Three elements articulated in the new consulate compound in Hyderabad contribute significantly to its natural and designed sense of place: the role of water in the semi-arid climate; the regional geology of boulder-filled landscape; and the native dry forest vegetation, uniquely adapted to the landscape of scarce water and shallow soils. The climate is one of extremes, periods of intense dryness punctuated by severe seasonal rainstorms making water management a significant part of the history of the Deccan Plateau. Stepwell complexes and thousands of artificial lakes have been employed for centuries to collect water to support crops and provide a source of water through drought periods. The region and site are also characterized by the natural beauty of enormous granite boulders and exposed sheet rocks. India’s complex history can also be observed through the lens of its native, indigenous and evolving palette of imported plant species whose origin can be traced globally.
The design proposal weaved together these physical histories of building and landscape creating open spaces reflective of our historic and cultural ties between India and the United States. The Landscape Design, derived from the uniqueness of site and the form of the building, creates a cohesive network of arrival sequences, paths, gardens, terraces and recreational opportunities that engage the site’s natural terrain. By taking advantage of and celebrating the undulating, rocky terrain, the regional landscape is celebrated as engaging and welcoming; it remains strong but is not perceived as unyielding. Boulder fields, natural outcroppings and sinuous pathways are combined with plateaus and terraces that form natural and comfortable congregation points from where the unfolding landscape can be engaged with and observed. Gathering areas are sited in logical places, but are intended to feel episodic in design and are connected visually by means of “botanical ways” that celebrate the native flora of the region.
The Global Technology Campus is a complete rebuild of an original 72-acre Redmond campus. The new campus has been re-conceived as a true pedestrian environment, built upon physical and cultural inclusivity. The project is also focused on resilient and sustainable design considerations including certification as a Zero Waste Certified campus powered by carbon-free power sources and a landscape designed to be Salmon Safe. The project has been designed in a multidisciplinary environment with five architects, four contractors, and two landscape architecture practices, all working in tandem to knit together a 21st century technology campus which reflects the organization’s community and environmental values.
OLIN, in collaboration with Seattle based Berger Landscape Architects have developed a holistic development plan for the entire campus, focusing on material identity and creating a living environment that is both beautiful and highly contextual, contributing to the biodiversity of the Puget Sound region and the Lake Sammamish watershed. OLIN is currently designing the heart of the technology campus with an expansive central plaza, a campus promenade, recreational fields, and a revitalized Lake Bill, named in homage to Mr. Gates. The campus is knitted together by a forested pedestrian avenue known as the Forest Thread, with a palette composed of Evergreen Douglas Firs and distinctive white birches, all designed over a 19-acre deck structure, making it of the largest green roofs in the world.
Located in the heart of downtown Redding, Whistle Stop Park honors the city’s long-standing connection to the California and Oregon Railroad. With its permanent stage and central location, the park will host special events and be welcoming for everyday passive use. It establishes a 1,600-square foot area of vibrant civic realm within a two-acre mixed-use, transformational effort known as Redding Block 7. The $111-million Block 7 project improves housing access through 78 affordable residences available at mixed-income rates from 30% to 80% of the area’s median. The development also focuses on diversifying local businesses, increasing outdoor comfort, improving pedestrian connectivity, and increasing bicycle mobility.
As the integral hub of the larger development project, Whistle Stop Park provides a variety of uses and programming possibilities to attract both residents and visitors. The park features abundant shade to mitigate intense summer heat, a multifunctioning performance kiosk, a playful lawn, varied seating options, and a cooling mist garden inspired by the regional geology and ecology of Redding. The park is a refreshing microclimate oasis and a comfortable public amenity for passive and active use throughout the year.
Community leaders have been working hard for several years to lay the groundwork for this downtown revitalization project. Block 7 is a joint effort by The McConnell Foundation, K2 Development, and The City of Redding and was created through the design collaboration of OLIN, Modus Studio, and DMARCstudio. Modern Building is the general contractor.
The Folger Shakespeare Library renovation project, in collaboration with KieranTimberlake, expands public space, improves accessibility, and enhances the experience for all visitors. OLIN worked closely with the museum on the design, which replaces a surface parking lot and monoculture lawn plantings with a series of at-grade and sunken outdoor spaces, including two welcoming east- and west-facing entry plazas, a flexible event lawn, and meandering paths bordered by a mix of evergreen groundcover and seasonally diverse shrub plantings. The entry plazas and open gardens flanking the building are envisioned as a modern interpretation of the Elizabethan Garden; an evergreen hedge and groundcover plantings surround the site, clearly defining an edge, while a series of paths and benches invite visitors to linger and enjoy the immersive environment. The landscape is designed to encourage exploration and social interaction, with museum staff expanding public programs aimed to highlight the numerous plant species referenced in Shakespearean literature, which are proposed to be featured in the new design.
Located in the Hudson River Park near the Tribeca neighborhood, Pier 26 reaches out and over the Hudson River with striking views to the Statue of Liberty and One World Trade Center. The 2.5 acre pier is located within the Hudson River Estuary, a highly sensitive and ecologically productive body of water that contains a hybrid of freshwater runoff and ocean saltwater. The pier has a unique mission, providing a physical and virtual space that brings to life the invisible dynamics of the Hudson River Estuary, reflecting the current technologies and scientific understanding regarding its health, ecological successes, and challenges. The physical design of the park is a dynamic gradient experience from upland to lowland, from land to water. This experience provides opportunities for ecological education and offers recreation and leisure spaces for people of all ages.
