The design of the park comprises three main components: a pair of allées that brings pedestrians towards the main park entrance; a pair of pavilions connected by a bridge constituting the main building; and a lawn terrace framed by continuous paths and benches. This “Y” shaped architectural ensemble is the backbone of the park, resting in gardens and fields of grass that connect to the Battery Park City Esplanade and to Battery Park. The building is conceived as a large, over-scaled, massive masonry wall split in the center, framing the view to the Statue. On the wall`s surfaces, a variety of brick patterns are displayed following a precise figurative symbolic strategy. This “lithic” formation is used to develop a pair of large public steps that seemingly prolong the allées and bring the public up to a pair of balconies overlooking the lawn and harbor. From the center of the bridge connecting the two balconies, the viewer`s direct relation to the Statue of Liberty is “face to face.”

The building and the park was demolished as part of the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Project.

Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park occupies a unique site, characterized by its relatively small area located at the center of colossal surroundings. The main function of this public place—and the reason for its existence—is the privileged viewing of the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor.&nbsp;

Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park

Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park 

 Jean Parker Phifer, NYC architect and author of Public Art New York, reads a selection on the Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park, located west of Battery Place. 

 Pershing Square is a five-acre land, originally set aside as park in 1866, which was designed by Mexican architect Ricardo Legoretta and landscape architect Laurie Olin as a symbolic bridge between Los Angeles's Hispanic and Anglo communities. It was formerly designed by Parkinson and Bergstrom in 1910 but was dug up in 1950 to provide underground parking garage. 

Pershing Square 

 Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the well-preserved architecture of Union Station is complemented by the timeless design and durability of Patsaouras Plaza. As a client to Catellus Development Corporation and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (METRO), OLIN completed a design for a part of the nation`s largest multi-modal transportation hub at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. As the namesake to Nick Patsaouras, former Regional Transportation District board member and advocate for public transport, the plaza was created to enhance historic Union Station while encouraging widespread use of Los Angeles`s public transportation system. The exterior plaza uses patterned paving that extends through vehicular pathways, making it feel like a vibrant piazza rather than a stark terminal. Drop-offs and throughways for transit are integrated within the civic space, and the design features comfortable places for gathering and waiting, a sunken urban garden with fountains, pockets of native plantings, and interactive works of art. Integral to the curving walls, the sweeping arcs of bus shelters on the exterior drop-off create shade for passengers. 

Patsaouras Transit Plaza at Union Station

The campus is of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust, well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles. Richard Meier has exploited the two naturally-occurring ridges by overlaying two grids along these axes. These grids serve to define the space of the campus while dividing the import of the buildings on it. OLIN`s garden design grew organically in response to the site`s context, specifically climate and light. The architectural parti strove for seamless integration of interior and exterior space. For staff and visitors, the gardens create an exquisitely appointed vestibule for the museum and set the stage for the treasures encountered within. OLIN`s design concept emerged as a reinterpretation of a classic Italian Renaissance villa and garden as a contemporary public arts institution. Italian stone pines line the entrance drive, pruned as in Rome to highlight their distinctive silhouette. A bosque of London plane trees revives the ancient horticultural practice of pollarding, a pruning technique seldom seen in the United States. All plants were carefully chosen based on their horticultural requirements, primarily water, soil, and sun needs. Both native and non-invasive plants that are proven performers in the Mediterranean climate of Los Angeles were selected. The striking cacti and succulent garden serves as a model of plant selection based on extreme environmental constraints.

J. Paul Getty Center

 OLIN and Richard Meier took a holistic approach to siting the first contemporary sculpture collection for the J. Paul Getty Center, integrating architecture and landscape with the 28 works to create site-specific placement throughout the campus. Rather than force compatibility between the existing landscape and each unique piece, OLIN designed new gardens with specific sculptures in mind. Their placement responds to the artwork itself and its interaction with the viewer. Some sculptures are situated in secluded areas with seating and fountains for peaceful contemplation, while others overlook expansive views of downtown Los Angeles. Eight pieces reside in a series of garden rooms at the entrance to the museum which mark the threshold to the interior collection. 

Fran & Ray Stark Sculpture Garden at the J. Paul Getty Center

 Janet Echelman was commissioned to create the headlining sculpture for GLOW 2013, the art event for site-specific works on Santa Monica Beach. Lasting only one night - from dusk to dawn - the beach is transformed into a &ldquo;playground for thoughtful and participatory, temporary art.&rdquo; On the night of September 28, 2013, more than 150,000 people attended GLOW and participated in sculpting the earthwork beneath Echelman`s aerial sculpture, &ldquo;The Space Between Us,&rdquo; making it one of the largest public art events in the U.S. In an article published the morning after the event, The New York Times credited Echelman`s work for &ldquo;giving crafts a coolly conceptual edge.&rdquo; Echelman`s ground-breaking work utilized experimental elements, including shaped earth and an audio component that synced to a pulsating lighting program. The artist and her team collaborated with City Public Works staff to create carved sand indentations for visitors to enter and gaze up at the aerial sculpture, becoming a part of the immersive experience. Echelman views this commission as a point of growth and departure. &ldquo;The beach is the charged zone between human society and uncontrolled nature,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I`m interested in sculpting earth and sky, and placing ourselves in between. It`s the collision of heaviness and lightness, between our gravity-bound bodies which walk on sand, and the part of us which seeks to float in air, or in water.&rdquo; &ldquo;My goal was to invite people to have an ephemeral sensory experience without words - a moment of contemplation that can evoke preverbal memory and engage our Limbic brain.&rdquo; Produced by the Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division and the Santa Monica Arts Foundation, the goal of the evening was to &ldquo;break through the public`s preconceived notion of what art can be, encouraging both thoughtful contemplation and energetic participation,&rdquo; said GLOW organizers. Courtesy of Studio Echelman. 

