The landscape architect, Lynn Kinnear has died at the age of 64. As the founder and principal of Kinnear Landscape Architects (KLA) Lynn was one of the most important, influential and admired landscape architects of her generation.

Born in Edinburgh and educated at Heriot Watt University, Lynn worked at a number of large practices, including SOM and Gillespies, before setting up KLA in 1991. Early projects such as the Helling Street Play area in Wapping, with its colourful mounds and bright blue walls marked her out as an important talent and caught the eye of leading architects, who saw in her a potential collaborator whose ambition and commitment to ground-breaking work matched their own. This resulted in several important collaborations with, amongst others, Caruso St John and the artist, Richard Wentworth at Walsall Art Gallery, the Richard Rogers Partnership at Mossbourne Academy and AHMM at Burntwood School where Lynn played a crucial role in creating the scheme that went on to win the 2015 RIBA Stirling Prize. Another significant architectural contribution was in her role as client and collaborator in the design of the Blue House in London by the architectural practice FAT, designed with her then partner, Sean Griffiths.

The Stirling Prize was just one of many prestigious awards that reflected the world class quality of KLA’s work. She was equally, if not more, proud of the recognition her work received within her own discipline. Her delight in winning Landscape Institute President’s Award for Brentford High Street and the Landscape Institute Award for Walthamstow Wetlands, reflected her fierce belief in the autonomy and central importance of landscape architecture in its own right, and not just as an adjunct to architecture. Equally fierce was her commitment to the arts and to the role communities should take in the shaping of the environments they lived in – a spirit which informed several school, community and urban design projects at scales ranging from playgrounds to sub regional planning projects. Amongst these projects were wonderfully exuberant play spaces made with minimum means for Chobham Academy in Newham and Daubeney School in Hackney, major works at Barking Market and Crystal Palace Park, alongside strategic visions for Ingrebourne Valley Greenway Route and Tottenham Hale Green and Open Spaces.

Despite receiving a cancer diagnosis in 2017, she continued to work with undiminished enthusiasm and commitment, only stopping in 2023 when her illness finally became too much. Lynn leaves a legacy of wonderful places that she helped to create and which will be enjoyed by generations to come.

kland.co.uk

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