American Society of Landscape Architects

Landscape Architect Dick Bell Launches New, Informative Blog

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The pond at Dick Bell's "Water Garden"
The pond at Dick Bell's "Water Garden"

June 25, 2009 (ATLANTIC BEACH, NC) – Richard C. Bell, a master landscape architect who spent nearly all of his illustrious career in Raleigh before relocating last year to Atlantic Beach, has launched a new blog that offers a glimpse into the man and mind behind some of North Carolina’s most iconic landmarks.

Among Bell’s best known projects are NC State University’s “Brickyard” and Sculpture Garden plazas, the City of Raleigh’s Pullen Park, the Meredith College Amphitheater, St. Mary’s College soccer field and brick fencing, and The Water Garden, Raleigh’s first mixed-use development on Glenwood Avenue/Highway 70 West that combined offices and residents and served as a laboratory for his experiments on planting materials and landscape design.

Entitled “Pebbles In The Pond: News & Musings by Landscape Architect Dick Bell,” the new blog gives Bell a repository for his knowledge of the profession, of environmental design and sustainability, and of the history of the profession in North Carolina. The blog is located at: dickbell.wordpress.com.

“Pebbles In The Pond” also includes news Bell has generated over recent years, such as his induction into the Raleigh Hall of Fame. Links also take visitors to articles on Bell and his work that have been published in the media.

Dick Bell has completed over 2000 landscape architecture projects. He has designed everything from major city and highway corridors to city parks, university plazas and amphitheatres, mixed-use beachfront developments, and individual residences, and he was a recognized leader in environmentalism and sustainable design long before the words became part of the general lexicon.

A native of Manteo, NC, Dick Bell was educated at the North Carolina State University School of Design, graduating in 1950 as part of Dean Henry Kamphoefner’s first class of 15 architects and four landscape architects. At the age of 21, he was the youngest designer to receive the Prix de Rome, which allowed him to travel and study in Europe for two years. He founded his first firm in Raleigh, NC, in 1955, introducing the practice of landscape architecture as a registered profession to the state. He was also the first person elected to the registration board.

Dick Bell, FASLA, FAAR
Dick Bell, FASLA, FAAR

Bell is a Fellow of both the American Society of Landscape Architects and the American Academy in Rome and has received 27 honor awards for his work. To view his new blog, go to dickbell.wordpress.com.

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Landscape Architect Dick Bell Makes 2007 Who’s Who List

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Award-winning landscape architect Dick Bell, FASLA, who recently relocated to Atlantic Beach, NC, after 52 years of living and working in Raleigh, has been included in Metro Magazine’s 2007 Who’s Who list of men and women who have made significant contributions to the state’s Triangle region.

Each January, Raleigh’s Metro Magazine recognizes men and women who have ”quietly and effectively accomplished great things that help keep [the Triangle region] on top of the list in national and global achievement,” according to editor and publisher Bernie Reeves. These men and women comprise the magazine’s annual Who’s Who list, and the 2008 roster appears in the January edition now on newsstands and at http://www.metronc.com.

Bell, a fellow of both the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the American Academy in Rome, was cited for spending “a lifetime living up to a personal edict: ‘I want to leave a little beauty behind wherever I go.’

“Thousands of people have been touched by Dick Bell’s work,” writes Metro. “The children who play among the rolling hills and lush gardens of Raleigh’s Pullen Park, the students and faculty who stroll along NC State University’s famed ‘Brickyard’ and Student Center sculpture plaza, the crowds who gather by the little lake at Meredith College’s amphitheatre for concerts or weddings, downtown folks who enjoy the fountains, benches and green space within Moore Square Transit block – these are only a few places among nearly 2000 projects where Bell has left ‘a little beauty behind’ throughout his 52-year career.”

Bell and his wife, Mary Jo, moved permanently to the condominium they’ve owned in Tar Landing Villas in Atlantic Beach since Bell masterplanned that development over 30 years ago. He intends to continue his pursuit of “leaving a little beauty behind” on the coast, he said.

Established in 1999, the four-color monthly Metro Magazine has a circulation of 40,000 and covers the region from the Triangle to the coast. For more information, go to http://www.metronc.com.

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