WATERTOWN, Mass.–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–Sasaki Associates, Inc., a firm built upon a rich foundation of
excellence, innovation, and collaboration, will receive the 2012
American Planning Association’s National Planning Excellence Award for a
Planning Firm. Sasaki is being recognized for the enduring high quality
of their project work and for their leadership in charting the future of
planning, including a significant commitment to sustainable design
practices.
We are honored to be recognized with the 2012 National Planning
Excellence Award from the American Planning Association
The award recognizes a firm for its body of distinguished work
influencing the planning profession. APA’s national awards program, the
profession’s highest honor, is a proud tradition established more than
50 years ago to recognize outstanding community plans, planning programs
and initiatives, public education efforts, and individuals for their
leadership on planning issues.
“Sasaki Associates was a pioneer in creating a collaborative practice
that brings together planners, urban designers, architects, landscape
architects, interior designers, and engineers to achieve extraordinary
results,” said Marie L. York, FAICP, APA Board Director and 2012 Awards
Jury Co-Chair. “The firm continues to evolve to solve complex problems
and improve the quality of life.”
Sasaki’s work endures the volatility of time with inspiring planning and
urban design frameworks that strike a balance between context, culture,
and invention. Sasaki’s plans also address sustainability in regard to
economics, social context, and the environment–and the firm’s global
experience gives them the ability to do this work at all scales and in a
variety of contexts. Examples of Sasaki’s diverse portfolio include the
on-going “Tomorrow
Plan,” a HUD-funded effort to develop a regional plan for
sustainable development in Central Iowa; the One
Ohio State Framework Plan for The Ohio State University; and
the design of the master plan for the main site of the 2008
Beijing Olympics.
“We are honored to be recognized with the 2012 National Planning
Excellence Award from the American Planning Association,” said James
Miner, AICP, a managing principal at Sasaki Associates. “While the award
is a testament to Sasaki’s long and storied history, the award also
recognizes our leading role in shaping the future of the discipline of
planning through our ideas and use of innovative technologies and our
approach to helping clients make smart, long-term decisions that result
in greater value in their markets.”
Sasaki’s ongoing and completed projects across the country include the
Brighton / Guest Street Planning Study with the Boston Redevelopment
Authority (BRA) in Mass.; a Parks
Master Plan in Bridgeport, Conn.; the Providence
2020 Master Plan in Rhode Island; the Buffalo
Riverbend Site Development Plan in Upstate New York; the Greater
Hill District Master Plan in Pittsburgh, PA; the rehabilitation of
the Lincoln
Memorial Landscape and Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in
Washington, DC; the Penn
Connects Development Plan at the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia; ongoing strategic master planning services for the
University System of Georgia; the Charleston
Waterfront Park in South Carolina; and continuing work with the Reston
Town Center in Virginia.
Other recent Sasaki awards include a 2012 National AIA Honor Award in
Urban Design for the Jordan
Dead Sea Vision Plan, a project that involves a comprehensive
strategy for 40 square kilometers around the north eastern edge of the
Dead Sea – outlining a dynamic, robust, and sustainable plan for growth
and evolution of the region. The firm has received more than 500 awards
from planning and design organizations, including the 2011 APA National
Planning Excellence Award for Best Practices in Hazard Mitigation and
Disaster Planning for Cedar Rapids’ River
Corridor Redevelopment Plan, a 2011 ULI Award of Excellence for the Euclid
Avenue HealthLine BRT Project in Cleveland, the 2011 SCUP Honor
Award for Excellence in Planning for the Master Plan for the new Singapore
University of Technology and Design, and the 2007 ASLA Firm Award.
Sasaki Associates will receive its award at a special luncheon on April
16, 2012, during APA’s National Planning Conference in Los Angeles. The
firm will also be featured in an upcoming issue of Planning magazine,
APA’s flagship publication. To view all of the APA 2012 National
Planning Excellence, Achievement, and Leadership Award recipients, visit www.planning.org/awards/2012.
The American Planning Association is an independent, not-for-profit
educational organization that provides leadership in the development of
vital communities. APA and its professional institute, the
American Institute of Certified Planners, are dedicated to advancing the
art, science and profession of good planning — physical, economic and
social — so as to create communities that offer better choices for
where and how people work and live. Members of APA help create
communities of lasting value and encourage civic leaders, business
interests and citizens to play a meaningful role in creating communities
that enrich peoples lives. APA has offices in Washington, DC, and
Chicago, Ill. For more information, visit www.planning.org.
Sasaki (www.sasaki.com)
is an integrated design and planning firm committed to realizing
thoughtful, sustainable solutions to our clients’ unique problems.
Drawing on the collaboration and diversity of ideas that defines our
inter-disciplinary firm, our teams take a personal approach to creating
award-winning spaces and places for our institutional, civic and
commercial clients. Sasaki is a mid-sized firm of 200 professionals
working throughout the United States and internationally from our office
in Boston.