Carol R. Johnson
Carol R. Johnson is a landscape architect and educator notable for being one of the first women in her field. She founded Carol R. Johnson Associates, a landscape architecture firm in Boston, and designed large-scale projects throughout the United States. She was also a professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Johnson retired in 2016.
Background and Education
Johnson was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1929. She received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College in 1951 and went on to earn a graduate degree in landscape architecture from Harvard in 1957.[1]
Career
After graduate school, Johnson took a position with The Architects Collaborative in 1958.[2] Just one year later, she founded her own firm, Carol R. Johnsons Associates.[3] The firm is known today as CRJA-IBI Group and has expanded to 10 principals and branch offices outside Boston.[4]
Johnson’s work is recognized for the emphasis she placed on sites’ natural and cultural contexts and history. She also focused on the social purpose of design and was part of President Johnson’s Model Cities Program while working on North Common in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1972.[5] She has overseen international projects focused on site development, open space planning, master planning, and urban development. Clients have included colleges and universities, corporations, and public agencies.[6] Towards the end of her career, she took a backseat in managing her firm and focused on projects internationally, such as the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, and at colleges and universities, including Cornell Campus Center at Rollins College.[7]
In addition to her practice, Johnson taught in the Planning Department at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. She was on staff from 1966 to 1973.[8] She is also a frequent panelist and lecturer on landscape architecture beyond Harvard and has presented papers at several international conferences.[9] She also serves as a Trustee for the Hubbard Educational Trust, which seeks to support education in landscape architecture across the United States.[10] Finally, Ms. Johnson became a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1982 and has served as Chair of the Board of Designators of the George B. Henderson Foundation and on the Massachusetts Trustees of Reservations landscape and historic buildings advisors committee.[11][12][13]
Johnson is described as a pioneer and leader in landscape architecture, not least because of what she achieved as a woman in the field. She was the first American woman to receive the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Medal, in 1998.[14] She was featured in a Harvard symposium focusing on significant women in landscape architecture in 2011.[15] She was also a leader in her field, irrespective of gender. She began her practice when the field was first starting to establish itself.[16] She was one of the first landscape architects to work with scientists on brownfield remediation.[17]
Major Build Works
Hunnewell Visitors Center of the Arnold Arboretum (Cambridge, MA)
U.S. Federal Courthouse (Boston, MA)
Riverfront Revitalization (Hartford, CT)
Lechmere Canal Park (Washington, DC)[18]
Old Harbor Park (Boston, MA)
John F. Kennedy Memorial Park (Cambridge, MA)
John Marshall Place Park (Washington, DC)
Campus planning and design: Agnes Scott College (Decatur, Georgia)
Brownfield Remediation: Mystic River Reservation (Massachusetts)
Bell Station on Lake Cayuga (New York)[19]
Mayor Curley Park (Boston, MA)[20]
Awards
National Endowment for the Arts’ Excellence in Universal Design Award, 1996[21]
First woman to win ASLA Medal, 1998[22]
Alumnae Achievement Award, Wellesley College, 2004[23]
Honorary Degrees from Boston Architectural College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Gettysburg College[24]
References
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