Department of Architecture, JNEC, Aurangabad

THEORY OF LANDSCAPE PRACTICES

Landscape Theory
NANCY BOLT
&
SAMEER MATHUR

Sign Faculty Sign of HOD

Submitted by
Dhanashri Mirajkar
Roll No. 609110
M. Arch. 3rd Semester-2016-17
Ar. Ritu Sharma Ar. J. C. Gogte
 Landscape Theory- NANCY HOLT
Ericariberas, Stone Enclosure (Rock Rings)
Pincio, Finland Bellingham, Washington
Nancy Holt
o A pioneer of earthworks and public art, Nancy Holt also worked in sculpture,
installation, film, video, and photography for over three decades. o Using the sun and other stars as her subjects, and the
o She is best known for her large-scale environmental sculptural works, including Sun raw, elemental quality of Holt's projects have been
Tunnels in northern Utah and Dark Star Park in Arlington, Virginia. compared to creations by ancient civilizations of
o Nancy Holt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1938 and died in 2014. Sumer, Egypt, and Maya.
o She received a Bachelors degree in Biology from Tufts University, Medford,
o Alignments with the North Star and other circular
Massachusetts, in 1960.
o She received five National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, two New York
forms echo primitive instruments which measured
Creative Artist Fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Honorary Doctorate the position of Earth in relation to the fixed universe.
from the University of South Florida, Tampa. o Tired of purely aesthetic works, she strives to make
o She produced site-specific environmental works in numerous public places around hers more functional. Holt says she is, "not interested
the world, including Sun Tunnels (1976), a large-scale sculptural work in Great Basin in creating artworks that rejuvenate the landscape
Desert, Utah; Stone Enclosure (Rock Rings) in Bellingham, Washington; Astral because... such works cosmetically camouflage the
Grating (1987) in a New York City subway station, and Dark Star Park, in Arlington, abuse."
Virginia, among many others.
o She also completed large-scale land reclamation projects, including Sky Mound (1988)
o Holt likes to create large scale, outdoor, site-specific
in the New Jersey Meadowlands, and Up and Under (1998), in Nokia, Finland. sculpture which normally involves viewing cosmic
o Holt's works, including her films and videos, have been seen in exhibitions at the events at specific times.
John Weber Gallery, New York; The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; o She always considers the existing topography, built
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New environment, and local materials, along with the
York; Dia Center for the Arts, New York, and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New psychology, sociology, and history of each site.
York.
o The cylindrical forms resembling telescopes or lenses
o The solo exhibition Nancy Holt: Photoworks was presented at Haunch of Venison,
London, in 2012.
and the framing or isolating of different views are
o The retrospective exhibition Nancy Holt: Sightlines originated at Columbia all influenced by Holt's love of photography and the
University's Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery in New York, in 2010. camera.
Breaking Ground, o The materials she uses blend into the sites leading
Barcelona one to believe they have always been there.
Structures are always roofless-- open to the sky and
the horizon.
o Focal points actively penetrate the landscape.
o The viewer can usually enter the forms to become
the focal point of a piece and explore himself in
relation to the vast environment.
End of the Line
 LOCATION
Sun Tunnels in Lucin, Utah
o Sun Tunnels is located in the GREAT BASIN DESERT outside of the ghost town UNITED STATES
of Lucin, Utah .
o The work is a product of Holt’s interest in the great variation of intensity of the UTAH
sun in the desert compared to the sun in the city.
o Holt searched for and found a site which was remote and empty. LUCIN
“It is a very desolate area, but it is totally accessible, and it can be easily visited,

Landscape Theory - NANCY HOLT

making Sun Tunnels more accessible really than art in museums . . . A work like Sun
Tunnels is always accessible . . . Eventually, as many people will see Sun Tunnels as SUN TUNNELS

would see many works in a city - in a museum anyway."

o The work consists of four massive concrete tunnels (18 feet long and nine feet in diameter), which are arranged in an “X” configuration to total a
length of 86 feet (26 m).
o Each tunnel reacts to the sun differently, aligned with the sunrise, sunset, of the summer or winter solstice.
o Someone visiting the site would see the tunnels immediately with their contrast to the fairly undifferentiated desert landscape.
o Approaching the work, which can be seen one to one-and-a-half miles away, the viewer’s perception of space is questioned as the tunnels change
views as a product of their landscape.
o The tunnels not only provide a much-needed shelter from the sweltering desert sun, but once inside the dazzling effect of the play of light within the
tunnels can be seen.
o The top of each tunnel has small holes, forming on each, the constellations of Draco, Perseus, Columba & Capricorn respectively.
o The diameters of the holes differ in relation to the magnitude of the stars represented.
o These holes cast spots of daylight in the dark interiors of the tunnels, which appear almost like stars.
o Holt said of the tunnels, "It’s an inversion of the sky/ground relationship-bringing the sky down to the earth.“
o This is a common theme in Holt’s work. She sometimes created this relationship with reflecting pools and shadow patterns marked on the ground,
like in her work Star Crossed.
Dark Star Park, Verginia
o This sculpture is Arlington’s first commissioned art piece
sculptured by famed artist Nancy Holt and installed in
1984. The sculpture consists of five spheres, two pools,
four steel poles, a stairway, a large tunnel for passage,

Landscape Theory - NANCY HOLT

a small tunnel for viewing and plantings.
o Every year on August 1 at 9:30 a.m., visitors arrive at the
0.4 acre park to witness the coming together of
shadows. The park’s large spheres are designed to
resemble fallen, extinguished stars.
o One section of the park contains spheres and poles with
shadow-images inset in the ground. There is also a
water fountain for your enjoyment.

o This park, with its whimsical sculptures, is an

example of Arlington's earliest use of public art.
o The late Nancy Holt designed the park and the
sculptures.
o The whimsy softens the edges of the high rise
canyons of the Rosslyn district.
o In the center of the traffic island there are
outlines on the ground beside the poles and
balls.
o On August 1 at 9:31 AM the shadows all line up
within the outlines: Stonehenge in Arlington.
 Landscape Theory - NANCY HOLT
SAMEER MATHUR
INTEGRAL DESIGN STUDIO
NEW DELHI

INTEGRAL DESIGNS INTERNATIONAL STUDIO PVT. LTD.

o Integral Designs was established in 1994 with the main objective of providing high quality
sustainable landscape design services.
o Integral designs is owned by Prof. Samir Mathur a landscape architect who did his masters
program for landscape architecture at the university of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA along with
Er. Bela Mathur an electrical consultant who had done her specialization electrical system &
lighting design.
o His design philosophy respects local traditions and environmental factors to maximize the
inherent potentials of the site and architecture. He is an International member of the American
Society of Landscape Architecture (ASLA) and is intrinsically involved in the activities of the Indian
Society of Landscape Architects (ISOLA)
o Ever since its establishment, the company has undertaken small as well as bigger magnitude
works.
o The first major project of international significance completed by the company was the ‘Ananda
Himalaya’ a health resort and a spa in the year 2000 which is located in the close proximity of
divine city Rishikesh, now a part of Uttrakhand state in India.
o It will not be wide the tracks to mention here that this resort has been acknowledge as the best
spa in the world by the Conde nast magazine.
 ANAND SPA RESORT
RISHIKESH,

Landscape Theory - NANCY HOLT

HIMALAYA

LOCATION & PLAN

Respect traditions and environmental factors Building forms merged into the
maximizes the Potential of the site surrounding natural environment

Occupants & visitors experiencing highest level of satisfaction

 KOLKATA
FORTUNE TOWNSHIP,

Landscape Theory - NANCY HOLT