Urban Conservancy- March 2020
The Urban Conservancy’s 2020 Urban Heroes
“Joseph O. Evans III, Principal/Partner at Evans + Lighter Landscape Architecture, is an environmental designer, sustainable development specialist, and adaptation professional who brings his expertise to projects pursuing a high level of sustainable systems performance.”
Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
Coastal Resilience Workshop: Sharing Indigenous Knowledge and Experience - September 2019
“Practitioners from Louisiana and Alaska, and scholars working on resettlement issues from DUSP. More broadly, this workshop will provide an opportunity for dialogue and knowledge sharing to better scope out the challenges to equitable relocation planning and the opportunities for uncovering latent and unaddressed values in the planning process”.
Dwell Magazine - May 2018
6 Landscape Pros From Across the U.S. Share the Plants They Really Dig
“…the resurrection fern is more than a symbol of resilience; it models a biomimetic solution for the future.”
New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles’ Design Masters - September 2017
Masters of Landscape - Joe Evans and Barney Lighter
“New Orleans is an amazing city in which to both live and work. It has tremendous cultural and ecological wealth. There is, however, an abundance of critical challenges pertaining to the sustainability and resilience of the region; some of which, like stormwater flooding and coastal erosion, place a sense of critical urgency to our work.”
Country Roads Magazine - July 2017
Permanent Culture - Could a return to natural infrastructure save South Louisiana?
“We’re looking at migrations all over the world, some caused by land loss,” added Evans, “and we’re trying to codify a methodology of cultural and ecological collection of information.”
In its designs, landscape architecture firm Evans + Lighter mimics natural processes.
Dwell Magazine - March/April 2017
Back to the Garden
“The shade helps limit solar gain, while a pool by Evans + Lighter Landscape Architecture provides respite on sweltering summer days..”
Mid Century Home: 2017
“Curtis and Davis’ Emerald St. Residence-Shining Once Again”
http://www.midcenturyhome.com/new-orleans-modernism-curtis-davis-emerald-st-residence/
Landscape Architecture Magazine - October 2016
Let’s Beat It
'‘As the waters rise around Louisiana’s Isle de Jean Charles, Evans + Lighter Landscape Architecture helps the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe find a new place to live.”
https://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/tag/louisiana/
Doggerel, the online magazine of Arup in the Americas- August 2016
Don’t call us climate refugees
“It’s not just green infrastructure, it’s not just resilience, and it’s not just ecological re-generation,” Evans added. “It’s about establishing a cultural landscape.”
https://www.jeffbyles.com/portfolio/climate-refugees.html
Preservation in Print - April 2016:
Coastal Resilience
“Joseph Evans and Barney Lighter of Evans + Lighter Landscape Architecture are working with the Lowland Center to work out the details of the tribe’s new home. “In this design, we’re looking at sustainability and resilience in the long term,” Evans said. “We’re trying to design a safe and healthy site for the community so that they can re-engage with the culture and identity of the tribe… We can reintroduce medicinal and edible plants that build on this deep tradition and ecological knowledge.
“The palmetto is a very critical and historic plant to this community and to communities throughout this area,” Evans said. “Palmetto leaves were used as thatching for roofs on the homes, and it was also used for basketry. In a very real way, these palmetto leaves express community and tying people together.”
The Advocate - August 2015
Joan Mitchell Center on Bayou Road to nurture artists in residence
The Advocate - November 2014
“9th Ward nursery grows plants to save wetlands”
http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_edd528e9-3ad5-534e-b932-810ce5527b4c.html
The Times-Picayune - September 2014
“Water works: Rain gardens are a beautiful way to fight street flooding”
http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2014/09/a_natural_way_to_fight_street.html
The Advocate - August 2014
Form plus function add up to a colorful mini-wetland
“The solution that Evans + Lighter landscape architects devised relies on swales (picture shallow gullies) to collect rainwater and funnel it out of the yard to the storm drain on the side street. Lined with rock and sparsely planted (one with ferns, another with palmettos), the swales manage the runoff so that none of it collects in a single spot. A pond serves as the centerpiece of the design, its level rising and falling based on the volume of rain it receives. Water in the pond recirculates via two “waterfalls” that mimic the appearance of water seeping out from between layers of rocks. A deck raised about a foot above grade provides a seating area for enjoying the new habitat, complete with bald cypress trees and strung with party lights.”