Santa Monica Beach

The Space Between Us

 Mercurial Sky is an ever-changing array of light played on LED tubes integrated into the Director Park Canopy. The digital video only emits from the lighted bars, and provides a sense of movement through an abstract tapestry of light and color. If you stand farther away, or look in nearby reflections, the images are compressed and give a clearer view of the video. &ldquo;I filmed images and patterns of natural phenomena like waves, clouds, fire, earthworms, and jellyfish to bring the movement and randomness of nature into this mostly hardscaped park.&rdquo; 

  Regional Arts and Culture Council, Portland, OR

Mercurial Sky

 By creating a new downtown harbor with a revitalized shoreline park and new commercial development, Queensway Bay is a significant element in reestablishing Long Beach as the most important waterfront destination in the region. Key to the development`s success was creating a truly Southern California waterfront. The new harbor, with a two-level palm lined boardwalk esplanade, is set within a lush landscape of tropical and semi-tropical plants. A new aquarium and outdoor exhibits complement the commercial development and attract residents as well as visitors. Transportation and access played a vital role, with bikeways, pedestrian paths, parking structures and water taxis playing an integral part in the final design. OLIN developed site-specific railings, paving, site furnishings and lighting features custom for Queensway Bay. 

Queensway Bay

The 'Grand Circle' fronting Central Park at the 59th St entry, was originally envisioned by Olmsted and Vaux as a wide open vista for visitors entering the park. Crossing the circle became a pedestrian nightmare. In 2005, after a 2 year makeover, Columbus Circle was renovated into a more pedestrian friendly environment anchored by the Columbus Statue. Olin Partnership was the landscape architect; WET design designed the fountain.

Columbus Circle

 With the goal of transforming historic Dilworth Park (outside Philadelphia City Hall) into a focal point for the city's thriving downtown, the Center City District commissioned Echelman to create a permanent artwork inspired by the site`s historic associations with water and transportation. Embedded in the new park`s 11,600-square foot fountain, &ldquo;Pulse" traces in the surface of the fountain the paths of the subway and trolley lines that converge under Dilworth Park. As trains pass beneath, four-foot-tall curtains of colorful atomized mist travel across the park fountain`s surface following the transit lines that that bring more than 70,000 passengers to the site each day. &ldquo;Pulse&rdquo; utilizes a high-pressure misting system of specialized pumps that create an ultra-fine, fog-like, cool mist that quickly evaporates. The ephemeral mist is made of filtered, softened water onto which lighting is projected so it is completely safe for children to play in. Described by the artist as &ldquo;a living X-ray of the city`s circulatory system,&rdquo; the vibrantly colored mist curtains move across the fountain and mirror the footprint of the trains below, evoking the steam rising from the city`s first water pumping station that was located on the site at the beginning of the 19th century, as well as the steam from the trains at the Pennsylvania Railroad Station that were across the street. While celebrating the site`s rich history, &ldquo;Pulse&rdquo; also embraces the future with cutting-edge technology. Echelman and her team worked closely with Center City District in fine-tuning and testing the mechanisms that provide the work`s dramatic multicolor LED illumination and traveling mist, and adjusting them for daylight and nighttime hours. Echelman created the color for each line by blending multiple individually-colored hues of light, drawing inspiration from the ethereal paintings of Mark Rothko. Echelman began designs for "Pulse" in 2009 with construction and integration within the plaza completed in 2011. With the public opening of Dilworth Park in 2014, the underground infrastructure for the first phase of the artwork was completed. The green line phase of &ldquo;Pulse&rdquo; opened on September 12, 2018 when the mist and lighting components were unveiled. The launch of the first phase (green line) will help support fundraising to complete the remaining two sections of Pulse, which trace the Market-Frankford (blue line) and the Broad Street (orange line). Courtesy of Echelman Studio. 

Dilworth Park

Pulse

 This is a video presented by Janet Echelman documenting the Art project in Dilworth Plaza currently under construction 

 The museum consisted of three buildings: the Ahmanson Building, the Bing Center, and the Lytton Gallery. The Board selected LA architect William Pereira over the directors' recommendation of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the buildings. 

 Since the mid-1980s, OLIN has been actively involved in the expansion and renovation of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The original commission was to unite the disjointed complex of buildings and spaces into a logical ensemble.

Renzo Piano led the plans to transform the museum in three phases. The shortlisted candidates were Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel, Steven Holl, Daniel Libeskind and Thom Mayne.

 Four buildings on the campus were demolished to make way for a reconstructed facility designed by Peter Zumthor.  

LACMA was founded in 1961, splitting from the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. Four years later, it moved to the Wilshire Boulevard complex designed by William Pereira. The museum's wealth and collections grew in the 1980s, and it added several buildings beginning in that decade and continuing in subsequent decades.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

The firm specializes in landscape architecture, comprehensive planning, and urban design firm, and was founded in Philadelphia in 1976 by Laurie Olin and Robert Hanna. Olin&rsquo;s staff is composed of landscape architects, architects, project managers, and urban planners. 

Pier 26 at Hudson River Park is an immersive journey through transitions—from upland to lowland, from land to water—and across a diverse milieu of human experiences. Pier 26 is intuitive for users; it’s easy for anyone to find a comfortable, relaxing, or energizing place to be at all times and seasons. The park is a place of natural, social, and self-discovery, where one feels a sense of belonging and a connection to the natural world.

OLIN

SITES

PLAYLISTS CURATED by OLIN

Podcasts