Diana Balmori facts for kids

Diana Balmori Ling (born June 4, 1932 – died November 14, 2016) was a talented landscape architect and urban designer. This means she designed outdoor spaces and helped plan cities. She was also the person who started her own company, Balmori Associates.

Early Life and Learning

Diana Balmori was born in Gijón, Spain. She spent her childhood years in Spain and England before her family moved to Argentina. Her mother, Dorothy Ling, was a musician and studied music. Her father, Clemente Hernando Balmori, was an expert in languages. From a young age, Diana learned to sing, dance, and play the piano. Her parents encouraged her to explore many different creative things, which later helped her in her design work.

She finished high school when she was just 16 years old. She then studied architecture at the National University of Tucumán in Argentina. There, she met her future husband, César Pelli. In 1952, they both moved to the United States. Diana continued her studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she earned her PhD in urban history, which is the study of how cities have grown and changed over time.

Diana and César had two sons. Denis became a neurobiologist, studying the brain and nervous system. Rafael Pelli became a well-known architect, just like his father. The family lived in an apartment in Manhattan, New York City.

Her Amazing Career

After finishing her studies, Diana Balmori moved to the East Coast of the U.S. to begin her professional and teaching career. She taught at the State University of New York at Oswego and also at the Yale School of Architecture, where she led classes on the history of landscape design.

Diana also continued to learn herself, studying landscape architecture at Radcliffe College. Later, she became a partner at her husband's company, Cesar Pelli Associates. She even started their own department for landscape architecture there! In 1990, she decided to leave and start her own company, Balmori Associates.

As the main landscape designer at Balmori Associates, Diana led many exciting and new projects.

• She created the main plan for the Abandiobarra District in Bilbao, Spain. Her designs for outdoor spaces there are right next to the Nervion River and the famous Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
• In 2005, she made a floating island around New York City a reality. This idea originally came from an artist named Robert Smithson.
• Her firm was chosen as one of five finalists in a big competition to design a wildlife crossing over a highway in Colorado. This crossing would help animals safely cross the road.

Diana Balmori didn't just design beautiful spaces; she also helped shape public rules and plans for how our cities and environments are built. She was part of important groups like the one planning the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for the World Trade Center Site and a committee for the design plan of the White House. She also taught at the Yale School of Architecture and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

She received many honors from important organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Institute of Architects. In 2006, she was named a Senior Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., which is a special place for garden and landscape studies. She also served two terms on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which advises the government on art and architecture.

Diana Balmori also wrote books about cities, the environment, and the history of design. She connected her design work with foundations and universities. She helped write books like Beatrix Farrand, American Landscapes: Garden and Campus Designs (1985), Redesigning the American Lawn (1993), and Groundwork: Between Landscape and Architecture (2011).

In 2011, she was recognized as a fellow of the American Society of American Landscape Architects.

In 2014, Balmori Associates moved to a new office in Soho, New York City. Diana Balmori lived and worked in New York City until she passed away peacefully in her sleep on November 14, 2016, at the age of 84.

Her Design Style

Diana Balmori was very interested in how public spaces are used and designed, and how they affect the larger environment. Her design style is known for making a smooth connection between the landscape and buildings in city public spaces. She explored how designs could show a new understanding of nature, not just by looking like nature, but by understanding how natural processes work.

She was also a leader in sustainable systems. One important part of this was her work with green roofs. Green roofs are roofs covered with plants, which help the environment. Diana Balmori called the huge flat areas of city rooftops the "fifth façade" of a building, meaning they were just as important as the four walls.

Diana often worked with artists and other architects on her projects.

Important Projects

• Smithson Floating Island, New York, NY, US (2005) with Robert Smithson
• Abandiobarra Masterplan, Bilbao, Spain (2012)
• Masterplan for New Government City of Sejong, South Korea (2014)
• GROWONUS, Brooklyn, NY, US (2015)
• Battery Park City
• Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

See also

In Spanish: Diana Balmori para niños