Athena's Crib, Los Angeles, California

Athena's Crib is a simple free-standing garden structure which was commissioned for a hillside site overlooking downtown Los Angeles. It was designed to support some existing olive trees which were in danger of collapsing. It also provides a structure to accommodate a variety of uses, including sitting, sleeping, socializing and fitness training. The working title Athena's Crib is inspired by Greek mythology: Athena, according to legend, created the olive tree on the Acropolis in a battle with Poseidon. Athena’s subsequent victory established her as goddess of the cities. While the scale and proportion of the structure places it somewhere between a building and a piece of furniture, it is given an enlarged presence by the wood columns, which form a type of portico. As the columns help support the trees, the trees in turn form a "green pediment," ornamenting the structure and shading the space below.