Light and Shadow, Form and Fantasy: An Interview with Thomas Balsley, FASLA, TBNY

By Leslie McGuire, managing editor

The North Garden links the various Gate City buildings to each other, and to the adjacent residential neighborhood, situated across a canal. The entry plaza creates a space that links the South Plaza and the North Garden in a dramatic and unique way.
Photos courtesy of Thomas Balsley Associates

Gate City in Osaka, on the outskirts of Tokyo, is a mixed-use development that includes residential, office and retail space. Thomas Balsley Associates designed the complex’s main entry plaza, as well as a public garden and cafe serving shoppers, workers, and visitors, and the residential neighborhood—and most important, some spectacular lighting.

As one approaches the entrance of the building the grove of trees has been sliced through with a diagonal path. Pedestrians are forced through this grove for a very brief moment. In that grove are channels of water coming up between the trees that flow down into a basin in the lower left corner along the sidewalk. The channels of water provide a reflection basin for the lighting. Additionally, there are lights in the basin underwater, as well as in the trees. An exact grid of little blue lights in the planters reinforce the upright soldier-like pattern of the trees.

The Entry Plaza creates an animated, playful landscape in scale with the buildings, the pedestrian activity of the adjacent neighborhood and the nearby railway. A stand of poplar trees, bisected with a diagonal path and geometric water channels, forms a dramatic counterpoint to a sculpture of tapered orange columns tilted in various directions, a provocative dialogue between the natural and man-made. At night, the grove of trees and stone monoliths are up-lit. The water channels and pool are illuminated with refracted light, providing a memorable fore-ground silhouette to the illuminated frosted glass entry building of Gate City.

The purple folly is called Phragmites, a type of grass. A channel of water runs over glass and is illuminated with blue light creating a straight line of light leading your eyes directly to the folly. Shadows cast by the folly make lines that flow along the path. This references the linear cross hatches of the paving pattern in the plaza.

“One of the greatest challenges,” says Balsley, “was that we were asked to create two spaces that function together—the South Plaza and North Garden. The goal of the South Plaza was to make for a unique and dramatic entrance experience for the visitors to this complex, which is very large. The second goal was, in doing so, give the entire project a public face and a sense of place. There was a place making component that was part of our charge and helps to explain the very dramatic forms that have been provided in that plaza.

“I do sculpture as it relates to my designs, and as the sculpture emerges from the designs it becomes collaborative. This is very gratifying because the sculpture is very much in keeping with the overall landscaping concept. It is not an afterthought.”—Thomas Balsley

Those leaning orange columns are now being shown as the opening scene in one of the most popular daytime Japanese television shows. They were so iconic, they attracted that kind of attention. The way in which we approached the creation of the site has built in added value, so as such, it now has extra exposure.

The Carex folly is steel, construction painted yellow green or chartreuse. Each one of the three follies are fashioned on a botanical theme using the Latin names for each particular grass. Carex casts a green light even though the lighting itself is white, which enhances the natural looking glow.

“On the South Plaza, it’s just poplars. The garden follies are in the North Garden, which links the buildings as well as residential area. That goal was the opposite—to create a space that fostered social activities for the food court workers and shoppers, as well as a more contemplative space. We created a common ground for those who work in the buildings and those who live in the area. The space provided the kind of character that is in keeping with those goals.”

The entrance sculpture to the Poplar Grove borrowed an English garden concept. It comprises leaning orange sculptures which all rest in a perfect grid so there’s a sense of order. However, their angles create a play on the dynamic tension between order and disorder. They are purposely in a dialogue with the upright trees growing across from them. One passes through these leaning columns and these very rigid upright trees, which is the opposite of what one would expect. According to Balsley, “In effect, we reverse the roles of each. One would expect the trees to be in disorder and the architectural art to be orderly.”

The North Garden has Zelkova trees, Camphor, and arbor vitae, and cherry (prunus), Styrax japonica, Benthamidia florida, Chamaecyparis obtusa, Prunus campanulata, Cinnamomum camphora and Myrica rubra. The shrubs, groundcovers, and perennials include Rhododendron, Azalea, Hosta, Ajuga reptans, Lysimachia nummularia, Juniperus horizontalis, Lavendula, Agapanthus and Vervain. For the Entry Plaza, the trees chosen include Populus nigra var. italica, Camellia sasanqua, Cinnamomum camphora, Prunus jamasakura. The shrubs and groundcovers include Azalea, Hedera helix and Liriope.

