About
I’m an editor and writer in Washington, D.C., who covers environmental design, climate, and the public realm. Currently I’m working on a long-range project about a chapter of the nuclear arms race during the early part of the Cold War, the St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey.
In 2010, I began a decade as the editor-in-chief of Landscape Architecture Magazine, and led the magazine’s redesign and relaunch during its 100th year. The renewed LAM received numerous awards and in 2014 was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for general excellence.
I started out covering design as the news editor of the magazine Architecture, and later became a senior editor and an editor at large before joining its successor magazine, Architect, reporting on the business of design and construction worldwide.
Locally, I was a contributing writer at Washington City Paper and then joined the staff as its arts editor, directing the paper’s critical and cultural coverage. I worked for six years as a contract reporter for The New York Times and as a contributing editor of I.D. magazine.
As a freelancer, I’ve written for magazines and newspapers including Slate, Men's Journal, Metropolitan Home, Harper's Bazaar, The Architect's Newspaper, and The Washington Post.
As an editor, I’ve been a frequent presenter and moderator and have served on multiple awards juries and selection panels. I’ve written four monographs on architecture and landscape architecture; most recently, I was a consulting editor of a fourth book, The Land Is Full, which explores 12 major park and public realm projects by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; I also wrote essays about the projects after visiting each site.
As for personal time, I have a big garden that’s never done; it brings me great pleasure and sometimes despair. Plants are my obsession, particularly trees.
Awards & Honors
Landscape Architecture Magazine
(2010 to 2021)
These awards are shared by various LAM staff members: Chris McGee, art director; Lisa Schultz, copy chief; Jennifer Reut, senior editor (now editor in chief) and Leah Ghazarian, managing editor; as well as Emily Cox, former editorial design assistant; Lisa Speckhardt, former managing editor; and Daniel Jost, former staff writer; plus numerous contributors as noted.
2021
EXCEL Awards, Association Media & Publishing, editorial honors for specialized journalism (10,001 to 20,000 circulation)
Gold Award, Design Excellence. For February, March and April 2020 issues.
Gold Award, Feature Article Design, for "Have Van, Will Garden," March 2020 issue.
Silver Award, General Excellence, for March, April, and May 2020 issues.
Jesse H. Neal Awards, Software & Information Industry Association, for excellence in business publications (revenue under $3 million)
Best Overall Art Direction/Design
Best Single Article, "Lethal Glass Landscapes," about efforts to reduce bird deaths in cities, by Jeff Link.
Best Profile, "Hell of Fun," a profile of the landscape architect Claude Cormier, by Brian Barth.
2020
EXCEL Awards
Gold Award, Single Topic Issue, for TREES, March 2019 issue.
Gold Award, Feature Article, for "The Schoolyard is Sick," by Jane Margolies; a June 2019 feature on the landscape architect Claire Latane's advocacy to improve environments around schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Silver Award, General Excellence; April, May, and June 2019 issues.
Silver Award, Feature Article Design, for "In Kilauea's Wake," November 2019 issue.
Bronze Award, Feature Article Design, for "Garden Punk," May 2019 issue.
Bronze Award, Cover Photography, for "Nice Catch," November 2019
2019
EXCEL Awards
Gold Award, General Excellence; October, November, and December 2018 issues.
Gold Award, Feature Article, for "The River Beneath the River," by Jennifer Reut, a November 2018 feature on long-range efforts to clean up the Anacostia River.
Bronze Award, Design Excellence; October, November, and December 2018 issues.
2018
EXCEL Awards
Gold Award, Single Topic Issue; "Found Ground," on public spaces built above and below city infrastructure.
Best Cover Contest, American Society of Magazine Editors
Finalist for "The Big Blow," an April 2017 cover feature by Michael Dumiak on plans for wind electrification in the North Sea.
2016
EXCEL Awards
Gold Award, Design Excellence; October, November, and December 2015 issues.
Gold Award, Feature Article Design, for "Street Theater," a feature on the Public Media Commons in St. Louis; November 2015 issue.
Silver Award, Feature Article Design, for "We Got Fun. And Foam," a feature on the construction of Maggie Daley Park in Chicago; November 2015 issue.
2014
Ellie Awards, the American Society of Magazine Editors
Finalist, General Excellence, Special Interest category.
2012
Eddie Awards, Folio Magazine
Bronze Award, Best Full Issue, for September 2011 issue on 9/11 Memorials.
Ozzie Awards, Folio Magazine
Bronze Award, Best Cover, for "Small Worlds," August 2011, photography by Elizabeth Felicella.
Silver Award, Best Feature Design, for "Morocco's Spell," a February 2012 feature by Julie Lasky about the Moroccan Courtyard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, an installation by the landscape architect Achva Benzinberg Stein.
Bronze Award, Best Feature Design, for "Skatepark Unintended," a February 2012 feature about guerrilla skate culture in Fort Worth; story and sketches by Nicholas Nelson; photography by Tiffany M. Sheppard.
Bronze Award, Best Use of Photography, for "Morocco's Spell,” February 2012; photography by Michael Moran.
Individual Honors
2025
Bradford Williams Medal, for the feature "The Woods Are Warming" (November 2024), a report on climate disruption in Olmsted Woods in Washington, D.C.; presented by the American Society of Landscape Architects for exemplary coverage of landscape architecture.
2017
President's Award, presented by the American Society of Landscape Architects, New York City Chapter; Jennifer Nitzky, president.