UC Berkeley Press Release

Landscape Heritage Plan wins Webby

By Noel Gallagher, Media Relations | 23 May 2005

BERKELEY – The University of California, Berkeley's Landscape Heritage Plan has won a People's Voice "Webby" Award, honoring the best online sites.

The Landscape Heritage Plan was developed by Sasaki Associates under the direction of UC Berkeley Capital Projects planners, including senior planner Julia Monteith and Campus Landscape Architect Jim Horner.

"The Webby award is an unexpected accolade that continues to makes the University, the project team and the Getty proud of our shared efforts and splendid original product," Horner said.

The winning Web site is at http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/lhp/index_flash.html.

The Landscape Heritage Plan, supported by the Getty, details the campus's efforts to preserve the historic legacy of its classical core. In addition to providing details about the historic core of the campus, which includes three eras of landscape architectural development - the Picturesque, Beaux-Arts and Modern, the plan includes comprehensive design guidelines for all aspects of future landscape designs.

Since 2002, the Getty Foundation, the philanthropic division of the J. Paul Getty Trust, has supported more than 50 colleges and universities in a nationwide effort to preserve historic buildings, sites and landscapes through its Campus Heritage Initiative. UC Berkeley was in the first group of institutions to receive and complete a grant under the program.

In particular, the plan gives detailed renovation guidance for two areas, Hearst Mining Circle/Oppenheimer Way and the Campanile Way/Sather Road intersection, selected because of their importance to the campus and their historic characteristics. Among the specific proposals are to restore Campanile Way to a 20-foot-wide pedestrian pathway lined by pollarded plane trees, and to construct the open space around the Hearst Mining Circle and reflecting pool as a circle within a square that connects the entire space.

Sasaki Associates, with offices in Boston and San Francisco, provides design services including architecture, planning, urban design, landscape architecture, interior design, civil engineering and graphic design.

The Webby awards, established in 1996, honor excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality.