What’s Happening: Though hundreds of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a new report published by the Cultural Landscape Foundation to commemorate his bicentennial spotlights a dozen of his landscapes throughout North America that face existential threats from the climate crisis and lack of human care.

The Download: Frederick Law Olmsted is considered the father of landscape architecture in the United States, but his prestigious name doesn’t guarantee invincibility to the hundreds of parks nationwide that bear his design pedigree. Some of Olmsted’s most famous creations, such as Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City envisioned alongside partner Calvert Vaux, are landmarks that undergo meticulous preservation efforts to stay in pristine shape. Others are less fortunate and faced with existential threats such as damage from climate disasters, lack of maintenance, and new construction.

These issues caught the eye of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), a nonprofit that raises awareness about threatened parks, gardens, and landscapes across the U.S. through its annual Landslide report. Given that 2022 marks the bicentennial of Olmsted’s birth, his work is a timely theme for this year’s report. The publication also encompasses endangered landscapes built by his son, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and his older half-brother John Charles Olmsted, who maintained a prolific family firm throughout the 20th century and played a key role in creating the nation’s first state parks system in California before the firm ultimately dissolved in 2000.

Most projects under the Olmsted name are success stories and beloved by the public—more than 200 are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or designated as National Historic Landmarks, and feature in Experiencing Olmsted (Timber Press), a new volume that chronicles how those green spaces came to life. Many others await rediscovery and revitalization, and TCLF’s report zeroes in on 12 such designs in particular. They range in scale from neighborhood parks—including Andrew Jackson Downing Park in Newburgh, New York, and Washington Park in Milwaukee—to expansive boulevards in Seattle and California.

One of the biggest threats to Olmsted’s parklands involves climate change’s adverse effects, ranging from coastal erosion and drought to wildfires. High temperatures, for example, are stressing the tree canopy at Andrew Jackson Downing Memorial Park, leading to algae blooms that create low levels of dissolved oxygen and release toxins that can harm fish, birds, and people. Severe erosion caused by record rainfall is afflicting Deepdene Park in Atlanta and the Olmsted Woods at the Washington National Cathedral. Storm surges, meanwhile, have destroyed tree plantings in Florida’s City of Lake Wales.

Other landscapes are at risk due to negligence and new development. Genesee Valley Park may lose acres of densely wooded land because the nearby University of Rochester wants to replace it with warehouses. Washington Park in Milwaukee and Andrew Jackson Downing Memorial Park are both suffering from overgrown vegetation, an aging tree canopy in decline, and degrading bodies of water. Pushing off maintenance in a park can accelerate the decline, whether by erosion, aggressive growth of invasive species, infestation, and crumbling pedestrian paths.

In Their Own Words: “Landslide 2022 shows us that while the appreciation and value for Olmsted-design landscapes, in general, continues to increase, some landscapes have been less fortunate,” Charles A. Birnbaum, president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, said in a statement. “Our intent with this report is to foster greater awareness and curiosity about this exceptional legacy, and to encourage a stronger shared responsibility for its future.”

Surface Says: Given that Olmsted played a pivotal role in the conservation movement and the preservation of natural wonders like Niagara Falls and Yosemite, a critical look at his underappreciated gems seems long overdue.

Have a news story our readers need to see? Submit it here.

Reach the design world every morning. Find out more about advertising in the Design Dispatch.

Flying the Salt Hotels flag, a new adults-only members’ club and hotel embodies the California lifestyle. In true L.A. fashion, The Aster is a playground that balances self-care and indulgence. Falling in the latter category are amenities such as a pilates studio, wellness suite for treatments, state-of-the-art cardio equipment, pool deck with 18-foot native trees and salmon-hued chaises, and second-floor salon overseen by celebrity hairstylist Jonathan Antin, whose rotating lineup of barbers and makeup artists are on-hand to primp guests and Glamgelenos for the sundown festivities.

And there are plenty of options on tap. There’s the Club Room, an all-day lounge and meeting space adorned in a hand-painted mural by Jason Gaillard depicting the ocean at golden hour; the saloon-style Cabaret Room decked out in bold-print sofas, a disco ball, and stage for musical performances and burlesque dancers; and the Hollywood Deck equipped with an outdoor theater, firepits, and the restaurant Lemon Grove, where Top Chef alum Marcel Vigneron pays tribute to the city’s agricultural roots with dishes ranging from squash blossom pizza to steamed sea bream.

