A New Beginning: Land Collective - April 2012

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Even though we are already in the month of April, I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year. 2012 represents a milestone year: I am honored to be the recipient of the Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture. My time at the American Academy in Rome has been extraordinarily productive and continues to revitalize my enthusiasm for learning; I am benefiting from the presence of my fellow Rome Prize winners, some of the most talented, gracious, and collaborative artists and scholars from the United States and the world.

2012 is also the year in which I launch my own practice in landscape architecture and urban design: a new firm called Land Collective.

Land Collective is committed to a practice that emphasizes socially-purposeful design strategies. We recognize that a successful space is one that’s well attended, and the best landscapes, whether public parks, urban plazas, campuses, or cityscapes, are those in which all sectors of society have the opportunity to participate. Land Collective recognizes that innovation is achieved through collaboration and that demonstrable leadership and the synthesis of multiple disciplines result in design excellence. I look forward to sharing more with you as Land Collective develops over the coming months.

I wish you all a joyful 2012.

Auguri!

David

David A. Rubin
Founder, David Rubin | LAND COLLECTIVE
Fellow, American Academy in Rome

David A. Rubin launches Land Collective after twenty-one years at the acclaimed firm OLIN where he was a Partner, Co-Owner, and Board Member.  During that time, he focused on finding new opportunities and expanding the range of practice and OLIN’s presence within the disciplines of landscape architecture and urban design.  These accomplishments include: OLIN Placemaking, OLIN’s first monograph, representing the work of all of its partners;  securing a position on three of the four recent London Embassy competition teams and developing a newly revitalized presence in Europe; participating in the ARC Wildlife Crossing Competition in Colorado; visioning the re-use of a 600-acre Limestone Quarry; designing Potomac Park Levee on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.; creating a new campus and commons for Eskenazi Health Services Hospital in Indianapolis; designing two parks --one on each coast -- Canal Park in Washington, D.C., and Plummer Park in West Hollywood, California; completing the recently opened, critically acclaimed Lenfest Plaza in Philadelphia for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and defining a new framework and development plan for Temple University’s main campus entitled Temple 20/20, also in Philadelphia.