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Surface/Subsurface: Olympic Sculpture Park

Lecturer: Manfredi, M. · Weiss, M.
Faculty:Architecture
Type:lecture
Date:2008-01-31
Publisher: Delft University of Technology
Duration:1:38:06
Keywords: Michael Manfredi · Marion Weiss · The Berlage Lezingen
Rights: (c) Delft University of Technology · Creative Commons BY

Abstract

Seattle, Washington, 2001–2007
Located on an industrial site at the water's edge and envisioned as a new model for an urban sculpture park, this project creates a constructed landscape for art. The design forms an uninterrupted Z-shaped ìgreenî platform that descends from the city to the water to capitalize on views of the skyline and Elliot Bay; while rising over existing infrastructure to reconnect the urban core to the revitalized waterfront. An exhibition pavilion provides space for art, performances and education. From this pavilion, the pedestrian route descends to the water, linking three new archetypal landscapes of the Pacific Northwest: a dense temperate evergreen forest, a deciduous forest and a shoreline garden. The design not only brings sculpture outside of the museum walls but also the park itself into the landscape of the city.

Michael Manfredi is cofounder of Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism, a multidisciplinary design practice based in New York City known for its integration of architecture, art, infrastructure, and landscape design. Manfredi, with his partner Marion Weiss, received the Academy Award in Architecture, an award given annually by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, acknowledging the distinct vision of the firm. They were also named one of North America's "Emerging Voices" by the Architectural League of New York and the firm won the New York City AIA Gold Medal of Honor.

The firm has won numerous awards and competitions and has been featured in exhibitions at the Museum of Modem Art, the Venice Architectural Biennale, the Sao Paolo Biennale of International Architecture and Design, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the National Building Museum, Harvard University, The International Landscape Architecture Biennale in Barcelona, and the Design Center in Essen, Germany. Their first monograph Site Specific and the more recent Weiss/Manfredi: Surface/Subsurface were published by Princeton Architectural Press.

Manfredi has been a visiting critic and professor at numerous institutions including Yale and Princeton and has been a Gensler Visiting professor at Cornell University. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a trustee and founding member of the Van Alen Institute, and a trustee of the Storefront for Art and Architecture.

Marion Weiss is cofounder of Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism, based in New York City and the Graham Chair Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Her multidisciplinary firm, run with partner Michael Manfredi, is known for cross disciplinary work that operates at the nexus of architecture, art, landscape, and urban design. Weiss, in addition to her professorship at te University of Pennsylvania, has taught design studios at Yale and Cornell universities.

Weiss/Manfredi received the Academy Award in Architecture, an award given annually by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, acknowledging the distinct vision of the firm. They were also named one of North America's "Emerging Voices" by the Architectural League of New York and the firm won the New York City AIA Gold Medal of Honor. The firm has won numerous awards and competitions and has been featured in exhibitions at the Museum of Modem Art, the Venice Architectural Biennale, the Sao Paolo Biennale of International Architecture and Design, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the National Building Museum, Harvard University, The International Landscape Architecture Biennale in Barcelona, and the Design Center in Essen, Germany. Their first monograph Site Specific and the more recent Weiss/Manfredi: Surface/Subsurface were published by Princeton Architectural Press.

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