BSLA Fieldbook BSLA 2015 Spring Fieldbook | Page 72

BSLA

/ MEMBER

LAURA TENNY, ASLA
CAMPUS LIFE

After graduating from the MLA program at
Harvard GSD, I spent my first year in private
practice at Richard Burck Associates. There I
learned the ropes on institutional and residential
projects, and discovered I liked the institutional
scale of campus work. I practiced my hand
lettering and drew plans and details with pen
on mylar and in auto-cad, and managed my first
project–a site plan for the Wadsworth Athenaeum
in Hartford. Skip’s office was the start of my path
toward a career in the development of campus
landscape and building projects.
After a year in practice I returned to the Arnold
Arboretum, where I had spent a happy summer as
an intern on the Grounds Crew during graduate
school. My next seven years were formative
ones, with the most exciting project of my early
career being the Leventritt Shrub and Vine
Garden. This three-acre garden was then just past
competition stage. Working with the team from
Reed Hilderbrand, I saw the evolution of that
project from design concept through construction.
I began to learn the process of managing a project
from the Owner’s side of the table by watching
and working with the Harvard University capital
project managers. While at the Arboretum, I also
collaborated on projects with Boston Water and
Sewer engineers for stormwater improvements,
the Boston Parks Department on a multi-use
path, and with the wonderful Arboretum Living
Collections staff every day. I had the chance
to work with LAs and architects on a range of
studies and built projects, culminating with
early feasibility studies for a research lab and
greenhouse at the Arboretum’s Weld Hill.
My next job was as a project manager with
Harvard University Real Estate Services. Here I

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