Happy 2025 From Terrain Work!

From all of us at Terrain Work we wish you a Happy New Year in 2025!  We look forward to what the new year brings with all of our friends, collaborators, and clients.

The Malt House Landscape: A Community Space in the Making

This summer, our Malt House landscape hosted its first two events, marking the beginning of becoming a vibrant neighborhood public space. Though still under development, the community has already started to enjoy and benefit from this new landscape in West Harlem.

On June 25th, the Architectural League of New York celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of Urban Omnibus, the League’s publication dedicated to observing, understanding, and shaping the city. Terrain Work’s publicly accessible landscapes in West Harlem were featured along with new architectural additions to the neighborhood by Gluck+ and Levin Betts Architects. The event included a tour of the Manhattanville Factory District projects by Janus Properties, concluding with a reception at the newly inaugurated Malt House Courtyard.

The West Harlem Innovation Network also hosted a networking event for industry professionals on July 30th at the Malt House Courtyard. This gathering provided an opportunity for professionals, students, and researchers to connect and build community in West Harlem.

The design for the Malt House landscape, originally part of one of Manhattan’s largest breweries during the late 1800’s, embodies the chemical reactions found in the brewing process by taking individual elements and combining them into something greater than their constituent parts. Salvaged pieces of the old brewery complex such as steel beams, cobblestones, and the remnants of the brewery foundations are reconfigured to become a landscape that reflects the past, while looking forward to a whole new array of activities for the community in the future. It provides a venue for events such as public art displays, musical performance, dancing, outdoor movies, open air markets, community gatherings and a shady spot to gather with friends.

Another more recent phase of the Malt House landscape has taken an existing asphalt parking lot slated for future development and transformed it into West Harlem Going Wild. With a limited budget, this space was creatively transformed using discarded construction materials and spontaneously occurring plants, turning an underutilized lot into a productive landscape for people and wildlife. The events underscored the courtyard's potential as more than just a green space—it serves as a model for future urban development in marginalized urban spaces. As cities worldwide face the challenges of climate change, grass roots projects like West Harlem Going Wild offer a beacon of hope and practicality, fostering resilient and livable urban environments.

West Harlem Going Wild

West Harlem Going Wild transforms a vacant asphalt lot on 128th Street in Manhattan into a planted respite. The design addresses issues that urban environments face in the wake of climate change, such as: reducing the heat island effect, improving air quality, breaking up the urban soil profile to allow for water percolation into the ground, and upcycling materials onsite to reduce waste and emissions associated with the construction industry. Working with limited resources on a shoestring budget, the design utilizes discarded construction materials and plant species that spontaneously occur in the urban environment that have historically been considered “weeds” to form a grass roots solution to these global problems. As a prototype for future urban landscapes, the site will be continuously monitored for species performance and longevity over time.

As we grapple with the deepening climate crisis that threatens humanity, novel and incremental solutions to combat this complex problem are desperately needed. It requires both broad level policy changes from governments as well as grass roots movements from individuals to address the myriad causes of climate change. In this spirit, West Harlem Going Wild was born. West Harlem Going Wild is a model of how underutilized and marginal urban spaces can be adapted to become productive and thriving landscapes with a limited budget. Learn more about West Harlem Going Wild by clicking here.

Taystee Ribbon Cut with Governor Kathy Hochul

Terrain Work was delighted to be part of the ribbon cutting ceremonies for Taystee in West Harlem recently. Governor Kathy Hochul and Lt. Governor Brian Behjamin led the festivities along with Janus Property partners Scott Metzner and Jerry Salama. "The completion of the Taystee Lab Building is a milestone in the next chapter of Harlem's rich history," Governor Hochul said. "Anchoring the Manhattanville Factory District, the new state-of-the-art building will serve as the home for innovative companies developing the next generation of life science research and technology. As we continue to build back from the pandemic, today's investments that support our life science infrastructure will ensure that we are better prepared, better equipped and more resilient in the future."

Terrain Work is honored be part of this transformative project in West Harlem’s Manhattanville Factory District with Janus Property and LevenBetts Architects. For more on the Taystee landscape click here.

Terrain Work Wins Public Art Commission To Be Featured on Broadway!

Terrain Work is excited to announce that we have won a public art commission through the City of New York and DOT!  On Saturday, April 21st from 9am to 3pm, "Broadway Bouquet" will be displayed on Broadway in the Flatiron district of New York as part of the Earth Day celebration.  The  artwork will be a featured piece in the NYC Car Free Earth Day festivities when Broadway is shut down to automobiles for the day.

