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BUSINESS NEWS DESIGN WORKSHOP WINS THREE NATIONAL ASLA AWARDS: FIRM HONOREDWITH 17 ASLA NATIONAL AWARDS, SINCE 2006 Design Workshop is honored to receive three ASLA Awards in the following categories: ❚ ❚ The Landmark Award: “From Weapons to Wildlife: The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Management Plan” – This plan served as the driving vision in the conversion of a 17,000-acre Superfund site into one of our nation’s largest urban wildlife refuges. Addressing pressing land use issues of the early 21st century – conservation, habitat protection and management, pollution control, cleanup and reuse, public use, recreation, environmental education, and sustainable development – the CMP conceptualized a pioneering approach to dynamic, novel ecosystems where restoration would harbor living ecologies while simultaneously providing recreational opportunities. Demonstrating the role landscape architecture may play in complex, contaminated lands, the CMP represented a model for how public and private partnerships can assist with the large-scale remediation of decommissioned military sites into public wildlife reserves. ❚ ❚ Award of Excellence in Analysis & Planning: “A Colorado Legacy: I-25 Conservation Corridor Master Plan” – This critical 17-mile

stretch of Interstate 25 lies undeveloped following the implementation of the I-25 Conservation Corridor Master Plan, the result of a strong strategic vision coupled with unprecedented cooperation among conservation organizations, government entities, and private landowners. The Conservation Fund, in collaboration with Design Workshop, initiated a strategy to engage residents and government officials in conserving open lands to forever protect scenic vistas, water quality, wildlife, clean air, and recreational opportunities along the corridor. Devised to offer solutions to the surrounding uncontrolled sprawl, the plan leveraged unique planning methods and limited development strategies to achieve what had been previously considered impossible: preservation of more than 100,000 acres of open space along Colorado’s Front Range. ❚ ❚ Honor Award in Communication: “VanPlay: Plan to Play” – How does a parks and recreation department recast itself as a relevant brand that can successfully face the next century of change? Seeking a vision beyond the typical ‘blue and green’ parks motif, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation challenged the design team to craft a brand to spark the public’s curiosity in the first system-wide master plan in more than 25 years. Curlers to coyotes roam and recreate in Vancouver’s network of

1,300 hectares of parkland, 28 kilometers of seawall and 175 neighborhood facilities. The resulting brand draws from this energy to forge a vibrant identity agile enough to represent the breadth of exceptional and progressive services offered-from mahjong to warming stations for the homeless. VanPlay, the re-envisioned brand, garnered more than 1 million digital impressions in its first six months and is helping the city create a framework for inclusivity and welcome in the face of challenges that range from sea level rise, aging infrastructure and rising social inequality. “In every project, it is our goal to help our clients achieve their environmental, economic, aesthetic, and community-based objectives. In doing so, we hope to advance the profession and continually improve upon previous work. It is humbling to have our work recognized by our peers and to know in some way we are leaving a legacy for future generations,” said Kurt Culbertson, CEO and chairman of Design Workshop. Founded in 1969, Design Workshop is an internationally-renown landscape architecture, urban design, planning and strategic services firm with eight offices in the U.S. and projects spanning the globe. The firm has been recognized with more than 350 prestigious awards for its work in new communities, urban centers, resorts, public parks and residences.

BRENDEN SHERRER, from page 9

like, but many want to judge and comment, having never done it.” Today’s young professionals must understand the risks – professionally, personally, and financially – that leaders take, and appreciate the multitude of things pulling at their attention that have long-term, and potentially negative, effects on many people. Every crusade a young professional might wage is not important to senior leaders, a fact a young, autonomous professional must accept. “Today’s young professionals must understand the risks – professionally, personally, and financially – that leaders take, and appreciate the multitude of things We all want to be our truest selves, both in our personal and professional lives. The battle for balance is ongoing – choice versus process, chaos versus structure. We need a bit of all of it to grow, as individuals and as firms. BRENDEN SHERRER is a consultant with Zweig Group’s M&A services. He can be reached at bsherrer@zweiggroup.com. pulling at their attention that have long- term, and potentially negative, effects on many people.”

your firm constantly do “neat things” that do not fit into any strategy or goal? If it is done at the firm level, wouldn’t it be natural to expect it to seep into the day-to-day desires and habits of all its employees? I oftentimes think of business as if it were a band, and the self-expression in it as the individual musicians. Because of this I can’t help but think of a recent article penned by singer/songwriter Lauryn Hill. In the article, there are two messages that are salient to this discussion – one from the artist and one from the band leader. As a musician to a band leader, Hill said, “My approach to making music is non-traditional, possibly non-linear, and more a product of my heart, soul, and experience gained through doing, than something I was taught in a formal school setting.” There are an increasing number of young people that want to be a part of the band, but want to be a bit non-traditional, and want to engage the heart and soul through doing. Firms have to be open to the variance in humanity, and take pains not to dampen the fire that still burns to play the band’s/business’s song, just in their way. As a band leader to her musician, Hill said, “No matter how incredible the musicians who play with me are, MY name is on the marquee. The expectation to make it all come together is on me. The risk and the financial losses are on me. Hence, MY VIBE, though not the only consideration, is the priority. Few people actually know what this road is

THE ZWEIG LETTER November 5, 2018, ISSUE 1271

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