OLIN’s winning design for the 11th Street Bridge Park Competition connects two historically disparate sides of the Anacostia River with a series of rooms and active zones, including two sloped ramps that elevate visitors to maximized look-out points to landmarks in either direction. Each ramp terminates in a waterfall that visually reconnects the ramps to the river below. In addition to demonstrating how plants cleanse captured rainwater, the waterfalls above the bridge deck provide cooling breezes and a calming sound. The waterfall below the structure collects surface river water and drops it back into the river, emphasizing the need for river aeration and higher oxygen levels. To encourage visitors to the bridge and neighboring communities, the design includes amenities for comfort and refreshment and an open plaza for markets, festivals and theatrical performances. The form of the bridge creates an iconic encounter, an “X” instantly recognizable as the river’s new image.
Willis Tower stands as an icon of modern architecture, however for decades the base of the tower created an unwelcoming urban environment. The reimagination of the ground levels creates a vibrant streetscape, atrium, and roof park that is an amenity for people who work in the building but also nearby residents.
While still respecting needs for security, the previously closed off spaces around the building are now open to pedestrians, and rich textures and materials along the streetscape honor the famous gridded architecture of the tower. On the fourth floor roof park, the curving geometry interrupts the architectural grid and references the winding rivers of the Midwestern landscape with a native palette of prairie grasses and trees.
OLIN has been commissioned to develop a design for a new 400-plus acre park in Southern Indiana, along the northern shore of the Ohio River. The project will rehabilitate and transform an expanse of waterfront lands, which for decades have been occupied with landfills and industrial facilities, into a rich cultural and civic asset for Southern Indiana and the Louisville, Kentucky metropolitan area. The park was first envisioned by River Heritage Conservancy, a non-profit organization dedicated to implementing and managing a world-class park system along the northern shoreline of the Ohio Riverfront. The design will seek to regenerate and reforest the landscape, which has been dramatically shaped by both human intervention and the forces of nature. The project will also celebrate the land’s rich ecological and cultural legacy, which dates back to First Peoples’ communities established a millennium ago.
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.
One of the highest profile and most cherished public spaces in the world, Bryant Park has become a model for environmental, social and economic sustainability. Many visitors to the park are unaware that the site is a large-scale green roof above an annex housing more than three million volumes of the adjacent New York Public Library. The social character of Bryant Park was transformed within days of the restoration’s completion in 1992. The New York Times cited, “Where once the park was the home of derelicts, drug dealers and drug users, it is now awash with office workers, shoppers, strollers and readers.” Today, Bryant Park draws thousands of visitors every day. The park is active year-round with concerts, performances, movie screenings, ice skating and more. The restoration of the park marked the beginning of an era in which public/private partnerships became the financiers and guardians of the public realm—a watershed moment in the history of park-making.
OLIN’s landscape design is a synthesis of the U.S. government’s goals for sustainability, security, accessibility and design excellence; with a team led by KieranTimberlake, OLIN crafted an embassy design that gives form to the core beliefs of democracy—transparency, openness, and equality—in a way that is at once secure, welcoming, and sustainable. OLIN’s competition winning landscape is a contemporary approach to the English tradition of urban parks and gardens as the context for civic buildings. The design’s spiraling walks and sculpted meadow terrains form the Embassy grounds, winding into the lobby and promenade overlooking a freshwater pond and the Thames to the north. The landscape design expresses these ideas formally but also through the selection of landscape materials. The spiral continues up through the building in interior gardens based on six significant American landscapes. Plantings chosen for the project were selected on the basis of commonalities between species common to the United Kingdom and the U.S.—a result of their being brought by English settlers and explorers to the New World. The result is a true embodiment of the United States’ deep bond with the U.K., the embassy’s connection to the city and people of London, and the fundamental tenets of American democracy.
OLIN was commissioned by Scenic Hudson to develop a design strategy for the transformation of a former industrial and mining site into a new 520-acre park in Ulster County, New York, along the Hudson River. The site includes 260 acres of woodlands, more than a mile of Hudson Riverfront offering sweeping views, a dramatic cliff and ridgeline, and 37 acres of wetlands. The ambition is to create a new model of state park that harnesses the site’s ecological recovery and embedded history to formulate a future that is economically sound, climate-conscious, and accessible to all.
The park’s size will enable opportunities for a range of outdoor experiences from intimate hikes and family gatherings to larger community events. It hosts a vital segment of the dual Kingston Greenline and Empire State Trails, connecting Kingston Point Beach with East Kingston, one of the few places where the 750-mile Empire State Trail will connect directly with the Hudson River. The park also features historical remnants of brickmaking, natural cement, and ice harvesting industries; the adapted structures and sublime quarried canyons reveal industrial hallmarks of the Hudson Valley’s critical role in New York State’s development while demonstrating a forward-thinking future of climate adaptation and unique disturbance ecologies. By utilizing the site’s numerous existing natural and industrial features, the park can become a significant economic asset to local communities and support residents’ livelihoods by attracting visitors with activities appropriate to the land’s considerable conservation values.
