Laura Solano (BSLA ’83), FASLA, has been awarded the 2022 American Society of Landscape Architects Design Medal. The award recognizes an individual landscape architect who has produced a body of exceptional design work at a sustained level for a period of at least ten years. Solano is a principal at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) and oversees the Cambridge office. She has been involved in many of the firm’s best-known and award-winning projects, including Teardrop Park, Alumnae Valley at Wellesley College, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, and the Restoration of Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House. Solano was nominated by Michael Van Valkenburgh.

Laura is a landscape architect’s landscape architect, bringing together the passion, curiosity, humanity, intelligence, and rock-solid expertise that make our profession great. In the 40 years since she entered the field, her influence has extended far beyond the projects she has worked on, enriching both the teaching and the practice of landscape architecture.

Laura's extraordinary accomplishments as a builder and a technical expert have improved the physical world we live in, and her leadership has had a positive impact on our profession as a whole. She has helped pave the way for new generations of women and Latinx designers.

Solano was the 2018–19 Richard W. Trott ’61 Distinguished Visiting Professor and is a current member of the Knowlton Advisory Board.

Read more at ASLA