ASLA-NY Announces 2026 Design Awards Recipients
Landscape Architects Demonstrate Excellence in Design for Sustainability, Resiliency, and Impact
New York, New York (April 2, 2026) -The American Society of Landscape Architects, New York (ASLA-NY), the New York City chapter of the national professional organization representing landscape architects, today announced the recipients of the Chapter's 2026 Design Awards. Organized by the ASLA-NY Chapter Awards Committee, the Design Awards bolster local visibility, acknowledge and promote the work of the Chapter's membership, and publicly recognize excellence in the practice of landscape architecture.
Juried by an interdisciplinary jury from around the country, this year's winning entries were selected based on quality of design and execution, climate and sustainability, and impact to the profession. Out of 80 submissions, the jury selected one (1) Award of Excellence, eight (8) Honor, thirteen (13) Merit award winners, and new this year, one (1) Emerging Firm Award. The Executive Board of ASLA-NY selected an additional winner of the Board Choice Award. All awards will be presented at our Design Awards Ceremony on April 23 to be held at the Arsenal in Central Park. An outdoor exhibit of winning projects will be on display in Midtown during NYC DOT's Car-free Earth Day event on April 25, at a special NYCxDesign Festival event on May 14, and online at aslany.org.
Award of Excellence:
Central Park's Harlem Meer and Davis Center by Central Park Conservancy
The capstone of a decades-long restoration effort, the project to reimagine the site of the pool and rink at the Harlem Meer completely transformed an area of the Park that had long been compromised by the addition of massive facility. Constructed in the 1960s without regard for the extraordinary significance and value of the Park landscape, Lasker pool and rink has been replaced by a new recreation facility seamlessly integrated into a renewed landscape. The project restored and reconnected disrupted natural systems and park circulation, expanding opportunities for enjoyment of the scenic landscape and nature-based-as well as active-recreation.
GRAIN is the recipient of an Honor Award in the General Design Category for Carol Pino Learning Farm. On a 1.5-acre site beside a Bergen Beach elementary school, the Carol Pino Learning Garden transforms a formerly contaminated urban wasteland into an immersive landscape where education, ecology, and equity intersect. Trading smart boards for gardens and walls for open sky, the Learning Garden recasts traditional NYC Department of Education classroom norms to embrace a deeper connection to project based learning.
Climate Strong Communities designed by Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners received an Honor Award for Analysis, Planning, Research and Communications. One challenge of planning for resilience in collaboration with communities is the complex vocabulary around climate risk and nature-based solutions. For the Mayor's Office of Climate & Environmental Justice's Climate Strong Communities program, One Architecture & Urbanism and Starr Whitehouse worked with Manuel Miranda Practice to develop a communications toolkit to engage with community partners. Using sensory materials, nontechnical language, and approachable graphic design, the toolkit transfers knowledge about climate resilience from design professionals directly to community partners - empowering residents and neighborhood groups to advocate for climate investment.
Domino Square designed by Field Operations was selected for an Honor Award in General Design. Domino Square represents the latest chapter in an ambitious effort to redevelop the 11-acre Domino Sugar Factory Site into a dynamic mixed-use neighborhood. The 1-acre public plaza completes the site's open space vision and enhances access to the neighborhood and waterfront. Framed by distinctive buildings, Domino Square is conceived as a civic room that complements Domino Park and serves as a distinct place. Field Operations' design transforms an entire city block into an intimate outdoor amphitheater-Williamsburg's outdoor living room. The design enables public programming that enriches the vibrancy of the neighborhood while balancing a flexible interior with welcoming edges.
Winning an Honor Award in Residential Design is Sag Harbor Bay by LaGuardia Design Group. A steep, wooded waterfront site was carefully shaped to preserve existing topography and forest; using a single variety of locally sourced New York granite alongside native plantings and restored bluff systems, the Landscape Architect created a cohesive, sculptural, and ecologically resilient landscape.
Winning an Honor Award for General Design, Terminal Warehouse, by terrain-nyc landscape architecture pc, a historic landmark in West Chelsea, has been reimagined as a modern workspace and headquarters hub while preserving its industrial legacy with over 100,000 sf of outdoor space. At the center of the renovation is a new courtyard and a series of private tiered terraces, which bring light, air, and biophilic connections to the heart of the space. Additionally, an amenity terrace on the 8th floor serves as a flexible gathering space for tenants while providing panoramic views of the Hudson River and Midtown Manhattan.
