The Malt House Landscape: A Community Space in the Making

This summer, our Malt House landscape hosted its first two events, marking the beginning of becoming a vibrant neighborhood public space. Though still under development, the community has already started to enjoy and benefit from this new landscape in West Harlem.

On June 25th, the Architectural League of New York celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of Urban Omnibus, the League’s publication dedicated to observing, understanding, and shaping the city. Terrain Work’s publicly accessible landscapes in West Harlem were featured along with new architectural additions to the neighborhood by Gluck+ and Levin Betts Architects. The event included a tour of the Manhattanville Factory District projects by Janus Properties, concluding with a reception at the newly inaugurated Malt House Courtyard.

The West Harlem Innovation Network also hosted a networking event for industry professionals on July 30th at the Malt House Courtyard. This gathering provided an opportunity for professionals, students, and researchers to connect and build community in West Harlem.

The design for the Malt House landscape, originally part of one of Manhattan’s largest breweries during the late 1800’s, embodies the chemical reactions found in the brewing process by taking individual elements and combining them into something greater than their constituent parts. Salvaged pieces of the old brewery complex such as steel beams, cobblestones, and the remnants of the brewery foundations are reconfigured to become a landscape that reflects the past, while looking forward to a whole new array of activities for the community in the future. It provides a venue for events such as public art displays, musical performance, dancing, outdoor movies, open air markets, community gatherings and a shady spot to gather with friends.

Another more recent phase of the Malt House landscape has taken an existing asphalt parking lot slated for future development and transformed it into West Harlem Going Wild. With a limited budget, this space was creatively transformed using discarded construction materials and spontaneously occurring plants, turning an underutilized lot into a productive landscape for people and wildlife. The events underscored the courtyard's potential as more than just a green space—it serves as a model for future urban development in marginalized urban spaces. As cities worldwide face the challenges of climate change, grass roots projects like West Harlem Going Wild offer a beacon of hope and practicality, fostering resilient and livable urban environments.

West Harlem Going Wild

West Harlem Going Wild transforms a vacant asphalt lot on 128th Street in Manhattan into a planted respite. The design addresses issues that urban environments face in the wake of climate change, such as: reducing the heat island effect, improving air quality, breaking up the urban soil profile to allow for water percolation into the ground, and upcycling materials onsite to reduce waste and emissions associated with the construction industry. Working with limited resources on a shoestring budget, the design utilizes discarded construction materials and plant species that spontaneously occur in the urban environment that have historically been considered “weeds” to form a grass roots solution to these global problems. As a prototype for future urban landscapes, the site will be continuously monitored for species performance and longevity over time.

As we grapple with the deepening climate crisis that threatens humanity, novel and incremental solutions to combat this complex problem are desperately needed. It requires both broad level policy changes from governments as well as grass roots movements from individuals to address the myriad causes of climate change. In this spirit, West Harlem Going Wild was born. West Harlem Going Wild is a model of how underutilized and marginal urban spaces can be adapted to become productive and thriving landscapes with a limited budget. Learn more about West Harlem Going Wild by clicking here.

The Barking Club Miami Revealed!

Terrain work is thrilled to share the design for the Barking Club Miami. The Barking Club, in collaboration with Odd House, provides an oasis on the edge of Miami for dogs and their owners to play, socialize, and create community. The site is currently overwhelmed with Maleleucas, an invasive species that threatens the health and stability of the Everglades ecosystem. Terrain Work’s plan creates a new home for the Barking Club with a long term management strategy that eliminates the Maleleucas and reintroduces a native everglades plant palette to provide shade and habitat for creatures of the everglades and their furry friends. Learn more about the Barking Club Miami here.

Terrain Work Receives Honorable Mention in Incheon Geodam International Competition

Terrain Work’s proposal “An Ecology of Knowledge and Culture” was recently awarded Honorable Mention for the Incheon Geomdan Museum Library Complex Cultural Facility International Design Competition. The proposal, in collaboration with Strange Works Studio and Emergent Studio, was inspired by the Korean landscape spanning from the Mountains to the Sea. The proposed landscape reveals the complex and diverse ecotonal landscapes that exist within the Korean Peninsula. It also mediates between repositories for three distinct forms of information – the library (recorded information), the museum (cultural objects embedded with information), and the landscape (biological information), allowing residents to engage with Incheon Geomdan’s intellectual, historical, and biological history. To learn more about “An Ecology of Knowledge and Culture” click here.

University of Arkansas Garvan Woodland Botanical Gardens Design Underway

Terrain Work is excited to share that we are working with Garvan Woodland Gardens and the University of Arkansas to create a new entry sequence and arrival garden for the acclaimed botanical garden. Garvan Woodland Gardens is a 210 acre botanical garden set on shores of Lake Hamilton located in historic Hot Springs, Arkansas. The garden was originally gifted to the University of Arkansas in 1985 by Verna C. Garvan to highlight the unique flora found in the Ouachita Mountains while serving as a place of learning and cultural enhancement.

