Wednesday, October 3, 2007
"Julie Bargmann Unexpurgated"
Julie Bargmann, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Principal of D.I.R.T. Studio, is featured in an interview for the "Shared Wisdom" section of Landscape Architecture magazine in the October issue. In the article by Susan Hines, "Julie Bargmann Unexpurgated: This Tough-Talking Chick in the Hard Hat Doesn’t Mince Words about Turning Brownfields Around," Bargmann describes the early influences on her career and the nature of the success she has achieved in reclaiming and repurposing formerly toxic and abandoned sites. For the complete article, see Landscape Architecture, Oct. 2007, pp133-139 (article not available online).
Excerpt:
"Julie Bargmann is known for many things - embracing the most toxic landscapes, developing a viable postindustrial aesthetic, and cussing like a sailor.
"She makes great copy. She is petite and sassy and tackles unpopular, even scary, sites. Her Charlottesville, Virginia-based D.I.R.T. Studio has helped create what Bargmann calls a regenerative park in Vintondale, Pennsylvania, from a former coal field rendered poisonous by acid mine drainage and developed ways to detoxify Ford Motor Company’s enormous Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
"As a result of these and other efforts, Outside magazine placed her among its pantheon of 25 Action Heroes, describing Bargmann as ‘a sort of fairy godmother to industrial wastelands.’ She has been hailed by Time as an innovator for the 21st century and by Metropolis for her research on transforming Superfund sites into viable landscapes...."
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