Through the team’s robust and inclusive public engagement campaign, Sojourner Truth State Park will reflect Kingston and Ulster County’s communities, values, and aspirations. Along with local community groups, OLIN conducted online meetings and interviews with stakeholders to facilitate active dialogues with residents and community leaders to understand how the future park can help realize connectivity and recreational and economic benefits.
OLIN’s redesign of Columbus Circle is based on concentric rings of movement and light, transforming what was once an inhospitable traffic circle into a refuge where people stop, meet and relax in the hub of a swirl of traffic late into the evening. The fountain is formed by a series of ledges with cascading water and jets arching toward the center to reinforce the circular design and primacy of the monument, mask traffic noise and temper the summer climate. When turned off, the ledges serve as seating to avoid the typically forlorn character of unused fountains during winter months. Custom-designed benches are scaled to complement the civic space and are wide enough to allow individuals to sit comfortably back-to-back. Columbus Circle demonstrates the potential of reclaiming social space in conjunction with rethinking transportation infrastructure. The redesign devotes less area to vehicles, yet traffic now flows more efficiently. Disciplining traffic as part of transportation planning and successfully balancing it with social needs is a difficult task, but one that is successfully addressed at Columbus Circle and can serve as a model for other cities.
The Octavius V. Catto memorial celebrates the 19th century civil rights activist, educator, and scholar who dedicated his life to the abolition of slavery and the establishment of equal rights for all, regardless of race. The memorial is situated adjacent to Philadelphia’s historic City Hall and is the first sculpture of an African American to be located on City of Philadelphia public property.
OLIN and our team of local consultants collaborated with artist, Branly Cadet, to site and implement three main sculptural elements which reveal the story of Octavius Catto. A granite abstraction of an 1860’s horse-drawn streetcar stands behind the figure of Catto, who, a century before Rosa Parks, sought to desegregate the horse-drawn streetcar by waging protests and sit-ins. Catto’s figure stands before a steel representation of a mid-nineteenth century ballot box reflecting his efforts to get the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified in Pennsylvania, giving all men—regardless of race—the right to vote. The distinctive bronze figural sculpture of Octavius Catto leans forward with outstretched arms, serving as an invitation to the public to see themselves as active agents of change.
At the foot of City Hall and the hub of Philadelphia’s transit center, Dilworth Park has become an iconic destination in the heart of the city. Prior to renovation, Dilworth Park lacked accessible space and was divided by a series of raised and sunken terraces and blind stairways. OLIN developed a universally accessible common plaza through the elimination of stairs and walls. The new design brings the entire plaza to street level creating a contemporary public space worthy of its prominent location at City Hall. The park is constructed over Philadelphia’s transit lines and is framed by the addition of two elegant glass pavilions that create a sculptural and daylit entry to the city transit concourses below.
Dilworth Park is designed as both a relaxing refuge in Center City as well as a destination for major events. Signature park elements include the plaza, a lawn parterre for informal gathering, sinuous stonework detailing and an interactive fountain. The fountain emerges from the plaza providing a seamless scalability to the park with basins that shrink or enlarge according to the park’s activity. In the winter the fountain transforms to an ice rink providing year round enjoyment. Integrated into the fountain is artist Janet Echleman’s Pulse, a kinetic representation of the transit lines, which signal their passage through illuminated ribbons of atomized fog rising through air. OLIN collaborated with Urban Engineers, KieranTimberlake and CVM Engineers to create this vibrant and comfortable public space that establishes Dilworth Park as a welcoming space to all.
Americans today are seeking to retain their traditional relationship to the land and their historic landscape while balancing simultaneous demands for increased density, more amenities, greater efficiency, and an ever-expanding job market. The Hills at Vallco offers a paradigm shifting solution: that which cannot be located side by side, can be combined vertically in layers. This project proposes to create a 30-acre public park over a 50-acre development of buildings, streets, and public civic squares. The public landscape of Vallco is composed of tree lined streets, two public squares, and an extensive roof park with a variety of outdoor amenities. The roof park incorporates paths for walking and jogging, a playground, orchards and a vineyard, along with a unique performance space, and at the same time, quieter areas, some constituting native habitat for the native flora and fauna of the Bay Area.
The National Veterans Memorial & Museum is a monument to honor the fallen and recognize the service and sacrifice made of all veterans in every branch of the military. As an extension of this purpose the landscape is intended to provide a natural sanctuary for remembrance and reflection. The central component of the design being a memorial grove, a ceremonial stand of trees, a sacred space for rest and meditation surrounded by a series of outdoor rooms designed for memorial displays and commemoration. A tree-lined pedestrian walk encompasses this landscape while gradually rising to a height overlooking the Scioto River and downtown Columbus beyond. This project is being implemented out of a larger master plan for the Scioto Peninsula in Columbus, developed by MKSK and OLIN.
