Dan Kiley1999

Dan Kiley is probably the most important international landscape architect of the twentieth century. For over sixty years and in more than a thousand projects, he has transformed the landscapes of private houses, public institutions, and vast urban spaces into magnificent places of natural beauty. Adhering rigorously to his lifelong tenet that the actions of humans are integral to the natural environment in which we live, he has influenced generations of landscape designers and heightened the public's awareness and appreciation of our man-made surroundings. In September 1997 Kiley was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an artist in the United States. Produced with his close collaboration, this is the definitive book on the man and his oeuvre, from his early and now-mature projects to his most recent work. Kiley sets out his beliefs and working practices in an introduction that draws together decades of experience and a deep knowledge of nature and plants. At the heart of the book are his most significant projects, grouped chronologically and by the themes that have shaped his career. Each work features extensive photographs and plans, as well as special sketches by Kiley, and lucid and highly personal texts give the history, ideas, and specifics behind each scheme. An extensive reference section with an illustrated chronology and bibliography rounds out the book.