ABSTRACT
In the early 1980s, the State of California commissioned the landscape
architects Hargreaves Associates, the artist Douglas Hollis, and the architect
Mark Mack, to transform an existing parking lot fronting San Francisco
Bay into a landscape for public recreation. During the client interview,
the design team of landscape architect, artist, and architect intentionally
scrambled their presentation slides to integrate the work of the three distinct
entities and to strengthen the perception that the team would be both
Rather than relying on traditional graphic techniques that render collaborative
design unwieldy, Douglas Hollis suggested the use of a sizable sandbox to
study various developmental strategies. A 5’ x 7’ sandbox was constructed in
the Hargreaves Associates office that supported rapid, if crude, collaborative
work that resisted control by any one member of the design team [11-1].2 The
result was an active and immediate relationship between thinking and making
Using the sandbox, the time invested in the design studies could be minimized,
yet the risk of disruption was high when compared to more stable model-
building materials. Keeping the various schemes intact proved difficult as
the sandbox occupied a table within a small design office. Despite these
logistical problems, there were positive aspects to the medium. Sand as a
modeling medium had the distinguishing characteristic of conforming to a
natural angle of repose approximating that of an actual earthwork; this kept
The various sand-generated alternatives were dutifully photographed for use
in public and client presentations. The State of California project represen-
tatives intermittently attended meetings in the Hargreaves office and viewed
the sand model in its various stages. The three-dimensional models were
intended to help clients understand and embrace the innovative concepts
proposed by the designers. To ensure that interested neighborhood consti-
tuencies also understood the ideas behind the park’s design, a more durable
cork model was made, translating the smooth surfaces of sand into the more
abstract wedding-cake terraces of contour models.
