OLANA Summer House Exhibition

January 31 – April 22, 2017

The Center for Architecture, New York City

The Olana Partnership, in collaboration with the New York chapters of the American Institute of Architects (AIANY) and the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA-NY), presents Follies, Function & Form: Imagining Olana’s Summer House.  This design exhibition unites 21 visionary architects and landscape architects to address one of the great mysteries at Olana: the summer house.

In the 1886 “Plan of Olana,” a detailed blueprint of Frederic Church’s vision for his large-scale designed landscape, the plan’s details are largely accurate, yet it contains a structure labeled “Summer House” for which there is no documentary evidence.  The 21 designers have imagined Olana’s summer house and have each created one concept sketch of this structure and its environs, much in the way Frederic Church sketched to convey design and architectural ideas.  Each designer is free to explore and combine historic and contemporary design themes.

Featured Designers: Richard Alomar, ASLA (Rutgers University), 
Diana Balmori, FASLA (Balmori Associates), Mary Burnham, AIA (Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects), Randy Correll, AIA (Robert A.M. Stern Architects), 
Christopher Counts, ASLA (Counts Studio), Adriaan Geuze, (West 8 urban design and landscape architecture), Judith Heintz, ASLA (sassafras55), Steven Holl, FAIA (Steven Holl Architects), Joan Krevlin, FAIA (BKSK Architects), Tom Krizmanic, AIA (STUDIOS Architecture), David McAlpin, AIA (Fradkin & McAlpin Architects), Laurie Olin, FASLA (OLIN), Peter Pennoyer, FAIA (Peter Pennoyer Architects), Margie Ruddick, ASLA (Margie Ruddick Landscape), 
Hayes Slade, AIA (Slade Architecture), Allan Shope, AIA (Allan Shope Architect), Ken Smith, ASLA, (Ken Smith Workshop), Alison Spear, AIA (Alison Spear AIA), 
Dana Tang, AIA (Gluckman Tang), 
Michael Vergason, FASLA (Michael Vergason Landscape Architects),  Adam Yarinsky, FAIA (Architecture Research Office)

This exhibition is co-curated by Mark Prezorski (Landscape Curator, The Olana Partnership) and guest curator Jane Smith AIA (Spacesmith).

To read the New York Times article click here.

PARTICIPATING ARCHITECTS AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS (alphabetical order)

Richard Alomar
Richard Alomar is a landscape architect, assistant professor of landscape architecture at Rutgers University, co-founder of New York Urban Sketchers, and principal of the Urban Field Studio, a landscape architecture practice that explores the connections between research and implementation.  Alomar uses sketching as an exploratory tool to observe the environment, record impressions and develop ideas on space, place and design. His research focus is on the connections between sketching, walking and cognition of place. He holds a B.S. in agronomy from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and an M.L.A from Louisiana State University.

Diana Balmori
Diana Balmori founded Balmori Associates, a landscape and urban design practice, in 1990 and create BAL/LABs in 2006 to further push the boundaries of architecture, art and engineering. She is the author of A Landscape Manifesto (Yale University Press, 2010) and Drawing and Reinventing Landscape (A/D Wiley, 2014), among other books and publications, and has served on The United States Commission of Fine Arts and as a Senior Fellow of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC. Since 1993 she has been a Critic at Yale University in both the School of Architecture and the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Mary Burnham
Mary Burnham, AIA, a native New Yorker, is a founding partner of Murphy Burnham and Buttrick architects. Her work encompasses a rich diversity of cultural, educational and residential projects, and has won numerous design awards from the National, State and City chapters of the American Institute of Architects, among others.  Mary holds a Master of Architecture from Yale University and a B.A.  from the University of Pennsylvania where she studied the History of Architecture and Fine Arts. She is a board member of The Architectural League, and is the founding board chair of the Lighthouse Works, a not-for-profit artist residency program.

Randy Correll
Randy Correll, a partner at Robert A.M. Stern architects, has designed houses across North America. Throughout his career of more than 30 years, Randy has worked most frequently in East Hampton, New York. Here he has designed two additions to the East Hampton Library, conceived the historic Town Hall structure which repurposes six significant eighteenth century vernacular structures, and oversaw the restoration of Guild Hall and the John Drew Theater. Randy’s residential projects are frequently featured in Architectural Digest. He is co-author of the monograph Designs for Living: Houses by Robert A.M. Stern Architects (2014). He is a part time resident of Claverack, New York.

