Carol Franklin is a founding principal of Andropogon Associates, Ltd., in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For 30 years she also served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, where she has taught since 1972.
A member of the early “Sustainable Design Mafia,” Ms. Franklin is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in sustainable landscape design. She has given training seminars for the National Park Service and participated in numerous sustainable design workshops including; the AIA Workshop on “Greening the White House”, the Sustainable Design Workshop for the Grand Canyon National Park sponsored by NEOS and the US Department of Energy, The EPA workshop for a Sustainable York, PA and the Habitat for Humanity and Global Green USA Environmental Initiative Symposium, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Ms. Franklin is currently finishing a book on the Wissahickon Valley with co-author David Contosta, called Metropolitan Paradise, The Struggle for nature in the City. It documents the social, political and ecological decisions that have shaped and can shape the Wissahickon Valley Corridor. This corridor includes Wissahickon Park, a much beloved, 1,800-acre, preserved stream valley that is part of the 9,100 acre Fairmount Park system in Philadelphia.
Other recent projects include Avalon Park, the design of a private garden open to the public that includes an extensive restoration of a highly degraded landscape, and that blends art and science in a sequential journey through the site. She has also led the planning and site design for the International Storytelling Center, Grey Towers National Historic Landmark, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, Atlanta Botanical Garden and its new satellite the Smithgall Arboretum, the North American Butterfly Association and the Dallas Arboretum. She is currently working with James Toal of Gideon Toal, in Fort Worth on a master plan for the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.
Andropogon Associates is a planning and design firm founded to explore and demonstrate an” ecological approach” to landscape architecture. This approach is not just restricted to a concern for the natural areas of the site, but also embraces the meaning of ecology as “household.”
A household approach considers the entire institution—its historical, cultural, social and natural resources—as an interacting whole. Design solutions grow out of an integrative vision, bringing together the best of the past with a bold, exciting future. These solutions are also the most economical, with many issues resolved in a single intervention and many different components working together for maximum performance.
Andropogon brings a long and broad experience to the issues of sustainable design. Many of the solutions the firm initially pioneered—the integration of natural and historical landscapes, alternative stormwater management, water quality treatments, strategies for increasing biodiversity and the restoration of native plant communities and habitats—are now commonly accepted practices.
Carol Frankliln
Founding Principal
Andropogon Associates, Philadelphia
(215) 487-0700
Highlights of Andropogon's Work with Parks including the Dallas Arboretum
