New Landmarks installation announced for Cockrell School of Engineering

A new 3,600-square-foot interactable sculpture created by artist Maya Lin will soon become a new landmark for students at the Cockrell School of Engineering. The concrete sculpture will be illuminated with LED lights corresponding to the stars on the date of UT’s founding — Sept. 15, 1883. 

Landmarks, UT’s public art program, announced on Aug. 17 an installation entitled “Floating Landscape,” set to be located at the new Autry C. Stephens Engineering Discovery Building. The program commissioned Lin, who created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C, to build the piece. The installation will open in April 2027, with a grand reception featuring a conversation with Lin and art historian Jana La Brasca. 

“(I hope) that the work will become a gathering place for students — one that they can come together and have different exchanges, or go by themselves to study or relax,” Landmarks deputy director Kathleen Brady Stimpert said. “It’s going to be a very beautiful and peaceful environment. We hope that it will become a favorite spot for students on campus.”

The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center will provide native plants to surround the installation. The plants will also serve as flood mitigation from the nearby Waller Creek by absorbing heavy rainwater and slowing runoff. 

“From a physical and mental standpoint, there is an abundance of data that shows when people engage with art, there are numerous positive benefits,” Stimpert said. “Everything from heightening empathy, heightening observational skills, promoting exchanges between people, it can impact us down on a cellular level, impacting the way that our body handles stress.”

Education coordinator Jo Roznovsky said educational materials accompany each landmark. The materials for “Floating Landscape” include a curatorial essay by La Brasca, lesson plans, activities and events centered around the installation. “Something that’s really special about the Landmarks Connect collection is how connected our pieces are to the buildings they exist in,” Roznovsky said. “Since a lot of our sculptures are commissioned specifically for UT and the colleges that they reside in, we’re, from the very beginning, thinking about the subjects that are being taught in those buildings and how we can create a work of art that is going to connect with students in that area.”

Digital content coordinator An Phung said she interprets the work as an emphasis on memory as a society. 

“This work is an example of how great art can be embedded in our daily lives and everyday experiences,” Phung said. “I also feel like the scale of the work as well, brings some more importance to the area to our university, and it makes students and faculty who are interacting with the work feel a part of a larger goal or a larger identity.”

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