Shlomo Aronson (landscape architect)

Shlomo Aronson was born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine. Aronson went to the United States to study landscape architecture as an undergraduate student and received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963. He went on to study at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where he received his Master of Landscape Architecture in 1966. Aronson returned to Israel, and lived and worked in Ein Kerem, Jerusalem.[2]

Aronson taught at Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem, Department of Architecture 1979 – 1985, 1992; Harvard Graduate School of Design, Urban Design Department, Guest Critic, Spring 1981, Spring 1982, Fall 1997; Harvard Graduate School of Design, Landscape Architecture Department, Visiting Professor, Fall 1985, Spring 1988, Fall 1997; Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Institute of Urban and Regional Studies, 2000–2001. He has been a guest lecturer at various American, Canadian, Italian, German, Indian, Russian and South African universities.

Central Garden at the Ben-Gurion International Airport

Prior to receiving his master's degree, Aronson worked in Lawrence Halprin's office in San Francisco, California from 1963 to 1965. The field of landscape architecture was developing at this time to include large scale projects that incorporated transportation and community planning. In his foreword to "Making Peace with the Land," Halprin recognized Aronson's desire to work on larger scale projects and his interest in their "social context and the impact they world have on society."[3] Aronson was part of The Architects' Collaborative in Cambridge Massachusetts in 1966 and The Greater London Council, Architecture Department from 1966 to 1967. Aronson joined the Jerusalem City Engineer's Department in 1968. In 1969, Aronson became the owner and director of Shlomo Aronson and Associates, a multi-disciplinary office that includes landscape architects, architects, and urban planners in Jerusalem. Aronson was also the Chairman of the Israel Associates of Landscape Architects from 1991 to 1998.[4]

Aronson's work is characterized by its attention to moral and historical issues of place and culture. His designs recognize both cultural and environmental relationships at the scale of the region and the site. Aronson incorporates a modern aesthetic into an ancient landscape. Lawrence Halprin, Aronson's former employer and mentor, remarks that "In many ways [Aronson's] attitudes and his process have transcended questions of detailed design. I believe his work must be judged on a far larger basis-that of concept, basic philosophy, and the significant role that landscape architecture can play in determining the character and quality, not only of Israel, but also of our world and of the future."[3]

Another characteristic of Aronson's work is selection of plants that hark back to agricultural and religious traditions.[5][6] According to Peter Jacobs, "the form and materials of Aronson's projects are derived from a careful reading of the natural and cultural history of the landscape, an understanding of the urban place as much as the rural countryside."[7]

In 2012, Aronson planned four "healing gardens" that adjoin the new entrance pavilion of Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Karem. The gardens employ the principles of biophilic design, which posits that nature and vegetation impact positively on human health.[8]

Besides that, Aronson made a significant and universal contribution towards planning without water. He published Aridscapes in 2008, an advocacy against water pumping as well as a global warming treatise. His pioneering work as a landscape architect was awarded a Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2011.[9][10]

• Ben Gurion Airport, Trans-Israel Highway
• 1989 Pfefferman Prize
• 1990 Rechter Prize
• 1990 Gold Medal and Best Design Award, Osaka Expo
• 1991 Represented Israel in the International Biennale in Venice, for Sherover Promenade
• 1991 Beautiful Israel Prize
• 1995 Designer of the Year (with David Resnik) for Mivnim for the master plan of Beit Shemesh
• 1995 Excellence in Communication, Landscape Architectural Magazine
• 1996 Represented Israel in the International Biennale in Venice, for Shaar Hagai Interchange, Nazareth
• 1998 Karavan Prize
• 1998 Architects and Town Planners Award Prize
• 1999 Silver medal for design, Kunming, China Expo
• 2000 Jerusalem Prize for Architecture
• 2001 Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of California, Berkeley
• 2005 General Design Award of Honor, American Society of Landscape Architects, for Ben Gurion International Airport, Lod, Israel
• 2011 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture [Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris & Fondation LOCUS][12]

• Making Peace with the Land: Designing Israel's Landscape. Washington, D.C: Spacemaker Press, 1998.
• "Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod" Topos: the international review of landscape architecture and urban design 53 (2005): 60–4.
• Aridscapes. "Land&Scape Series" collection, Gustavo Gili Editions, 2008.

• Bennett, Paul. "Habitable Image: A Network of Promenades Defines a Country's Past, Points Toward its Future [Jerusalem]." Landscape Architecture 90.5 (2000): 60–7.
• Helphand, Kenneth I. Dreaming Gardens : Landscape Architecture and the Making of Modern Israel. Santa Fe, NM: Center for American Places, 2002.
• Loon, Leehu. "Abstracting the Israeli Landscape: This Garden Well Expresses the Landscape of Israel, without Political References – Too Bad most Visitors Can't Find it." Landscape Architecture 97.3 (2007): 28, 30–2.
• Ben-Ari, Eyal, and Yoram Bilu, eds. Grasping Land: Space and Place in Contemporary Israeli Discourse and Experience. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997.
• Flantz, Richard and Daphne Raz, eds. Point of View: Four Approaches to Landscape Architecture in Israel. Tel Aviv: The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery Tel Aviv University, 1996.
• Selin, Helaine, ed. Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures. Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.

• 1995 ASLA Professional Awards
• Landscape Architects, Town Planners and Architects, Israel. 1/31/2008