The mountainous landscape of Aspen was choosen as the ideal setting for a complex of modernist buildings destined to host the campus of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. Without the need for a masterplan, Herbert Bayer and Fritz Benedict as associate architect designed and built between 1953 and 1964, a series of flat-roofed buildings destined to serve the three main areas of the campus: housing for guests, institute administration and activities, and affiliated institutes.

The Marble Garden is a sculpture consisting in a marble platform with a small central pond and many blocks of different shape and height. The shadow and light effects are enhanced by the composition and free arrangement of these block, letting the observer discover ever different scenarios.