The Bud and Susie Rogers Garden at the Akron Art Museum is a gift to the community of Akron. OLIN worked closely with the museum on the design, which replaces a surface parking lot with a series of terraced outdoor spaces, including a welcoming plaza, a flexible lawn, a meandering path bordered by prairie grasses, and a woodland reminiscent of the forests of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Artists are invited to use the space to create interventions and expand the dialogue of art in innovating ways. The entire garden is also designed to welcome a range of activities, including introspection, exploration, expression, social interactions and memorable art experiences, generated by the community and curated by the museum.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a beloved city landmark drawing more than one million visitors a year, but the need to create additional parking for the institution without disturbing the fabric of Fairmount Park posed a daunting challenge. OLIN’s solution, the Sculpture Garden, is built directly over a new 440-car underground parking facility, cleverly disguising and seamlessly integrating the structure and garden into the existing landscape. An outdoor extension of the museum’s vast art collection, this series of outdoor galleries further connect the art museum to the city. The higher of two overlooks provides dramatic views of Kelly Drive, the Schuylkill River, Water Works, the lush Azalea Garden, Lemon Hill and beyond. Meanwhile, symmetrical water walls on the lower overlook echo the river and its falls, mask expressway noise, and establish a dignified setting for sculpture. To maintain an open and sustainable garden experience, native plantings create changing seasonal attraction and provide a habitat for local wildlife. Further, as a four-acre green roof, the Sculpture Garden itself is a stormwater mediator, intercepting and detaining significant amounts of runoff. By merging art with function, the Sculpture Garden provides an elegant and sensitive response to the museum’s needs and its treasured place in Philadelphia.
The Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building, the workplace of 4,000 people, is located on approximately 4 acres adjacent to City Hall and bounded by 9th Street—the recently designated Rock and Roll Boulevard that leads to the Hall of Fame. OLIN’s fundamental design goal is to create a memorable place that will aid in the renaissance of downtown Cleveland. Central to the design is the concept of an urban forest that, together with careful modeling of the ground and layout of paths and low walls, form a protected microclimate, while remaining open and inviting to the city. The design features a series of strategically planted spaces that accommodate relaxation and contemplation, as well as large events. To most fully realize the potential of this challenging site exposed to the winds of Lake Erie, OLIN worked closely with architects, a wind consultant, a lighting consultant and an artist to form a place that will become one of the most popular destinations in downtown Cleveland.
The Alexandria Waterfront project is a 20 year vision for a 1.2 mile stretch of riverfront that has been disconnected from the city and compromised by past industrial use. The OLIN team worked collaboratively with the community to shape a plan that is designed by and for Alexandrians and is deeply rooted in history and culture of the city. The waterfront plan creates a variety of unique outdoor rooms along the Potomac River, for both passive and active use, linked by a continuous pedestrian promenade. The design integrates flood mitigation infrastructure that also serves as park amenity space. The re-imagined waterfront meets the recreational and civic needs of a diverse population, restores natural habitat for native flora and fauna, and offers a vision that is economically viable, maintainable and implementable in phases over time.
The beauty of landscape is in its extreme scales—it can be seen as a larger whole or a mosaic of smaller components that comprise a greater whole. OLIN’s proposal for a modular, adaptable wildlife crossing–which can be implemented by transportation departments across the nation–is informed by a computer model of a toroid, a ring-shaped, gridded web from which unique site-specific structural forms can be generated. The form of the bridge uses this structural geometry to make a gridded modular landscape system that is populated by diamond-shaped habitat modules. These modules are identical in shape and size, planted according to local ecological needs and are adaptable and reusable. The modular structure of the crossing acknowledges and links the migratory patterns of local animals with responsive ecologies that support a variety of plant communities, easily modified for certain sites to inform a feeling of safety and “normalcy” for wildlife. The OLIN proposal is the result of an international design collaboration between Buro Happold in London, Explorations Architecture in Paris, Applied Ecological Services, and OLIN—both in Philadelphia.
For decades, the iconic art collection assembled by Dr. Albert Barnes was displayed at his summer estate, turned museum and arboretum, in Merion, Pennsylvania. Now relocated along Philadelphia’s Museum Mile, the priceless collection is accessible to the public like never before. Conceived as a gallery within a garden and a garden within a gallery, the design honors the original Barnes estate and provides visitors with a highly personal and contemplative experience.
In 1883, Frederick Law Olmsted created a vision for what a public park on the Pequannock River in Bridgeport, Connecticut should be. He envisioned Beardsley Park as a refuge for the citizens of Bridgeport from the increasingly urbanized city. A place, to paraphrase his words, that citizens could “re-create” themselves, be gregarious, reflect, and be stimulated by nature. Over the past decades cities have been challenged to live up to Olmsted's vision and ideals. It is clear, however, that his ideals are as relevant today, if not more so, as they were over a hundred years ago. The Beardsley Park Plan provides the city and its citizens with a framework that will enable them to incrementally realize Olmsted's vision. OLIN's vision restores Beardsley Park's historic integrity while providing a robust landscape for the 21st century.
Nature and culture come to the forefront as the design for California Memorial Stadium artistically blends natural systems with social and environmental function. The site improvements allow the stadium and its environs to be an active and contributing part of campus, not only during games, but every day of the year. The design takes its inspiration from several site-specific themes: wilderness, history, and academic and athletic achievements, which are expressed in the materials, grading and amenities. The site’s elevations change of more than 145 feet presented opportunities for dramatic views and spaces, but made accessibility a challenge, ultimately overcome through skillful and sensitive grading. The main plaza was formed conceptually by pressing the building into the earth, minimizing the visual impact to the site, while creating an accessible and significant public open space. Materials, as one approaches the stadium, become more refined, from a coarse stonewall to precisely laid paving. The paving pattern at the plaza is intricately designed and detailed, inspired by Ellsworth Kelly’s painting La Combe III at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Spirited quotations from alumni are engraved within the paving, acknowledging the university’s influence in world affairs.
