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April 3 - May 24, 2006
Between Form and Circumstance: Re-Thinking the Contemporary Landscape
The recent practice of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates
The contemporary practice of landscape architecture is increasingly complex, with sites that exhibit a broad spectrum of challenges, including soil toxicity, the often conflicting needs of multiple constituencies, isolation from the larger context within which they exist, and low biodiversity, to name a few. This has required a shift in design methodology away from the purely artistic and toward research-oriented practices.
This exhibition of five of MVVA’s most recent projects traces the increasing complexity of the practice, as it moves from small gardens to post-industrial sites, from private clients to the public realm, and from comparatively simple programs to a web of environmental regulations, public processes, and technical challenges, all of which require extensive research, synthesis, and coordination. As the title suggests, however, Van Valkenburgh resists surrendering design to the purely pragmatic, and strategically turns site limitations and regulations into a poetics of the contemporary urban condition.
-Anita Berrizbeitia