Events & News
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COG Review -
Wednesday, June 18, 5-7pm
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COGdesign's monthly project review gives designers the
opportunity to brainstorm, problem solve, and work
through project issues. Facilitators include
Karen Howard of Howard Garden Design; Gina
Foglia of Foglia Design Associates; and Todd
Richardson of Richardson and Associates and
instructor at the Landscape Institute of the
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.
Upcoming Schedule
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Wednesday, June 18, 5-7pm
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Wednesday, July 16, 5-7pm
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Wednesday, September 17, 5-7pm
Meetings are at:
The Landscape Institute
29 Garden St.
Harvard Square
Cambridge, MA 02138
Prospective COG designers and volunteers are welcome.
Please send
an RSVP to confirm your attending and we expect to see each working project represented.
Please call
781-642-6662 or email info@cogdesign.org
for additional information.
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Roger Cook Hosts ABC
Party
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June 2007 -- Landscape contractor and co-host of TV's This Old House, Roger Cook introduced COGdesign's Augusta Bailey Circle members to one of his special places.
>> more
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Ronan Park -
UPDATE
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June
2007 -- Friends of Ronan Park in Dorchester spruce up the Peace
Garden for the summer!
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Nira Rock -
UPDATE
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April 2007 -- After two years of planning and removing invasives at Nira Rock in Jamaica Plain, new plants go in the ground!
>> see recent photos
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COGdesign
Project on NECN
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COGdesigner
Jennie Smith and Alejandra St.Guillen talk
with Chet Curtis on NECN. >> 
Watch
the full video (7m35s) |
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Garden of
Hope in the Boston Globe
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Alejandra St. Guillen stood next to
the lot on Francis Street in Mission Hill that
will soon become a memorial garden in honor of her
sister Imette. (Globe Staff Photo / Evan Richman) |
Garden of hope to bloom
Parcel to be transformed in honor of slain student
By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | March 22,
2007
It is a barren lot wedged between two three-deckers on
a Mission Hill street that is often clogged with honking
cars and shrieking ambulances headed for Brigham and
Women's Hospital... >>
full article
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Seeking Students' Visions
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February
2007 -- Students at the Neighborhood House Charter
School in Dorchester create fanciful models and plans,
under the direction of COG designer Anne Smith, in
anticipation of a new courtyard design. >>
see
more photos
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Dudley Sq.,
Roxbury
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February
2007 -- Community members meet with Dudley
Sq. Main Street Director Joyce Stanley and COG
designers Julie Bodner and Marybeth Leu to
discuss plans for a new, green gateway into the
Roxbury neighborhood.
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Project
Showcase 2006
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October 2006 -- Social Justice and
the Transforming Quality of Gardens highlighted
the development of green space as a means of promoting
urban tranquility. Community activists described local
projects and participated in a spirited panel
discussion.
>> More
>> Program
(PDF, 3Mb)
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MHS Awards
Gold to COGdesign
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Elm Bank, Wellesley, October 2006 -- At a gala celebration, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society presented a Gold Medal to Lucia
Droby, COGdesign Executive Director, for her efforts to build an organization that provides an outstanding community service. In her remarks, Droby acknowledged the contributions to the organization of co-founder Rosalie Johnson and accepted the award on behalf of “the hundreds of designers and volunteers whose work serves as a catalyst for community action and environmental improvements.” Visit
www.masshort.org
for details.
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Nira Rock in
Jamaica Plain
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November 2006 -- Nira Rock in Jamaica Plain, once a haven for drug use, now appeals to neighbors and adventurers!
>> More
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Children's
Museum in Easton
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October
2006 – The
installation of the new Outdoor Learning Center at the Children's
Museum in Easton is underway!
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COGdesign
WINS at N.E.
Spring Flower Show
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March 2006 – COGdesign’s exhibit of
community-based design projects at the New England
Spring Flower Show was the recipient of a Bronze Medal
and the Roger Dane Trophy, awarded by the Mass.
Horticultural Society! >> Press
Release
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COGdesign in
LandscapeOnline.com
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Landscape Design Group Matches Volunteer
Designers with Community Projects
>> Read the
full article here.
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COGdesign in
the Boston Globe
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“Landscape designers spread seeds of charity. Everyone wins!”
As described in The Boston Globe by garden writer Carol Stocker,
Life At Home, Nov. 10, 2005.
>> Read the
full article here.
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PROJECT
SHOWCASE 2005
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Easton: Touring Richardson, Olmsted, Steele, and
New Visions
Docent Kasara Martin regales COG designers Ginnie Norman and Lelia Weinstein at Gate Lodge, designed by H.H. Richardson; landscape by
F.L. Olmsted. Photo by Lance Bukoff/Accent Photography. |
>> More
Photos
>> See
the Sites
>> Press
Release (PDF)
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Outdoor Learning Center Opens
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September 2005 – The new courtyard space at the Mitchell School in Needham was greeted with great enthusiasm by the whole school community. Students, staff, and parents expect the new Outdoor Learning Center to enrich the classroom curriculum and provide hands-on opportunities for lessons and practicing good citizenship. The courtyard was designed by COG designer Alice Evans. Parents Martha Bassett and Judy Chin lead the initiative. Photo by Andy Caulfield.
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Fran
Hintsa
Memorial
Garden
Project
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July 2005 – Friends of Community Living
Network (CLN) help to remove plants from the former
home of Fran Hintsa, a devoted supporter who died unexpectedly last winter. The plants will become
part of a new garden, named in her honor, at CLN’s
second affordable housing site for seniors in Newton. The landscape design was created by COG
designers
Sarah Kish
and Janice Reilly
.
