Downtown Pittsburgh’s cultural district certainly doesn’t lack things to do, between its 10 performance venues, 50 restaurants, dozens of shops and numerous galleries.
One thing it lacked, however, was substantial green space. The 14-square-block zone contained a number of pocket parks well-suited to briefly contemplate your Mahler or Verdi ticket, but nothing of a scale to quite relax. It’s a deficit newly remedied with the city’s new Arts Landing, a 4.5-acre park intended to accommodate concerts and rotating sculpture installations as well as the simpler pleasures of a lounge on the grass.
An aerial view of Arts Landing, a 4.5-acre park with landscaping by Field Operations.
The park is the latest development of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, an arts organisation that has doubled as a very savvy real estate developer since the 1980s. Its efforts have played a central role in turning the city’s former red light district into a vibrant cultural cluster. The Trust manages about one million sq ft of real estate in the district, but realised something was missing – namely ‘a space for performing and visual arts activation, moments for recreation and moments for relaxation,’ says the organisation’s president and CEO Kendra Whitlock Ingram.
After acquiring several parcels of land, the Trust tapped the landscape firm Field Operations to reimagine the site as a ‘a green oasis in the heart of downtown,’ according to Ingram.
Lisa Tziona Switkin, a partner at Field Operations explained the firm’s task of accommodating a variety of uses (including the city’s Three Rivers Arts Festival) so that none dominated the one-square-block site. ‘We really wanted to strike a balance of working as an event space but also one where you want to come and sit on the lawn and take in the view,' she says.
A view during the ribbon cutting earlier this month showcases the panoramic downtown views.
The Field Operations team opted to raise the site in its centre; its 5 per cent grade isn’t much in this exceptionally hilly city but it provides a scenographic summit in the middle of its great lawn separating hardscaped spaces along Penn Avenue from the grassy sweep down to a riverside concert pavilion. Switkin explains their aim as crafting ‘small intimate moments that expand to become a bigger moment. You slowly rise up to this high point where you get a glimpse of the river. It was really meant to take what was a one-liner open space and create a series of spaces inside.’
A bright bench designed by Vanessa German features handprints.
The park was designed to provide a view corridor between Pittsburgh’s downtown and its Allegheny River – one nearly entirely absent previously. ‘The city kind of hugs that. You have a dialogue between the rivers and the city,’ Switkin adds.
The design team also aimed to inject a parcel, as Switkin put it, that was ‘more lush’ than existing downtown pocket parks. Dan Kiley’s Katz Plaza nearby is superb but features only linden trees. Arts Landing by contrast, hosts mixed plantings of red maples, sugar maples, tulip poplars and magnolias and various smaller plants. Stormwater gardens and permeable pathways are integrated nearly unnoticeably into the slightly rolling landscape. Benches of concrete and slatted wood comport to slopes. Fanciful trashcans are painted purple and pink, resembling the shades of the Cultural Trust’s logo.
Darian Johnson crafted sculptures inspired by regional Pittsburgh critters.
The playground, meanwhile, is pure fun. Switkin explained, ‘We had an ethos around not using typical playground equipment and picking something more artful. We wanted equipment that was in a way sculpture in itself.’ This aim was easily fulfilled with non-prescriptive play structures from Earthscape Play with titles such as Hexy Wobble Board and Moku Yama.
As befits its name, Arts Landing features plenty of actual art: 23 pieces by 10 artists with links to Pittsburgh. The most prominent of the current sculptural installations is a series of bronzes, Touching the Earth, by revered Pittsburgh-based sculptor Thaddeus Mosley. These were originally commissioned by the Public Art Fund in New York. Mosley died at 99 in March. The exhibition has ended up as fitting tribute, and a full circle moment. Anastasia James, director of galleries and art for the Trust explained, ‘Mosley’s very first exhibition was at the Cultural Trust in the 1950s.’
Monumental sculptures by the late Pittsburgh-based artist Thaddeus Mosley.
Such artworks are a welcome addition to Pittsburgh. The city lacked any sort of rotating public art program and this was a step towards remedying that absence–-while also intended to provide a literal pedestal for talent. ‘I saw it as an opportunity to commission works by artists to take the next step in their career,' James says.
The Cultural Trust had relationships with some of the artists they selected, others were new collaborators. Some were deliberately commissioned for works outside of their speciality. The artist Shikeith, for example, has principally been known as a photographer, his iron, glass, and neon piece is his first public art commission. Mikael Owunna and Marques Redd’s This is the Body of the Sun depicts the solar god Ra. Vanessa German crafted artful and useful bright benches featuring the handprints of centenarians – including Mosley.
Mikael Owunna and Marques Redd’s This is the Body of the Sun depicts the solar God Ra.
The Trust also made efforts to incorporate works by disabled artists. Darian Johnson crafted several local animal sculptures, including a whimsical raccoon, snail and a black bear. James said, ‘One day he made these little animals, and he wrote a note that said, 'Show Anastasia'. I said, “we have to make these”.’
The sculptures will soon be joined by the world’s first artist-designed pickleball court. Sharmistha Ray drew on cosmological imagery, Steelers team colors and historic life-sized Mughal Parcheesi boards in crafting its design.
Bird Circus is a series of big top-inspired poles designed to attract migratory birds.
One work was designed with wildlife in mind. Lenka Clayton and Philip Andrew Lewis’ Bird Circus is a series of big top-inspired poles designed to attract winged creatures. 'Pittsburgh’s along a major migratory corridor,’ says Clayton. ‘We thought, let's make sculptures that welcome the birds.’
Turns out Arts Landing is a resting place not just for humans but any creature that cares to sit down.