Terrain Work’s design for Garvan’s new entry sequence creates a series of interconnected gardens, expanding the garden’s world class collection and serving as a place of arrival, gathering, and recreation for visitors. A wood promenade will connect the entry gardens with the existing botanical collections and architectural features within Garvan. The form of the promenade is borne out of the symbiotic fungal networks that forge ecological connections in the forest. To learn more about this project click here.

Al Fresco Wins American Society of Landscape Architects NY Award!

Terrain Work is excited to announce that Al Fresco Botanical Garden has won an American Society of Landscape Architects New York award for 2023! Located in Peoria, Illinois, the botanical garden highlights the rich diversity of flora and fauna found in the riparian riverfront ecology of the Illinois River while embracing the site's cultural history as an amusement park in the early 1900s. Al Fresco offers a dynamic and infinitely changing experience for visitors based on the rise and fall of the water level of the Illinois River. Al Fresco presents visitors with “Ecological Amusement” by weaving together the natural and cultural history found on the site while showcasing plants from one of the most ecologically productive habitats found in North America. To learn more about Al Fresco click here.

Terrain Work Creating New Entry Sequence & Arrival Garden for Garvan Woodland Gardens

Terrain Work is excited to share that we are working with Garvan Woodland Gardens and the University of Arkansas to create a new entry sequence and arrival garden for the acclaimed botanical garden. Garvan Woodland Gardens is a 210 acre botanical garden set on shores of Lake Hamilton located in historic Hot Springs, Arkansas. The garden was originally gifted to the University of Arkansas in 1985 by Verna C. Garvan to highlight the unique flora found in the Ouachita Mountains while serving as a place of learning and cultural enhancement. More to come on this special project!

Terrain Work's Theodore Hoerr Juror for Malecon Competition

Theodore Hoerr, Principal of Terrain Work, is a juror for the upcoming Malecon competition sponsored by Eleven Magazine. The competition, “Malecon: A Sea Defence & Cultural Space Challenge,” takes place in an iconic part of Havana, Cuba, and addresses the coastal vulnerability accelerated by climate change as well as “imagining a new wave of sociocultural design-led revival.” For more information on the competition and the opportunity for the public to vote visit Malecon: A Sea Defence & Cultural Space Challenge.

Artist House: Terrain Work Design for a Mid-Century Modern House

Terrain Work has created a new landscape for the Artist House,  a mid-century modern house set on a five-acre lot of a mature hardwood forest of oak, maple, and walnut trees in rural New Jersey.   The house was originally designed and constructed by two local artists and educators, Robert and Rowena MacPhail, during the late 1950’s .  The project is a collaboration with Gary Rosard Architect who is providing a full renovation and expansion of this exquisitely unique historical structure.   The garden for the house draws upon the artwork that is thought to have influenced the artist's design of the structure with its sloping triangulated rooflines reminiscent of the works of Maholy-Nagy and Wassily Kandinsky.   The garden takes two-dimensional concepts found in these artist's paintings and extends them into three dimensional expressions of space, color, and movement in the landscape.  To learn more about the Artist House click here.

Terrain Work Designs Master Plan for Wheels o' Time Museum

Terrain Work recently completed a new master plan for the Wheels O’ Time Museum in Peoria, Illinois.  The museum houses an extensive collection of over 30,000 square feet of antique and collector cars, trains, airplanes, tractors, fire trucks, and bicycles.  In addition it recently acquired an innovative house from the 1930's constructed entirely from steel by the renowned industrial designer R.G. LeTourneau. 

Terrain Work’s master plan for the museum incorporates the newly acquired Le Tourneau house into the museum campus to create an interconnected series of wheels that each contain different gardens designed to display museum artifacts and provide a variety of programmatic functions  for the public to enjoy.  To learn more about this project click here.

Terrain Work Designing the Landscape for 441 9th Avenue in Manhattan

Terrain Work is collaborating with COVE Property Group and KPF on a new project at 441 9th Avenue in Manhattan.  The plan is to reposition 441 Ninth Avenue as a “new” Class-A office development targeted to meet the needs of various tenants including TAMI (Technology, Advertising, Media and Information), fashion, financial and legal tenants.  We are thrilled to work with a world class team of design and development experts in the heart of Manhattan.  Stay tuned for more to come on this project at www.terrainwork.com

242 West 53rd Street Making Ground

242 West 53rd was recently in the news as construction gains momentum.  Situated in the heart of Manhattan and intertwined in a sixty story residential tower designed by Cetra Ruddy Architects, the landscape for West 53rd Street is embedded into the building at various levels, offering a wide array of spaces for outdoor dining, swimming, performance, sunbathing, and relaxation.  Of particular importance, is a 3,000-square-foot blueroof that is both a performance art piece and intricate water managment infrastructure that slowly releases water back into the storm sewer system over a twenty four hour period.  To learn more about this project that Theodore Hoerr led while a Principal at Balmori Associates click here.

