Terrain Work is excited to share that we are working with Garvan Woodland Gardens and the University of Arkansas to create a new entry sequence and arrival garden for the acclaimed botanical garden. Garvan Woodland Gardens is a 210 acre botanical garden set on shores of Lake Hamilton located in historic Hot Springs, Arkansas. The garden was originally gifted to the University of Arkansas in 1985 by Verna C. Garvan to highlight the unique flora found in the Ouachita Mountains while serving as a place of learning and cultural enhancement. More to come on this special project!
"Gravity Field" Opens at Jardins de Metis in Quebec, Canada
“Gravity Field” has opened at the Jardins de Metis Garden Festival! Terrain Work’s artwork was one of the international winning entries selected for the 2022 Jardins de Metis Garden Festival entitled “Adaptation.” It is the biggest contemporary garden festival in North America with over 60,000 visitors each year. You can visit “Gravity Field” from June 24th to October 2nd at Jardins de Metis located north of Quebec City, Canada.
“Gravity Field” demonstrates the robust adaptability of plants in even the most extreme conditions. A floating cloud of 171 sunflowers transform during the course of the installation. The sunflowers are initially grown upside-down, but curve up toward the sun defying gravity. Visitors are encouraged to visit the installation numerous times throughout the festival to experience how adaptable plants are to their circumstances: phototropically, gravitropically, and heliotropically. Gravity Field is a delightfully immersive artwork and real-time experiment that highlights the powerful resilience of nature. While the future is uncertain, Gravity Field sees optimism in the ability of plants, and all organisms, to adapt and thrive. For more about Gravity Field visit here.
Terrain Work Wins Public Art Commission in San Francisco
Terrain Work is delighted to announce that our public art installation, POP Rocks ,has been selected as a permanent art installation in the Mission Bay district of San Francisco. The Mission Rock development is a joint venture between the San Francisco Giants and Tishman Speyer. The competition for Mission Rock Street Rooms provided an opportunity to shape the identity and experience of San Francisco’s historic waterfront.
“Erupting from the sidewalk, POP Rocks, creates a dynamic sandstone sculpture that invites people to interact with it. The sandstone highlights the unique geological rock formations found in the San Francisco Bay Area while integrating splashes of orange and yellow reminiscent of the native California poppy wildflowers. While developing our artwork, POP Rocks, it was important for our ideas to be embedded in the enduring history of the San Francisco Bay Area landscape while creating a place where the whole community could delight in the unexpected.” - Theodore Hoerr, Founding Principal Terrain Work. To learn more abut POP Rocks click 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 Winner of Jardins Metis International Garden Festival!
Terrain Work’s art installation “Gravity Field” was selected as one of the winners of the Jardins Metis International Garden Festival. It is the largest contemporary garden festival in North America.
Gravity Field represents in real time how adaptive plants are to their environment even when presented seemingly impossible growing conditions. The installation illustrates principles of gravitropism, phototropism, and heliotropism through the course of the festival. The sunflowers are installed as small plants upside down and they will grow and curve towards the sun adapting to their new environment over the course of the festival. While the future is uncertain, Gravity Field sees optimism in the ability of plants, and all organisms, to adapt and thrive.
Hope to see you in Quebec City beginning in June! For more information on Gravity Field click here.
InterPlay Park by Terrain Work Featured in Landscape Architecture Magazine
InterPlay Park is featured in the February issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine in print and online. Check out Editor Jennifer Ruet’s article on Terrain Work’s project here.
Happy 2022 From Terrain Work!
From all of us at Terrain Work we wish you a happy and healthy New Year in 2022! We look forward to what the new year brings with all of our friends, collaborators, and clients.
Al Fresco Botanical Garden Unveiled
Terrain Work recently unveiled the design for Al Fresco Botanical Garden on the west bank of the Illinois River in Central Illinois. Al Fresco Botanical Garden highlights the flora and fauna found in the riparian riverfront ecology while embracing the site's cultural history as a destination amusement park in the early 1900s. The Botanical Garden also creates a dynamic and infinitely changing series of experiences for visitors based on the rise and fall of the water level of the Illinois River. Taken together, Al Fresco offers an experience of “Ecological Amusement” weaving together the rich natural and cultural history found on the site while showcasing plants from one of the most ecologically productive and diverse habitats found in North America. Learn more about Al Fresco by clicking here.
Theodore Hoerr Lecturing at University of Illinois
Theodore Hoerr, Founding Principal of Terrain Work, will be giving the Stanly White Lecture at the University of Illinois tonight at 5:30 CST. Join us in person or in zoom to see Theodore present “Liminal Terrain” that features the work of Terrain Work. Click here to attend via Zoom: Lecture: Theodore Hoerr (Terrain Work), “Liminal Terrain” Thursday, Oct. 28, 5:30pm-6:30pm Central Time (GMT -05:00)
Theodore Hoerr Made Garvan Distinguished Visiting Professor at Fay Jones School
Theodore Hoerr, Founding Principal of Terrain Work, was recently made the 2021 Verna C. Garvan Distinguished Visiting Professor in Landscape Architecture for the Fay Jones School at the University of Arkansas for the Fall Term. Theodore will be teaching an advanced studio that examines new ideas for the University of Arkansas Garvan Botanical Gardens and delivering a public lecture on October 8th at the Fay Jones School. Theodore is delighted to be working with the students, faculty, and staff of Garvan Gardens on this world class botanical garden located in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Terrain Work Creating New Civic Spaces at Capitol Crossing in Washington D.C.
