Kathryn Gustafson (born 1951) is an American

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

. Her work includes the

Gardens of the Imagination The Gardens of the Imagination ( French: ''Jardins de l'Imaginaire'') in Terrasson-Lavilledieu, in the Dordogne Department of France, is a public park and contemporary garden, classified by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the Ministry of Cul ...

in Terrasson, France; a city square in Évry, France; and the

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain is a memorial in London dedicated to Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in 1997. It was designed to express Diana's spirit and love of children. The fountain is located in the south ...

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green Pa ...

. She has won awards and prizes including the Millennium Garden Design Competition. She is known for her ability to create sculptural forms, using earth, grass, stone and water.

Early life

Gustafson was born and grew up in

Yakima, Washington Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninco ...

in 1951, her father was a heart surgeon. The basis of her designs comes from her memories of past settings. The region around Yakima is a desert-like plateau surrounded by mountains. At the age of 18, Gustafson attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, where she studied

applied arts The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing."Applied art" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art''. Online edition. Oxford Univers ...

for about a year. She then moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to attend the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

. After graduating from the Fashion Institute, Gustafson moved to Paris to be a

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

. Gustafson turned to landscape design. She was educated at the Ecole Nationale Superieure du Paysage in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

, where she graduated in 1979.

Design work

Gustafson’s work is predominantly civic, institutional, and corporate, including parks, gardens and community spaces. Her award-winning projects include

Westergasfabriek The Westergasfabriek is a former gasworks in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, now used as a cultural venue. History In the 19th century the Imperial Continental Gas Association (ICGA) built four coal gas plants in Amsterdam: the Eastern Gas Factory ...

Culture Park in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in London, Bay East and

Gardens by the Bay The Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning in the Central Region of Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden (in Marina South), Bay East Garden (in Marina East) and Ba ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Recent projects include Valencia Parque Central, the Novartis Campus in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

and

Marina One Marina One is a mixed-use development bounded by Marina Way and Straits View in Marina South located within the Downtown Core of the city-state of Singapore. Designed by Christoph Ingenhoven, Marina One covers a total gross floor area of ap ...

in Singapore. She has become known for her creations of sculptural forms. Her work has been compared with the designs of landscape architect

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...

. Gustafson is slated to recreate the area around the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "'' ...

for the Olympic games in 2024. The total cost of the overhaul would be 72€ million which would be funded by revenue.

Firms

Gustafson Guthrie Nichol was established in Seattle and founded by Gustafson, Jennifer Guthrie, and

Shannon Nichol Shannon Nichol is an American landscape architect and founding principal of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN), located in Seattle. Nichol has led many of GGN's landscape design projects including the designs for Boston's North End Parks, Seattle's ...

. Gustafson Porter + Bowman, founded by Gustafson and Neil Porter in 1997, is situated in London. The firm has international projects in the UK, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Notable works

* Landscaping for

Shell Petroleum Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

Headquarters, 1992. * Rights of Man Square, Évry, France, 1991. * LeMay Museum * L'Oreal Factory * Corixa Headquarters * Arthur Ross Terrace,

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

, 2000 *

Lurie Garden Lurie Garden is a garden located at the southern end of Millennium Park in the Loop area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Designed by GGN (Gustafson Guthrie Nichol), Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel, it opened on July 16, 2004 ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, 2004 * Diana Memorial Fountain, London, 2004 * University of Michigan: Museum of Art * Washington Canal Park,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

* Lakeshore Residence * Esso Headquarters *

Garden of Forgiveness The Garden of Forgiveness (also known as ''Hadiqat As-Samah'' in Arabic) is a garden in Beirut, close to Martyrs’ Square and the wartime Green Line (1975-1990). History The area was classified as non aedificandi (Latin for "not to be built"), ...

Selected awards

# Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture (2012) # American Society of Landscape Architects Design Medal (2008) # Royal Designer for Industry U.K (RDI: 2005) (RDI: 2001) # Remarkable Garden (2004) # Chrysler Design Award (2001) # Honorary Fellow RIBA (1999) #

Jane Drew Prize The Jane Drew Prize is an architecture award given annually by the ''Architects' Journal'' to a person showing innovation, diversity and inclusiveness in architecture. It is named after the English modernist architect Jane Drew. Background The Jan ...

(1998) #National Design Award in Landscape Architecture, Cooper-Hewitt (2011) #EU Prize for Cultural Heritage in Conservation (2010) #International Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum (2007 and 2009) #AIA/UK Excellence in Design Award (2008) #Medalist, French Academy of Architecture (1993)

Notes

References

* Diedrich, Lisa. "Kathryn Gustafson – Phantasie and Form." ''Topos'' journal. Issue 21, 1997.
Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd.
*Levy, Leah (1998). ''Kathryn Gustafson: Sculpting the Land.'' Spacemaker Press. Washington, DC. *Waldheim, Charles (2001). ''Constructed Ground: The Millennium Garden Design Competition.'' University of Illinois Press.
Gustafson Porter + Bowman.

External links

Gustafson Porter + BowmanKathryn Gustafson AwardsGustafson Guthrie Nichol ProjectsKathryn Gustafson: Art of Landscape
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gustafson, Kathryn 1951 births Living people American landscape architects Fashion Institute of Technology alumni People from Yakima, Washington University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design alumni American women architects Women landscape architects