TORQUED, FOLDED AND BENT TOPIARIES,1999-2018
TORQUED, FOLDED AND BENT TOPIARIES, 1999-2018
“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 more 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.”
Ken Smith Ken Smith Workshop
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.
1999
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.
2000-2003
In 2003 I designed a folded topiary for the courtyard garden on 55th Street in New York City, which was constructed in 2005. The structure is stainless steel expanded metal and planted with English Ivy.
EARLY MODEL
2003-2005
FORM STUDY
STRUCTURE STUDY
In 2005 I designed a community garden for the New York Restoration Project for a site in Brooklyn, which was built in 2009.  Guy Nordenson was structural engineer. The forms were constructed of standard fencing components and expanded metal panels and to be planted with English Ivy.
STUDY MODEL
INSTALLATION
2005-2009
SITE
In 2007 I collaborated with Dan Wood on a series of alternative plaza designs for the Brooklyn Academy of Music cultural district. One of the designs was for a large folded topiary that rose up from a folded turf terrain into an overhead canopy that articulated the plaza space and provided shade. The proposal also included a waterfall built into the folded landform.
EARLY MODEL
2007
FORM STUDY
In 2010 I designed a warped topiary structure that was 35-feet tall and some 75-feet long as a backdrop to the North Arts Plaza for the Theater For A New Audience at BAM. Again Guy Nordenson was structural engineer. The topiary was detailed through 100% construction documents, but deleted from the project during construction. The planting was to be a mix of English Ivy and Boston Ivy.
2010-2013
PIER 35, EAST RIVER WATERFRONT
This is the largest folded topiary to date. In 2010 for the East River Esplanade and Piers in New York City I proposed a large folded topiary for Pier 35. 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. I am working with SHoP architects on the project, which is a natural collaboration because of their history of working with similar tectonic forms. I have been working with Greg Pasquarelli on the project and Amanda Burden who was City Planning commissioner at the time and was very instrumental in guiding the project. ARUP is the structural engineer, Jim Urban is soil consultant and Suzan Tillotson is lighting designer. 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 project is under construction and will be completed in December 2018.
2010-2018
Pier 35 Site
2010-2018
Early Design Studies
2010-2018
Tectonic Forms for the Folded Terrain and Topiary
SPRING
SUMMER
FALL
WINTER
Virginia Creeper
Boston Ivy
Trumpet Vine
Honeysuckle Vine
English Ivy
Construction Photos
Construction Photos
Construction Photo
Construction Photos
“Mussel Beach” eco habitat
“Mussel Beach” eco habitat
“Mussel Beach” eco habitat
“Mussel Beach” eco habitat
KEN SMITH WORKSHOP