Brazil

I first became an admirer of Roberto Burle Marx while I was a student in landscape architecture at the University of Florida:  His remarkable work, which combined a special brand of modernism with the lush potential of Brazilian settings, was incredibly powerful and the major formative influence on my own professional career. I'd learned how to draw in school and had acquired the technical skills it took to be a landscape architect, but it was seeing how Burle Marx approached his landscapes and paintings - not to mention the way he lived his life - that gave me the spark I needed to define my own approach. My personal relationship with him began soon after I graduated in 1981.  I'd read an article in the Miami Herald about Burle Marx turning 70 and began writing to him in hopes he'd invite me to visit his home in Brazil.  A couple of months later, I received a call from my friend Lester Pancoast, a well-known Miami architect.  Burle Marx was in town and was staying as his houseguest, Pancoast explained, suggesting that since Burle Marx had a free evening I might want to take him to dinner. My future wife and I spent a nice evening with Burle Marx, who was reserved but very polite and seemed all the while to be sizing us up.  After dinner, we went to Pancoast's home, where Burle Marx showed us

I first became an admirer of Roberto Burle Marx while I was a student in landscape architecture at the University of Florida:  His remarkable work, which combined a special brand of modernism with the lush potential of Brazilian settings, was incredibly powerful and the major formative influence on my own professional career. I'd learned how to draw in school and had acquired the technical skills it took to be a landscape architect, but it was seeing how Burle Marx approached his landscapes and paintings - not to mention the way he lived his life - that gave me the spark I needed to define my own approach. My personal relationship with him began soon after I graduated in 1981.  I'd read an article in the Miami Herald about Burle Marx turning 70 and began writing to him in hopes he'd invite me to visit his home in Brazil.  A couple of months later, I received a call from my friend Lester Pancoast, a well-known Miami architect.  Burle Marx was in town and was staying as his houseguest, Pancoast explained, suggesting that since Burle Marx had a free evening I might want to take him to dinner. My future wife and I spent a nice evening with Burle Marx, who was reserved but very polite and seemed all the while to be sizing us up.  After dinner, we went to Pancoast's home, where Burle Marx showed us