An activation from the 1939 Worlds Fair in New York City was the inspiration for an exhibition at ABC Stone in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that challenged five landscape architects with designing a 350-square-foot vignette with a single stone species as the centerpiece. Stone in Landscape Architecture: A Sensory Journey started as a clever marketing ploy from ASLANY and supplier and host ABC Stone, based on the showcase at the Worlds Fair that staged a 5-acre exhibition with 50 landscaped gardens. Stone in Landscape Architecture features vignettes by Design Workshop; LaGuardia Design Group; Oehme, Van Sweden (OvS); RKLA Studio; and Supermass Studio. Leaders from each group joined a panel moderated by Elizabeth Maskalenko of Hazen and Sawyer to discuss the ideas for their firms displays, which range from a terminal stone fountain by LaGuardia Design Group to a series of vertical stone pillars featuring stone sourced from the Danby Quarry in Vermont. Their work, introduced at a launch event last week and is on display at ABC Stones exhibition space (189 Banker Street, Brooklyn), through June 20.Supermass Studio reinterpreted its planter seating area from inside LaGuardia Airport Terminal B, using stone instead of GFRC. (Julie Florio/Courtesy ABC Stone)Supermass Studio chose to reinterpret one of its most well-known projects, a Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) planter seating area from inside LaGuardia Airport Terminal B. Founding principal Taewook Cha explained the concept behind the display, titled Fluid, which replaced GFRC with stone to showcase its versatility as a material. A display card with Supermasss exhibit reads: While the hollow precast GFRC planter modules of the original project sought to mimic the rough, coarse texture of stone, working with real stone resulted in a smoother, more fluid surface, revealing an unexpected dimension of its materiality.A terminal stone fountain by LaGuardia Design Group is augmented with blocks featuring quotes from architects including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. (Julie Florio/Courtesy ABC Stone)LaGuardia Design Group lead Carl Carlson discussed the provenance of the Renaissance Gray Limestone it sourced from Germany for its vignette, the terminal stone fountain augmented with blocks featuring quotes from architects including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Antoni Gaud. One of the things I like about this stone is that it actually has fossils in it, he said during the presentation. When it gets processed, sometimes you can actually see the fossils. It brings out this other element that reminds you that this is a very old substance. This was created a really, really long time ago. Design Workshop contributed a more sculptural piece, sited at the entrance to ABC Stones exhibition space. Principal Ben Roush explained that the concept, which features two sets of stones seemingly growing from the ground and undulating upward toward a meeting in the middle, was to spotlight the Global Carbon Project, which he described as an international initiative that is focused on greenhouse gas carbon emission. He introduced the concept with a slide that read: Design Workshops installation gives physical form to a profound and urgent storyone that spans two centuries yet unfolds in mere moments of geological time. By transforming a dataset of global fossil fuel emissions into stone, it renders visible the invisible, making tangible the lasting impact of human industry on our planet.Design Workshop contributed a more sculptural piece that transforms a dataset of global fossil fuel emissions into stone. (Julie Florio/Courtesy ABC Stone)Its easy to lose sight of the impact we all have as landscape architects, Roush added.Other vignettes by OvS and RKLA took perhaps more traditional approaches to incorporating stone into landscape design, intermingling trees and plants with stone structures. OvS principal Stacilyn Feldman, known for her planting design and detailing in botanical gardens and residential estates, took inspiration from Henry Moore, incorporating the landscape legends quote, Sculpture is an art of the open air, daylight, sunlight, is necessary to it, and for me its best setting and complement is nature, into the exhibit. OvS was influenced by planting design and detailing in botanical gardens and residential estates and incorporated a quote from Henry Moore. (Julie Florio/Courtesy ABC Stone)RKLA, meanwhile, created a pocket park designed to tell the story of Danby Marble, the Vermont quarry that has supplied stone to New York City for decadesincluding the United Nations Secretariat Building and New York Public Library. Managing partner Gareth Mahon explained that RKLAs vignette celebrates the varied qualities of the stone with vertical pillars placed in the park-like setting, which also features a paving pattern meant to mimic the New York City street grid.RKLA designed vertical pillars in a park-like setting. (Julie Florio/Courtesy ABC Stone)Lyndsey Belle Tyler, the creative director and marketing executive at ABC Stone who created the exhibits concept, took heat from attendees for the rushed timeline for the unusual project, but the landscape architects convivial atmosphere suggested the exhibit inspired them to create memorable vignetteswhich you can now see for yourself.