The one square mile District of Caño Martín Peña is located between Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport and the resorts of the Condado District and Downtown San Juan. The district sits along the Martín Peña channel, a narrow body of water that connects the Bay of San Juan with the San José Lagoon. This unique area is both the only protected tropical estuary in the United States and home to 12,000 residents in eight neighborhoods. These residents live with severe exposures to flood risk and a lack of sanitation infrastructure, safe housing, and roads. The comprehensive infrastructure master plan is a holistic approach to community health, economic well-being, and environmental restoration through infrastructure redevelopment, water quality improvements, new housing, and climate adaptation interventions. Over a two-year inclusive planning process, OLIN led a comprehensive planning and infrastructure effort with Arcadis and eDesign Dynamics among a larger consulting team of resilience planners, architects, engineers, and transportation planners.
OLIN’s redesign of Columbus Circle is based on concentric rings of movement and light, transforming what was once an inhospitable traffic circle into a refuge where people stop, meet and relax in the hub of a swirl of traffic late into the evening. The fountain is formed by a series of ledges with cascading water and jets arching toward the center to reinforce the circular design and primacy of the monument, mask traffic noise and temper the summer climate. When turned off, the ledges serve as seating to avoid the typically forlorn character of unused fountains during winter months. Custom-designed benches are scaled to complement the civic space and are wide enough to allow individuals to sit comfortably back-to-back. Columbus Circle demonstrates the potential of reclaiming social space in conjunction with rethinking transportation infrastructure. The redesign devotes less area to vehicles, yet traffic now flows more efficiently. Disciplining traffic as part of transportation planning and successfully balancing it with social needs is a difficult task, but one that is successfully addressed at Columbus Circle and can serve as a model for other cities.
Along the length of the landmarked Fifth Avenue façade, OLIN’s design for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s four-block-long plaza enhances one of New York City’s most significant public gathering spaces. OLIN led the design to prioritize the pedestrian experience and create a welcoming urban destination with fountains, trees, seating, and kiosks for refreshments and museum information.
Ornamental beds of shrubs and herbaceous flowers reference plantings seen in early-to-mid-20th century photographs and drawings. Trees with limited lifespans have been replaced with a formal allée of aerial hedges; in all, the plaza includes approximately 100 new trees, more than twice the previous number. Increased shade creates a more comfortable environment, reducing the surface temperature of paving by as much as 25 degrees Fahrenheit. A new pair of contemporary granite fountains operates year-round by utilizing an innovative steam-recycling circulation system. They are positioned closer to the grand stairs, improving access to the plaza’s street-level public entrances and creating an energized connection between people sitting on the steps and those at the fountains.
The Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial is an oasis rising out of the fabric of the National Mall. Nestled adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial, two of the most visited sites in the nation’s capital, the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial is comparatively modest in size, but extraordinarily compelling in its layering of form and narrative of unprecedented international cooperation.
Curvilinear landforms rise and fall along the pathway which spirals toward the center of the site, their shapes evoking the image and texture of desert sand dunes. As visitors traverse the path, they approach a series of three elements which sequentially express the major themes of the conflict. The geopolitical and regional context, as well as the speed and scale of the conflict are represented by a soaring eagle and falcon, framed by a cinematic bas relief carving depicting the progression of the conflict to the liberation of Kuwait. The second element is a figurative sculpture of American servicemembers, commemorating teamwork and courage in the face of danger, the bond formed through that experience, and the post-Vietnam healing and transformation of American society following the victory and homecoming. The Unity Shield is the third element, commemorating the memorial’s central theme of global cooperation and shared service and sacrifice. Situated within an oasis-like grove, the shield incorporates a water feature and includes an engraved symbol of each coalition nation. The sculptural elements and contemplative space ask visitors to remember this turning point in history when they gaze out over the Lawn toward the Lincoln Memorial—another symbol of hard-won liberty.
OLIN’s landscape design for the Duke Medicine Pavilion establishes an open space which demonstrates a commitment to environmental sustainability. New buildings feature green roofs, and the landscape utilizes drought-tolerant, native and adapted plants. This minimizes irrigation needs, improves habitat for wildlife, and provides seasonal interest for patients, employees and visitors. Biofiltration, rainwater harvesting, and a commitment to pedestrian circulation links the site to the larger campus.
The Eastern Market 2025 Strategy is a development framework plan designed to protect the authenticity and diversity of Detroit’s Eastern Market. The resulting document is an inclusive guide for the growth of the 125-year old wholesale market that attracts over two million visitors a year. The strategy is built upon the consensus of a diverse group of stakeholders that characterize the market: large scale food wholesalers, family-owned farms that cater to the market, brick and mortar retailers, and entrepreneurs that make up the informal economy. The market is a source of both endless variety and living wages to people not only from Detroit, but across the Midwest.
The document is unique in that it not only illustrates an economically sound and equitable future, but it also documents the culture and vitality of the market that must be maintained. Throughout the strategy document, photographs of and quotations from market vendors and regular customers capture the authentic character of Eastern Market. The result is a spirited plan focused on job growth and the authenticity of the local food economy. The plan lays out a vision in which Eastern Market can simultaneously expand the wholesale food industry while working to diversify the current market district by infilling with food retail and residential in ways that fulfill Eastern Market’s role as a place that welcomes all Detroiters.
