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Land Forum

Getty Centered

By Lisa Gelfand and Susan Herrington

The 13-year development of the site has involved many landscape architects, including Don Kiley, the late Emmet Wemple, and Lourie Olin, as well as artist Robert Irwin. The evolution of this project has been painstakingly documented by the Getty Center, which claims to have executed the largest single-phase construction project ever undertaken in Los Angeles, putting it ahead of airports, stadiums, and universities. The Center feeds the fascination with size, supporting for example Robert Irwin’s contention that his Central Garden is the most complex garden project undertaken in the last 200 years…