A ‘museum within a garden’
Norton shows off outdoor garden concept for $100 million expansion.
Lush tropical landscaping. Outdoor “rooms.” Large sculptures. Shaded walkways.
These are part of the plans unveiled recently by Foster + Partners for the garden part of its “museum within a garden” concept for the Norton Museum of Art’s $100 million expansion.
The first public garden designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster will fill the space on the museum’s south side once occupied by a parking lot.
The centerpiece is the Pamela and Robert B. Goergen Garden, featuring a series of “rooms” defined by trees and plantings arranged axially in a pattern echoing original architect Marion Sims Wyeth’s 1941 design for the building.
The “rooms” will house thematic sculpture displays, featuring 11 large-scale works donated by the Goergens for the space as well as other sculptures. They include works by Keith Haring, George Rickey and Mark di Suvero, whose art will enter the collection for the first time.
The indoor glass and steel colonnade of the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Gallery will look out on the garden.
The redesigned 6.3 acre campus also will feature shaded walkways and a great lawn providing an open-air venue for Art After Dark and other events. To get a head start on that shade, 82 mature trees will be planted on the grounds.
The likely candidate for most mature tree is already there. It’s the majestic banyan tree on the museum’s west side, which was planted when the museum opened. The canopy extending over the museum’s new entrance off Dixie Highway curls around the tree.
Lord Norman Foster says the banyan was the inspiration for his “museum within a garden” design, integrat- ing Florida’s balmy weather
and subtropical vegetation with the building. The Norton’s expansion is scheduled to open in February 2019.