Diana Balmori

Diana Balmori is an internationally renowned landscape and urban designer. She is also the founder of the landscape design firm, Balmori Associates.

Early life

Born in Gijón, Spain, Diana Balmori spent most of her childhood in Spain and England before her family settled in Argentina. Her mother Dorothy Ling (born in England) was an extraordinary musician and musicologist. Her father Clemente Hernando Balmori (born in Spain) was one of the most influential Spanish linguistic experts. Diana was an extremely imaginative and creative child, and was drawn to the arts at an early age. She learned to sing, dance, play piano, and her parents encouraged her to explore a wide range of mediums – literature and poetry, Latin and Greek, painting and music. As she forayed into the design world, she brought many of these influences with her, greatly informing her successful and unique design style.

She graduated from high school at the age of 16 and decided to study at the Architecture School at the Universidad Nacional de Tucuman in Argentina in the undergraduate program, and then emigrated to the United States. Balmori continued her education at the University of California at Los Angeles, earning her Ph.D in Urban History and graduating with highest honors. After graduation, she entered the world of academia, accepting a teaching position at the State University of New York and eventually holding undergraduate seminars in Landscape History at Yale School of Architecture. All the while, Balmori continued her own education, studying landscape architecture at Radcliffe College, until she was made partner at Cesar Pelli Associates, where she also founded their in-house Landscape Architecture department. She continued to work as a partner at CPA before leaving in 1990 to start her own firm, Balmori Associates.

Style

Dr. Balmori's interest in landscape and urban design grew out of her interest in public space; the way it is used and designed, and its role and effect on the larger environment. Her design style is recognized by the way it creates a fluid interface between landscape and structure in the development of urban public spaces. The work explores how form can respond to a new understanding of nature – not simply as visual imitation – but contingent on an understanding of process. Diana Balmori has established a signature and functional aesthetic by applying inventive design thinking to a careful study of the social aspects of ecological, hydrological and temporal dimensions of projects.

She is also an innovator in sustainable systems; one aspect of this is in the area of green roofs. This “fifth façade”, as Balmori has called the huge expanse of urban rooftops, is now a frontier for designers and architects. By exploring this fifth façade, it becomes possible to change not only how a building looks, but also how it functions; green roofs offer an alternative future in the evolution of the urban landscape and can alleviate urban air pollution, heat island effects and the handling of stormwater.

Diana Balmori frequently collaborates with artists and architects.

Other works

Diana Balmori has been the principle landscape designer on many highly innovative projects, including the Master Plan for the Abandiobarra District in Bilbao, Spain, where her landscape designs run alongside the Nervion River and adjacent to the building of the Guggenheim Bilbao. She realized the extraordinary concept of Robert Smithson for a floating island around New York City, and is in early development for the building of a Public Administration Town in Korea.

In addition to her prolific work as Principal Designer for Balmori Associates, Dr. Balmori has written extensively on cities, environment, and the history of design. She links her practice with foundations and academic institutions. Her most recent book “A Landscape Manifesto “ is scheduled to be released to the public on September 2010. She has also written Tra Fiume e Cittá, Paesaggi, Progetti e Principi in 2009 about her particular view on waterfront projects. In 2009 the C3 book “ Balmori” was also released and chronicles her work, from sketches and writings to Master Plans and completed projects. . In 2007 she wrote “Land and Natural Development (LAND) Code: Guidelines for Sustainable Land Development”, co-authored by Yale colleague, Gaboury Benoit, and published in March, 2007 by Yale University Press.

