The Norton Museum of Art released its new landscape design designed by Foster + Partners, part of an overall master plan and expansion project by the firm that broke ground last year. The institution in West Palm Beach, Fla., which houses American, Chinese, European, and contemporary art as well as photography, will reopen in February 2019.
“In our masterplan, it was important for us to define the Norton’s sense of place—in this case Florida’s lush subtropics,” said Norman Foster, Hon. FAIA, in a press release. “To do so, we conceptualized a museum within a garden. We are creating verdant spaces for art and programming that extends the museum beyond its walls.”
The museum’s landscape will include the Pamela and Robert B. Goergen Garden, named after the donors of 11 sculptures by artists such as Keith Haring, George Rickey, and Mark di Suervo to be set among the plantings. The 6.3-acre site will also include walkways shaded by native plants and a lawn that will serve as an event space.
Foster’s masterplan builds upon architect Marion Sims Wyeth’s original scheme for the museum when it opened in 1941—”an elegant series of Art Deco-inspired pavilions organized around a central courtyard,” according to the press release. The expansion adds 12,000 square feet of galleries and doubles the educational facilities.
