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.
