Photo credit: Jack Ramsdale

Margie Ruddick

For over twenty years, Margie Ruddick has been recognized for her pioneering work in the landscape. Winner of the 2013 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in landscape architecture, Ruddick has forged a design language that integrates ecology and culture. Ruddick has taught at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, Yale, Princeton, The University of Pennsylvania, Parsons School of Design, and Schumacher College in England. In addition to the Cooper-Hewitt, her many awards include the 1998 Waterfront Centre Award and the 1999 Places Design Award, along with environmental artist Betsy Damon, for the Living Water Park; her work has also received awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects and the American Institute of Architects. She shared a practice with Judith Heintz from 1988 to 1995; then worked on her own until 2004, when she became a partner at the planning and design firm WRT. Since leaving WRT in 2007 she has worked on projects independently, in addition to writing, lecturing, and teaching.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Island Press Holiday Gift Guide 2016

This holiday season, give the gift of an Island Press book. With a catalog of more than 1,000 books, we guarantee there's something for everyone on your shopping list. Check out our list of staff selections, and share your own ideas in the comments below.  For the OUTDOORSPERSON in your life:

Designing Your Own Landscape: Tips from Margie Ruddick

Many years ago, when I was first pegged as a "sustainable landscape designer," I gave a talk to a group of students enrolled in one of the world's first sustainable design courses at Schumacher College in England. I was surprised during the question and answer period that almost all the students' questions were not about their work, but revolved around how they could address issues of sustainability in their personal lives. How they could conserve energy and water in their households, for example—it was these questions that started me on the path to writing and publishing my book,

#ForewordFriday: Wild by Design Edition

In 2005, following two decades of professional accolades, Margie Ruddick created a new kind of garden that landed her in court. Through selective mowing, planting, pruning, and frequently doing no maintenance, the internationally renowned landscape designer, a winner of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, created a wild landscape that—while beautiful—was unlike any front yard her neighbors had ever seen.