“Places” is a outdoor sculpture by Ayse Erkmen located on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) and part of the Art on Campus Collection, a percent-for-art program at WUSTL.

The sculpture is a collection of 9 glass mosaic tiled geometric forms made of stainless steel reinforced concrete, laid out in a semicircular form in one of the Engineering Quads along a major pedestrian route east of the main campus library. From the Kemper Museum’s blog “This confluence of people and physical space informs the artistic choices... Places originates and intervenes in the social and spatial environment.”

A year after the work’s installation, Arbolope Studio was asked to develop a landscape concept for the work to deal with a number of site maintenance issues.

In line with the artist’s intention of having her work be inviting to interact with, Arbolope planted the semicircular lawn area with a bed of Thyme varieties - a fragrant stepable perennial groundcover which eliminates potential damage from lawn mowers. Taller Sedges are planted on the western side of the work, creating a backdrop and giving the work a more inviting sense of enclosure. Complementary plantings of crocuses and sculptural Alliums within the Thyme and Sedge beds respectively, give the work additional seasonal interest.