2024 Bunny Mellon Garden Symposium: An Exploration of the Southern Landscape, Birmingham - The Natural City Beautiful

The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, Southeast Chapter is proud to present the ICAA Garden Symposium: The Natural City Beautiful hosted in Birmingham, Alabama June 7-8, 2024. The symposium will include a series of events focused on the late 19th-century City Beautiful Movement as it evolved in the post-Civil War industrial city of Birmingham. Set within the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the City of Birmingham and surrounding areas are one of the most geographically and environmentally diverse regions in the United States. The topography quickly moves from transportation-friendly valleys to mineral-rich mountains, a combination that has guided the development of both a practical urban city grid and contrasting picturesque hillside neighborhoods.

Given that Birmingham was an intentionally designed city from its inception, the civic leadership formed city and neighborhood plans under the direction of nationally recognized designers such as the Olmsted Brothers, Warren Manning, Warren, Knight, & Davis, Tom Leader, Urban Design Associates, and others. Each generation of planners, landscape architects, architects, and horticulturalists recognized the uniqueness of the area and helped realize the setting aside of land for public use and planned development of the garden suburbs.

The “Magic City” eventually evolved beyond its overnight success as a steel-producing, railroad-based transportation hub, through a mid-20th Century period of changing social and aesthetic values, and into its present form as a culinary, outdoor, and healthcare destination for tourists and residents alike. This transformation has included recent urban interventions of award-winning projects such as Railroad Park, Rotary Trail, Red Rock Trail System, and City Walk BHAM. Many of these 21st-century contemporary designs have transformed Birmingham’s physical industrial vestiges into greenspaces. These efforts, coupled with the ongoing adaptive reuse of historic buildings and restoration of existing parks and gardens, reimagine the principles of the City Beautiful Movement in Birmingham to promote a built environment that is truly for “the public good, health, and happiness”.

THE EVENTS

Friday, June 7, 2024
Cocktail Reception & Welcome Dinner
Award of the Bunny Mellon Garden Design Prize

Saturday, June 8, 2024
Keynote Lecture & Panel Discussion
Keynote Lecturer: William Gilchrist, Director of Planning and Building, City of Oakland, CA

Panel Discussion (3 AIA CES Learning Units|HSW & 3 LA CES PDHs|HSW)
Eric Osth, moderator - Chairman, UDA
William Gilchrist, former Director of Planning, Engineering, & Permits, Birmingham, AL
Jane Reed Ross - Landscape Architect, Rotary Trail
David Fleming - REV Birmingham
Nimrod Long - Landscape Architect

Lunch
Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark

Tour of Parks & Gardens (3 AIA CES Learning Units|Elective & 3 LA CES PDHs)
The 2024 Symposium will feature tours of Railroad Park and five residential gardens. Two gardens are located atop Red Mountain with views of the City of Birmingham and Shades Valley. The additional three gardens are in the garden suburb of Mountain Brook, a 1926 planned community designed by Warren Manning, and features the nationally acclaimed woodland garden of Louise Wrinkle.

Speakers:
William A. Gilchrist – Keynote Speaker
Bill’s career has spanned public and private sectors. In his previous roles as director of Place-Based Planning in New Orleans, LA, and director of the Department of Planning, Engineering & Permits in Birmingham, AL, he oversaw the merger of city departments including engineering, public works, planning, urban design, and building and inspection services, as well as integrating permitting processes to improve efficiency and customer service. His work has been recognized by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the National League of Cities, the American Planning Association (APA), and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Bill was also the director of the Urban Design Studio in the Atlanta Office of EDAW/AECOM. He has consulted in creating public processes for land-use policy in Romania and Ukraine.

Bill has engaged academic centers of excellence in design and planning as resources for local and regional development and served on advisory bodies to MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, Tulane University, and Auburn University. For over a decade he was a member of the Board of the National Association for Olmsted Parks.

Eric Osth- Panel Moderator
As UDA’s (Urban Design Associates) Chairman, Eric leads UDA’s marketing efforts in addition to running projects as a principal-in-charge. Eric has led urban design and architectural projects across the United States. Over the years, Eric has been deeply involved in the design community, serving on several boards of directors including the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art in New York City, Riverlife, and AIA Pittsburgh.

Jane Reed Ross – Panelist
Jane Reed Ross has been practicing Landscape Architecture for 40 years, with experience throughout the Southeast as well as in the Washington D.C. area and Queensland, Australia. Before joining Goodwyn, Mills, and Cawood in 2008, Jane was a principal at Ross Land Design for 15 years. She led the firm in the direction of sustainable design in the following award-winning and beloved civic spaces: Homewood Central Park, Homewood Shades Creek Greenway, Birmingham Children’s Zoo, and Railroad Park. Combining quality design with environmentally holistic solutions, Jane has created spaces that have a sense of place and presence based on an ethic of function and art.

