KEN SMITH KEN SMITH WORKSHOP LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
KEN SMITH Statement
I approach landscape architecture as an art form that addresses contemporary urbanism, social and environmental conditions. Over the course of my career I have taken on a wide variety of project scales and program types, ranging from temporary installations and gardens to larger scale public spaces. Increasingly, my work involves artistic practice integrated with urban infrastructure, ecological systems, and social access. What unites my work is a search for conceptual understanding of what landscapes mean, combined with a commitment to beauty and craft. I believe that intentionality is what gives design meaning and direction. Strategic ideas expressed with conceptual clarity and rigor of execution is at the core of my craft. I believe this is what constitutes landscape as an art form. Good design isn’t something applied after the fact; it isn’t a question of styling. A designer’s aesthetic, philosophical position, interpretation of program and working methodology, along with questions of structure, proportion, materiality, process and fabrication, are critical to the craft of landscape architecture and fundamental to its expression as an artistic practice. Aesthetics lie at the heart of my professional practice. Aesthetics express the qualitative aspects of design. Aesthetics and aesthetic practice are the language, the emotional core, of how designs communicate meaning. It is how and why one creates meaningful places that matter to people and matter over time.
KEN SMITH Brief Resume Ken Smith is one of the best-known of a generation of landscape architects equally at home in the worlds of art, architecture, and urbanism. Trained in both design and the fine arts, he explores the relationship between art, contemporary culture, and landscape. His practice, Ken Smith Workshop, was established in 1992 and is based in New York City. He is committed to creating landscapes, especially parks and other public spaces, as a way of improving the quality of urban life. Much of his work pushes beyond traditional landscape typologies—plaza, street, and garden—to landscapes that draw on diverse cultural traditions and influences of the contemporary urban landscape. Smith’s approach is directed at projects of varying scales and types: temporary installations, private residential gardens, public spaces, parks, and commercial projects. With a particular emphasis on projects that explore the symbolic content and expressive power of landscape as an art form, Ken Smith Workshop specializes in the investigation of new expressions in landscape design. WORK Ken Smith Workshop Founder and Principal, 1992-Present Ken Smith Workshop West Principal, 2006-2013 Harvard University Graduate School of Design Design Critic Landscape Architecture, 1997-2003 and 2015-16 Martha Schwartz Ken Smith David Meyer, Inc. Partner, 1990-1992 Office of Peter Walker and Martha Schwartz Landscape Architect, 1986-1990 Iowa Conservation Commission Park Planner, 1979-1984 EDUCATION Harvard University Graduate School of Design Masters of Landscape Architecture, 1986 Iowa State University Bachelors of Science, Landscape Architecture, 1976 AFFILIATIONS The Architectural League of New York Board Member, 1998-Present American Society of Landscape Architects Elected ASLA Fellow, 2012
KEN SMITH Selected Awards Municipal Arts Society, MASterworks Award, Best New Infrastructure Project, Pier 35, 2019 WIRED Magazine 25 Masterpieces 2016, Croton Reservoir Filtration Plant American Society of Landscape Architects Landmark Award, Village of Yorkville Park, 2012 Rudy Bruner Silver Medalist Santa Fe Railyard Park, 2011 National Park Service Merit Award, Santa Fe Railyard Park, 2010 American Society of Landscape Architects National Merit Award, Ken Smith Monograph, 2010 NYC Public Design Commission Excellence in Design Award - Croton Reservoir, 2009 American Society of Landscape Architects National Honor Award, MoMA Roof Garden, 2009 American Society of Landscape Architects National Honor Award, Orange County Great Park, 2009 American Institute of Architects National Honor Award, Orange County Great Park, 2009 American Planning Association National Planning Award, Orange County Great Park, 2009 American Society of Landscape Architects National Honor Award, Orange County Great Park, 2008 New York City, American Institute of Architects Design Award, 55 Water Street, 2006 Municipal Arts Society MASterworks Award, 55 Water Street, 2006 American Society of Landscape Architects National Merit Award, Lever House, 2006 American Society of Landscape Architects National Merit Award, PS 19 Schoolyard, 2004 The Architectural League of New York Emerging Voices Award, 2004 Museum of Modern Art Permanent Collection, THINK DESIGN, 2002 Permenant Collection, Lamp, 2003
KEN SMITH Project Portfolio Glowing Topiary Garden 1_ New York City, 1997 Wall Flowers 2_ 2005+ Torqued, Folded and Bent Topiaries 3_ New York City, 1999+ Park Avenue Penthouse Terrace 4_ New York City 2010-2011 TFANA Arts Plaza 5_ New York City, 2015 MoMA Roof 6_ New York City, 2002-2005 “The Elevated Acre” - 55 Water Street 7_ New York City, 2002-2005 Santa Fe Railyard Park 8_ Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2002-2008 East River Waterfront Esplanade and Piers 9_ New York City, 2005-ongoing Croton Reservoir Water Filtration Plant 10_ New York City, 2006-ongoing
1_GLOWING TOPIARY GARDEN 1997, NEW YORK CITY
This was my first realized public project in New York City. Since my practice was young at that time I was mostly getting small commissions, doing temporary installations, and teaching. I won this project as an invited competition for a two-month temporary installation at Liberty Plaza in the Financial District. The commission was ostensibly for holiday lighting but I transformed it into a more abstract site installation. I imagined the installation as a hydrid of a the French topiary garden at St. Cloud and and the Japanese Zen Garden Daisen-In.
