Ian McHarg
Ian McHarg (Clydeban, 1920-Pennsylvania, 2001) was a landscape architect and regional planner, as well as the founder of the landscape architecture department of the University of Pennsylvania, and Scottish writer.
Born in Clydebank and raised in Glasgow, McHarg grew up influenced by the industrial and rural environments of the Scottish city. During his youth he was part of the parachute brigade during the Second World War, where he was able to further deepen the field of landscape architecture during his stay in Italy with the British Army.
Shortly after, he emigratedto the United States, where he finished his studies in landscape architecture and urban planning at Harvard University in 1951. After his first period in America, he returned to his native land to rebuild the damage caused by the Second World War, where he was part of some housing projects and the "new towns act" of 1946 of the British government.
He returned to America in 1954, contacted by the University of Pennsylvania, where he was hired to teach the new degree in landscaping at the same university, where he was able to combine his desire to continue with the research on the landscape and his interest in teaching.
By 1960 he had already become a public figure with notable repercussions, so much so that he premiered his own program of television on CBS, "The House We Live In" In which, he had the opportunity to invite great thinkers of his time to dialogue about the place of the human being in the world, something that would also speak in "man and environment".
During his teaching period in Pennsylvania he met his partner, David A. Wallace, with whom he founded the studio "Wallace and McHarg Associates", which later became "Wallace McHarg Roberts & Todd (WMRT)", with the incorporation of its new partners William H. Roberts and Thomas A. Todd, this study became one of the major references in the field of urban intervention in an ecological way in its time. During this period, and until 1970, his course was the most popular of the University of Pennsylvania. But it was not until 1969 when he published his most famous book, "Project with nature", which redefined the design of the landscape and the planning of new regions throughout the country, so much that it influenced the environmental policy of the United States. This book will try to explain step by step how to catalog a region by its uses in a more efficient and correct way.
In 1980 he left the studio he founded with his partner Wallace, becoming only "Wallace Roberts & Todd", but continued his teaching career at the University of Pennsylvania until 1986. In 1985 he published "Ecological Planning", which was written already outside the study he founded years ago.
During his life he received multiple awards, such as National medal of art in 1990, American Society of Landscape Architects Medal, or the Japan prize in 2000, among other awards. McHarg died in March 2001 from a lung disease.
Books:
- "Project with nature", 1969
- "Ecological Planning", 1985
- "A quest for life" 1996
- "To Heal the Earth: Selected Writings of Ian L. McHarg" 1998
Awards:
- B. Y. Morrison Medal, North American Wildlife Management Association, 1971
- Creative Arts Award, Brandeis University, 1972
- Philadelphia Art Alliance Award, 1975
- Rene Dubos Award, 1986 - Alfred La Gasse Award, 1987
- National Medal of Art, 1990 - Richard Neutra Medal, 1992
- CELA Outstanding Educator Award, 1992
- Outstanding Achievement Award, Harvard University, 1992
- Thomas Jefferson Medal, University of Virginia, 1995
- Environmental Award, Sierra Club Film Festival, 1998
- Japan prize, 2000
Born in Clydebank and raised in Glasgow, McHarg grew up influenced by the industrial and rural environments of the Scottish city. During his youth he was part of the parachute brigade during the Second World War, where he was able to further deepen the field of landscape architecture during his stay in Italy with the British Army.
Shortly after, he emigratedto the United States, where he finished his studies in landscape architecture and urban planning at Harvard University in 1951. After his first period in America, he returned to his native land to rebuild the damage caused by the Second World War, where he was part of some housing projects and the "new towns act" of 1946 of the British government.
He returned to America in 1954, contacted by the University of Pennsylvania, where he was hired to teach the new degree in landscaping at the same university, where he was able to combine his desire to continue with the research on the landscape and his interest in teaching.
By 1960 he had already become a public figure with notable repercussions, so much so that he premiered his own program of television on CBS, "The House We Live In" In which, he had the opportunity to invite great thinkers of his time to dialogue about the place of the human being in the world, something that would also speak in "man and environment".
During his teaching period in Pennsylvania he met his partner, David A. Wallace, with whom he founded the studio "Wallace and McHarg Associates", which later became "Wallace McHarg Roberts & Todd (WMRT)", with the incorporation of its new partners William H. Roberts and Thomas A. Todd, this study became one of the major references in the field of urban intervention in an ecological way in its time. During this period, and until 1970, his course was the most popular of the University of Pennsylvania. But it was not until 1969 when he published his most famous book, "Project with nature", which redefined the design of the landscape and the planning of new regions throughout the country, so much that it influenced the environmental policy of the United States. This book will try to explain step by step how to catalog a region by its uses in a more efficient and correct way.
In 1980 he left the studio he founded with his partner Wallace, becoming only "Wallace Roberts & Todd", but continued his teaching career at the University of Pennsylvania until 1986. In 1985 he published "Ecological Planning", which was written already outside the study he founded years ago.
During his life he received multiple awards, such as National medal of art in 1990, American Society of Landscape Architects Medal, or the Japan prize in 2000, among other awards. McHarg died in March 2001 from a lung disease.
Books:
- "Project with nature", 1969
- "Ecological Planning", 1985
- "A quest for life" 1996
- "To Heal the Earth: Selected Writings of Ian L. McHarg" 1998
Awards:
- B. Y. Morrison Medal, North American Wildlife Management Association, 1971
- Creative Arts Award, Brandeis University, 1972
- Philadelphia Art Alliance Award, 1975
- Rene Dubos Award, 1986 - Alfred La Gasse Award, 1987
- National Medal of Art, 1990 - Richard Neutra Medal, 1992
- CELA Outstanding Educator Award, 1992
- Outstanding Achievement Award, Harvard University, 1992
- Thomas Jefferson Medal, University of Virginia, 1995
- Environmental Award, Sierra Club Film Festival, 1998
- Japan prize, 2000
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NameIan McHarg Ian McHarg
