Richard Haag
Encyclopedia
Richard Haag is a United States landscape architect
. He is famous for his work on Gas Works Park
in Seattle, Washington and on the Bloedel Reserve
on Bainbridge Island. He is also noted for founding the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Washington
and for holding multiple design awards. His designs call to mind the current trend of being one with and improving the environment. Although Al Gore
's An Inconvenient Truth
is after Richard Haag's heyday, the ideals evoked from the film are shown in his designs. The social movement that created the hybrid car also demanded sustainable design, and Richard Haag provided it in the most distinctive and astounding ways. Richard Haag's modernist and minimalist ideals set the tone for northwestern
landscape design and has placed the northwest on the road towards ecologically-minded design.
Richard Haag was born and raised in Louisville
, Kentucky
. He attended the University of Illinois, the University of California
, received his Bachelors Degree in Landscape Architecture (B.L.A.) at the University of California, Berkeley
, and his Masters degree in Landscape Architecture (M.L.A.) at Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Richard Haag's involvement in education did not stop upon the day he received his Landscape Architecture Degree. In 1958 Richard Haag joined the University of Washington
faculty in Seattle, Washington in an attempt to start a Landscape Architecture Design program at the University. His efforts resulted in a Landscape Architecture Department by 1964.
At the same time that he was building up the program at the University of Washington
, Richard Haag was acting as lead designer at his self-made design company Richard Haag Associates. Through his position at Richard Haag Associates he has generated over 500 designs and planning projects. His company, located in Seattle is still a major firm today.
the Seattle Gas Company constructed a coal gas
plant. By 1956 the plant was shut down, leaving behind the old refinery towers. Upon purchasing the land in 1970, Haag was the person asked to develop a park design for the site. While most planners had expected the demolition of the refinery towers, Haag decided to keep them†. He did not incorporate them into the design for historic purposes, but rather to "...provide an interesting visual anchor for the park design" (Washington).
While convincing city government to accept this radical plan was challenging enough, Haag also had to develop a design which also integrated bioremediation methods in order to detoxify the soil without transporting and replacing it. "By adding oil-degrading enzymes to the soil, as well as organic materials to fertilize the growth of soil microorganisms, Haag and colleagues stimulated the natural breakdown of toxic contaminants in the topsoil..." left behind by the ancient industrial processes of the plant (Washington).
Today, regardless of the continued environmental issues, the site is one of the most popular public parks in Seattle. This site is also a symbol of the increased awareness of ecology and sustainability in both landscape and architectural design. Before Richard Haag was even asked to develop this design, he submitted the site as a design problem to a national undergraduate design competition. All 130 designs removed all indications that a gas plant ever existed. Haag took the environmentalist ideal to another level; acknowledging the potential aesthetics of industrial structures without the hazard to the environment. The ecology-based development is evident both in his designs and in the University of Washington Landscape Architecture program, the focus of which is defined as 'urban ecology'. His design for Gas Works Park brought Haag his first American Society of Landscape Architects
(ASLA) President's Award for Design Excellence.
Haag received his second ASLA award for his design titled "Sequence of Gardens" at Bloedel Reserved located on Bainbridge Island. The 140 acre (0.5665604 km²) Bloedel Reserve, deeded to the University of Washington in 1970, was again sold in 1986 to the Arbor Fund†. This non-profit corporation hired Haag as head designer for the site in order to maintain the company's dedication to "...developing, maintaining, and managing the reserve for public and educational purposes" (Washington).
Haag split the land into four main garden quadrants. Each 'room' had a specifically unique theme yet maintained certain qualities that fluidly connected the spaces together. The gardens are described as having been created in pairs; that garden one and three are a design pair and two and four are also†. Garden one and three are noted for their geometric-based designs. The first garden known as the Garden of Planes is described as being the most abstract of the four gardens. The third garden is the Reflection Garden; one of Haag's "...most widely-admired works..." for its "...simple, restrained, and carefully composed garden of free-standing walls of yew with a carpet of grass surrounding a shallow, rectangular pool that unites sky and earth in its reflections" (Washington).
Gardens two and four exude the theme of life and death. The second garden known as the Anteroom connects the Garden of Planes and the Reflection Garden. This garden teems with mosses, lichens, ferns, leaving observers with a sense of decay and death. Garden four on the other hand is known as the Bird Sanctuary and is the final garden in the sequence. This garden poses as the opposite of the Anteroom with its "...vibrant release of dance and song played out over the dark still waters..." (Washington). The purpose of this garden is to attract various wildlife to its natural-looking design.
Landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
. He is famous for his work on Gas Works Park
Gas Works Park
Gas Works Park in Seattle, Washington is a 19.1 acre public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingford neighborhood. Gas Works park contains remnants of the sole remaining coal...
in Seattle, Washington and on the Bloedel Reserve
Bloedel Reserve
The Bloedel Reserve is a forest garden on Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA, made by the vice-chairman of a lumber company, under the influence of the conservation movement and Asian philosophy...
on Bainbridge Island. He is also noted for founding the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
and for holding multiple design awards. His designs call to mind the current trend of being one with and improving the environment. Although Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
's An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.Premiering at the...
is after Richard Haag's heyday, the ideals evoked from the film are shown in his designs. The social movement that created the hybrid car also demanded sustainable design, and Richard Haag provided it in the most distinctive and astounding ways. Richard Haag's modernist and minimalist ideals set the tone for northwestern
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
landscape design and has placed the northwest on the road towards ecologically-minded design.
