The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden New Orleans Museum of Art

The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana Sawyer/Berson Architecture & Landscape Architecture, LLP, New York City Narrative Summary The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art occupies approximately five acres in City Park adjacent to the Museum. Atypical of most sculpture gardens, this Garden is located within a mature existing landscape of Pines, Magnolias and Live Oaks. The garden design creates outdoor viewing spaces within this picturesque landscape. A re-configured lagoon bisects the site and creates two distinct halves: a mature Pine and Magnolia grove adjacent to the Museum, and a more open area of two-hundred year old Live Oaks across the lagoon near the New Orleans Botanical Garden. The Sculpture Garden is designed for approximately sixty sculptures, most of them donated to the New Orleans Museum of Art by The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Foundation. Features A pair of cast stone and bronze pavilions with clerestory windows marks the entry to the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The pavilions, which face a large meadow adjacent to the Museum's entry drive, flank a large plaza containing Henry Moore's "Reclining Mother and Child". The pavilions and entry plaza also establish a centerline through the depth of the garden that becomes an organizing element of the design. The garden is bisected by a lagoon which has been re-shaped into two basins on either side of the central pedestrian bridge. These lagoon basins each contain a sculpture, Kenneth Snelson's "Virlane Tower" and Arman's "Pablo Casal's Obelisk". By locating these vertical sculptures in the water, their reflections become part of the compositions. A total of three pedestrian bridges cross the lagoon and connect the two sides of the garden. The entries to the bridges are marked by simple, cast stone pylons that support bronze lanterns. Side rails constructed of bronze and stainless steel mesh reflect the light and allow views through the bridges. This combination of cast stone lantern pylons and bronze with stainless mesh is repeated in the form of monumental gates at the main entry and two secondary entries. A picturesque composition of curvilinear paths compliments the mature trees while creating smaller viewing areas, or "galleries", within the garden. These paths also connect a series of garden features including the Overlook Terrace, the Exedra at the end of one of the pedestrian bridges, the monumental Water Steps at one of the secondary entrances, the elliptical Sculpture Theater containing smaller pieces of sculpture and the Cascade Garden Pool containing Robert Graham's "Source Figure". The pathways also frame the elliptical Pine Grove immediately off of the main entry plaza and the large Oak Lawn at the opposite end of the garden. With the exception of the lagoon, the Oak Lawn is the most open space in the garden and contains some of the larger sculptures including works by Louise Bourgeois, Deborah Butterfield, Elizabeth Frink, Joel Shapiro and Claes Oldenburg. Building Materials Limestone Finish Architectural Precast Concrete cladding at buildings and site features; Statuary Finish Bronze Doors, Entry Gates, Bridge Handrails, and Light Fixtures; Brushed Stainless Steel frame and mesh panels at Entry Gates; Sandblasted Glass at Pavilion Clerestories and Light Fixtures; Tudor Finish Limestone Gray unit pavers at Garden Pathways and Plazas. Building Facilities Docent Services including a Ticket Window, Staff Lounge, Staff Restroom, Security Office, and Public Restrooms. Garden Size 4.76 acres, including 127,000 square feet of planted area, 50,000 square feet of sod area, and 23,230 square feet of paved areas. Garden Features 55 sculptures 3,236 linear feet of pathways Three pedestrian bridges crossing City Park Lagoon 687 square foot Cascade Garden Pool Seating areas and terraces with views across the lagoon and through the garden Site lighting, including specialty lighting for sculptures Existing mature trees, including 27 Live Oaks, 1 Water Oak, 11 Southern Magnolias, 19 Slash Pines, 2 Bald Cypress and 1 Sweet Gum that required special arboricultural treatment to the root zones and canopy New trees, including 9 Live Oaks, 15 Slash Pines, 23 Bald Cypress, 67 Little Gem Magnolias, and 28 Dr. Merrill Magnolias New shrubs and plant material, including 63 Camellias in 4 varieties; 344 Azaleas in 3 varieties; 1,181 Pittosporums in 3 varieties; 244 Japanese Ligustrums in both tree and shrub form; 56 Cleyera; 15 Japanese Yews; 42 Wax Myrtles; 20 Elaegnus; 14 Sago Palms; 5 Windmill Palms; and 86 Louisiana Sabal Palmettos Ornamental plantings including white and purple blooming Lily of the Nile and 2 varieties of Ginger and Crinum Holy Fern, Ardisia and Asian Jasmine groundcover Palmetto St. Augustine sod for all lawn areas A variety of vines at the perimeter fence including Evergreen Wisteria, Carolina Yellow Jasmine, Evergreen Clematis, Star Jasmine, Painted Trumpet Vine and Rose of Montana A variety of aquatic plantings at the lagoon edge primarily consisting of purple and yellow blooming varieties of Louisiana Iris, Yellow Flag Iris, Spider Lily, Butterfly Iris and Horsetail