F. Philip Barash works to shape more vibrant and just places.
Through journalistic and narrative writing, I expose stories about the changing American landscape. By facilitating urban planning projects, I contribute to shared places and social infrastructures of communities. And in my public curatorial and teaching practice, I engage contemporary issues that affect the built and natural environments.
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Common themes across my work include architecture and landscape, placemaking and public art, community engagement and civic projects, and equity and spatial justice.
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The geography of emptiness
And yet policy and economics fail to fully describe the value of this land, to account for embedded histories and belongings, to recognize that an empty lot is full—brimming with stories and significations.
The ecology of Maya Lin: a memorial for the planet
But celebrity isn’t unambiguous: public visibility means that Lin is continually outing herself—as a woman, as a Chinese American, as an outsider.
Avenue of the Arts: asset-based plan for reimagining a cultural corridor
Boston’s cultural district was struggling with its identity. A visually striking asset map helped to illuminate boundaries, stakeholders, and aspirations, ahead of a comprehensive cultural planning effort.
Placemaking in the Loop: art, poetry, and wellness in Chicago’s central business district
Chicago’s downtown organization made its mission to program and activate public spaces. Through art, dance, retail, music, poetry, and innovative partnerships, the Loop transformed into a vibrant and inclusive destination.
CHGO DSGN: Chicago Cultural Center
Such is design’s central paradox: at its most successful, designed objects are anonymous and almost entirely imperceptible—part of the texture of everyday life. They are the objects you encounter without remark. But at CHGO DSGN, when plucked from context and installed in a gallery, the everyday object becomes special: as hopeful, as significant, and as erotic as a fetish.
Notes on public art in the making: the thunder of bunnies beyond the horizon
Movements such as landscape urbanism demonstrate that the scope and ambition of the landscape architecture profession has extended into new realms.
Echoes of the city: the making of Janet Echelman’s aerial sculpture
When the center dedicated to the legacy of the first African-American President was first conceived, the effort required multiple stakeholders to share a unified vision. A Request for Proposals signaled clear intentions and an ambitious vision.