Third Nature Studio / blog » Inspirational Places

Saivu: Gateway for Norwegian National Park

randi — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:58:31 +0000

I am prone to think of the Norwegian landscape as a place rich in folklore and fairy tales. As a child, I associated much of what I saw and experienced in Norwegian forests with my favorite books, and most of my memories and familiarity with Norway are those of a child visiting her grandparents. Mossy, lichen covered rocks, clearings full of wild blue berries, long cross country ski trips to frozen lakes make all of that magic just feel right.

Eriksen Skajaa Architects, PUSHAK Architects and Bjørbekk & Lindheim Landscape Architects recently won a competition to design a Gateway for Sjunkhatten National Park near Bodø, Norway. The project, titled Saivu, draws its formal vocabulary from the Sami language, nomadic building, and the romance of folklore and fairytale.

It has been difficult for me to reconcile the idyllic Norway in my head with the reality of a complex, contemporary society, and the surreality of recent events. This project is a thoughtful celebration of the Norwegian landscape, and I smile when I think about the wonder and delight a project like this can inspire.

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2011 ASLA Design Awards Announced

randi — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 23:38:42 +0000

The American Society of Landscape Architects announced its 2011 Award winners this week. I was thrilled to see the UC Berkeley program well represented in the student awards category. Several honors were given to students I was and am lucky enough to have working with me in my studios as Graduate Student Instructors. Congratulations to Darryl, Cat, Rob & all of your collaborators.

As always, I poured over the residential projects looking for something noteworthy. I love this little garden from the Carnegie Hill House in New York designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz. The placement of the ginkgo row at the entry of the garden rather than the perimeter creates a beautiful screen and threshold to what looks like an incredibly rich landscape. Nicely done.

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Brody House La Gerbe Courtyard

randi — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:19:22 +0000

I love this photo from the old Brody House in LA. The interplay of the Matisse mural and the dappled light of the tree is absolutely amazing to me. LACMA’s got the mural now, but I am going to imagine that it’s 1954 and I’m having a cocktail riiight here.

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Greenland goes BIG

greg — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 06:55:09 +0000

An appropriately otherworldly design by BIG for Greenland’s new National Gallery was recently unveiled, the winner chosen from six invited architects. The concept is a response to the rugged and somewhat exotic conditions of Greenland itself, one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Greenland has about 60,000 permanent residents, spread out in isolated communities on the southern tip. The largest city, Nuuk, where the museum will be located, has no roads connecting it to the few other small cities, since enormous fjords traverse most of the country’s geography.

I work at a cultural institution here in San Francisco, and let’s just say I don’t envy whoever is responsible for driving ticket sales at Nuuk’s latest architectural gem. Practicalities aside, the geometric purity of the design and how it’s assimilated into the site’s topography make for an eye-popping set of renderings.

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Liebermann Tree House in Marin

randi — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 17:57:52 +0000

This is the California that lived in my imagination before I moved here. A Radial (and radical), tree house complex tucked away in the redwoods, built by a serious architect but feeling like a daydream. Daniel J. Liebermann designed and built the house in 1958 for his family. The New York Times recently featured the house in their On Location section, describing the recent purchase and remodel of this amazing place, where the new owners had the magnificent luck of working with the original architect on their renovations. Now they just need some of my help with that slope and patio!

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Manka’s Inverness Lodge

randi — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:39:50 +0000

I just returned from a beautiful wedding reception at Manka’s Inverness Lodge on Tomales Bay. The reception was at the Boat House, a beautiful, weathered building on the water with a long pier and amazing views of the bay and surrounding hills. I’m a big fan of Manka’s, having had our own wedding dinner in the old lodge before it burned down. I was really impressed with the simple plantings and furnishings on the boat house deck: Mexican Feathergrass, Juncus and Miscanthus were a lovely counterpoint to the grey weathered wood and chartreuse lichen that covered the exterior walls.

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Smithsonian’s Archive of American Gardens

randi — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:07:30 +0000

The Smithsonian Institution has recently uploaded a set of glass lantern slides from the 1920’s and 1930’s of American Gardens to its Flickr photostream. The photos are primarily of estates in their heyday and feature works by Gertrude Jekyll, Jens Jensen and Fletcher Steele. For more information about the Archives of American Gardens, visit the Smithsonian’s Gardens and Horticulture Services website. I like to imagine myself sipping a cold drink in one of these oases…

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Landscape Image Library now on Flickr

randi — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:56:58 +0000

Third Nature Studio has finally joined Flickr and uploaded project photos, plans, renderings and inspirational garden imagery. Come visit us at www.flickr.com/photos/thirdnature and browse to your heart’s content!

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Diego Rivera in San Francisco

randi — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:25:09 +0000

I recently discovered the Diego Rivera Pan American Unity mural at the Ocean campus of City College of San Francisco. I live and work in the Mission, a neighborhood filled with mural art, but seeing work by Rivera reminded me that his work is something else altogether. Despite my own passion for politics, I usually gravitate towards the apolitical in art. After all, once things get too political don’t they turn from art into propaganda? But Rivera is an exception. Amazing composition, energy and color.

Little did I know, but he has four mural projects in the Bay Area: Pan American Unity at City College, The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City at the San Francisco Art Institute, The Allegory of California at the City Club of San Francisco, and Still Life and Blossoming Almond Trees at Stern Hall on the UC Berkeley Campus.

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ASLA 2010 Award Winners

randi — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:28:02 +0000

The American Society of Landscape Architects has announced its 2010 Award winners. I tend to gravitate towards the residential projects…

I loved the clever geometry of Scott Lewis’ Parkside Garden and the tiny green pavilion tucked away in the back corner of the garden. Green walls can really be overdone and done poorly, yet that little pavilion looks as though it sprouted, beautifully proportioned, from the garden (as opposed to having a tray of succulents hastily nailed to it).

Rumsey Farber’s North Sea Residence also impressed me. It’s a distinctly modern residence, yet it looks completely in harmony with the surrounding wetland landscape. Nice to see such softness and warmth come out of such crisp clean lines.

Congratulations to all the winners!

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