FOLAR
Friends of the Landscape Archive at Reading

Our Mission Statement

Our Mission Statement

FOLAR Mission Statement

Who we are

FOLAR is a Friends group of Landscape Architects and other interested parties tasked with supporting and advising The MERL (University of Reading), on behalf of the LI, with regard to maintaining and developing the archive and library. 

FOLAR supports the Landscape Institute in the delivery of its charitable objects: ‘to protect, conserve and enhance the natural and built environment for the benefit of the public by promoting the arts and sciences of Landscape Architecture…and for that purpose to foster and encourage the dissemination of knowledge relating to Landscape Architecture and the promotion of research and education therein…’

Vision

To champion our landscape heritage and support the continuing evolution of the landscape profession by means of the archive and library, thus enabling the past to inform the future.

Mission

To assist The MERL in conserving and developing an archive and library which reflects the diverse nature of landscape architecture and the highest standards of intellectual and creative thinking.

Objectives

  • Champion and encourage the use of the archive and library, both in the LI and beyond.

  •  Identify and advise The MERL on potential acquisitions.

  • Advise and support The MERL on funding opportunities and grant applications.

  • Encourage the cross pollination of ideas between LI / The MERL / FOLAR, in the UK and abroad.

  • Promote the landscape profession to the widest contemporary audience by means of the archive.

  • Assist The MERL in developing a digital and media strategy to engage new and existing audiences. 

  • Foster forward looking ways of using the archive to enrich contemporary approaches to landscape design, science and management.

  • Develop the ‘Art of Landscape Architecture’, highlight / showcase / discuss landscape influenced by the Arts.

  • Draw out the key movements and trends in landscape architectural thinking over time, with a view to informing the development of radical new ideas.

  • Promote landscape both rural and urban as a positive benefit for all who inhabit this planet.

  • Promote the assembly of knowledge and materials to enable and inform the celebration, in 2029, of the founding of the Institute of Landscape Architects, now known as the Landscape Institute.

March 2018