Tectonic Shift - Park

Project

The Trust for Public Lands

2015

Carlton Way Park

5927 Carlton Way, Hollywood, CA 90028

Artwork Budget: $15,000

 

Project Team

ARTIST

Robin Brailsford
 

ARTIST

Wick Alexander
 

CLIENT

Robin Marks
Trust for Public Lands

 

INDUSTRY RESOURCE

Ron Shaw
Shaw and Sons

 

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

Amy Korn
Korn Randolph

 

Overview

The site is long and narrow, wedged within a tight neighborhood of working families, art aficionados, actors, and homeless teens. Arts and Crafts homes are to the left of the park, 60’s classic LA apartments to the right of it. And down the street, leading to the fame, tourists, and excitement of Hollywood Boulevard, are lines of statuesque Washingtonia palm trees – hundreds of feet tall.

 

Goals

Carlton Way is set in the midst of one of the most creative urban centers. Hollywood and LA are defining moments in the cultural significance of California, the US, and the world in the 20th century. Wealthy Hollywood-types commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build their mansions in Barnsdall Park, and the community filled with the dreamers from all over the world hoping to contribute to the general and overall urban creative energy. Building on the modern iconic look and architecture of the neighborhood, our plan is to proceed with modular, geometrically evolving designs for the bench backs (front and back). Colors will be the organic earth tones of the silver quartzite and hand-pressed community terra-cottas accented with the shimmer of the Cabo art glass tiles and the brilliance attainable with the “wonders”…. always keeping in mind the landscape’s background, weighted to the green and sea green color range. For the Carlton Way bench seatbacks, LithoMosaics will be attached to and cast with the concrete forms, and so the resultant mosaics will have a bit of Frank Lloyd Wright’s, Taliesin walls look to them… appropriate to an area known for its FLW architecture

 

Process

The site plan developed by Amy Korn, LA - has a tectonic feel to it – shifting planes at a diagonal, arroyo walls, and rolling silvered playground fun. The Washingtonia palm trees and their form – huge, tall trunks and fronds are the first inspiration of an iconic LA and are an opportunity not to be missed. As the flag-shaped tiles we have that mimic those palm forms are “drop,” literally the forms that drop away when a positive is cut from tile, we embraced the idea of green/recycling, as much as possible

 

Additional Info

For the community mosaic day, we will have clay available for residents to roll balls of clay and then press them into Balinese traditional woodblocks. These will then be real “fingerprints” of the community, fired (fossilized) into the body of the bench backs. The park's public art colors, concepts, elements, materials, and attitude have all been designed to work cohesively together. Beauty, kindness, longevity, and participation have been designed into all aspects of this park.