The Emerald Riverside project in Shanghai's Pudong district is an oasis within a bustling urban landscape that celebrates the Forest, The Garden and the Sky. The project primarily consists of residential towers, with high-end retail frontage on the eastern edge of the site. OLIN creates a multi-layered landscape both in the design of the streetscape as well as within the confines of the residential development. Residents and visitors move through landscape thresholds, each with a unique visual and horticultural character related to "Forest-Garden-Sky."
The streetscape design is a series of thresholds intended to shield pedestrians both physically and visually from the street as well as give them intimate garden spaces to occupy opposite major retail entrances. Within the residential zone of the project, occupants enjoy an incredibly rich series of layered landscapes. The classical language of the building architecture shapes the vocabulary of materials and sequence of spaces in the landscape, though OLIN infuses contemporary touches throughout the design to cater to the expectations of modern residents.
Modern, fresh and clean, the gardens of this corporate headquarters are inspired by the abstract works of the De Stijl artistic movement. The gardens complement the building’s architectural expression of simple geometric relationships and the client’s passion for modern art. The seventh floor rooftop garden resembles a Mondrian painting, defined through crisp blocks of materials, colors and textures. The composition integrates horizontal and vertical planes, interlocking patterns of granite pavement and bronze grating, planters filled with bold masses of perennials and shrubs, and floating grass planes and windscreens. Within the rectilinear surface pattern of the garden, the rooftop was further conceived as five distinct microclimates. The plant palette is responsive to these conditions, and each section conceptually represents a region where species typically found there are displayed—northeast, southeast, southwest, west, and northwest. Rich in texture and form, the plants were selected to ensure a continuous bloom cycle from spring through autumn, offering year-round beauty and interest.
The Grace Farms Foundation sought a site design that allows people to experience the beauty of nature through landscape; creates a welcoming environment that fosters relationships; provides volunteer resources and opportunities; and enhances this bucolic environment as a place for reflection, study, and discussion. Teamed with the architects at SANAA, OLIN’s vision for the site transformed this 75-acre former horse farm into an open park composed of woodlands, meadows and ponds surrounding new buildings, as well as separate community facilities for art, social outreach and recreation. The property’s post-agrarian landscape has a unique cultural and historical narrative that will be shared with the larger community—72 of the 75 acres is openly accessible to the public. The landscape encourages ecological diversity by strategically removing invasive woodlands and non-native tree species, which will be replaced with indigenous plantings. OLIN also clarified circulation to enhance one’s experience of the site.
Commitment to quality, agrarian heritage, and the connection between people and finely crafted food was an ethos its leaders wished to be represented in every detail of their new home. In a unique collaboration with Overland Architects, OLIN produced an interweaving of building and landscape that enables all employees to enjoy and draw inspiration from the company’s roots and Wisconsin’s bountiful agricultural heritage. The new landscape is composed around and within the Home Office, sited to take advantage of views to the greater surrounding rural landscape and the dramatic Niagara Ledge. Employees arrive via a meandering drive to an orchard inspired parking court of Red Maples, then pass through the Four Seasons Garden to the Arrival Piazza, encountering sensory-rich plantings of vivid color and seasonal contrast. In the central courtyard, employees gather around a uniquely crafted common table to meet and share ideas throughout the day. Beyond the piazza sits the Heritage Orchard, dedicated to Grande’s founder Fillipo Candela, for which OLIN developed a program of grafting authentic Sicilian bud stock onto hardy Wisconsin rootstock. More than half of the 40-acre site is preserved for the continued development of orchards and meadows, which are experienced via winding paths for promoting exercise and contemplation. At its heart, Grande’s Home Office is a physical expression of its commitment to craft and focus on success through a better and more natural work environment.
The Hunts Point Lifelines project is an innovative plan to safeguard the hub of New York’s Food Supply through a protective and resilient landscape infrastructure. The plan was a funded winner of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild by Design competition. The project is an exemplar of design that demonstrates innovative, scalable solutions that increase long term resilience along the Eastern Seaboard and enables cities, towns, and neighborhoods to respond to the mammoth challenges of climate change adaptation. Lifelines was built upon an integrated design process with deep community engagement, research, and analysis. These efforts resulted in popular support for a landscape based flood protection system that encouraged the use of local industries and green jobs in the implementation of flood protection as well as funding strategies that would result in buildable projects along New York City’s urban shorelines. The PennDesign/OLIN team focused on the development of a living shoreline strategy that incorporated the use of levees designed as greenways and habitat rich wetlands to manage stormwater and prevent wave inundation along the low-lying Hunts Point Peninsula. The project’s consisted of four initiatives, known as ‘Lifelines’: The Levee Lab, a protection system that serves dual purpose as a shoreline greenway, Cleanways a multi-step plan for clean infrastructure, Emergency Maritime Supply Chain, and Livelihoods a policy proposal to promote the local economy and create green jobs.
For decades, Mill River in Stamford, Connecticut was dammed and channelized, choked with pollution and silt buildup, leading to greater flood risk for the surrounding downtown. When the Army Corps of Engineers called for the removal of the dam and channel walls, OLIN was brought in to create a master plan for the newly naturalized waterfront. The plan envisioned the river as an amenity and connector, anchored by a park to the north and with a multimodal greenway stretching down to Stamford Harbor. The first phase of the plan, Mill River Park, was implemented directly out of OLIN’s master plan. The park embraces the newly naturalized banks with a design that includes passive meadows, pedestrian and bicycle trails, lawn areas for play and events, and—for the first time in decades—access points down to the water’s edge. The park also incorporates an existing cherry tree grove, a beloved landmark in Stamford that was a gift to the city in 1957 by Junzo Nojima, a Japanese immigrant. Future phases of the park development include a fountain/ice rink and additional permanent visitor amenities, as well as trail connections extending beyond the park to Stamford Harbor.
