Garrett Eckbo ― Modern Landscapes For Living

One of the central figures in modern landscape architecture, Garrett Eckbo (1910-2000) was a major influence in the field during an active career spanning five decades. While most of the early American designers concentrated on the private garden and the corporate landscape, Eckbo's work demonstrated innovative design ideas in a social setting. This engagement with social improvement has stayed with Eckbo throughout his life, distinguishing both his intentions and achievements, from his early work for the Farm Security Administration to his partnerships (including one of the most prominent landscape firms in the world, Eckbo, Dean, Austin, and Williams?EDAW) and his years as chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.

In an elegant and detailed book that includes more than 100 of Eckbo's designs, Marc Treib examines the aesthetic formation of Eckbo's manner, and by implication the broader field of landscape architecture since the 1930s. Dorothee Imbert writes about Eckbo's social vision, including his belief that ultimately, landscape design is the "arrangement of environments for people." The book also contains a biographical and professional chronology and a complete bibliography of publications by and about Garrett Eckbo.

Marc Treib is Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, and the editor of Thomas Church, Landscape Architect: Designing a Modern Californian Landscape (2004). Dorothee Imbert is Asssociate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the author of The Modernist Garden in France (1993).