This past fall, Evan C. Lai Landscape Design, Inc., as a part of NBC’s George to the Rescue and in partnership with SilverLining, Inc. and Rogers Partners Architects, re-designed the outdoor space for the Bloomingdale School of Music. Before the episode airs this Saturday, April 11th at 9am and 7pm EDT on NBC and YouTube, get a peak below at the transformation that took place.
Located on the Upper West Side, the school has been providing affordable music education since 1964 to children and seniors alike. They hoped their backyard could serve as an outdoor performance space, an event space for school fundraisers, as a place for students and staff to study, reflect, and relax, and as a memorial garden for the founder of the school. We had only five weeks to transform it from its original condition into a space that could serve all of the school’s needs.
We designed and built the outdoor space to be an extension of the newly-renovated interior performance space (designed by Rogers Partners Architects and implemented by SilverLining, Inc.). Using the interior colors and concept of a “piano/organ” as a theme, every element of the backyard is meant to evoke the ideas of music, creativity, and community.
The bluestone paving was designed to look like the keys of a piano. The fence was made to resemble a music staff with large notes starting on the fence and extending down into the gravel. A large mural bearing the school’s name covers the brick wall, and represents the spirit and mission of the school. Chaotic and abstract grey and black notes represent the sound of a beginner learning how to play an instrument, but as the notes become more orderly, and the mural more colorful, one senses that with practice and hard work, beautiful music and a more defined and confident individual can emerge.
Finally, the space honors the school’s founder, David Greer, an organist who wanted to give the gift of music to anyone regardless of their financial background. To memorialize him, we placed his urn under the "G key” on the bluestone “piano” and a memorial plaque was placed in the raised planting bed full of hostas and ferns.
Many thanks for donations of materials from 40 Visuals, SiteOne Landscape Supply, and Hicks Nurseries, Inc. that helped make this project possible!
Catch the episode of George to the Rescue when it airs this Saturday, April 11th at 9am and 7pm EDT on NBC and YouTube!