The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden is a welcome oasis in the vast scale and bustling environment of the adjacent National Mall. It is a lush retreat created by plantings, pathways, and furnishings designed to highlight some of the finest examples of 20th century sculpture in the nation’s capital. OLIN’s concept for the garden was to create a series of outdoor rooms to provide an appropriate setting and route for viewing the collection. The garden was to be a comfortable enclave for people to rest, relax, dine and watch each other in the presence of great art. American tree species define the rooms of various size, shape and proportion to accommodate the sculpture and display them to best advantage. One can focus upon each piece individually, while also viewing several at a time to compare them. Curvilinear paths guide visitors through the rooms and choreograph a comfortable pace for observation. An elegant fountain replaced the old, non-functioning one, and is transformed into an ice skating rink in the winter.
The Garden 2050 Master Plan exemplifies a commitment to accessibility, scientific discovery, sustainability, decarbonization, and ecological and horticultural stewardship. The plan is a bold initiative to comprehensively design the 250-acre institution’s future, while respecting and preserving its storied past. The Garden is a multifaceted cultural landscape destination for over 1.3 million annual visitors. The plan redresses pedestrian and transit access impaired by Robert Moses era infrastructure, introducing visitors to hidden ecological landscapes along a rare natural stretch of the Bronx River, and establishing NYBG as a leader of biodiversity and decarbonization among large cultural institutions.
The 2,250 square foot Marshall Rose Plaza, located along 40th Street, serves as the new accessible, public entrance to The New York Public Library's flagship Stephen A. Schwarzman Building's Visitor Center. Formerly an underused mechanical area, the outdoor plaza features decorative stone paving and a raised linear planter, providing an opportunity for visitors to sit and pause for a moment of respite, enjoying both the colorful perennial plantings and rich flowering tree canopy around them. The plantings, curated in tandem with Bryant Park Corporation's horticultural advisors, provide varied and seasonally attractive character and foliage, as well as sufficient screening of the adjacent buildings.
Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station is one of the busiest and most iconic transit hubs in the nation. Its location at the nexus of Philadelphia’s Center City and University City Districts also makes it potentially one of the most valuable tracts of real estate in the city. Amtrak, Drexel University and Brandywine Realty Trust engaged a multidisciplinary team including SOM, OLIN and Parsons Brinkerhoff, to develop a new master plan for the 30th Street Station precinct. Building upon a number of ongoing initiatives, this thirty year plan aligns the goals of multimodal transportation, urban development and economic resurgence under one umbrella.
OLIN is a core design and planning member of the Red Hook Housing restoration plan led by Kohn Pedersen Fox. During Hurricane Sandy Residents lost heat, power, in some cases water for weeks, with many stranded in their apartments or left unable to return for weeks. The storm permanently damaged the majority of the electrical and heating systems and most of the buildings are still using temporary boilers. NYCHA has commissioned a design and engineering team to make the houses more resilient and reimagine the campus to be more livable and efficient as part of approximately of a comprehensive Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Resilience (CBDG-DR). The team developed strategies that address the challenges inherent in adapting aging buildings to be sustainable, support a social environment that supports health and wellness, and incorporate resilient strategies to withstand the next superstorm.
Located in the heart of downtown Redding, this project is the first of 10 strategic urban projects within the city of Redding. The ten sites will foreground urban residences, diversify local businesses, increase shade, improve street connectivity, and increase bicycle mobility. The 2-acre site of Block 7 is comprised of three large urban public spaces and two interior courtyards as part of a new affordable and market-rate housing development. The project’s iconic paving and furnishing design are inspired by the regional geology and ecology of Redding. Water misting systems embedded within large boulders will provide a cooling microclimate and comfortable public amenity throughout the year.
Located next to Target Field, the station serves as a central, multi-modal transportation hub and community gathering space in downtown Minneapolis. A catalyst for neighborhood redevelopment, the $82 million design-build project provided 300 new jobs during its construction, and created new community park space for the North Loop neighborhood and historic Warehouse District. The station links 488 trains from light and commuter transit networks, and connects daily bus operation and miles of biking and walking trails linked within the Twin Cities Metropolitan area. The interchange includes an urban plaza with areas for neighborhood bars and eateries, cultural amenities, and entertainment. A great lawn in the upper plaza serves as a central green “stage,” providing new space for pre-game events, community concerts, and seasonal events. Located atop a parking structure, the project provides for 250 additional parking spaces within the transit hub. The landscape and infrastructure are fully integrated, with stormwater cisterns that can hold over 40,000 gallons. Stormwater filtering and reuse have reduced runoff from the Target Field Station site by 27% and total suspended solids in the runoff by 97%.
The new Stuart Weitzman Plaza, home to the school’s graduation ceremony and other events, reinvigorates the setting of the School of Design to play a unique role in the life of the school and campus. Reshaping space at this key nexus of campus pedestrian circulation brings together the Fisher Fine Arts Library, the Graduate Fine Arts Program in Morgan Hall, the Architectural Archives and Meyerson Hall in new ways as a place where human connections are made, ideas hatched and where people can connect with nature and the campus as a whole.