Dr. Balmori has been honored by numerous institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Institute of Architects. In 2006, Dr. Balmori was appointed a Senior Fellow in Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC.; Dr. Balmori serves her second term on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. Dr. Balmori held the Davenport Chair of Architectural Design for the Spring 2004 at the Yale School of Architecture and was the William Henry Bishop Visiting Professor of Architectural Design in the Fall 2008 at the Yale School of Architecture and she also teaches in the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She is a member of the American Historical Association, and the American Society of Landscape Architects. She is a Fellow for the Dumbarton Oaks Garden & Landscape History Institute and Harvard University, as well as being on the Board at the Van Alen Institute in New York City and Minetta Brook, a Public Art Organization. She served as a Committee Member for the Comprehensive Design Landscape Plan for the White House in 1999. Dr. Balmori also served a four year term on the U.S Commission of Fine Arts in Washington D.C. In 2009, Diana Balmori's firm, Balmori Associates, moved into a new space in Meat Packing District, New York City. She is currently involved in various public projects in New York, and is in various stages of development of projects internationally. Diana Balmori lives and works in New York City.

Publications

• “A Landscape Manifesto”: Yale University Press, (United States) 2010

• “Tra Fiume e Cittá Paesaggi, Progetti e Principi”: Bollati Boringhieri, (Italy) 2009

• “Balmori”: C3 Publications, (Korea) 2007

• “The Land and Natural Development (LAND) Code, Guidelines for Sustainable Land Development” co-authored with Gaboury Benoit: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. (United States) 2006

• “Mapping in The Age of Digital Media: The Yale Symposium” co-authored with M. Silver: John Wiley and Sons Ltd. (United Kingdom) 2003

• “Information Exchange: How Cities Renew, Rebuild and Remember” Interview with Joan Oakman and Paulsen Sherida: Van Alen Institute, (United States) 2003

• “Saarinen House and Garden: A Total Work of Art” co-authored with Roy Slade, and Gregory Wittkopp, photography by Balthazar Korab: Harry N. Abrams, (United States) 1995

• “Transitory Gardens, Uprooted Lives” co-authored with Margaret Morton: Yale University Press, (United States) 1995

• “Redesigning the American Lawn” A Search for Environmental Harmony co-authored with F. Herbert Bormann and GordoGeballe: Yale University Press, (United States) 1993

• “Trails for the Twenty-First Century: Planning, Design,and Management Manual for Multi-Use Trail,” co-authored with Charles A. Flink, Peter Lagerwey, and Robert M.Searns, ed. Karen-Lee Ryan National Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: Island Press, (United States) 1993

• “Beatrix Farrand, American Landscapes:Garden and Campus Designs” co-authored with Diane McGuire and Eleanor McPeck: Sagapress, (United States) 1985

Publications featuring Diana Balmori

• Ivy, Robert. "Editorial: Beyond Legalisms." Architectural Record November 2007 Beyond Legalisms

• Sokol, David. "Asian Cities Go Green." Business Week November 2007 Asian Cities Go Green

• "Campa de los Ingleses." Europaconcorsi

• Usborne, David. “Perfect Company.” Monocale July 2007: 84–88.

• Merkel, Jane. “Urban American Landscape” AD March–April 2007: 36–47.

• Kim, JinOh. “Principal of Balmori Associates: Diana Balmori” ela March 2007: 114–116.

• JooEun, YeeOh. “International Competition for the Master Plan of Public Administration Town.” C3 March 2007: 136–145

• Chamberlain, Lisa. “View from the Bridge.” Metropolis Magazine September 2006: 97–101.

• Chamberlain, Lisa. “ Silvercup Sprouts” Polis July 2006

• Martineau, Kim. “Activists Blaze Trail Through Yale.” The Hartford Current 5 February” 2006.

• Lockhart. “Coming to the East 40's: Ground Zero.” Curbed 10 November 2005.

• Williams, Sam. “Cool(er) Roofs” Gotham Gazette October 2005

• Moore, Bob. St. Louis Front Page "St. Louis Riverfront Plan – If You Dream It, Can You Build It?"

• Kennedy, Randy. "It's Not Easy Making Art That Floats." The New York Times 10 August 2005.

• Chamberlain, Lisa. "A Roof Garden? It's Much More Than That." The New York Times 10 August 2005.

• Chamberlain, Lisa. "Green roofs sprouting across U.S. skylines." International Herald Tribune. August 2005.

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