Katrien Van Der Schueren Transforms Architecture into Sculpture in a New Site-Specific Commission for the Nazarian Collection

For Belgian-born, Los Angeles-based artist Katrien Van Der Schueren, architecture is not simply the backdrop for art, but a medium in itself. Working at the intersection of art, architecture, and material, Katrien creates immersive works that transform moments of transition into sculptural experiences. Her latest private commission reimagines an existing elevator structure, terrace, and garden at a Bel Air residence as a unified composition shaped by movement, material, and place.

Created for the private art collection of author, philanthropist, and collector Angella Nazarian and her husband David Nazarian, the commission comprises a monumental sculptural relief integrated directly into the residence's existing elevator structure, alongside a custom outdoor concrete table. Sculpted entirely on site in fiber-reinforced concrete and composite glass, the relief transforms a functional architectural element into a tactile landmark marking the journey between the upper terrace and garden below. The accompanying table, developed in collaboration with interior designer Pauline Moghavem and sculpted on site, carries the same material language into the landscape, creating continuity between architecture, art, and the surrounding environment.

The commission forms part of Katrien's ongoing Future Ruins series, which considers how objects and architecture accumulate meaning through material, memory, and time. Rather than creating sculpture as an object to be placed within a space, Katrien develops works that emerge from the architecture itself and become inseparable from their surroundings.

"My role isn't to impose something onto a place but to enter into a conversation with it," says Katrien. "The best site-specific works feel as though they were always meant to be there."