Follies, Function and Form

The Olana Partnership, in collaboration with the New York chapters of the American Institute of Architects (AIANY) and the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA-NY), presents Follies, Function & Form: Imagining Olana’s Summer House. This exhibition unites 21 visionary architects and landscape architects to address one of the great mysteries at Olana State Historic Site: the summer house.

In the 1886 “Plan of Olana,” a detailed blueprint of Frederic Church’s vision for his large-scale designed landscape, the plan’s details are largely accurate, yet it contains a structure labeled “Summer House” for which there is no documentary evidence. The 21 designers have imagined Olana’s summer house and have each created one concept sketch of this structure and its environs, much in the way Frederic Church sketched to convey design and architectural ideas. Each designer is free to explore and combine historic and contemporary design themes.

Featured Designers: Richard Alomar, ASLA (Rutgers University), 
Diana Balmori, FASLA (Balmori Associates), Mary Burnham, AIA (Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects), Randy Correll, AIA (Robert A.M. Stern Architects), 
Christopher Counts, ASLA (Counts Studio), Adriaan Geuze, (West 8 urban design and landscape architecture), Judith Heintz, ASLA (sassafras55), Steven Holl, FAIA (Steven Holl Architects), Joan Krevlin, FAIA (BKSK Architects), Tom Krizmanic, AIA (Gensler), David McAlpin, AIA (Fradkin & McAlpin Architects), Laurie Olin, FASLA (OLIN), Peter Pennoyer, FAIA (Peter Pennoyer Architects), Margie Ruddick, ASLA (Margie Ruddick Landscape), 
Hayes Slade, AIA (Slade Architecture), Allan Shope, AIA (Allan Shope Architect), Ken Smith, ASLA, (Ken Smith Workshop), Alison Spear, AIA (Alison Spear AIA), 
Dana Tang, AIA (Gluckman Tang), 
Michael Vergason, FASLA (Michael Vergason Landscape Architects), Adam Yarinsky, FAIA (Architecture Research Office)