>> More
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Horticulture Features COGdesign
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Take a look at the April issue of Horticulture
magazine for a terrific article about
COGdesign! (northeast issue only). Click
here for a PDF version of the article. |
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Children’s
Museum in Easton Charrette
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June 2005 – COG designers, museum staff and board
members, and community participants explored the site of a
new Outdoor Learning Center. A day-long community design workshop encouraged
creative brainstorming for the project.
>> More
>> North
Easton Architecture on Tour
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ABC
Garden
Party
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Resident gardener Steve Voegelin
guides the
Augusta Bailey Circle
members through the spring flowering wildflower garden.
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Each spring, COGdesign says thank
you to its most generous donors – members of the
Augusta Bailey Circle
– with an invitation to a private garden party.
In May 2005, guests were invited to spend an afternoon
in the lovely gardens of long-time gardener and NE
Wildflower Society member Nan St. Goar in the Sargent
Pond neighborhood of
Brookline
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COGdesign’s
Augusta Bailey Circle
acknowledges those donors making a minimum yearly
contribution of $250.
>> More
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Philosophy
Foundation Exhibit
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| Philosophy
Foundation,
Waltham |
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An
exhibit featuring COG designer Ellen Forrester’s
master plan for the Philosophy Foundation was on
display during January, 2005, in the Waltham Public
Library. The designer developed her
landscape plan for the three acre site, located in the
Piety Corner neighborhood of
Waltham
, after researching the philosophies of Ralph Waldo
Emerson and the concepts of landscape architect
Frederick law Olmsted. Her plan also responds to
the needs of the Philosophy Foundation for improved
parking and circulation, meditation spaces, and
historically appropriate plant selections.
Ellen
completed the project as a certificate requirement for
the Landscape Institute of the Arnold Arboretum of
Harvard University.
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| Philosophy
Foundation master plan. Ellen Forrester,
designer. |
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Mitchell
School
Groundbreaking
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On a slightly soggy October afternoon, a throng of children and adults gathered in the courtyard of the Mitchell Elementary School in Needham to celebrate a space, a process, and a vision. Principal Michael Schwinden welcomed teachers, parents, and students to what will become the new Outdoor Learning Center, designed by COGdesign’s Alice Evans. Alice, with the support of parent collaborators Martha Bassett and Judy Chin, gathered curriculum information and crafted an outdoor environment which will be used to enrich the educational experience of the whole school community.
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| Mitchell
School courtyard elevation. |
Mitchell School
courtyard stage.
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| Mitchell
School courtyard plan. Graphics by Alice
Evans. |
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Project Showcase 2004:
Landscape Is/As Art
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The art of landscape design was deftly and gorgeously illustrated by an illustrious group of designers at the 2004 project showcase,
Landscape Is/As Art. Framed by the gothic details, ethereal lighting, and glowing windows of the Forsyth Chapel at the Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, landscape architects Douglas Reed and Mikyoung Kim, and environmental sculptor Ron Rudnicki were inspiring presenters to an appreciative audience of landscape designers and greenspace aficionados. Each featured designer expressed a commitment to the highest levels of quality and impact in their work; images of their work roved from pastoral to schoolyard, from stone to optic fibers, from broad gestures to fine details. It was a breathtaking journey.
The community component of the evening offered heartfelt testimonials from the designers and clients who represent the substance of COGdesign’s project work.
- Larysa Kulynych, co-chair of Friends of Ronan Park and John Beresford, a Friends member, told of the transformative power of a new ornamental garden in this Dorchester park. Susan Balleza, the garden’s designer, described the unique challenges of the urban, wind-swept site.
- Eleanor Batuyios, Pine Street Inn’s Administrator of General Lodging, conveyed to the audience the importance of creating a beautiful outdoor environment for low income residents in Brookline.
- Designers Anjali Joshi and Tacey Luongo along with Neighborhood of Affordable Housing’s Matt Henzy described the community involvement in developing a sculptural linear park along a schoolyard edge which connects and welcomes a dense East Boston neighborhood.
The thread of meaning woven throughout the evening was that the art and craft of landscape design is a powerful force for benefiting individual lives and for strengthening a community’s culture.
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Planting in Ronan Park
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Neighbors and friends gathered to make a new garden in Ronan Park, Dorchester. COG designer Susan Balleza created the design, specifying hardy, low maintenance shrubs, grasses, and perennials.
>>
More Photos |
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Augusta Bailey Circle Garden Party
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At Shirley Eustis House, Roxbury.
COGdesign supporters tour the gardens, carriage house,
and Colonial governor's mansion.
>>More
Photos
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Advisory
Board Annual Meeting
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COGdesign’s Advisory Board and Board of Directors, along with invited guests, meet annually to consider future goals. This year’s meeting, held at the Hunnewell
Building at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain considered a long-range vision for the nonprofit, ways in which COGdesign could provide resources to clients beyond design, and how the organization defines its support of environmental initiatives.
>>More Photos |
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Recent Press
on COGdesign Projects
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>> Read about the
Roosevelt School
project in the Hyde Park Bulletin (Adobe Acrobat
PDF)
>> Read about the
Jenks House
project in the Pine Street Inn newsletter (link
to article)
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An Evening with COGdesign at Stonehurst
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The Puddingstone Garden Restoration Grand Opening!
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In Roxbury, a two year collaboration among the
neighborhood association, COGdesign, and the Boston
Parks Department.
>> Event Photos <<
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COGdesign Cosponsors Community
Workshop on Mystic River
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Saturday, June 28, 2003 -- The Blessing of the Bay Community Design
Workshop began a critical conversation about the future of a very beautiful but
overlooked green oasis on the Mystic River in Somerville.
At the end of the day, participants agreed an important step had been taken in
shaping the future of the site. More...
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