In addition to the members club, 35 suites inspired by Old Hollywood provide access to visitors. Fitted out in antique armoires, hand-glazed ceramic lamps, and three-way dressing mirrors, an ambiance of classic Tinseltown chic prevails. If L.A.’s aura still seems elusive, just step outside and gaze at local artist Tristan Eaton’s soaring facade mural featuring portraits of Sidney Poitier and Judy Garland.

Kwangho Lee was motivated to make things by hand at an early age thanks to his grandfather, a farmer who constantly made daily household goods from natural materials found nearby. Shortly after the Seoul native studied metal art and design at Hongik University, he rose to prominence for the award-winning Obsession series of woven furniture using intricately knotted rope. After dipping his feet in furniture, installation, and interiors over the past decade, Lee now translates the thinking behind Obsession into a new collection for Hem that includes a blocky lounge chair upholstered in coconut fibers and hieroglyph-inspired side tables.

When: Nov. 1–22

Where: Upper East Side, New York

What: Conceived as an homage to the Reverso, a timepiece created in 1931 and considered an icon of Art Deco design, the Reverso 1931 Café will offer a special collection of pastries created by Nina Métayer. The Paris-based chef has designed an array of sweet treats that echo the space’s Art Deco aesthetic, with flavors that take guests on a sensory journey to Switzerland’s Vallée de Joux, the home of Jaeger-LeCoultre. The opening of the Café also coincides with the unveiling of a new 1931 Alphabet created for Jaeger-LeCoultre by the Brooklyn lettering artist Alex Trochut.

Emerging fashion designer Cho earned viral success in 2018 for upcycling garments from his own closet into minimalist designs. Since then, he’s left his accounting career to pursue fashion design full-time, and today marks the debut of his first capsule collection under his self-styled clothing brand Utopia. The result of a collaboration with Squarespace and livestream shopping platform Ntwrk, Cho’s seven-piece capsule includes pared-down clothing, outerwear, and accessories, all of which reflect the designer’s focus on handmade and sustainability-minded wares.

The white parachute pants and mini backpack are launching today at 5 PM EST exclusively on NTWRK, and the entire range will be available on Cho’s website starting tomorrow. “The inspiration behind Utopia is that it is a symbolic reference to living your best life possible. I switched my life from finance to art. I was able to create my own Utopian life,” he says. “I chose to work with black and white because I wanted my designs to speak for themselves. I want the consumer to not be distracted by elements like color, but instead, appreciate the design for what it is.”

When we last caught up with Kelly Wearstler, the L.A. interior designer had recently launched a collection of Dalí-esque melted disco balls with Dutch creative collective Rotganzen. The Quelle Fête collection, an evolution of Rotganzen’s After Party Series for Disco Gufram, recalls the melancholic glory of dancing the night away at debaucherous haunts like Studio 54 and The Roxy in the 1970s and ‘80s. It also served as the first collaboration for Wearstler’s namesake lifestyle brand, which had traditionally stocked home furnishings and accessories of her own design.

Since her Rotganzen collaboration, Wearstler has turned her attention to the digital realm by launching a virtual gallery that has become a veritable showcase for emerging talents in collectible design, such as Morgan Peck, Hagit Pincovici, and Felix Muhrhofer. This week, she revealed the gallery’s fall lineup, which spans one-off and limited-run physical objects, furniture, and lighting, most designed in collaboration with her. The assortment’s wide-ranging appeal—stump-like terracotta side tables by YehRim Lee, plush-framed latex mirrors by Amelia Briggs, and recycled plastic chairs by Dirk van der Kooij that resemble chainmail—illustrate the breadth of Wearstler’s vision.

Located in historic Richmond, Virginia, McKinnon & Harris is the leading manufacturer of high-performance aluminum outdoor furniture for estates, gardens, and yachts. The brand’s master craftspeople practice old-world metalworking techniques paired with cutting-edge technology.

Surface Says: McKinnon & Harris crafts furniture to endure, outperform, and outlast all others. Each piece can remain outdoors year-round, even in the most aggressive environments.

Sad Girl Autumn isn’t complete without a Taylor Swift–branded casket.

This Bangalore restaurant features a mishmash of reclaimed materials.

Parisian parkour athletes are switching off lights one by one to save energy.

Why can’t we seem to get enough of celebrities misbehaving at restaurants?