University of California Los Angeles La Kretz Garden Pavilion
The goal of the initial phase of this project was to create an emphatic and highly visible main entrance to the botanical gardens while addressing the peripheral condition at a major entryway into the university campus.The new procession weaves the botanical garden entry promenade with the adjacent streets to integrate the garden’s edge fully into the campus. This further emphasizes the perception of the garden as an educational laboratory and cultural amenity. A major design challenge was to provide a fully accessible path to a new lower-level garden plaza along with an existing steep grade. Lining the new accessible path is a guardrail system made dynamic through a simple play of geometry with perforated bent aluminum planes that reflect light and shadows and allow views in and out of the garden.