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.

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)

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.

Terrain Work Building Connections in West Harlem

Theodore Hoerr, Principal of Terrain Work, was recently part of a special panel event as part of AIA New York's Architecture and Design Month. Theodore presented three Terrain Work projects - Taystee, Malt House, and the 126th Connector - for the panel "Manhattanville Factory District—Building Connections in West Harlem." The event and panel discussion focused on the design and community interaction that has engendered the transformation of the Manhattanville Factory District. This master-planned district of more than one million square feet in West Harlem is being developed by Janus Property Company from underutilized industrial buildings and vacant land from West 125th to West 128th Streets. The District creates a collaborative corridor anchored by Columbia University, Columbia Medical Center, City College, and the New York Structural Biology Center, and brings much needed publicly accessible open space to this re-imagined industrial neighborhood.

Moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic Paul Goldberger, the event featured speakers Elsia Vasquez, Founder and Executive Director of P.A.’L.A.N.T.E. Harlem; Larry English, Chairman of AirRail and former Community Board 9 Chair; Patrice Derrington, Director of the Center for Urban Real Estate and Director of the M.S. in Real Estate Development Program at Columbia University; Scott Metzner and Jerry Salama, Principals of Janus; Stella Betts and David Leven, Principals of LevenBetts, the architecture firm for MFD’s Taystee Lab Building; Thomas Gluck, Principal of GLUCK+, the architecture firm for MFD’s Malt House; and Theodore Hoerr, Principal of Terrain Work, the landscape architect for the District's publicly accessible open space. Photo Credit: Janus Property Group.

Terrain Work Receives New York American Society of Landscape Architects Award

Terrain Work is delighted to announce that we were recently the recipient of a 2019 New York American Society of Landscape Architects award! Our public art installation Broadway Bouquet won a Merit Award for design excellence in landscape Architecture. Thanks to New York ASLA for recognizing our work!  To learn more about Terrain Work’s Broadway Bouquet click here.

TERRAIN WORK REVEALS DESIGN FOR ECOTONAL COMMUNITY IN ILLINOIS

Terrain Work recently created a master plan and design guidelines for a 33 acre Ecotonal Community in Illinois.  The community will be organized around the ecotones of several distinctively mid-western landscapes: Deciduous Hardwood Forest, Shortgrass Prairie, and Littoral Edge.  A central wildlife corridor creates a link for both species and residents to move between an adjacent hardwood forest and a shared open space surrounding a small lake. To learn more about Terrain Work’s Ecotonal Community click here.

TERRAIN WORK HITS THE COVER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE!

Terrain Work’s Broadway Bouquet public art installation in New York City is featured in the April issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine. We are honored to have our work recognized in one of the leading design journals during World Landscape Architecture Month! Click hereto learn more about the Broadway Bouquet. To access a digital copy of LA MAG click here.

TERRAIN WORK COOKING UP LANDSCAPE FOR TAYSTEE SITE IN HARLEM

Terrain Work is working with Janus Property Group and LevenBetts architects to create a new landscape for the old Taystee Bakery complex in Harlem, New York. The Taystee development will establish a new connection from 125th Street to West 126th Street to become one of the defining landscapes in the Manhattanville Factory District.

The Janus Property Company has built a reputation for creativity, integrity and success, becoming a leader in transforming New York’s obsolete buildings and underutilized land into newly active and lively neighborhoods. Taystee is key anchor development in Janus’ one million square foot master-planned vision for the Factory District that will be a delicious addition to the community. Terrain Work is delighted to collaborate with Janus and their design team on this transformative project for Harlem.

Happy 2019 from Terrain Work!

Terrain Work wishes you all of the best in 2019! Special thanks to all of our clients, collaborators, and friends for making 2018 a special year for our office. We had the opportunity to create some lasting memories including our “Broadway Bouquet” art installation pictured above for the NYC DOT. We are excited to see what 2019 brings!

Theodore Hoerr of Terrain Work Presents at The Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America

Theodore Hoerr, Founding Principal of Terrain Work, recently presented design research for age friendly landscapes at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society Of America (GSA) in Boston. Theodore was part of an interdisciplinary symposia consisting of a diverse panel of speakers, including psychologists, gerontologists, an architect, and a landscape architect, to address the importance of purpose in later life and the design of purposeful living spaces for older adults.

Theodore's talk explored how understanding the etymology of landscape can offer insight into designing spaces to create delight and foster purpose in life through the cultivation of the landscape. It also traced a history of a few key scientific studies that demonstrate the power of landscape to engender mental and physical health while providing promising links to improving self-esteem and fostering a sense of accomplishment in older adults.

This is an exciting point in time where designers have the knowledge and resources to create built environments that go beyond a series of checklists to address safety and accessibility. As evidence based design becomes more commonly relied upon as a tool for designers, it poses questions of how we can creatively design age friendly spaces that capture the imagination of all age groups while providing support for older adults.

A special thanks to symposia chair Professor Wingyun Mak PhD, and fellow panelists Ted Porter of Ted Porter Architecture, Karon Phillips, Ph.D., MPH, CHES, CAPS, Jean Accius, PhD, PMP, and Claire Daugeard . For more information on Terrain Work’s Ageless Design Research click here.