“I try to imagine every project as a garden� The installation was designed to bring color and light to dark winter nights with 17 large cone-shaped luminaries placed over the plaza’s existing and mundane pedestrian light poles. Installed in time for the 1997 winter solstice, the Glowing Topiary Garden lasted through the brief winter holiday season, bringing mystery and pleasure to the shortest days of the year. I collaborated with lighting designer Jim Conti on this project, whom I have worked with on a number of subsequent projects.
2_WALL FLOWERS VARIOUS DATES, VARIOUS LOCATIONS
COOPER HEWITT WALL FLOWERS was installed as part of the 2006 Design Triennial.
In 2004 I installed the first of my Wall Flowers series at Cornerstones in Sonoma, California. The Wall Flowers are based on a random selection process that results in an organized pattern that is indeterminate and organic. Every installation of Wall Flowers is different. Subsequent installations were executed at Ohio State University in Fall 2005, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in 2006 and at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in 2007. Early in my career people were always asking me about flowers. I wasn’t particularly interested in flowers, more in the structure of landscapes, but eventually I decided “IF YOU WANT FLOWERS I’LL GIVE YOU FLOWERS”
“I’m interested in the interplay between organized systems and random selection” This led to a series of flower installations including this one at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in 2006 when I was included in the museum’s Design Triennial Exhibit. Over two hundred synthetic flowers were fabricated from civil engineering erosion mats, ornamented with artificial flowers and attached to a scrim of safety orange construction fencing. Flowers were placed on the scrim with an organized pattern of random selection. The scrims were completely hand fabricated by my office.
Cooper Hewitt Triennial Wall Flowers, 2006 (left) Ohio State Knowlton School OSU Wall Flowers, 2005 (this page)
Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, 2000
3_TORQUED, FOLDED AND BENT TOPIARIES 1999-2019, VARIOUS SITES
When I opened my office in NYC I quickly realized there was too much competition for space at the urban ground plane and that creating landscapes in vertical space offered expressive potential. I was interested in the degraded art form of topiary and so in the late-1990s I began to propose a series of Torqued, Folded and Bent Topiaries, with contemporary form and material for growing vines on sculptural armatures. One of the first of these explorations was for opportunistic structures attached to old buildings. This proposal was to be made simply using chain link fencing, soil and english ivy. Other early explorations included Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle in 2000, and subsequently I proposed a series of streetscape topiaries at East 55th Street in 2003.
“I have long been interested in the degraded art form of topiary as a landscape typology ripe for contemporary reinvention” In 2010 for the East River Esplanade and Piers in New York City I proposed a large folded topiary for Pier 35. This is the largest folded topiary to date. The overall pier design is for a complete folded tectonic consisting of a folded topiary, folded terrain of dunes and lawns, and folded mussel beach habitat. The folded topiary, which is 36 feet high and 330 feet long is to be planted with a mix of English Ivy, Boston Ivy, Virginia Creeper, Trumpet Vine and Honeysuckle Vine in a kind of “survival of the fittest” planting approach.
