Nationwide our modern built landscapes are in danger. The designs of Lawrence Halprin, a leader in landscape architecture for decades, are particularly vulnerable at this time. His 1973 Skyline Park in downtown Denver was recently removed. Thorough documentation of the site --undertaken by Historic Denver, Inc., with the help of an emergency grant -- mitigated the loss of this structure. Halprin recently received the National Endowment for the Arts gold medal from the President Bush. Despite this national recognition for design excellence, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts included demolition of Halprin's sculpture garden in its $100-million building expansion plan designed by London-based architect Rick Mather.

The Virginia Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects needs your support to save, or at the very least document, the Halprin sculpture garden design in Richmond, Virginia. Liz Sargent, ASLA, president of the Virginia Chapter, writes: "To our knowledge, the sculpture garden at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is Mr. Halprin's only work of this kind in North America. Mr. Halprin incorporated his signature use of the sculptural fountain in the design of the courtyard, and crafted the design to accommodate each individual piece in a site-specific manner. ... The Virginia Chapter ASLA urges you to reconsider destroying this work before thoroughly considering its importance. There are entities, our organization included, that would be honored to assist in this effort."

Comments/Pleas to save Halprin at the VMFA can be sent to:

Mrs. Jane Bassett Spilman, President, Board of Trustees, and/or Dr. Michael Brand, Director, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2800 Grove Avenue 2800 Richmond, Virginia 23221

Further Reading on Halprin and the New Plan:

The Virginia Fine Arts Museum Expansion Plan

A Crime Against Art, by Mark T. Burrell - Style Weekly "In Richmond, state employees responsible for a building expansion program are proceeding to commit what could be viewed as a crime against art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: the destruction of a significant work by an internationally renowned artist. . . When I first saw the new scale model and realized that the proposal dooms the Halprin work, I thought I was mistaken. When I called the museum, I discovered that already the spin was in place: The fountain is expensive to maintain, inaccessible to wheelchairs and noisy, according to museum spokesman Richard Woodward, who asserted that the work is not one of Halprin’s best works. “In that case: if the museum had Tiffany lamps, which were not his best ones, which ones would we discard?” I asked."

Site Analysis and Documentation Project

To: All VA-ASLA Members and Interested Practitioners

Landscape Architecture students from Virginia Tech will be on site at the Halprin Sculpture Garden at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on Friday, October 17th to conduct their annual project in conjunction with our VA-ASLA Annual Meeting.

This year's project will initiate an effort to document significant landscapes and built works through out the Commonwealth. Each year's site documentation will be added to a digital archive of Virginia landscapes. The project will be an exploration of both traditional site analysis and innovative documentation techniques. This project has been conceived in anticipation of the establishment of HALS--the Historic American Landscape Survey--which will eventually document important landscapes throughout the country to the level of HABS and HAER.

The sculpture garden, which may be slated for removal by the Museum, is the only garden of its kind designed by Lawrence Halprin in North America. Despite the fact that it is less than 50 years old, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources has determined that it may be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The Chapter has secured the original construction drawings of the garden, and the students will be considering how the garden has changed since its original installation, as well as how it functions today.

The Chapter hopes that the project will provide an opportunity for students and practitioners to interact and collaborate in a meaningful endeavor.

I am writing today to ask you to join the students at the Museum on Friday, October 17th, and share your experience and expertise in documentation and site analysis. It should be a lot of fun.

VA Tech professor Brian Katen will lead the students throughout the day. They will subsequently spend the late afternoon and evening preparing a presentation of their findings, which they will share at the Annual Meeting in Williamsburg the next afternoon.

So, please join us! The project will get underway at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, October 17th, and continue through about 4:00 p.m. You can participate for all or any of the day as your schedule allows.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could let Brian Katen know in advance if you plan to participate. Brian can be reached via email at bkaten@vt.edu

I look forward to seeing you there,

Liz Sargent
VA-ASLA Chapter President