Archinect - News

Maya Lin to design Glenbow Museum's new rooftop garden in Calgary

2023-10-30T16:57:00-04:00

Maya Lin Studio has been attached to a new rooftop garden terrace project at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta.

The 13,000-square-foot design will complement the new $120 million renovation and expansion scheme from DIALOG that was announced in September of 2021. It will include an all-season pavilion structure, event spaces, and sculpture gardens surrounding a central oculus skylight that doubles as a lightwell for the new JR Shaw Centre for Art & Culture. Lin says the space will “afford a welcoming place that will invite visitors to connect to art, landscape, and the city of Calgary.” The project will be her first-ever work in Canada.

Rendering courtesy of Maya Lin Studio

“This idea that we are recycling a building in the center of downtown Calgary and making something new out of it while utilizing as much of the old building was a huge draw for me. If we can use an existing building in a better way, it is a lot more energy-efficient, it is a lot more material-efficient, and ...

Maya Lin unveils 'Ghost Forest Seedlings' generative art project

2023-08-18T13:06:00-04:00

The artist, architect, and environmentalist Maya Lin is set to release her inaugural generative art project. Titled Ghost Forest Seedlings, and produced by Pace Verso with Web3 art innovators E.A.T_WORKS, the work will be released on September 18 to align with Climate Week NYC.

Ghost Forest Seedlings builds on Lin’s 2021 Ghost Forest installation, which saw 50 Atlantic white cedar trees placed in Madison Square Park to highlight Earth's fragility amidst the climate crisis. The latest artworks, each priced at $1,000, depict a seed or group of seeds that grow into an intricate root pattern over a predetermined amount of time. Each of the 500 unique works from the project will include three components: a signed print of the final root system, a generative NFT that shows the seedling’s evolution in real-time, and a video timelapse tracing the seedling’s complete growth pattern.

Portrait of Maya Lin. Image credit: Pace Gallery

“With Ghost Forest Seedlings, Lin explores the organic growth ...

Maya Lin's second academic building will deliver a new performing arts studio to Bard College

2022-10-26T14:19:00-04:00

New York’s Bard College has announced a new commission from architect Maya Lin that will deliver a performing arts studio building to its 540-acre Annandale-on-Hudson campus.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial designer will team with Bialosky and acoustic specialists Charcoalblue to deliver a 25,000-square-foot space just west of the school’s Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center.

According to Bard, the sloping green-roofed building will contain five separate “state-of-the-art” studios connected by a series of “gathering hubs” that will host the school’s Fisher Center LAB residency program while doubling as a font for creative exploration for Bard students and faculty.

Lin is in the midst of a banner year following two high-profile commissions for the new Museum of Chinese in America in Manhattan and the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The school notes this will...

Maya Lin's next sculptural installation will grace the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago

2022-08-08T13:10:00-04:00

The forthcoming Obama Presidential Library, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien, will now include a sculptural installation from Maya Lin, according to an announcement made on August 4 by the Obama Foundation.

The sculptural piece, titled “Seeing Through the Universe,” will anchor the library’s newly-announced water garden, which has been named to honor Obama’s late mother, Ann Dunham. It includes a stone oculus and pebble water feature surrounded by pathways leading away from the installation and into the library’s other recently-unveiled outdoor gathering spaces designed by landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh.

“When we thought about what may be a fitting way to commemorate my mother’s influence on my sister and me, I thought about where she would want to be in this space,” this year’s A’22 keynote speaker said in a statement. “I could picture her sitting on one of the ...

Maya Lin discusses her new Museum of Chinese in America design in PBS special

2022-06-13T16:42:00-04:00

The famed Vietnam Wall Memorial designer and 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient took a studio visit with PBS correspondent Jeffrey Brown to discuss her designs for the new Museum of Chinese in America following its partial destruction due to fire in January of 2020.

“I don’t think you can be an Asian-American in 2022 and not be acutely aware of the anti-Asian sentiment,” Lin said at the outset, speaking of the appalling rash of hate crimes that have tormented communities both large and small, from coast to coast as part of our constantly deteriorating social fabric over the past two-plus years since the pandemic.

Personally, I found the concept for the expanded museum rather promising in spite of the criticisms that were wielded against it following the publication of the first batch of project renderings in early April.

The museum's structure gives a simultaneous nod to the universal task of ...

