Parks

This week’s readings on the scale of parks and cemeteries exemplified what composition in a landscape can accomplish on the park and cemetery scale. Frederick Law Olmstead was a pioneer in building large parks in urban environments. His inspiration drew from art and the natural environment. He saw these two things as different and always sought to create a harmonious relationship between the two.

His parks gained inspiration and were birthed, according to Olmstead, from hunting grounds. Here, he found beasts most happy and recognized that people were happy to get away from the urban landscapes and enjoy the bucolic, vast expanses. These hunting grounds were interesting because they themselves evolved further. Soon people began to simply visit these places without the hunt. These places were used for garden parties and relaxation.

Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY

http://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/olmsted-parks

Olmstead was smart to describe this process in his proposal for the Brooklyn Park because he basically justified why his plans made sense. Furthermore, it helped justify his recommendations to sell smaller properties in the vicinity and buy others. This of course was carried by Olmstead’s clout.

Olmstead carefully planned the modes of movement that were to be taking place in the park such as carriage rides, play areas, walking areas, relaxation, etc. Olmstead also uses topographic conditions to distinguish the city and the park. He looks for specific conditions to exaggerate. Several streets run from the urban area to the park. I feel he wanted his visitors to experience the border of the urban and park landscape. He exaggerated natural topography like the mound in the middle of the park to direct attention and provide views for visitors. This was done to add to the visual experience, but also make the park feel larger. Olmstead is very influential still today and I greatly enjoyed reading his proposal for the park.

David Leatherbarrow is a professor of architecture at UPenn. I found his article interesting because he writes about modernism in Latin America. His idea in the piece is that designers in Latin America don’t use post-modernism techniques because the symbols remind people of colonial times. He explains that the modern movement in Latin America is an “unfinished project.” Many architects explained what they meant in their work by referring to ancient precedents. Loos said that he was a modern architect who built in the manner of the ancients. I found this quote very interesting in that modern architects were giving kudos to ancient structures and recognized their magnificence. I think the intent was to not only pay respect to the ancients, but toot their own horns by explaining that they designed with the utmost attention to detail and for purpose. I like this notion and hope that I can incorporate such detail and thought into my work one day. 

Orquideorama, Medellin, Colombia

http://inhabitat.com/waxing-architectural-on-columbias-orquideorama/