LAWRENCE HALPRIN

He was selected by the FDR Memorial Commission in 1974 to design the FDR Memorial. His design, encompassing 7.5 acres in a park-like setting, fits within the 1901 McMillan plan, identifying sites for Presidential Memorials and Monuments.

The work of Mr. Halprin is one of the most celebrated among environmental designers. His projects range from designs for rapid transit systems to university campuses, from new cities to civic redevelopment, from large-scale land developments and inner-city parks to small private gardens. Among them are Sea Ranch on California's central coast, representing the application of town planning principles to an exquisite rural landscape designed with extraordinary sensitivity to the natural environment; San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square, which involved restoring old buildings for new uses; Seattle's Freeway park, a sensitive re-making of a freeway into recreational space; and the Walter & Elise Haas Promenade in Israel, a 1-1/2 mile stone walkway overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem.

Mr. Halprin has moved outside and beyond the confines traditionally imposed by the field of landscape architects, working on a variety of scale. He creates urban renaissance where open spaces are designed to perform ecologically for the good of the community. There is a happy confrontation of people and architecture in his designs. Mr. Halprin's major focus, and one for which he has become famous, is the participation of people in his landscapes. The design of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial brings together his desire to make environments through his art, emphasizing the beauty of the urban landscape and the participation and enjoyment of those who experience it.

Lawrence Halprin was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1916.