"Broadway Bouquet" takes one of the most familiar and portable landscapes found on countless street corners in Manhattan and turns it into a larger than life experience, which is quintessentially New York.  The artwork captures the scale-bending qualities of the city while giving people a glimpse of how plants and urban ecology in new civic spaces can spark the imagination.  Learn more about 'Broadway Bouquet' here.

Vote For Terrain Work's Park Avenue Proposal: Text F005 to 502-219-3839

Terrain Work's design proposal "The New York Plant Circus" to re-imagine the future of Park Avenue in New York has been selected as a finalist for the Beyond the Centerline international design competition.  To vote for our design text: F005 to 502-219-3839 (one vote per phone number allowed).   Voting closes at 5 PM EST on Friday, March 9th.  You can learn more about the competition by visiting Beyond the Centerline.  To see our complete proposal for The New York Plant Circus click here. 

Hudson Commons Begins Construction!

Terrain Work is excited to announce that our project Hudson Commons at 441 9th Avenue in New York City has begun construction!  The project, in collaboration with COVE Property Group and KPF Architects, consists of 40,000 square feet of landscape that climbs up a commercial office tower.  Hudson Commons offers premier office space in the heart of Manhattan providing an innovative approach to work-space environments that encourages indoor to outdoor interactivity with a landscape that is designed for both work and relaxation.   To learn more about Hudson Commons click here or visit www.terrainwork.com.

Terrain Work Designing the Landscape for 441 9th Avenue in Manhattan

Terrain Work is collaborating with COVE Property Group and KPF on a new project at 441 9th Avenue in Manhattan.  The plan is to reposition 441 Ninth Avenue as a “new” Class-A office development targeted to meet the needs of various tenants including TAMI (Technology, Advertising, Media and Information), fashion, financial and legal tenants.  We are thrilled to work with a world class team of design and development experts in the heart of Manhattan.  Stay tuned for more to come on this project at www.terrainwork.com

Terrain Work is Hiring!

Terrain Work is looking for a creative and enthusiastic Landscape Architect or Designer with 1-4 years of working experience.  Individuals with strong design and graphic representation abilities who are able to take drawings through construction are preferred.  Candidates must be proficient in Rhino, AutoCAD, and the Adobe Suite to be considered for this position.  Ability to sketch and/or build models with an interest in hybrid graphic practices is desirable.  If you are interested in working in a small atelier practice where you will have the potential to grow with the company, please email your resume and work samples to thoerr@terrainwork.com.  Please no phone calls.  

Terrain Work is a New York City based design firm founded by Theodore Hoerr whose work explores how the emergent qualities of nature and culture create new forms and experiences in the built environment. They approach each project with a curiosity and collaborative spirit born out of the belief that landscapes should perform as both cultural provocateur and ecological system.  

242 West 53rd Street Featured in Field Condition

242 West 53rd Street is now being featured in the blog Field Condition.    Situated in the heart of Manhattan and intertwined in a sixty story residential tower designed by Cetra Ruddy Architects and constructed by Pavarini McGovern, the landscape for West 53rd Street is embedded into the building at various levels offering a wide array of landcapes for vertical urban living.  To learn more about this project that Theodore Hoerr led while a Principal at Balmori Associates click here.

242 West 53rd Street Making Ground

242 West 53rd was recently in the news as construction gains momentum.  Situated in the heart of Manhattan and intertwined in a sixty story residential tower designed by Cetra Ruddy Architects, the landscape for West 53rd Street is embedded into the building at various levels, offering a wide array of spaces for outdoor dining, swimming, performance, sunbathing, and relaxation.  Of particular importance, is a 3,000-square-foot blueroof that is both a performance art piece and intricate water managment infrastructure that slowly releases water back into the storm sewer system over a twenty four hour period.  To learn more about this project that Theodore Hoerr led while a Principal at Balmori Associates click here.

SoHo Tower in the News

SoHo Tower was recently in the news after architect Renzo Piano Building Workshop unveiled the design scheme for this residential development in Manhattan.  Theodore Hoerr led the landscape architectural design for this project while a Principal at Balmori Associates.  Find out more about SoHo Tower landscape at terrainwork.com.

School's in Session

Beginning today Theodore Hoerr will be teaching two courses in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design during the Spring term: Site, Ecology, and Design with Emily Vogler and Plants and Design with Adam Anderson.  Follow his updates on instagram and twitter during the semester.

Terrain Work Launches Website!

Terrain Work, a NYC based Landscape Architecture and Urban Design office founded by Theodore Hoerr, has officially launched its website today.  Come see our work at www.terrainwork.com