Staten Island, New York
Now underway, this park project in Stapleton will replace a former naval base, creating new tidal wetlands that will reduce flooding.
Landscape architecture is the discipline in which “the sometimes murky but exquisitely beautiful world of ecologists” meets design, says National Design Award-winning landscape architect Margie Ruddick. She brings an ecologist’s enthusiasm to every part of her life: This is someone who transformed her own suburban backyard into a vibrant, semi-wild haven. Wild by Design explores her diverse projects, ranging from the first water-cleansing park in Chengdu, China, to a Baja California home that blurs the line between desert and architecture. Landscape design isn’t “just about making the planet better,” Ruddick points out. “It often makes us feel better; it makes our lives work better.”
