[ad_1]
Landscape Architect Sara Zewde Reimagines Land at Dia Beacon in New York
Dia Art Foundation has announced a major landscaping project to reimagine the land of Dia Lighthouse in New York. Commissioned landscape architect Sara Zewde of Studio Zewde aimed to go beyond a simple arrangement of attractive plants and incorporate ecological, cultural and human ideas into the design. The project will occupy the museum’s 32-acre campus and create an expanded outdoor park, free to visitors and locals, featuring native grasses, sculptural terrain and winding pathways. The project has recently been expanded to include eight acres behind the museum and is expected to open to the public in 2025.
The Dia Beacon Museum, located on the 32-acre former industrial site of the Nabisco box-printing plant in the Hudson Valley, houses the Dia Art Foundation’s collection of conceptual, minimalist ism and the works of land artists. The experience of the museum is therefore connected to its surrounding landscape. Studio Zewde’s approach responds to the site’s specific conditions and history, as well as Dia’s land art collection. In addition to extensive research, the studio held discussions with Aboriginal organizations surrounding the lighthouse and artist Robert Owen, who designed the original landscape for the museum’s entrance.
The design introduces meandering pathways that connect sculptural hills to meadows, recreating the pattern of water flowing through a floodplain. It also creates references to Aboriginal river crossings and movement of land, while also allowing the public to experience the landscape.
related articles
How Landscape Architects Can Harness Embodied Carbon
The design also takes into account changing weather patterns and works to increase resistance to rising water levels. Therefore, the presence of water on site is designed through the topography and extensive meadows and underground cisterns, all designed to manage water level ranges. More than 90 native meadow species were introduced, along with nearly 400 new trees and shrubs to support water management. A small lawn area has also been integrated, offering the possibility of organizing events for the institution’s outdoor public events.
The landscape project was designed by Studio Zewde in collaboration with Sherwood Design Engineers, LWLA (Larry Weaner Landscape Associates) and Pine & Swallow Environmental.
Historical impressions of the current site of Dia Lighthouse inspired our landscape design. Our work with Dia Art Foundation is a process of listening, seeing and amplifying the movement, water, material and cultural patterns throughout the site over time. The design’s embrace of water in its topography, meadows and landscapes is a means of responding to the challenges of rising water levels in the 21st century, as well as a means of memory. We are honored to partner with Dia on this project to open eight acres of land to the public. -Sara Zewde, founding principal of Studio Zewde.
New York-based landscape and urban design firm Studio Zewde was founded in 2018 by Sara Zewde. The firm’s work is recognized for its blend of culturally indigenous approaches and meticulous site interpretation. In 2021, the Black woman-owned film joined a multidisciplinary team designing the redevelopment of Brooklyn’s Kingsborough Psychiatric Center.
[ad_2]
Source link