BSLA Fieldbook BSLA 2015 Spring Fieldbook | Page 75

MEMBER /

BSLA

MICHAEL WASSER, ASLA
MUSICAL ROOTS

I grew up in Minnesota and
spent much of my youth
interested in two things:
music and the landscape. I
studied music, art and drafting
in high school, spent a lot of time
on my uncle’s farm and worked in retail
nurseries from 8th -12th grade. My
grandmother was a master gardener
and my grandfather a master carpenter,
so I guess landscape and building things
were inherent in my genes. I first learned
about Landscape Architecture in 11th
grade, working for a nursery that had
a landscape architect on staff. Hehad
attended the landscape architecture
program at Iowa State and I knew this
was the direction I wanted to go.
Starting college at the University
of Minnesota, I intended to pursue
landscape architecture, but was
sidetracked to a career in radio, television,
and the Minneapolis jazz music scene as
a radio announcer, studio engineer and
producer/promoter for 15 years. Deciding
it was time for a change, I attended the
University of Minnesota undergraduate
landscape architecture program. While
in school I worked in a large AE office
in Minneapolis and upon graduation I
worked in a small landscape architecture

Started Out
Education
Now

I i nt e nd e d t o p u r s u e
l a nd s c a p e a r c h i t e c t ur e,
bu t wa s s i d e t ra c ke d
t o a c a r e e r i n ra d i o ,
t e l evi s i o n, a nd t h e
M i nne a p ol i s j a zz
mus i c s c e ne a s a ra d i o
a nno u nc e r
office. When the economy took a downturn
and the work dried up in Minneapolis,
I went to the UVA Graduate program.
Upon graduation I interviewed for jobs in
Charlotte, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Philadelphia,
Washington DC, and Boston. I was offered
a job at the Halvorson Company (now
Halvorson Design Partnership) and moved
to Boston. When the project I was hired to
work on ran short on funds (the economy
was still very tentative), I hired myself out to
work as a consulting LA working for various
firms (Pressley Associates, Doug Reed, Geller
Associates, among others) and finally landed
full-time jobs with Morgan Wheelock, and
then Martha Schwartz. I eventually opened
my own office in 1999 and formed Hines/
Wasser and Associates in 2001. When Hines/
Wasser dissolved in 2010 after the last
economic downturn, I opened a solo practice.
Over the years I have had a chance to work
on very interesting projects in the U.S.,
Europe, and China, ranging from small and
large residences to urban design, academic,
and institutional projects. In addition to
practice, I have taught at the BAC, Landscape
Institute and Wentworth Institute.

Rochester, MN
BLA, University of Minnesota; MLA, University of Virginia
Michael Wasser Associates
Boston Society of Landscape Architects Fieldbook

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