Each year the American Society of Landscape Architects doles out a series of honors to recognize the exceptional contributions landscape architects and designers are making to the built environment. Among these, the ASLA Design Medal, which was recently bestowed to Raymond Jungles. Jungles is the 20th individual to receive this award, which recognizes an individual landscape architect who has “produced a body of exceptional design work at a sustained level for a period of at least ten years.” The award is judged by the ASLA’s board of trustees.

Jungles carries a distinct wonder toward the natural world, and said in a statement that this award will influence landscape architects to “incorporate native plants, bring nature back into the cities and restore areas sterilized by human development.” Jungles’s work is defined by an untamed, naturalistic aesthetic rooted in “an ethic of stewardship of the land,” according to the website of his Miami-based firm. 

“While it’s wonderful to receive, it doesn’t define me as a person or change who I am,” Jungles reflected. “Instead, I feel incredibly fortunate and honored to have the opportunity to improve people’s lives every day by doing what I love. It’s a fun and fulfilling way to make a living.”

Jungles’s inclination toward jungle-like landscapes—strange, beautiful, lush—recalls the oeuvre of his mentor and Brazilian landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx. Their relationship began after Marx gave a lecture at Jungles’s alma mater, the University of Florida. After graduating in 1981 with a degree in Landscape Architecture, Jungles went on to found his own firm in 1982 and has since been elected a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. He has also received three national awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects and 56 design awards from the Florida chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Jungles’s projects span greatly in scale from private residences and restaurants to public rooftops and botanical gardens. Each project embodies a unique commitment to both sustainability and art in which neither are forsaken for the other. 

Notable projects include the 1111 Lincoln Road Mall in Miami in collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron, the New World Symphony in Miami with Gehry Partners, and the Ford Foundation in New York with Gensler.

To complement his design work, Jungles has written four widely acclaimed monographs which showcase over seventy of his completed gardens. Dedicated to the mentorship and education of the next generation of landscape architects, Jungles has given lectures at the Parrish Art Museum and Cornell University, among others.

“As landscape architects, we are inherently committed to protecting and enhancing the environment, and always striving to give back,” Jungles added.