Christopher Counts
Christopher is a designer, artist, educator, and founder of Counts Studio, an award-winning landscape and urban design firm located in Brooklyn, New York. He has planned and designed landscapes throughout the world including parks, waterfronts, plazas, gardens, campuses, and rooftops. Christopher is a former Senior Associate at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, a Rome Prize winner, and a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award nominee. He has taught at the University of Virginia, the Pennsylvania State University, and been an invited speaker and critic at preeminent universities and professional conferences. Christopher earned his BLA from UGA and his MLA from Harvard University.

Adriaan Geuze
[Prof., Ir., RLA, OALA, ASLA Founding Partner, Design Director] Adriaan Geuze, cofounder and design director of West 8, has established an enormous reputation on an international level with his visionary approach to planning and design of the built environment. Under Adriaan’s leadership, West 8 has remained at the frontline of international urban design and landscape architecture for almost 30 years. With West 8, Adriaan Geuze has been honoured with the success of winning a number of high profile international design competitions such as Governors Island in New York, Toronto’s New Central Waterfront in Canada and Madrid RIO in Spain, which was awarded the Veronica Rudge Green Prize for Urban Design from Harvard Design School in 2015.

Judith Heintz
Prior to starting her own practice in 1985, Judith worked for the Central Park Conservancy, where she developed the master plan for the Park (published by MIT Press in 1987 as Rebuilding Central Park: A Management and Restoration Plan).  Her work in Central Park and the study of this singular landscape has influenced her site-specific approach to all of her subsequent work, from urban plazas to city parks to parking lots. Most recently, she has been working in collaboration with architects on such projects as the East River Blueway and the Queens Borough Hall Parking Field. Judith studied landscape architecture at Ohio State and Harvard Universities, and architecture at Columbia University.

Steven Holl
Steven Holl Architects is a forty-five person innovative architecture and urban design studio with offices in New York and Beijing. The firm, founded in 1976 by Steven Holl, has realized cultural, civic, academic and residential projects both nationally and overseas. Steven Holl has been recognized with architecture’s most prestigious awards and prizes. In 2014, Steven Holl received the Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award for Architecture, the 2012 AIA Gold Medal, the RIBA 2010 Jencks Award, and the first ever Arts Award of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards (2009).

Joan Krevlin
Joan Krevlin FAIA holds a Master of Architecture from Washington University in St Louis, and has been a partner at BKSK Architects since 1992.  Guided by the philosophy that successful buildings both support an organization’s identity today and adapt to the environmental and societal needs of tomorrow, Joan has worked with a diverse cross section of New York’s civic and cultural institutions. Joan and her husband Harry Kendall (also a partner at BKSK Architects) have owned a house in the Hudson Valley for almost 30 years and share a deep love for its landscape and strong sense of place.

Tom Krizmanic
Tom Krizmanic, AIA is a Principal with STUDIOS Architecture. He began as an intern in the Washington, D.C. office after graduating with honors from The Catholic University of America. His work focuses on complex building renovations and workplace projects including 200 5th Avenue, Bloomberg, and Dow Jones. Tom’s approach explores the relationships between place, program, and people, frequently embedding technology to foster unique experiences. Current projects include a renovation of the New York Stock Exchange and the SoHo headquarters of Scholastic. He serves as President of the NYC Center for Architecture and is on the boards of Publicolor and Manitoga.

David McAlpin
David McAlpin, AIA is a principal of Fradkin & McAlpin Architects, based in New York City. David’s passion for design, education, and nature underpin his professional practice. He specializes in adaptive reuse, breathing new life into existing structures, interiors, and sites. Clients included cultural, religious, and educational institutions, professional and commercial organizations, luxury retail brands, as well as private individuals. For years David has led Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center, Olana’s mid-20^th century “cousin” downriver in Garrison, NY. He has a deep regard for Frederic Church’s 19^th century vision and is pleased to participate in the discussion of Olana’s place in the 21^st century.

Laurie Olin
Laurie Olin is a practicing landscape architect whose many award-winning projects include Bryant Park in New York, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, and the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Since 1974 he has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. His writing includes Across the Open Field, Essays Drawn on the English Landscape; La Foce: a Garden and Landscape in Tuscany; and Vizcaya, An American Villa and its Makers. A Guggenheim and Rome Prize Fellow, he was awarded the National Medal in the Arts presented by President Obama at the White House in 2014.

Peter Pennoyer
Peter Pennoyer, FAIA, whose eponymous Manhattan-based architecture firm has earned a place in Architectural Digest’s AD 100 list, is working on houses and residential developments from Hong Kong to Dallas, Texas to Newport, Rhode Island. A House in the Country, a book on the house and gardens he and his wife, interior designer Katie Ridder, created in Millbrook, NY will be published in September 2016 by the Vendome Press. Anton Glikin, Associate Design Director at Peter Pennoyer Architects earned his doctorate at the University of St. Petersburg and is a winner of the Arthur Ross Award for excellence in the classical tradition in 2003.