The Milan Courtyard Garden, 2003-2005
The Milan Courtyard Garden, 2003-2005
Lola Bryant Community Garden, Brooklyn, 2005-2009
Lola Bryant Community Garden, Brooklyn, 2005-2009
BAM South Plaza Concept, 2007
Pier 35, East River Waterfront, 2010-2018
4_PARK AVENUE PENTHOUSE TERRACE 2010-2011, NEW YORK CITY
I designed this small, 22x28 foot terrace for the 39th floor penthouse overlooking Park Avenue with views of Central Park. The owners had two principal requirements. First, they wanted to have a collection of interesting plants that could be changed out over time. Second, all garden features needed to be portable since the terrace also served as a rigging area for the building’s window washing equipment, four times a year. The result was a garden of custom planters mounted on wheels that could be reconfigured as a flexible design that accommodates movement and change. The on-demand reconfigurations also allows for adapting to varying social uses by the client ranging from intimate family dinners to large parties.
“Often I find the program constraints produce the most interesting design response�
The garden consists of custom outdoor rug to cover the utilitarian terrace pavers, five custom fiberglass planters with wheels, one of the planters also contains a water spray and small pool and another doubles as a love seat. In addition, a small egg-shaped table provides space for setting drinks and three other egg forms camouflage window equipment appurtenances. Custom lights complete the ensemble. The owners frequently rearrange the garden depending on their mood or social function.
5_TFANA_THEATER FOR A NEW AUDIENCE 2013-2015, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK CITY
I worked for the City of New York on the redevelopment of the BAM Cultural Arts District for several years. As part of that project I developed preliminary designs for two new public plazas and streetscape areas. With the construction of the Theater For A New Audience designed by Hugh Hardy I was brought on to design the distinctive entry plaza in front of the new building. The building was designed as a theater-in-theround and had only a very minimal lobby so the plaza became an extension of public lobby and theater entry.
“This plaza functions as an outdoor lobby for the theater�
I conceived the plaza with curvilinear bands of paving to mimic the draping folds of a theater curtain because the new theater space did not have traditional proscenium nor curtain. Exposed aggregate concrete paving bands are separated with curvilinear lines of brushed stainless steel and continued into the theater lobby. I also designed sculptural seat rings based on night club banquettes to provide convivial social seating. The public banquette seats were a principal feature of the space and were custom designed and fabricated for the site.
6_MUSEUM OF MODERN ART ROOF 2002-2005, NEW YORK CITY
I was commissioned to provide a decorative rooftop, which would ameliorate the barren view of the Museum’s Taniguchi wing from the neighboring buildings. The irony of camouflaging a branded building was an interesting proposition. The museum had a set of requirements that seemed very restrictive at first. There was to be almost no weight load, there could not be any irrigation and no maintenance, which ruled out living plant material, and finally there was only a modest budget. The liberating aspect of the restrictions was that it eliminated the possibility of doing anything conventional in terms of landscape.
“The irony of camouflaging a branded building was an interesting proposition” My design for the roof garden appropriated the visual vocabulary of military camouflage to create a garden that simultaneously disguises the roof while making it highly visible. The design also provides commentary on the nature of landscape with its manipulation of scale and use of natural and simulated materials. The material palette includes recycled rubber chips, crushed glass, crushed marble stone, artificial boulders and artificial boxwood shrubs.
1939 MoMA roof
7_ “THE ELEVATED ACRE”- 55 WATER STREET 2002-2005, NEW YORK CITY
Study model of topographic dunes with plank walkway assending the slope, (above) Study model of social seating, (below)
I collaborated with Rogers Marvel Architects on the redesign of this public space in the heart of the financial district. The site, which sits atop a parking structure 30 feet above the street, has commanding views over the New York Harbor, but a six foot high building bulkhead unfortunately blocked the views from within the plaza space. I was motivated by the idea of creating a tilted landform space planted with dunes as an abstraction of the region’s terminal moraine topography.
“Abstraction of nature has been a longstanding preoccupation of mine” By tilting up the ground plane six feet I was able to adjust the site visually to create a new horizon line. The design manipulates perspective as one walks up the slope through the series of landscape “dunes” At the entrance to the plaza the view beyond is obscured, but as one walks up the slope and through the dunes, the horizon gradually opens up to reveal the dramatic view of the East River, Harbor and Brooklyn Bridge. A sequence of social spaces support a variety of public needs and activities including quiet places to enjoy the view with comfortable seating, a large terraced space with open lawn for performances and events, summer movies, and plenty of spaces to eat lunch.
