Thomas Balsley

Thomas Balsley (born 1943), FASLA, is the founder and principal designer of Thomas Balsley Associates, a New York City-based design firm best known for its fusion of landscape and urbanism in public parks and plazas. Balsley's firm has been active for over 35 years.

Thomas Balsley
Born1943
OccupationLandscape Architect

Life and career

Thomas Balsley was born in 1943 and studied at Syracuse University and then the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He moved to New York City in 1970, and within a year founded his own firm, Thomas Balsley Associates.[1] In New York City alone, Mr. Balsley has completed more than 100 parks and plazas, most notably Riverside Park South and Gantry Plaza State Park. In addition, to his above ground work, NYC MTA selected his bench design for its transit systems. In a gesture of recognition for his contribution to New York City's public spaces, Balsley Park, formerly known as Sheffield Plaza, on 9th Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets in New York City, has been renamed in honor of the landscape designer.[2]

About Gantry Plaza State Park, former New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp wrote, “The evil spell is broken... The curse that reduced New York’s landscape architects to creating Disney versions of Central Park has been at least temporarily lifted.”[3]

Balsley's work can be seen in the United States in the downtown and waterfront parks of major cities like Dallas, Los Angeles, Portland, Detroit, Cleveland, Tampa, and Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Recently-won international design competitions include the Magok Waterfront and the National Ecological Center in Korea and Kasumigaseki Plaza in Tokyo. He has given lectures at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the University of Pennsylvania, the National Building Museum and Seoul National University. In addition he has received international recognition in the form of awards and citations from professional and civic organizations, including the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the American Institute of Architects, Environmental Design Research Association, the Institute for Urban Design and the Waterfront Center.

Projects
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References
  1. "Thomas Balsley Bio". Thomas Balsley Associates. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  2. Dunlap, David W. (16 July 2000). "Breathing Life Into City's Barren Plazas". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  3. Muschamp, Herbert (13 December 1998). "ART / ARCHITECTURE; Where Iron Gives Way to Beauty and Games". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  4. "Riverside Park South". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  5. "Hunter's Point South". Architects Newspaper. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  6. "Gantry Plaza State Park". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  7. "SUNY Albany Main Entry Plaza". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  8. "Library Green". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  9. "West Shore Park". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  10. "Curtis Hixon Park". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  11. "Skyline Park". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  12. "Gate City". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  13. "Kasumigaseki Plaza". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  14. "Main Street Garden Park". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  15. "Pacific Design Center". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  16. "Beaumont Quarter". Architizer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
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