In Memoriam: Diana Balmori

It is with a heavy heart to share that on November 14th, 2016, Diana Balmori passed away.  Diana was a mentor, teacher, and confidant to many people over the years, including me.  She always made time for the intellectually curious, whether it was a nascent student of landscape architecture or an established contemporary.  Her influence was broad and wide-ranging, and her passion for landscape as a medium that could transform the way we live and interact with nature was second to none. 

For five years we spent countless hours together, both working in her office as well as teaching at Yale.  When I first came to work in her office in early 2011 it was unlike any other environment that I had experienced in the past, both professional or academic.  From the outset there was a relentless fervor and zeal placed on how to draw and how the process of drawing played a fundamental role in seeing and conceptualizing landscape.  This idea of drawing was not limited to a particular instrument – computer, pencil, pen, etc. - nor was it exclusive to a particular medium – drawing, painting, collage, physical models, dioramas, digital models, film, video.   It was wide open.  Experimentation was always encouraged and a fundamental part of her work.  I once heard the saying, “To draw is to see the world with your eye, mind, and your heart.”  Diana embodied this approach and used it to push the boundaries of envisioning landscape.  By doing so, she moved the discipline and discourse of landscape forward.  Among her many accomplishments perhaps one of the most impactful and enduring qualities she instilled in me, and I suspect many others working in her office through the years, was the ability to see landscape anew.

The profession of landscape architecture has lost a visionary, but beyond that, many of us have lost a mentor, colleague, friend, and family member.  Diana will be missed, but her ideas will live on in the people and places she inspired.    A link to her obituary in the NY Times can be found here.  Image courtesy of Balmori Associates

Theodore Hoerr, Founding Principal

Terrain Work

University of Iowa Hancher Auditorium in the News

The University of Iowa Hancher Auditorium was recently featured on ArchDaily.  The landscape for Hancher consists of an innovative water management system that captures, cleans, and infiltrates water from the surrounding area into the ground.  This reduces runoff into the the Iowa River to help mitigate future flooding events, and create a more resilient riverfront landscape.  Theodore Hoerr led the landscape architectural design of this project while a Principal at Balmori Associates in collaboration with Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.   To learn more about how this project transformed the Art Campus landscape on the banks of the Iowa River click here. 

Shifting Mosaic Garden Underway

Terrain Work has started several new projects recently, including this garden in Lebanon, New Jersey.  Situated on a picturesque three acre site at the edge of a mature woodland, the new garden will feature a series of cascading terraces down the hillside that act as an armature for raised vegetable and herb parterres while also providing access to an entertainment lawn.  A path will be circumscribed into the meadow and existing woodland areas to unify the property so that it can be enjoyed both visually and experientially.  Finally, a meadow of native plant species will serve as the underlying planting matrix for a large portion of the site.  The meadow plants have been selected to attract a variety of New Jersey native birds and butterflies in addition to providing a striking visual backdrop of flowering meadow plants and grasses that change in texture and color from season to season.

Hancher Auditorium Ribbon Cutting & Open House

The University of Iowa is excited to announce the ribbon cutting and open house for Hancher Auditorium is scheduled for September 9th at 3:00pm!  Theodore Hoerr led the design of this project while a Principal at Balmori Associates in collaboration with Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.  To learn more about how this project is transforming the Art Campus landscape on the banks of the Iowa River click here. 

Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in the News

The proposal for the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts campus expansion in collaboration with Ennead Architects was recently featured on ArchDaily.  The proposal hybridizes two archetypal landscapes, the campus and the park, cultivating a new landscape where the academy is also viewed as a civic expression of the city.  Theodore Hoerr led the design of this project while he was a Principal at Balmori Associates. To learn more about the landscape design for the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts click here.

SoHo Tower in the News

SoHo Tower was recently in the news after architect Renzo Piano Building Workshop unveiled the design scheme for this residential development in Manhattan.  Theodore Hoerr led the landscape architectural design for this project while a Principal at Balmori Associates.  Find out more about SoHo Tower landscape at terrainwork.com.

Bogota Landscape Construction Underway

The Ciudad Empresarial Sarmiento Angulo, an urban project spanning three city blocks in the heart of Bogota, Colombia, has begun construction.  Located on Avenida El Dorado, the city's main cultural axis, the project marks the midpoint between Bogota’s historic downtown and Bogota International airport.  The project will create a new cultural district in the city that links together three districts of the city: Centro Administrativo Nacional, Ciudad Salitre Orientale and Quinta Paredes.  Find out more about the Ciudad Empresarial Sarmiento Angulo, which was led by Theodore Hoerr while a Principal at Balmori Associates.

School's in Session

Beginning today Theodore Hoerr will be teaching two courses in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design during the Spring term: Site, Ecology, and Design with Emily Vogler and Plants and Design with Adam Anderson.  Follow his updates on instagram and twitter during the semester.