HARBOR CONTEXT
DUNES AND SOCIAL SEATING
AMPHITHEATER, LAWN AND BEACON
8_SANTA FE RAILYARD PARK 2002-2008, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
PARK SYSTEMS
This was a transformational project for me - my first working in an arid climate. It was also working in a historic place with a unique local culture. The design challenge was to bring the local culture, history and environment together in creating a new place as part of the redevelopment of the historic rail yards near the downtown core of the city. I collaborated with architect Fred Schwartz and artist Mary Miss working with the Trust for Public Land and the City of Santa Fe. The project took six years and I made 50 trips to Santa Fe to get to know the place and people.
“This park strives to address history, environment, and local culture together in a contemporary way� The park was conceived as a set of park-wide systems defining program, plantings, water harvesting and circulation, all integrated with design of park spaces and features. The alignment of historic rail lines and sidings provide the spatial structure of new pathways linking history with contemporary use. Water harvesting was a key generator of the landscape design including a replica railyard water tank for storage.
RAIL GARDENS
WATER HARVESTING SYSTEM “ACEQUIA NIŃA”
CIRCULAR RAMADA
WOOD, STEEL, STONE, AND XERIC PLANTINGS
PARK USERS
WATER HARVESTING TANK AND ICONIC PLACEMAKING
9_EAST RIVER WATERFRONT ESPLANADE AND PIERS 2005-ONGOING, NEW YORK CITY
PILOT PROJECT
PIER 15
PIER 35 / MUSSEL BEACH
I have been working on the public space design of two miles of the East River for eleven years. The site sits partially beneath the elevated highway and partially over water on marine platform structure and includes reconstruction of Piers 15 and 35. I have been working with a multi-disciplinary team and collaborating with SHoP Architects and ARUP. The open space program includes a continuous public esplanade for bicycles and pedestrians, improved connections to the adjoining neighborhoods, and needed open space amenities. Public features tucked under the elevated highway structure include restaurant pavilions, dog run, exercise platforms, swings, ball courts, skateboard area and seating areas.
“I have discovered larger projects are actually a set of smaller projects that often draw on design ideas I explored earlier in my career on a different scale.” The design was conceived as a kit-of-parts to give the project an overall cohesiveness but allow for variation and adjustment in response to contextual conditions along its length. Water edge features include fishing balconies, a stepped tidal getdown area, overlooks, and an innovative mussel habitat demonstration area, aka “Mussel Beach.” The project began with a master planning phase in 2005 and the project has been completed as a series of phases commencing with the “pilot project” that was completed in 2011, and followed by the construction of Pier 15 and “Mussel Beach” in 2012. Pier 35 with its folded parterres and large scale folded topiary wall is currently under construction.
“If You want to see the future of public space in New York... Go to the East River at the foot of Wall Street, where a two-block section of a new park, the East River Waterfront Esplanade has just been finished.”
ESPLANADE PILOT PROJECT
ESPLANADE PILOT PROJECT
ESPLANADE PILOT PROJECT
ESPLANADE SOCIAL SEATING
ESPLANADE SOCIAL SEATING
ESPLANADE PILOT PROJECT
PIER 15
PIER 15 is a replacement pier for an historic pier that was condemned as structurally unsafe. The local community board lobbied successfully for its reconstruction as part of the waterfront plan. The design team argued for a double deck replacement as a strategy to provide more public space. The design incorporates two community-purpose pavilions, water get downs, bi-level landscape and deck areas. Bollards provide for tying up of historic vessels.
“The strategy was to rebuild the pier as a double deck structure to create more public space�
The landscape is a linear band with a rolling turf lawn and Serviceberry grove that unites the two levels of the pier. Wood decking and social seating accomodate crowds enjoying the elevated perspective of the river and city.
PIER 15 BI-LEVEL LANDSCAPE
PIER 15 BI-LEVEL LANDSCAPE
PIER 15 UPPER DECK LANDSCAPE
MUSSEL BEACH
PIER 35
PIER 35 and MUSSEL BEACH anchor the north end of the project. A portion of the historic Pier 35 had collapsed at the west end near the FDR Highway but the bulk of the pier was structurally sound with 400-pound live loads. Since Pier 35 was significantly shorter and narrower than Pier 15 the idea of a two level pier was explored but rejected. A different strategy was needed to make the public space seem spatially interesting and larger than it actually was, and the adjacency of a large Department of Sanitation facility suggested the need for a strong northern edge to buffer the pier from its neighbor.