New York's Museum of Chinese in America reveals renderings of its Maya Lin-led revamp

2022-04-07T14:35:00-04:00

An important part of New York’s rich cultural fabric is coming into closer view after the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) revealed renderings for its new Maya Lin-designed permanent headquarters at 215 Centre Street in Manhattan.

The project will entail the expansion of its existing building into a 68,000-square-foot museum with classrooms, a research and genealogy center, theater, and exhibition spaces from Ralph Appelbaum Associates that will host up to 300,000 visitors a year.

In spite of some recent local opposition, Lin said she wants the museum to serve as an inspirational resource at a time when the community has seen an increase in the kinds of hateful acts that she personally reports to have experienced throughout her life.

Her de...

Wealth is cemented at the top as starchitects continue to see gains

2021-11-22T14:32:00-05:00

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, a new list from therichest.com has ranked the world’s top ten architects in terms of their total net worth.

Big A architecture remunerates extraordinarily well for some, with the total list’s net worth nearing three-quarters of a billion USD.

Norman Foster took the top spot with an estimated net worth amounting to $250 million. The outspoken 86-year-old has had a windfall of big development contracts in the past few years, which has helped him maintain the position he has held for parts of the last two decades.

Frank Gehry came in a distant second with around $100 million in total worth. Gehry was followed quickly by Moshe Safdie, who also hit the $100 mark, although it was not clear which methodology was used to delineate the two (some publicized estimates have Safdie’s worth significantly higher at around $150 million). Oculus designer Santiago Calatrava was the only other architect to hit the nine-figure plateau. His estimated net ...

Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest brings the climate crisis to Madison Square Park

2021-05-27T19:09:00-04:00

Artist Maya Lin’s long-awaited skeletal forest has finally opened in New York’s famed Madison Square Park.

With the help of 49 dead Atlantic Cedar trees sourced from the New Jersey Pine Barrens, the 61-year-old Lin has transformed the park into an immersive installation — her first in over a decade — meant to transplant the East Side destination’s nearly 60,000 daily visitors into the frontlines of the fight to prevent deforestation.

Maya Lin (American, b. 1959) Ghost Forest, 2021 Courtesy the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy Photo credit: Andy Romer

Lin, who lives in Colorado, says she was particularly interested in a kind of environmental phenomenon known as “ghost forests” that are a direct product of insect infestations, extreme temperature increases, and sea level changes caused by climate change.

Maya Lin within Ghost Forest, 2021 Courtesy the artist and Madison Square Park Conservancy Photo credit: Andy Romer

The park itself has played host to numerous public exhibit...

Maya Lin's postponed 'Ghost Forest' to open at Madison Square Park on May 10

2021-02-09T14:57:00-05:00

An immersive installation that visualises the bleak effects of climate change by the US artist and environmental activist Maya Lin, which was slated to open in June last year, will open at Madison Square Park in New York this spring.

Originally scheduled to open in 2020 but ultimately postponed due to the escalating pandemic, Maya Lin's site-responsive installation Ghost Forest will now be on view from May 10 through November 14, 2021.

"Ghost Forest will take the form of a towering grove of spectral cedar trees, all sourced from the region and presented in sharp contrast to the Park’s lush tree line," explains a description of the piece published by the Madison Square Park Conservancy. "The installation builds on Lin’s practice of addressing species loss, habitat loss, and climate change within her work and serves as a call to action to the thousands of visitors who pass through the Park daily."

Maya Lin envisions a 'Ghost Forest' at Madison Square Park in NYC

2020-03-12T16:12:00-04:00

A forest of dessicated trees will rise amid the verdant canopy of Madison Square Park in a forthcoming project by the American artist and environmental activist Maya Lin. In the immersive work, Ghost Forest, which will be on view from 8 June to 6 December, 30 to 40 spectral cedar trees will be replanted in the oval lawn of the park, creating a visually striking micro-landscape that decries the impact of climate change on woodlands around the world.

Commissioned by Madison Square Park Conservancy in New York, Maya Lin's site-responsive installation Ghost Forest aims to address the impact of climate change on woodlands around the planet.

"Ghost Forest will take the form of a towering grove of spectral cedar trees, all sourced from the region and presented in sharp contrast to the Park’s lush tree line," explains a statement published by the Conservancy. "The installation builds on Lin’s practice of addressing climate change within her work and serves as a call to action to the 60,000 visitors who pass through the Park daily."