Margie Ruddick
Internationally acclaimed landscape designer Margie Ruddick has been recognized for her pioneering work in the landscape – work that exists at the crossroads of ecology, urban planning, architecture, horticulture, forging a design language that integrates nature and culture.  Winner of the 2013 Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Award in landscape architecture, Ruddick has designed numerous high-profile projects including NYC’s Queens Plaza, India’s Shillim Retreat & Institute and the pioneering Living Water Park in Chengdu, China.  Her new book, Wild by Design, from Island Press, illustrates how ecological richness and a strong formal agenda can be seamlessly integrated in landscape design.

Hayes Slade
Hayes Slade is adjunct lecturer at Parsons School of Design, co-chair of the AIA NY Interiors Committee and Principal at Slade Architecture (the firm she and her Partner, James Slade, founded together).  She was included in the Architecture League’s Emerging Voices program in 2010.  Her work has been exhibited nationally, internationally and recognized with awards including NYC Design Commission Design Excellence award, AIA Design Awards, Interior Design Magazine Best of Year awards, London International Creative Competition Awards and over 250 publications in magazines and books.  Hayes co-authored Laying the Groundwork: Design Guidelines, published in February 2016. She is a proud mother of four.

Allan Shope
Allan Shope grew up in Connecticut and graduated from RISD’s architectural school in 1978. He founded Shope Reno Wharton Associates and worked there for 25 years, designing houses, museums, schools, and nature centers. In 2006 he started a new small practice dedicated to sustainable architecture. Shope focuses on creating buildings that reduce their energy requirements through innovative design and technology advancements. His designs are informed by his appreciation for nature, craft, and the vernacular expression of place through the use of local building materials. When not designing buildings, Shope is a woodworker and falconer.  His home lies within the Olana viewshed.

Ken Smith
Ken Smith is one of the best-known of a generation of landscape architects equally at home in the worlds of art, architecture, and urbanism. Trained in both design and the fine arts, he explores the relationship between art, contemporary culture, and landscape. He is committed to creating landscapes, especially parks and other public spaces, as a way of improving the quality of urban life. His work pushes beyond traditional typologies to create landscapes that draw on diverse cultural traditions and influences of contemporary culture. His practice, Ken Smith Workshop is based in New York City.

Alison Spear
Alison Spear, AIA, LEED AP, IIDA, has had offices both in Miami and New York City, and the Hudson River Valley where she lives with her family. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University. Ms Spear is a licensed architect in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida and is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the New York Architectural League, & the National Council of Registration Boards. Alison Spear, AIA received two American Institute of Architects Awards of Excellence and was selected as Interior Design Firm of the year.

Dana Tang
Dana Tang is a partner at Gluckman Tang Architects, where she provides design and leadership on a diverse collection of projects. The firm’s deep connection to the art world, Dana’s personal interest in the environment, and her background in Chinese culture studies, all inform her design sensibility. Dana has a Master of Architecture from Yale and a Master of Arts in Regional Studies from Harvard. Dana is a LEED Accredited professional.

Michael Vergason
Michael founded Michael Vergason Landscape Architects, Ltd. in 1987 and maintains a small firm in order to retain personal involvement in projects. His sketch work is an essential component of his design process, defining and enlivening the MVLA studio. He is responsible for numerous projects that show a particular sensitivity to site and context, careful consideration of historic significance, and a distinctly contemporary vision. Michael has lectured at numerous institutions including the University of Virginia, Harvard University, University of Maryland, and Dumbarton Oaks. He is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Adam Yarinsky
Adam Yarinsky, FAIA, LEED AP is principal, with Stephen Cassell and Kim Yao, of Architecture Research Office (ARO; www.aro.net), a 20-person firm based in New York City. ARO’s work, spanning product design, interiors, architecture, urban design and strategic planning, has been widely recognized for design excellence, including the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt 2011 National Design Award. Princeton University, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Scenic Hudson, Judd Foundation and Knoll are among the firm’s diverse clients.  Adam holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. He has taught at multiple universities, lectured widely and written extensively about ARO’s work.

This exhibition is generously funded by: Ed Herrington, Inc. and Spacesmith with additional support from Rapp Construction Management, Robin Key Landscape Architecture, Day & Holt Custom Framing at Swamp Angel Antiques, Margaret Davidson, Lawrence and Susan Maisel, Sheila and Ru Rauch, and Rick Sharp.