The First-ever Foster + Partners Design for Public Garden at the Norton Museum Expansion

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The Norton Museum of Art located at West Palm Beach, Florida has revealed the plans for Foster + Partner’s first public garden ever. This comes as a step of many to come in the $100 million expansion plan. The park includes several native plants and communal spaces that are regarded as “a new social space for the community.”
“From the beginning, we have conceived of the Norton expansion as an opportunity to create a New Norton—one that embraces its original design, while also creating a more welcoming and inviting campus,” Norman Foster commented.
“In our masterplan, it was important for us to define the Norton’s sense of place—in this case, Florida’s lush subtropics. 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 campus, that occupies an area of 6.3 acres, will also include a pavilion inspired by Art-Deco style. The pavilion would encircle the main courtyard to provided shady pathways connecting “garden rooms” which reside south of the museum. Opulent plants will mount spaces inside the Pamela and Robert B. Goergen Garden. The garden will accommodate 11 valuable art pieces that were donated to the museum by the duo. The pieces include contemporary artworks by George Rickey, Mark di Suervo, and Keith Haring.

Courtesy of Foster + Partners

The ‘great lawn’ will be centrally-situated in the plan and will present an outdoor space for a program dubbed ‘Art After Dark’ as well as many additional activities and programs.

A ‘mature garden’ will encompass eighty-two fully-grown trees which will provide eaves for the building’s undulating roof.

Courtesy of Foster + Partners

Additional features of the expansion include a reflection pool as well as a courtyard that comprise a 43-foot-long shiny metal structure which protrudes 45 feet out from the façade. The metal structure resembles a canopy and has an opening that will provide views for the historic banyan tree present on site.

Interiorly, the museum will have several new spaces that include the Stiller Family Foundation Auditorium which has a seating capacity of 210. There are also the Leonard and Evelyn Lauder Restaurant, the Jane and Leonard Korman Room. Moreover, the John and Marjorie McGraw Terrace that will host a mesmerizing open-air dining experience. The Ruth and Carl Shapiro Great Hall will link all these spaces, providing a comfortable ambiance through the lounge area, the piano, the coffee bar, and the bookshelves. The hall has an area of 3,600 square feet and a height of 43 feet.

Courtesy of Foster + Partners

Not only will the building’s addendum host these features but it will also contain a new 12,000-square-foot exhibition area to accommodate collections and galleries. The William Randolph Hearst Education Center will greatly expand the educational services of the venue.

The construction of the project is going at a steady pace and it is expected to open in February 2019.

Newly revealed designs for the @NortonMuseum Garden reinforce relationship between building and landscape serving as a new social space. pic.twitter.com/Q5LOouFQok

— Foster + Partners (@FosterPartners) October 26, 2017

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