At once a place of gathering, exchange, and movement, the project comprised brick and stone paving restoration, upgraded lighting, new tree planting to its west, the installation of two new wood benches cumulatively 80’ in length and a new stepped terrace to 34th Street. A new and generous flight of steps leads from the plaza to 34th Street and Smith Walk, strengthening connections to the eastern areas of campus. Broad terraces formed with locally-sourced, heat-treated ash frame the steps and provide seating and gathering for students and the community alike. Shade is provided by five yellowwoods, recalling the grove of yellowwoods that occupied the area prior to the construction of Meyerson Hall.
The plaza project was originally conceived as a part of the school’s masterplan of 2012 and continues the University’s decades-long initiative of forging more positive connections with its local urban fabric and community. By forming entries to facilities from the adjacent streets, removing barriers to circulation, improving sightlines, and forming more generous public spaces around the perimeter Weitzman Plaza takes its place in forming a more open and welcoming presence for the school and campus in its neighborhood.
Formerly a parking lot the size of a city block, Simon and Helen Director Park is now a vibrant urban piazza in downtown Portland. The park, built entirely atop an underground parking garage, has created a variety of public spaces within the site's compact footprint, with a range of microclimates, amenities and activities. A glass and wood trellis stands out as a signature element of the plaza, offering shaded seating and a café without disrupting views throughout the space. An interactive fountain element anchors the northwest corner of the site, partially bordered by an ipe wood bench, and on the southern edge, a small grove of trees frames a giant, whimsical chessboard. Amid this vibrant civic experience, the park also incorporates strategies for urban greening and stormwater management, including a green roof on the café, planting beds which filter and reserve runoff for irrigation, and even the trellis and paving, which are designed to direct rainfall into the park’s catchment system.
One of the most revered concert halls in the world, Carnegie Hall has been a cultural landmark in New York City for well over a century. In order to modernize its facilities and expand its public education program, the institution has renovated the two studio towers above the auditoriums. The renovation has created an opportunity for a rooftop garden and event space above the hall. Several hundred people can be accommodated in this vertically verdant landscape. The garden, along with stormwater systems that capture rainwater for irrigation and reflective pavement to minimize the heat island effect, will contribute to the goal of an LEED-certification for the building.
Washington Canal Park is a model of sustainability, a social gathering place, an economic trigger and one of the first parks certified under the Sustainable Sites Initiative. This three-block-long park is sited along the historic former Washington Canal system, on a three-acre site which had previously served as a parking lot for school buses. Inspired by the site’s waterfront heritage, OLIN’s design evokes the history of the space with a linear rain garden and three pavilions reminiscent of floating barges that were once common in the canal.
Canal Park’s linear rain garden functions as an integrated stormwater system. Water is captured, treated and reused, satisfying up to 95 percent of the park’s water needs. This equates to a savings of 1.5 million gallons of potable water annually. 28 geothermal wells provide a highly efficient energy supply for utilities, reducing Canal Park’s overall energy use by 37 percent. Other sustainable design elements include dark-sky lighting elements, high albedo paving and site elements that encourage sustainable practices, such as electric car charging stations, bicycle racks and recycling bins.
The Fairmount Water Works Park Amenities and Island Enhancements projects represent the final site initiatives in a comprehensive revitalization of the Schuylkill River’s edge. The project is comprised of three main elements: the Italian Fountain Plaza, the River’s Edge and the Island. Along with the restoration of the Italian Fountain itself, improvements to the paving, planting, and seating transformed the formerly isolated and non-functioning fountain in a parking circle into an accessible, vibrant place of comfort and respite. Improvements to the River’s Edge provided new universally accessible paths throughout the entire site, including—for the first time—access to the island. A stone retaining wall used as a grade-changing device also doubles as the backdrop for a gracious series of wooden benches, and a bio-swale collects water from adjacent areas and conveys it to an infiltration garden, which retains and cleanses site stormwater while providing opportunities to educate the public on the processes involved in water conservation. A simple pedestrian bridge provides access to the island, which, with an accessible boardwalk and gathering platforms, offers a unique view of the Schuylkill’s riparian ecologies, and helps reveal the diverse flora associated with the gentle changes in elevation and moisture content of the soil. Native plants create a diversified and stable plant community and increase habitat for the island’s plants and animals.
OLIN, along with KoningEizenberg Architecture, is creating the design of the West LA Courthouse and Civic Center. The 8-acre project site is currently home to municipal offices, the Felicia Mahood Multipurpose Senior Center, and a closed courthouse. The new design will bring vibrant neighborhood-serving retail, restored municipal uses, publicly accessible open space, and a wide range of housing options to the site.
A primary goal of the work at the West LA Courthouse and Civic Center is to bring equitable housing opportunities into the neighborhood along with retail and office spaces that will offer residents the full range of places to live, work, and play. In total, the development proposes 926 housing units, including 431 affordable and moderate-income units (including family, senior, and supportive units) and 495 market-rate apartments.
OLIN is leading the design of the 118,000 square feet of publicly accessible open space, including “The Plaza,” the site’s community core featuring the historic Bandstand and flexible use space.
The completed site will benefit from the extensive community engagement and feedback process the design team is coordinating.
