Five Lessons for Community Revitalization from Historic Home Restoration
There are many parallels between historic home restoration and community revitalization – here are five lessons.
Washington Square – Site of the Salt Lake City and County Building
The History of Washington Square in Historic Salt Lake City
Designing for TV: A Crash Course with Extreme Makeover
We recently had the opportunity to volunteer, by providing Landscape Architectural services for two very deserving families, on the hit TV show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”! The episodes are 1002 and 1003 and we are looking forward to seeing them air in January 2020 on HGTV! In case you haven’t’ seen the show (seriously, who[…]
Trial by Fire: How I Became a Historic Preservation (and Community Revitalization) Advocate
In the process of re-building a historic home, we also became part of a larger community re-building process. Through blood, sweat, and tears, and a literal baptism by fire, we became old-house restoration experts, and at the same time, grassroots community advocates. For us, our home restoration and the revitalization of this amazing place have been parallel narratives, narratives that began with looking past the outer layer of decay and blight and truly believing in the potential of a place; willingness to work hard and apply hours upon hours of sweat equity; and making slow but steady incremental improvements that have an exponential impact over many (so many) years.
Reinventing Community Engagement
Over the course of 20 years of professional and individual community engagement, we’ve been to a LOT of different types of public meetings. The best ones are creative and fun with active involvement of participants. They actually work to make a project better. The worst ones are boring, limit community feedback, or worse–collect feedback and[…]
Going Back to Our Roots!
We’re proud to unveil our new logo! The name Io stems from Greek mythology. Io was a demi-goddess represented by a white heifer. As a woman-founded design practice we deliberately chose the name based on its strong female archetype and also its agricultural symbolism. We have both personal ties to small-scale community agriculture and a[…]
The Four Types of Historic Landscapes
The documentation and preservation of Historical Landscapes represents a relatively new and frequently misunderstood branch of the preservation movement. The following are the 4 types of historic landscapes have been defined by the United States Park Service (Preservation Brief 36)
Stilwell’s Sentinel Trees Bear Witness
This article by Io principal Susan Crook was published in the June 2014 Union Vedette, the newsletter of the Fort Douglas Military Museum. Stilwell Field has played an essential role at Fort Douglas from the founding of the post on October 20, 1862 to the present stewardship of the Fort Douglas National Historic Landmark (NHL)[…]
Io and Athena: Inspiring Women
The Athena Award is a prestigious award that recognizes inspiring women, including our Principal Landscape Designer, Shalae Larsen. As a women-owned business (whose name is informed by Greek mythology) and whose mission it is to create sustainable, vibrant communities while mentoring the next generation of female landscape architects, Io Landscape Architecture is pleased to congratulate[…]
Io Landscape Architecture Moves to the Historic Scowcroft Mansion
Io is excited to announce our new location, in the Historic Scowcroft Mansion at 795 24th Street, in Ogden’s historic Trolley District. As a Landscape Architecture firm that specializes in Historic Landscapes, historic landscape documentation, preservation, adaptive re-use, as well as historically appropriate new landscapes – we are excited about our new home and its[…]