Maya Lin. Photo: Jesse Frohman, courtesy of the artist.

"Ghost Forest derives its name from the eponymous natural phenomenon: vast tracts of forestland that have died off due to climate change, sea-level rise and saltwater infiltration. To create the installation, Lin worked together with the Conservancy to source dead trees from the Pine Barrens in New Jersey, a vulnerable site that has suffered severe dep...

Kent Cooper, architect known for work on Vietnam and Korean War memorials, dies at 91

2018-02-26T15:23:00-05:00

Mr. Cooper began his career in 1958 as overseer for architect Eero Saarinen in the construction of Washington Dulles International Airport. [...] Mr. Cooper was best known for his work on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial, dedicated in 1982 and 1995, respectively.

Kent Cooper's architecture firm, Cooper-Lecky, became the architects of record for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. While Maya Lin's now iconic design for the memorial was chosen as the competition winner in 1981, Lin was an architecture student at the time and not a licensed architect. "Lin was given a job in the Cooper-Lecky office, but Mr. Cooper supervised the necessary drawings and site specifications for the project to go forward," The Washington Post reports, "and he functioned as frontman in dealing with the federal Fine Arts Commission, which had selected Lin’s winning proposal, Lecky said."

Salon revisits how Maya Lin won Vietnam War Memorial competition by breaking its biggest rule

2017-10-02T14:12:00-04:00

The most important rule was that entries be non-political. They were to express no opinion whatsoever about the rightness or wrongness of the Vietnam War itself.

As the article points out, May Lin's design of a series of slabs were conceived by Lin as dominos falling—a reference to the "domino theory," prominent from the 50s to the 80s, that posited that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. With the names of those dead from the war etched on, the memorial's foundation "was a brilliantly devastating political commentary on the Vietnam War: that the 'kids' of Vietnam took a dizzying ride on a series of falling dominos to their collective death."

Frank Gehry and Maya Lin to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

2016-11-17T12:56:00-05:00

Some good news from the White House: iconic designers Maya Lin and Frank Gehry will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in a ceremony on November 22nd. While both designers have already made tremendous contributions to the global aesthetic landscape, they're not done yet. Gehry is currently undertaking the revitalization of the L.A. river among other projects, while according to the White House's official site, Maya Lin is working "on a multi-sited artwork/memorial, What is Missing? bringing awareness to the planet's loss of habitat and biodiversity."

For more on President Obama and architecture:

Maya Lin reveals designs for Smith College library revamp

2016-10-20T13:59:00-04:00

The artist and designer Maya Lin, best-known for her Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will redesign the Neilson Library at Smith College. Her designs for the project, intended to reduce the existing building’s footprint, have been revealed.

Lin will renovate the 1909 Neilson Library and remove later additions that she says create a “telescoping effect”. Lin will also add two “jewel box”, curved wings intended to bring in natural light. An oculus in the central atrium will bring in more light. Additionally, Lin plans to create a “skyline room” on the building’s roof as well as an outdoor patio.

The library is situated on a campus designed by the famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and the new design aims to restore the open green space that was part of his original, 1893 plan.

Construction is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2017.

via New York Times

Frank Gehry and Maya Lin find their ancestral roots on PBS

2016-02-05T12:04:00-05:00

Frank Gehry and Maya Lin join the ranks of those who have explored the history of their ancestors via the PBS show "Finding Your Roots." The show, which is in its third season, has attracted a passionate live-tweeting audience, one of whom wryly noted that "I did not know that Maya Lin's teacher gave her a B on her design for the Vietnam war memorial." In the preview clip below, Gehry grapples with the reality of the holocaust during WWII, both in his own family and for humanity at large:

Brian Libby on a possible future for Centennial Mills, Portland's last large industrial relic

2014-12-23T13:42:00-05:00

With a golden patina to their aged brick, these former flour and seed mills provide a striking contrast to the shiny new condo towers of the adjacent Pearl District, and their proximity to this burgeoning area could also make for an ideal riverside destination. [...] He has approached Frank Gehry to design a glass-ensconced event center and Lin to design a pedestrian bridge over busy Naito Parkway.

Earlier this fall, we had the pleasure of Brian Libby joining us live to discuss the future of the controversial Michael Graves-designed Portland Building on Archinect's podcast, episode 3: Keep Portland Architecture Weird!

