Anne Whiston Spirn is an American

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

, photographer and author. Her work promotes community-oriented spaces that are functional, sustainable, meaningful, and artful. Spirn is Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning of the

MIT School of Architecture and Planning The MIT School of Architecture and Planning (MIT SAP, stylized as SA+P) is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 by William Robert Ware, the school offered the f ...

. She is the 2001 winner of the

International Cosmos Prize The International Cosmos Prize was established in 1993, commemorating Expo '90 in Osaka, Japan. The objective of the prize was to develop the basic concept of Expo 90, "The Harmonious Coexistence between Nature and Mankind" and is awarded annually ...

Early life and education

Sprin was born in Waterbury, Connecticut and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. She graduated cum laude from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

in 1969, where she studied Art History. She received her master's degree in Landscape Architecture from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1974.

Career

After graduating from

, Spirn worked as an ecological designer and planner at the office of Wallace McHarg Roberts and Todd in Philadelphia from 1973 to 1977. From 1977 to 1978 she worked at Roy Mann Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She then became a professor of landscape architecture at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

from 1979 to 1986. She left Harvard in 1986 to become the chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Pennsylvania and also served as the co-director of the Urban Studies Program there from 1996 to 2000. Spirn joined the faculty in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT in 2000.

West Philadelphia Landscape Project

Since 1987 Spirn has directed th
West Philadelphia Landscape Project
in West Philadelphia. This project links landscape design, community development, and urban stormwater management. The WPLP includes development of landscape plans to enhance environmental quality, improvements to stimulate economic development, and strengthening of local school curricula and professional education.

Photography

In 2014, Spirn's photography was exhibited at the

Smith College Museum of Art The Smith College Museum of Art (abbreviated SCMA), is an art museum in Northampton, Massachusetts connected with Smith College. The museum is known for its compilation of American and European art of the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by ...

featuring work that was produced over 35 years during Spirn's travels for her academic and personal research.

Published books

* The book received the 1984 American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) President's Award of Excellence. * * (received the 2011 ASLA Honor Award) *

References

External links

*
West Philadelphia Landscape ProjectThe Eye is a Door
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spirn, Anne Whiston Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American landscape architects American non-fiction writers MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty Radcliffe College alumni University of Pennsylvania School of Design alumni