Terrain Work is excited to reveal the landscape design for Capitol Crossing Center Block in Washington D.C. The landscapes of the Capitol Crossing Center Block each express the unique qualities of the geological transect found in the region beginning with Appalachian Plateau, cutting through the Blue Ridge and Piedmont regions, and ending at the Coastal Plains that surround Washington D.C. These outdoor spaces create a new civic realm in a mixed-use development above Interstate 395 with retail, a residential tower, and boutique hotel designed by Ennead Architects. For more about this project click here.
PLAY IN PEORIA! DESIGN FOR INTERPLAY PARK REVEALED
Terrain Work recently revealed the design for InterPlay Park in Peoria, Illinois. InterPlay Park creates a new intergenerational park for the people of Peoria that reconnects communities that have been historically divided by the construction of the I-74 Interstate corridor. The park hosts an array of play activities that support the surrounding districts and neighborhoods while encouraging new interactions between varying age groups and communities. InterPlay Park gives Peoria a new civic ground in the heart of the city that captures the imagination and enhances the physical, cognitive, and social experience. Stay tuned for more on this transformational project from KDB Group and Terrain Work! To learn more about InterPlay Park click here!
Manhattanville Factory District Featured in Architectural Digest
The Manhattanville Factory District projects by Terrain Work were recently featured in Architectural Digest. These new landscapes reveal the rich and varied geological history of West Harlem through the use of stone and topography. The landscapes also connect various development sites in the district through three new inter-block links between 125th street and 128th. Taken together these three landscapes will provide vital new publicly accessible open space in the Manhattanville Factory District and offer array of new programmatic activities for residents of West Harlem. Terrain Work is collaborating with Janus Property, Leven Betts, and Gluck+ for this new plan that will transform the district giving residences the framework to forge new connections and experiences of their own.
Happy 2021 from Terrain Work!
From all of us at Terrain Work we wish you a happy and healthy New Year in 2021! We would like to thank you - our clients, collaborators, and friends - for making the best of 2020 during challenging circumstances. We are excited to see what 2021 brings!
Theodore Hoerr Featured in Press Release by KDB Group
Theodore Hoerr, Founding Principal of Terrain Work, was recently featured in a press release by KDB Group. The article explores Theodore’s upbringing in Central Illinois to his recent work with Terrain Work including several projects in collaboration with KDB founder and chairman, Kim Blickenstaff, the central Illinois-born, California-based entrepreneur and philanthropist whose purchases of multiple iconic properties in Central Illinois has created a buzz within the community. Click here to read the article.
Santa Monica Mixed-Use Project Kicks Off
Terrain Work is delighted to announce that we have been selected to design the landscape for a new mixed-use development in Santa Monica, California. The project presents an opportunity to work in a deeply historic Southern California community that has been on the cutting edge of arts and culture. Stay tuned for more developments of this project in collaboration with WS Communities and Studio T-Square!
Terrain Work Selected to Design Al Fresco Park on the Illinois Riverfront
Terrain Work is excited to announce we have been commissioned to design the historically significant Al Fresco Park on the Illinois Riverfront in Central Illinois. The eight acre site was once part of an ecologically rich riparian corridor along the Illinois Riverfront, originally frequented as hunting and fishing grounds by Native Americans and French trappers that established the first European settlement of Peoria, IL. It became a regionally prominent amusement park from 1905 to 1944 that was connected by a trolley to downtown Peoria and various communities along the Illinois River via steam ships. Terrain Work, in collaboration with KDB Group, is re-imagining the park to be at the intersection of ecology and culture creating a new civic experience for the community. Look for more developments to come on this special project soon!
Terrain Work Creating "The Black Box" in Fremont, California
Terrain Work is creating a new landscape, The Black Box, for Warm Springs in Fremont, California, that will be a burgeoning new environment for the district. The project, in collaboration with Studio T-Square and Valley Oak Partners, is located adjacent to a new Bart Station and a recently constructed Tesla factory. Warm Springs is part of a larger transit-oriented development plan that provides residents and technology employees a new publicly accessible civic landscape. The landscape is centered around a large sunken plaza, The Black Box, which serves as a gathering space for the surrounding community and new tenant for the site. The design uses landscape with an array of biotic and aboitic materials to stimulate novel thinking through engaging all of the senses. To learn more about our Warm Springs Black Box Landscape click here.
Happy 2020 from Terrain Work!
All of us at Terrain Work wish you the best in 2020! Special thanks to our clients, collaborators, and friends for making 2019 a special year for our office. We had the opportunity to create some lasting memories including our Malt House landscape in the Manhattanville Factory District with Janus Property Group pictured above. We are excited to see what the new year brings!
Terrain Work Creates "New Doo" for Austin Salon
Terrain Work is working with Wang Architects in Austin, Texas on the design of an Austin Salon that was formerly the site of a gas station. Terrain Work’s landscape is at once a sign and a landscape intervention that can be “styled” and sculpted throughout the seasons and over the years. To learn more about our Austin Salon click here.