Landscape as Art

the central feature. Often the central feature is a fountain or covered kiosk structure serving as a gathering place or stage, a feature common in Latin America. A dense canopy of broad-leaf trees shades the garden.

Reference to paradise also informed the design of traditional Chinese gardens. The selection and placement of large boulders are a common refrain in these gardens. The boulders were selected from favorite locations of the garden owners and served as symbols reminding them of these landscapes of Figure 5.18 The Garden of Flowering Fragrance, Huntington Gardens, Pasadena, CA. Chinese garden designed by artisans memory. The term “memory garden” is often used to describe the traditional Chinese gardens. In addifrom the city of Suzhou, China. tion to the selection and placement of rocks and boulders, plants and water were carefully arranged to complement the story of a landscape of memory or paradise and an idealized vision of nature (see Figure 5.18). Figure 5.19 The Getty Center (1997), lower gardens, Los Angeles, California, by Robert Irwin sculptor with Spurlock Poirier landscape architects.

Artists, those trained and/or who practice creating art, contribute to constructed landscapes either on their own or in collaboration with landscape architects. The examples presented here are landscape projects where the hand of an artist utilized the canvas of a landscape for artistic expression.

The J. Paul Getty Foundation constructed a new campus4 in the hills above Westwood in Los Angeles, California. The site was developed in phases over a number of years with several landscape architects involved at each phase. The office of Laurie Olin designed the outdoor spaces around the museum and administrative complex of buildings. The lower garden pictured in Figure 5.19 was designed by Robert Irwin, a Southern Californian artist in association with Spurlock Poirier landscape architects (1992–1997). The landscape design for this portion of the site approaches the spaces just as an artist would work on canvas. The artist approached the arrangement and the selection of plant species, the alignment of the walks and walls, and the lower fountain to create a piece of art. In this case, the art was meant to be experienced as well as to be looked at and appreciated. The artist used plants, stone, and water, as he would apply paint on a canvas. The resulting composition can be viewed from the upper exterior terraces as well as viewed from inside the buildings. The design concept applied to the majority of the site reflected an approach where the outdoor

gardens and space were intended to complement the building and serve as outdoor rooms. The materials selected for these spaces were meant to suggest a Mediterranean-like environment. This was an appropriate approach given the focus of the collection of art and artifacts housed in the museum.

The design for the outdoor public spaces and gardens of the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum and Center was the collaborative work of two landscape architecture firms, Martha Schwartz Partners and Design Workshop (see Figure 5.20). The architecture by Boora Architects of Portland, Oregon, is characterized as post-modern with an emphasis on an eclectic use of materials and forms reflected in the landscape design of the public spaces and garden areas. The landscape architect developed forms for fountains, raised planting beds, and sculptural walls as a conversation with the architecture. What would be defined as the landscape spaces were developed as a sculptural experience for those walking through the spaces within the campus composed of four performance venues, five exhibit galleries, and administrative support offices. Color and materials were selected to contribute to the idea of public spaces as a form of art.

Figure 5.20 Contemporary Art Museum, Mesa, AZ, by Design Workshop and Martha Schwartz, landscape architects.

Figure 5.21 Vertical garden, the Caixa Cultural Center and Museum, Madrid, Spain, by Patrick Blanc, artist.

The plaza in front of the Caixa Cultural and Museum complex includes a vertical garden, created by French artist and horticulturist Patrick Blanc (see Figure 5.21). Blanc has developed a system that allows the artist to install plants applied onto the face of buildings, as an artist would with paint on canvas. The vertical landscaped walls of Patrick Blanc demonstrate the potential of the vegetative media for artistic expression similar to many of the landscape works of the Brazilian artist and landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx, where his canvas was the Earth. Blanc used many walls, both interior and exterior, in buildings for his artistic horticultural installations in many locations in the world. Note in this work, located across the street from the Prado Museum, how much variety is achieved in terms of color, texture, and form in creating a remarkable three-dimensional composition similar to a bas-relief.

Landscape architects have realized the potential for artistic expression in a wide range of situations where they have been commissioned

to provide design services. The potential canvases of course would include the ground plane and topography and vertical walls. The landscape architecture firm of Morrow Reardon Wilkinson and Miller realized the sculptural potential of a skateboard park they were selected to design in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The photograph in Figure 5.22 was taken at the pedestrian entry with the skateboard in the background. The entire ensemble was approached as a sculptural piece created using a palette of plain and colored concrete, rock and stones, plant material, and topographic modeling. The plants and hardscape materials used reflect the colors, forms, and textures of the high Figure 5.22 West End Skateboard Park, Albuquerque, New desert location in which Albuquerque is situated. Mexico, by Morrow Reardon Wilkinson, landscape architects. To what extent skateboarders appreciate the artistic merits of this specialized athletic venue while doing their tricks has not been documented. Its high usage suggests the park has been a success from the users’ perspective. The facility is attractive when not in use to park visitors as well to the neighbors with a view from their hillside vantage. Figure 5.23 Plaza Salvador Dalí, Madrid, Spain, by Mángado Architects.

The reimaging of what was previously considered a public space to be avoided in the heart of Madrid has been a success and now Plaza Salvador Dalí has achieved great popularity as a place to relax, or to bring children to play while parents shop or visit with friends. The design by Mángado Architects included a strategy to support shade-providing vegetation and masses of color by the construction of large wedge-like polygon-shaped forms with sufficient soil depth to support large trees. Ample seating is incorporated in the sculptural concrete forms of the planters (see Figure 5.23). These same forms with their lush planting give the long grand space a comfortable feeling of human scale. The seating attached to the gray concrete walls provides a comfortable and warm-looking visual balance to the bare concrete forms. The plaza sits on the roof of an underground parking lot. A sculpture by Salvador Dalí was positioned at one end of the plaza with other sculptures and children’s play equipment placed at other locations. A new system of paving was installed helping to bring the plaza to a more comfortable human scale. The paving was imbedded with LED lighting, adding visual interest as well as supplementing the light provided by pole lighting fixtures. Large bronze plates fit snugly within the grid-like pattern of the stone and concrete plaza surface. The bronze plates have been created with organic, bas-relief shapes, adding another visual element for visitors to appreciate and enjoy while walking through the space. Madrid’s remodeled Palacio de Deportes