Richard Haag was born and raised in Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. He attended the University of Illinois, the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, received his Bachelors Degree in Landscape Architecture (B.L.A.) at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, and his Masters degree in Landscape Architecture (M.L.A.) at Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Richard Haag's involvement in education did not stop upon the day he received his Landscape Architecture Degree. In 1958 Richard Haag joined the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
faculty in Seattle, Washington in an attempt to start a Landscape Architecture Design program at the University. His efforts resulted in a Landscape Architecture Department by 1964.
At the same time that he was building up the program at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, Richard Haag was acting as lead designer at his self-made design company Richard Haag Associates. Through his position at Richard Haag Associates he has generated over 500 designs and planning projects. His company, located in Seattle is still a major firm today.
Notable designs
- Gas Works ParkGas Works ParkGas Works Park in Seattle, Washington is a 19.1 acre public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingford neighborhood. Gas Works park contains remnants of the sole remaining coal...
—Seattle - "Sequence of Gardens" at Bloedel Reserve—Bainbridge Island, Washington
- BattelleBattelle Memorial InstituteBattelle Memorial Institute is a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle is a charitable trust organized as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of the State of Ohio and is exempt from taxation under Section 501 of the...
Research Center—Seattle - Victor Steinbrueck Park—Seattle
- Jordan Park—Everett, WashingtonEverett, WashingtonEverett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...
- North Waterfront Park—Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
- U.S. Courthouse Plaza—Spokane, WashingtonSpokane, WashingtonSpokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
- Washington Pass Overlook & Visiting Center—Winthrop, WashingtonWinthrop, WashingtonWinthrop is a town in Okanogan County, Washington, United States. It is east of Mazama and north of Twisp. The population of the Winthrop area was 1,916 at the 2000 census; however, the incorporated town had a population of 349. The 2010 census showed an increase to 394 within the town limits...
- Merrill Court Townhomes—Harvard-Belmont Historic District, Seattle
- Okanogan National ForestOkanogan National ForestThe Okanogan National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in northern and western Okanogan County in north-central Washington State, United States...
—Winthrop, Washington
Gas Works Park
In 1906 on a peninsula on the north shore of Lake UnionLake Union
Lake Union is a freshwater lake entirely within the Seattle, Washington city limits.-Origins:A glacial lake, its basin was dug 12,000 years ago by the Vashon glacier, which also created Lake Washington and Seattle's Green, Bitter, and Haller Lakes.-Name:...
the Seattle Gas Company constructed a coal gas
Coal gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal containing a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen...
plant. By 1956 the plant was shut down, leaving behind the old refinery towers. Upon purchasing the land in 1970, Haag was the person asked to develop a park design for the site. While most planners had expected the demolition of the refinery towers, Haag decided to keep them†. He did not incorporate them into the design for historic purposes, but rather to "...provide an interesting visual anchor for the park design" (Washington).
While convincing city government to accept this radical plan was challenging enough, Haag also had to develop a design which also integrated bioremediation methods in order to detoxify the soil without transporting and replacing it. "By adding oil-degrading enzymes to the soil, as well as organic materials to fertilize the growth of soil microorganisms, Haag and colleagues stimulated the natural breakdown of toxic contaminants in the topsoil..." left behind by the ancient industrial processes of the plant (Washington).
Today, regardless of the continued environmental issues, the site is one of the most popular public parks in Seattle. This site is also a symbol of the increased awareness of ecology and sustainability in both landscape and architectural design. Before Richard Haag was even asked to develop this design, he submitted the site as a design problem to a national undergraduate design competition. All 130 designs removed all indications that a gas plant ever existed. Haag took the environmentalist ideal to another level; acknowledging the potential aesthetics of industrial structures without the hazard to the environment. The ecology-based development is evident both in his designs and in the University of Washington Landscape Architecture program, the focus of which is defined as 'urban ecology'. His design for Gas Works Park brought Haag his first American Society of Landscape Architects
American Society of Landscape Architects
The American Society of Landscape Architects is the national professional association representing landscape architects, with more than 17,000 members in 48 chapters, representing all 50 states, U.S. territories, and 42 countries around the world, plus 68 student chapters...
(ASLA) President's Award for Design Excellence.
Bloedel Reserve
Haag split the land into four main garden quadrants. Each 'room' had a specifically unique theme yet maintained certain qualities that fluidly connected the spaces together. The gardens are described as having been created in pairs; that garden one and three are a design pair and two and four are also†. Garden one and three are noted for their geometric-based designs. The first garden known as the Garden of Planes is described as being the most abstract of the four gardens. The third garden is the Reflection Garden; one of Haag's "...most widely-admired works..." for its "...simple, restrained, and carefully composed garden of free-standing walls of yew with a carpet of grass surrounding a shallow, rectangular pool that unites sky and earth in its reflections" (Washington).
Gardens two and four exude the theme of life and death. The second garden known as the Anteroom connects the Garden of Planes and the Reflection Garden. This garden teems with mosses, lichens, ferns, leaving observers with a sense of decay and death. Garden four on the other hand is known as the Bird Sanctuary and is the final garden in the sequence. This garden poses as the opposite of the Anteroom with its "...vibrant release of dance and song played out over the dark still waters..." (Washington). The purpose of this garden is to attract various wildlife to its natural-looking design.
Achievements/Awards/Honors
- 2 time recipient of the ASLA President's Award for Design Excellence (only person ever to receive twice)
- Publication: Richard Haag: Bloedel Reserve and Gas Works Park
- Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
for 2 years - In spring of 1996 Harvard University Graduate School of Design honored Mr. Haag with a symposium and exhibition entitled 'Exploring the Landscape Architecture of Richard Haag'
- Resident at the American Academy in Rome
- Principal of Richard Haag and Associates
- Founded U.W. Landscape Architecture Department