ASLA 2015 Landmark Award Winner / Giải thưởng ASLA 2015 Landmark Award
This intimately scaled garden built atop a parking garage at the Art Institute of Chicago greets more than two million visitors each year and is open to the public, free of charge. Completed in 1967, it is among Dan Kiley’s best preserved commissions. Moving inward from Michigan Avenue, two raised beds are planted with three staggered rows of honey locust trees, shading privet, ground cover, and flowering bulbs. The central plaza space is bisected by a rectangular pool terminating at the Fountain of the Great Lakes, sculpted by Lorado Taft in 1913. On either side of the pool, raised planters of cockspur hawthorn trees provide seating. Each planter is sited 20 feet on center and planted with ground cover and herbaceous plants for color in the summer months. The trees create a canopy over the entire plaza and frame the fountain.