Richard C. Bell, FASLA, To Receive 2014 ASLA Medal

Sept. 9, 2014 - PRLog -- Richard C. Bell, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (http://www.asla.org/) (ASLA) whose 50-year career included many beloved projects in Raleigh and throughout North Carolina, will receive the national ASLA Medal, the highest honor the professional association bestows on a member, during its annual meeting on November 4^th in Denver, Colorado.

The ASLA Medal recognizes lifetime achievements and contributions to the profession, the welfare of the public, and the environment.

“Throughout my career, I’ve really just had one mission,” Dick Bell says. “And that is to leave a little beauty behind wherever I go.”

A native of Manteo, NC, and a graduate of the North Carolina State University School of Design, Bell was the youngest recipient of the Rome Prize Fellowship (http://www.aarome.org/about/mission) in 1951 when he was only 21 years old.

He began his career in Raleigh 1955 when landscape architecture was an unknown profession in his state. Through his tireless efforts, landscape architecture became a registered profession for the first time in North Carolina in 1969.

To demonstrate to the general public what landscape architecture could do, he also actively sought, and received, high profile projects. Just a few of those award-winning projects, among the 2000-plus projects he completed throughout his career, were Pullen Park, the Meredith College Lake and Amphitheater, the NCSU “Brickyard,” the grounds of the NC Legislative Building, and the since-destroyed Water Garden live/work park along Highway 70. At Water Garden, he experimented with cutting-edge landscaping methods and materials for 50 years.

Bell was a 2007 inductee in the Raleigh Hall of Fame (http://www.raleighhalloffame.org/). In a letter of support to the Hall of Fame committee, former City Planning Director George Chapman wrote:

“[Dick Bell] often represented projects that were on the cutting edge of sustainable development, even in the ‘80s,” says former City Planning Director George Chapman*. “Because of his experience and his keen eye, he influenced the work of the Raleigh Planning Commission during a time when growth was rapid and the pressure to abuse the natural environment were high. He unfailingly and unflinchingly spoke out in favor of design principles that protected the natural environment but encouraged a sustainable form of development. His ideas were often innovative and challenged the standard practices of the day, but in the end, they lead to a new direction for the physical environment of our city.”

In 2011, the now-College of Design honored Bell by launching its annual Richard C.Bell Lecture Series (http://landscapeonline.com/research/article/15659).

“Certainly, [the Medal] is an unexpected award,” Bell wrote in an acknowledgment letter to ASLA President Mark Focht. “I feel very humble to be singled out for the very high honor that this award represents. In all probability, I feel that no landscape architect truly deserves this singular and momentous award, as we all are a group who firmly believe in ‘service before self.’"

He also expressed his gratitude “to my mentors...as well as to the many architects, engineers, and nursery men with whom I have worked throughout these many years.”

Rodney Swink, FASLA; Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA; Susan Hatchell, FASLA; Mark Hough, ASLA; and Dan Howe, ASLA, nominated Bell for the ASLA Medal.

For more information on Dick Bell, visit http://www.ncmodernist.org/dbell.htm.

For more information on the ASLA and the ASLA Medal, go to www.asla.org.