Also winning an Honor Award for General Design is The Gowanus Lowlands by SCAPE. Building on decades of city, state, and federal planning, the Gowanus Lowlands is a community-based vision for a restored public realm centered around Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal-a federal Superfund site and former marshland in a neighborhood recently rezoned for over 8,500 new housing units. Anticipating a neighborhood in transition, a local stewardship nonprofit commissioned the Gowanus Lowlands-an action plan for positive change. It envisions an ecologically and culturally rich canal, unifying multiple public and private sites into a cohesive waterfront park network. Three privately-owned public landscapes have since opened, introducing a new generation of water-based public space in NYC.
Theodore Roosevelt Park at the American Museum of Natural History by Reed Hilderbrand is reimagined in conversation with the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. Selected for an Honor Award in General Design, the park's new design centers it as a powerful neighborhood amenity for daily life on the Upper West Side. Striving for fit with its history and context, the design is carefully calibrated to reinforce connectivity, retain its mature canopy of trees, and better serve the community. This hard-working landscape embraces the 19th century principles of American landscape architecture that are now synonymous with New York's public spaces, translating a familiar vocabulary to enable the park to serve a 21st century city.
Also receiving an Honor Award, Field Operations led the design of a framework plan and urban design for 1.5 miles of Seattle's Waterfront Park. With the removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the reconstruction of the Elliot Bay Seawall, Waterfront Park reconnects the city with its waterfront for the first time since 1949. The design establishes character zones, nodes, and linkages that honor adjacent neighborhood identities while capitalizing on unique waterfront conditions. A generous pedestrian promenade forms the project's core. Reclaiming the waterfront and reconnecting the city with Elliott Bay, the project includes a new infrastructure corridor, green street, and significant public spaces and amenities.
Distinguished jury members:
Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Deborah Marton, Consultant and NYC PDC President
Rebecca Macklis, Municipal Arts Society
Alice Shay, Buro Happold
James A. Lord, Surface Design
Joe Wahler, STIMSON
Maksym Kotsiuba, KOTSIUBA
Wanjing Ji, Ping Design
Aj Pires, Alloy Development
Brian Messana, Messana O'Rorke
The full list of award winners is as follows:
Excellence:
Central Park's Harlem Meer and Davis Center - Central Park Conservancy
Honor:
Carol Pino Learning Farm - GRAIN
Climate Strong Communities - Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners
Domino Square - Field Operations
Sag Harbor Bay - LaGuardia Design Group
Terminal Warehouse - terrain-nyc landscape architecture pc
The Gowanus Lowlands - SCAPE
Theodore Roosevelt Park at the American Museum of Natural History - Reed Hilderbrand
Waterfront Park - Field Operations
Merit:
800 Monroe Resiliency Park - AECOM LAUD NYC
Courthouse Park - SWA Group
Disney New York City Headquarters - SCAPE
Hart Island Concept Plan - Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners
High Falls State Park - OLIN
Hudson Valley Garden - Liz Pulver Landscape Architect PLLC
Ivy City Climate Resilience Strategy - Ramboll
Reimagine the Cross Bronx Expressway - AECOM LAUD NYC
Saint-Gobain NorPro: A Climate + Biodiversity Positive Campus - Climate Positive Design / Impact Studio
South Jamaica Water Square - GRAIN
The Granite Garden - KHoyt Architecture /Landscape
The Woodland Garden - Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
Wildflower Studios - Dirtworks Landscape Architecture
Emerging Firm Award:
Stanton Yards Cultural Waterfront: Intersection of Art & Nature - OSD
Board Choice Award:
Private Residence in Beverly Hills - Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
The ASLA-NY Awards Committee is co-chaired by Nicholas Pettinati ASLA and Andrew Joseph, ASLA. The winning submissions will be exhibited online at aslany.org. Images may be used upon request and proper credit.
About the American Society of Landscape Architects, New York Chapter
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is the national professional association for landscape architects. Founded in 1899, ASLA is the professional association for landscape architects in the United States, representing more than 15,000 members. Landscape architects lead the planning, design, and stewardship of healthy, equitable, safe, and resilient environments. The New York Chapter, founded in 1914, encompasses the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, and Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and Rockland counties. The Society's mission is to lead in the planning, design and care of both our natural and built environments. While keeping pace with the ever-changing forces of nature and technology, landscape architects increasingly have a profound impact on the way people live, work and play.