“The folded forms create the illusion of greater space� I proposed the landscape solution of taking the larger scale of Pier 15 and squashing it like an accordion into the shorter space of Pier 35 resulting in a folded terrain both horizontally and vertically. Spatially this creates a varied subdivision of horizontally folded landscape lawns and dunes and vertically folded large-scale green topiary structure, all of which creates a greater sense of depth -- the illusion of a larger space. The vertical folded topiary screen rises to a height of 35 feet stretching 330 feet in length and creates an effective camouflage for the adjacent structure. I had created a series of smaller scale folded topiaries in the
STUDIES FOR THE FOLDED TOPIARY WALL
“MUSSEL BEACH” HABITAT
FOLDED TERRAIN OF DUNES AND LAWNS
FOLDED TOPIARY VINE SCREEN
The collapsed part of Pier 35 was reconceived as a prototype ecological demonstration called Mussel Beach. The folded terrain of the pier design drops down into the river, creating a gradient of sloping planes that inteface with the daily rising and falling tides. The habitat feature was specially designed for mussels, with sloping precast concrete surfaces, textures and rockeries in the tidal zone.
FIRST CONCEPT MODEL OF MUSSEL BEACH
The rockeries are organized in two patterns, a uniform gradient and a jumbled gradient.
SUBSEQUENT MODEL OF MUSSEL BEACH
MUSSEL BEACH CONSTRUCTION
Footings are in place to support a footbridge under construction
MUSSEL BEACH AT LOW TIDE
MUSSEL BEACH WITH INCOMING TIDE
Folded tectonics of dunes and lawns under construction
10_CROTON RESERVIOR WATER FILTRATION PLANT 2006-ONGOING, THE BRONX, NEW YORK CITY
For over a decade I have been working on a large-scale and complex infrastructure landscape for New York City’s new drinking water filtration plant in the Bronx, in collaboration with Grimshaw Architects. The environmentally sensitive site in Van Cortland Park includes riparian woodlands and wet meadows. This project is an example of the contemporary trend of multi-use infrastructure with an emphasis on public use and sustainability. The program requirements called for high level security, storm water management, and a new golf driving range and clubhouse.
“The seeming contradiction of a water filtration plant and golf driving range produced surprising possibilities� The 11-acre green roof of the plant is designed as a sculptural landscape that disguises the below-grade structure and functions as a golf driving range. A stormwater system collects runoff from the roof structure and provides phytoremediation in a series a treatment cells that ring the driving range, as well as reuse for site irrigation. Over 1.5 miles of bluestone and gabion security walls ring the site and are carefully integrated into the natural topography.
WALLS
DRIVING RANGE
DEP PLANT LANDSCAPE
PARKING LOT BIOSWALE
Project Credits 1_Glowing Topiary Garden Ken Smith collaborated with lighting designer Jim Conti to create this eight-week installation sponsored by the Alliance for Downtown New York. 2_Wall Flowers, 2006 Trienneal Ken Smith design and execution working with the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum Gilsanz Murray Steficek, structural engineers 3_Torqued, Folded and Bent Topiaries Various studies and projects exploring the idea of vertical green vine structures on tectonic forms 4_Park Avenue Penthouse Terrace Ken Smith was commissioned to design a private terrace garden. 5_The Theater For A New Audience Arts Plaza (TFANA) Ken Smith was project design lead for the Arts Plaza working for the City of New York. 6_MoMA Roof Ken Smith worked with the Museum of Modern Art. 7_�The Elevated Acre� - 55 Water Street Ken Smith collaborated with Rogers Marvel architects on this winning competition design sponsored by the Municipal Arts Society of New York City. 8_Santa Fe Railyard Park Ken Smith collaborated with architect Frederic Schwartz and artist Mary Miss on the redevelopment of derelict old railyard into a major new public park. The Trust for Public Land led and managed the project in conjunction with the City of Santa Fe. 9_East River Waterfront Esplanade and Piers Ken Smith has been working as part of a multi-disciplinary team with SHoP Architects, ARUP and the City of New York. 10_Croton Reservoir Water Filtration Plant Ken Smith is part of a multi-disciplinary design team with Grimshaw Architects, Rana Creek, Great Ecology, Sherwood Engineering, Stephen Kay Doug Smith Golf Course Design and the City of New York Design Excellence Program.
KEN SMITH KEN SMITH WORKSHOP 450 W 31ST STREET, FIFTH FLOOR NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10001 WWW.KENSMITHWORKSHOP.COM