Foster + Partners transformed the Norton Museum of Art in Palm Beach into the social heart of the community
In the entrance square of the Norton Museum of Art in Palm Beach, a large banyan planted in 1941 (when the museum was first built) welcomes visitors with its lush leaves. Since then, almost 80 years have passed and not only the tree has grown, expanding its foliage, but also the museum has changed and grown with the addition of new galleries and structures. The latest major transformation was carried out by Foster + Partners, restoring the original layout, which included a series of elegant Art Deco pavilions around a central courtyard. Subsequent expansion broke the original symmetry and the main entrance was relocated to the side of the building.
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The renovation project of the Norton Museum of Art
Sir Norman Foster, from Foster + Partners, says that the new project is mostly focused on the relationship with the surroundings, also thanks to a landscape design that highlights the collection of outdoor sculptures, an important part of the Norton Art Museum. Among the many, Claes Oldenburg’s work, Typewriter Eraser, Scale X (1999) stands out, reflected in a pool as an icon symbolizing the museum’s relationship with contemporary art.
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By eliminating the extensions of intermediate designs, the new master plan recalls the original layout, with a clear circulation within the facility, balancing different building heights, introducing new exhibition and educational spaces. The new facilities include an auditorium, a shop, a restaurant and a meeting space called the Great Hall. To engage a wider audience, the Great Lawn hosts outdoor screenings and events.
The entrance on South Dixie Highway redefines the relationship between the museum and the city. Here the banyan welcomes visitors and becomes part of the museum by integrating itself into the design of the light metal canopy that bends when it meets its branches. Under the canopy, three new double-height pavilions mediate the low-rise galleries and the Nessel Wing, extended in 2001 (now on three stories), and harmonize with the existing part thanks to the same white stone façade cladding.
Art dialogues with nature
Foster + Partners included the garden in the master plan to reinforce the relationship between the museum and the landscape. Thanks to the mild climate of Florida, the garden is full of native plants, flowers, and cool, shaded walkways that allow art lovers to enjoy the outdoor sculpture collection. Walking under the colonnades, visitors can enjoy both outdoor and indoor artworks, thanks to the glass windows of many galleries. [Text Paola Molteni – Photo Nigel Young / Foster + Partners]
Click here to discover Muzeum Susch, a new contemporary art museum in the Swiss Alps, in a former monastery
Click here to discover the UCCA Dune Art Museum, the museum among the dunes of Bohai Bay, China
And here to see Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, the world’s premier museum dedicated to cinema