At GMC, Jane has been the project manager for the Red Rock Greenway Master Plan, and she has worked closely with the Freshwater Land Trust on the plan’s implementation with the following projects: the Civil Rights Trail, the Jones Valley/Cross to Sloss Trail, Homewood Shades Creek Greenway, the Aqueduct Trail in Tarrant, and Hugh Kaul Trail. Jane’s vision for the Rotary Trail with the Magic City Gateway is one of the most Instagrammed sites in Birmingham.

David Fleming – Panelist
REV Birmingham is a place-based revitalization and economic development nonprofit organization with a vision of making the city the most vibrant urban market in the Southeast where anyone can realize their dreams. Our core value is “Community Leads>Design Feeds,” as we actively partner with the community to identify needs and craft innovative solutions. Comprised of fearless problem solvers and passionate community members, our team is committed to bringing these dreams to life.

Nimrod Long - Panelist
Nimrod Long, President Nimrod Long & Associates, received a Bachelor of Arts from Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia in 1973 and then a Master of Landscape Architecture from the School of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia in 1978. Mr. Long has been retained as a designer and consultant by various local, state, federal, and private clients. This experience includes master planning for large commercial office parks, large-scale residential master plans, urban parks and streetscape designs, and landscape development for commercial, residential, and institutional properties. In 1997 Mr. Long was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

These events are presented as part of the Bunny Mellon Curricula at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art.

The ICAA is very grateful to the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation for its generous support of this program, along with our Bunny Mellon Curricula Sponsors:

Lead Sponsor, Hollander Design Landscape Architects
Garden Symposium Sponsor, Kathryn M. and Ronald J. Herman Charitable Foundation
Garden Design Prize Sponsor, Harrison Design
Continuing Education and Public Programs Sponsor, Charlotte Moss
Film Series Sponsor, Janice Parker Landscape Architects

With Additional Support Provided By

Presenting Sponsor:
McKinnon and Harris

Silver Sponsorship:
Historical Concepts
Jacquelynne P. Lanham Designs
Marmi Stone
Pledger Architect
Shoppe
Troy Rhone Garden Design

Friend Sponsorship:
Alex Smith Garden Design
Amoroso Compliance Consulting
Fixtures & Finishes
Land Plus Associates
Stellar Windows & Doors
Tammy Connor Interior Design

The ICAA is excited to offer AIA CES Learning Units and LA CES PDHs for attendance at the programming featured in the ICAA Southeast Garden Symposium.

Please click here for additional information:

Instructional Delivery Method: Live In-Person Learning Program

Program Level: Introductory

Prerequisites: None required

Learning Objectives:

2024 ICAA Garden Symposium: Morning Lecture, Panel Discussion, and Railroad Park Tour

1. Define the City Beautiful Movement historically and in the context of the post-civil war industrial city of Birmingham, Alabama and how recent interventions of parks and urban spaces continue to enhance the public realm.

2. Highlight case studies of recent park and urban planning projects in the Birmingham area including Railroad Park, Rotary Trail, City Walk BHAM, and the Red Rock Trail System and explore the economic, health, and environmental impact to the health, safety and welfare of residents and visitors.

3. Learn how public and private partnerships are helping to solve issues related to growing cities and increased urbanization while maintaining public greenspaces and the integrity of the natural environment.

4. Study innovative methods of managing storm water and filtration for preservation of healthy natural streams and created water features.

5. Explore reuse of existing site materials in creative ways to lessen the environmental impact of construction.

Rethinking Landscape Conservation in Southern Appalachia:

1. Study the composition of residential landscapes in contrast to public parks and greenspaces of all scales.

2. Understand the ecosystem of the southern woodland garden versus a manicured urban garden.

3. Study the relationship of trees, hedges, and architectural structures in the formation of outdoor rooms and definition of spaces in both the park setting and residential landscape.

4. Learn about incorporating greater biodiversity through plant selection within the native woodland and manicured garden landscapes.

5. Experience the lasting effects of the early 20th Century planned garden suburb, including the history of the design process and the relationship of the developer and Landscape Architect Warren Manning.

AIA CES Program Approval Expiration Date: May 20, 2027

AIA Provider Number: G193

AIA Provider Statement: The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art is a registered provider of AIA-approved continuing education under Provider Number G193. All registered AIA CES Providers must comply with the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Any questions or concerns about this provider or this learning program may be sent to AIA CES ([email protected] or (800) AIA 3837, Option 3).

This learning program is registered with AIA CES for continuing professional education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA of any material of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product.

AIA continuing education credit has been reviewed and approved by AIA CES. Learners must complete the entire learning program to receive continuing education credit. AIA continuing education Learning Units earned upon completion of this course will be reported to AIA CES for AIA members. Certificates of Completion for both AIA members and non-AIA members are available upon request.