Richard Haag (October 23, 1923 – May 9, 2018) was an American landscape architect who was well known for his role in Gas Works Park in Seattle, Washington and on the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. Richard Haag's modernist and minimalist ideals also set the tone for Northwestern landscape design. Early Life and Career Richard Haag was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended the University of Illinois, the University of California and received his Bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture (B.L.A.) at the University of California, Berkeley, and his Master's degree in Landscape Architecture (M.L.A.) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1958, Richard Haag joined the University of Washington faculty in Seattle, Washington to pursue Landscape Architecture Design and graduated in 1964. While at the university, he founded the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Washington in 1964. At the University of Washington, Richard Haag was the lead designer in Richard Haag Associates which he founded in 1968 before closing closed on June 30, 2016. Through his position at Richard Haag Associates, made over 500 designing and planning projects. He died in May 2018 at the age of 94. Notable designs Gas Works Park - Seattle "Sequence of Gardens" at Bloedel Reserve - Bainbridge Island, Washington Battelle Research Center - Seattle Victor Steinbrueck Park - Seattle Jordan Park - Everett, Washington North Waterfront Park - Berkeley, California U.S. Courthouse Plaza - Spokane, Washington Washington Pass Overlook & Visiting Center - Winthrop, Washington Merrill Court Townhomes - Harvard-Belmont Historic District, Seattle Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest - Winthrop, Washington Gilman Village - Issaquah, Washington Gas Works Park In 1906, on a peninsula on the northern shore of Lake Union, the Seattle Gas Company constructed a coal gas plant. By 1956, this plant was shut down and left behind old refinery towers. Upon purchasing the land in 1970, Haag was the lone person who asked to develop a park design for the site. While most planners had expected the demolition of the refinery towers, Haag decided to keep them. However, he did not incorporate them into the design for historic purposes, but rather to visually enhance the design of the park. While convincing city government to accept this radical plan was challenging, Haag's development of a design which integrated bioremediation methods in order to detoxify the soil without transporting and replacing it amplified the issue. Haag and his colleagues suggested