Preservation politics and pricey prizes: Weekly News Round-Up for October 14, 2014

2014-10-20T20:51:00-04:00

Sunday, October 19:

The Portland Building: Architect Michael Graves fiercely defends his controversial creation against demolition: According to The Oregonian's piece, the architect does not think any of the problems are by his design, but rather its application under budgetary and civic constraints.

Thursday, October 16:

Unesco threatens to put Venice on its Heritage at Risk list: Responding to corruption and mismanagement of environmental risks by the Venetian government, UNESCO may have to declare Venice a "Heritage at Risk".

Wednesday, October 15:

Honolulu Law Criminalizes Homelessness: It is now a misdemeanor in the popular tourist destination of Waikiki to "sit or lie on sidewalks", punishable by up to 30 days in jail or a maximum $1,000 fine.

Tuesday, October 14:

Maya Lin wins the 21st Annual $300K Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize: At $300,000 USD, the prize is one of the US's largest, afforded to artists working to affect social change.
Petrified Forest buildings named national treasu...

Maya Lin wins the 21st Annual $300K Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize

2014-10-14T19:05:00-04:00

Iconic artist, designer, and environmentalist Maya Lin was announced as the recipient of the 21st Annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize...Established in 1994 through the will of legendary actress Lillian Gish, the award recognizes highly accomplished artists who have pushed the boundaries of their respective art forms, contributed to social change, and are seen as a lasting inspiration for the next generation.

The Gish Prize is regarded as one of the most prestigious honors bestowed to U.S. artists and has one of the largest cash awards, with this year's prize valued at US$300,000.

"Maya Lin has created a powerful and highly influential body of work within both art and architecture that includes large-scale site-specific installations, intimate studio artworks, architectural works and memorials. In her large-scale environmental artworks such as the recent A Fold in the Field (2013), Storm King Wavefield (2009) and the epoch-making Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, she has consistently explored how we experience and relate to the landscape, setting up a systematic ordering of the land that is tied to history, time and language."

Find out more on Bustler.

Time has a Q&A with Maya Lin

2013-05-02T12:48:00-04:00

From the very first, the Vietnam Memorial, it was about being extremely site-specific and site-sensitive, creating something that merged with the land around it. But much more so in the last decade or two decades, my artwork has focused on making you aware of things in the natural world that we might not be aware of. What’s invisible we tend not to think about, so I’ve made sculptures that reveal the terrain below sea level.

Maya Lin invites and challenges visitors to her website to help improve Earth's well-being

2012-04-18T19:46:00-04:00

Ms. Lin conceived "What Is Missing?" as the fifth, and last, of her memorial projects, which began with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 1982.

If you're looking for something to do on Earth Day, consider a visit to www.whatismissing.net, the site developed by noted artist and activist Maya Lin that launches its second stage Sunday.

Which is it, both? Meanwhile...

2012-04-09T21:30:00-04:00

It is still far and away the greatest memorial of modern times—the most beautiful, the most heart-wrenching, the most subtle, and the most powerful. It’s also the most abstract, which makes it even more miraculous that it was built in a nation that generally prefers symbols more along the lines of the Lincoln Memorial.

Reacting to the news that The New Yorker's influential architecture critic Paul Goldberger, was moving to another magazine (although both are owned by Condé Nast) Vanity Fair, some have wondered whether Eulogies For Architecture Criticism (are) Not Far Behind. Meanwhile, others have seen it as a sign The Architect Critic Is Dead and confirmation that in this era of digital abundance, in which the profession has witnessed a "'sea change' in the conception of architecture", the new critic "must be a reporter. And an activist one at that."

Meanwhile, Paul Goldberger found the time to contribute a short and thoughtful piece on the Reflected Grief of Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, for the April 2012 Issue of Vanity Fair.

Previously on Archinect: Paul Goldberger Leaves New Yorker for Vanity Fair, Will Not Be Replaced

Maya Lin says the Earth has lessons to teach us

2012-02-20T18:39:00-05:00

the exhibition at the Carnegie is not about the Vietnam memorial or other moving memorials she has done since. Instead, this is a straightforward presentation that wants to lead us to meditate about rivers, seas, lakes, land forms and other elements in the natural environment. What we see here are her persistent efforts to find sculptural forms that will get us to care more about the world around us. All of her recent work, in fact, seems to be an outpouring of her concerns for the environment.