From its mountainside perch overlooking Seoul, the Samsung Museum of Art Complex boasts museums by three of the world’s most sought-after architects: Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel and Mario Botta. Uniting these remarkable yet divergent works of architecture is a space of clean and powerful gestures. This elegant, understated landscape serves as their matrix and must perform multiple duties: make a welcoming first impression; connect with local transportation to orchestrate the visitor’s journey to and through the complex; and function as a stage for viewing the architectural ensemble and the sculptures.
Complementing rather than competing with its muscular surroundings, the landscape is designed to provide the visitor with a rich visual palette. She might rest on the long seat occupying the central platform; pause to admire the views from a series of terraced platforms leading down the slope, or enjoy the native plantings of azaleas, pine trees, densely-planted birch trees offsetting Nouvel’s dramatic gabion walls, and bamboo culms which serve as a backdrop for a fleetingly glorious mass of bulbs, all in muted shades of blue-gray. A directional paving pattern, identity graphics, and LED art installations help guide movement through the site. This dynamic, architectural landscape takes full advantage of its extraordinary setting, mediating between the fixed structures of the buildings and artworks and the sensory surprises of the urban garden in constant flux.
Medgar Evers College
This new quad provides a unifying pedestrian connection between Bedford and Franklin Avenues and between existing and new campus buildings, finally providing the campus with a cohesive identity and sense of place. With the dramatic transformation of a parking lot into more campus green space comes the opportunity to integrate a series of sustainability strateg...
Intercontinental Hotel
Located in the center of the vibrant Times Square district, this new four-star hotel (one of only three in New York City) serves as the base for well-traveled tourists, businessmen and dignitaries from around the world. As a unique product of the hotel’s branding and place-making strategy, the client asked that the courtyard make a memorable first impression o...
Riverside Park South
On the West Side of Manhattan, on the scenic Hudson River shoreline, Riverside Park South is a massive, multi-phase project of sweeping ambition and historic scope. Combining new greenspace, new infrastructure, and the renovation of landmark industrial buildings, the plan—originally devised by Thomas Balsley Associates in 1991—is an extension of Frederick Law ...
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
This project regenerates a spectacular, historic cliff-side waterfront site by activating it with new purpose. Working carefully to interweave layers of preservation and natural beauty, the building and landscape work together to leave a light footprint. Today, a distinctive global campus honors the history of its earlier occupation while providing inspiration...