Above & Below: Balsley and his team designed seating benches with light under them. The benches appear to be floating over the glow. The paving makes up a radial pattern of three different colors of granite aggregate that reference the geometry of the paving in the North Garden. The food court looks out onto the North Garden so the paving pattern here took its form from the curving façade of the building.

The North Garden links the various Gate City buildings to each other, as well as to the adjacent residential neighborhood, situated across a canal. Its terraces, punctuated with lines of water, lawn panels, and light, provide relief from the surrounding architecture. Closer to the atrium, large paved areas accommodate event seating and the cafe tables served by a kiosk. Each area offers different outdoor experiences and levels of intimacy.

The retaining wall was constructed because a folly is located at the very edge of the garden which over looks the canal and is slightly higher than both the canal and the walkway. The garden is elevated about five feet above grade and filled with Azalea plantings.

Three organically shaped sculpture follies provide sheltered vantage points. Each folly is inspired by a plant species, expressing the garden in architectural form and degrees of spatial enclosure.

“Light and shadow play an important part in all of our work whether it’s composed with plant material or whether it’s manipulated with architectural objects such as the grill or the sculptures. They’re all capturing and reflecting light and casting shadows which obviously enhance the dynamic of the landscape as the sun moves,” says Balsley. “We used natural light as well as artificial light to create ever-changing patterns.”

Says Balsley, “I do sculpture as it relates to my designs and as the sculpture emerges from the designs it becomes collaborative. It’s very gratifying because the sculpture is in keeping with the overall landscaping concept. It is not an afterthought.”

Above & Below: The Calla folly (as in Calla lily) was designed by Balsley and has two curving flower petals. The visitor can actually occupy that cocoon space and have views straight to the sky. The curving stainless steel captures both natural and artificial light. The metallic surface creates extraordinary reflections of light and captures the glow of both sunshine and sunset in very dramatic ways.

Balsley always wanted to be a sculptor, he says. “So this is a way to reach out, tap into the fine arts and integrate art into the overall design. It is wonderful to get to be a sculptor. Of course, some legitimate public artists push dirt around and create art, but we do it every day. It’s just a matter of who defines what art is. I consider it extremely important that we tap into our creative selves.”

The North Garden is a space that fosters social activities with the food court for workers and shoppers, as well as a more contemplative space. The idea was to create a common ground for those who work in the buildings and those who live in the area. It provided the character which is in keeping with those goals. The light poles are compact fluorescents by LPA.

Noguchi was the one person whose work convinced Balsely that by choosing landscape architecture as a field, he could find ways to be a sculptor and still be within the general boundaries of landscape architecture. “Noguchi custom designed furniture and lighting,” says Balsley. “We do all these things that are offshoots of the big idea. Noguchi came at it from the fine art direction and designed landscapes. We are designing landscapes and pushing into the boundaries of art—blurring the boundaries.

The light fixtures for both the interior & exterior lighting were designed by LPA (Lighting Planner Associates, Inc.) The lighting design for the plaza and garden was done by Nikken Sekkei.

Blurring those boundaries is what makes Thomas Balsley’s work exciting to him and notable to others. “We as a profession have so much more to offer that just a path and some shrubs,” he says. And, he definitely practices what he preaches.

Says Balsley, “The paving material is two different colors of granite and is actually a very unique pattern. It was not inspired by houndstooth but, on reflection, that’s what it ended up looking like. The intent was to meld two different geometric systems out on the plaza that are emanating from the building, each with its own angles. We played with the intersection of those angles. It was fairly messy, so we looked for patterns within the angles. This is the pattern that emerged. It is derived from the two buildings that frame the plaza, yet has its own language.”

All the water channels are level and it is only when they come out to the street that they drop down to the basin, representing streams coming down from the mountains, going into the rivers and cities, and ultimately leading to the ocean. The lower basin is pumped with air compressors making the water very chaotic and turbulent. It’s a miniature representation of a journey. This provides a modern interpretation of nature in the same way Japanese gardens are metaphors for natural settings.