's reflection of how their mind is organized; that's very important. Computer skills have become the great equalizers, almost everyone is equal. Students can outshine their peers if they can manually do fast, quick, sketches and communications of ideas and show that they are above and beyond the ability of normal students with normal computer skills.

They ought to really do their research, and they should ask someone to explain to them the difference between a service business and a royalty income. Landscape architecture is signing up for a service business, and it has an enormous impact on quality of life, and your lifestyle. I don't think anybody tells prospective students about that… while we're sitting in community meetings with 100 people until midnight, the guy who chose to be a furniture designer is going to his mailbox and is collecting his royalty check.

There should be a sense of freedom to blossom academically with a free mind. To a certain extent, the programs can do a better job with preparing students with people skills, to be project managers, to communicate more freely with clients and the public. Those are the complaints that I hear from my professional peers, that we're not getting students who are prepared for the reality of the profession. Schools want to protect the students from that, and as in most things, the right place is somewhere in between those two mindsets.

CAREER INFORMATION & ADVICE

Are there landscape architecture trends in play that could help landscape architecture students plan for the future?

Sustainable design, new urbanism and the revitalization of cities are current trends. These are all things they should learn about it school.

There's a danger that the profession is being marginalized to environmental issues at the cost of holding their own, shoulder to shoulder, in the design world of architects and urban designers. There are more and more landscape architects who are gravitating to the environmental arena, and in a funny way surrendering the turf we should own in the city to the urban designers. As a profession, we're going to regret it.

Gantry Project

That we move trees around, have fun and work in the outdoors.

It's given us instant access to research and information. We can also immediately transmit our credentials and our designs to clients far away. Through the Internet, I'm able to do work all over the world, all over the country, in ways I never could have before.

One is Form Z for sculptural work… there are lots of others they'll learn in school.

Green roofs, new urbanism are some sustainability specialties. I don't condone this by the way, I'm just stating a fact -- everybody rushes to one side of the boat, and that's how it feels. If we're doing a good job as a profession, we're covering all the fields, not all of us rushing to one area.

They all shouldn't all graduate and become landscape architects. Instead, they should graduate and become the chair of the planning board of the city, or the city council person, or the person in charge of design and planning for a major development company. If a lot of landscape architects would take these routes after graduating, it would be better for our profession and better for our environment. As much as we'd like to say differently, clients affect the outcome of our work as much as we do.

From what I understand it's an employees market. There seems to be a shortage of landscape architects at the moment, so they are in great demand. In five years, I think it will be the reverse. Right now, this country has been in an unprecedented real estates boom for the last 10 years, and a lot of jobs in our profession are driven by that boom. When it busts, there are going to few jobs available and a lot of people looking for them.

Some college programs have great internships programs for students midway through their educational careers, where students serve a four or six or nine-month internships. That's somewhat of a passive way of being exposed to the real world during your education. It does serve as a great introduction. Getting summer jobs in landscape architecture offices, no matter what you'd be doing, even for free if you can afford it, is a great way to introduce yourself to people you admire and who you might want to work with when you graduate.

In so many ways, we're the guardians of the environment. In my case, I'm at the forefront of the fight to enhance urban life to the point where it offers a more compelling alternative than living in the suburbs which required the destruction of yet another farm, wetland or woodland. My work in the city contributes to the quality of urban life and our ability to connect with each other. Through our open spaces, we create agoras where people can connect and meet and bond as a community, as a neighborhood and as a society. That's why I'm so committed to work in the city. We can do that for thousands and millions of people

They should live, breathe and eat it, with passion.

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