I was thinking about how famous Ken Smith has become in the years since I heard him speak at my school. I think I missed his visiting professorship with the fashion and landscape studio by about a year or two, which will always haunt me. However, my class was lucky enough to visit his office and take a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge with him in 1999. I remember the walls of his office were covered in bubble wrap and there was this strange gong music playing. We were drinking beers while Ken presented some of his work to us when my hilarious friend Lucia leaned over and whispered “this is my favorite song” to me and I about died trying not to bust out laughing. Anyway, I pulled out my Ken Smith book yesterday and his P.S. 19 dumpster planters brought a smile to my face. He is always coming up with creative ways to think about gardens, whether they are vertical, blooming from the pubic area (no, I am not kidding), involve chandeliers hanging over famous avenues, made out of light cones, providing specific aural and other sensory experiences, or are blooming from unexpected receptacles.

P.S. If anyone can find Ken Smith’s website, let me know so that I can provide a link. I can’t seem to find one anywhere, not even over on ASLA’s website. Thanks.

Photoshop by the offices of Ken Smith, Landscape Architect.

Photographs by Albert Vecerka. Both are from the book Ken Smith Landscape Architect Urban Projects.