Title:

ALCOA Forecast Garden, Los Angeles, CA, 1952-1966

Creator/Contributor:

Aluminum Company of America, Client

Creator/Contributor:

Eckbo, Garrett, Landscape Architect

Date:

1952-1966

Subject:

Landscape architects--California

Landscape architecture--California

Gardens--California

Los Angeles (Calif.)

In 1956, the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) asked Eckbo to create a garden containing large amounts of aluminum, for the company's publicity purposes. Aluminum had been widely used during the war years as a component in airplane manufacture, but ALCOA was interested in promoting the metal's peacetime use as well. Eckbo designed a garden for his own family's house using large quantities of the material in screens, in trellises, in sunbreaks, and most spectacularly in a centerpiece fountain recalling the shape of a flower. ALCOA's advertising agency used photographs of the garden in promotional materials for at least five years. ALCOA released a number of publicity statements along with professional photographs of the garden. The following paragraph describes the aluminum fountain: "ELEMENTS OF GARRETT ECKBO'S FORECAST GARDEN, designed for Aluminum Company of America's FORECAST collection. Shown is the abstract aluminum fountain, appearing much like a huge flower, located near the center of the garden. Fabricated from quarter-inch aluminum plate, the fountain is about 3 1/2 feet high at its highest point, and approximately 6 feet wide at its broadest point. It is finished in olive green baked enamel. The water outlets are five swaged (tapered) aluminum tubes, with a natural anodic finish, which rise from the center of the fountain-like flower stamens. Water overflows into the curved concrete basin, in which rugged rock provides contrast with the precise triangular pattern of the fountain."

Type:

Landscape architecture drawings

1 folder, 1 flat file, slides

English

Origin:

Wonderland Park, Los Angeles, Calif

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Copyright Owner: University of California Regents

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Copyright Contact: 230 Wurster Hall #1820 , University of California , Berkeley, California 94720-1820

Collection:

Garrett Eckbo Collection, 1933-1990