Metropolitan Museum of Art Fifth Avenue Reconstruction

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Other Projects by OLIN

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Bud and Susie Rogers Garden at the Akron Art Museum

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Metropolitan Museum of Art Fifth Avenue Reconstruction

Firm

OLIN

Type

Government + Health ›
Landscape + Planning › Public Park

At the far north and south ends of the wings by McKim, Mead, and White, where the architecture steps forward toward the street, two allées of large Little Leaf Linden trees will be planted, one on each margin of the sidewalk, continuing the shaded route along the Central Park wall and aligned to the rhythm of the windows along the Museum’s façade facing Fifth Avenue. These trees will be pruned in the form of two aerial hedges, similar to the trees at the Palais Royal in Paris. Existing flagpoles will be relocated to rise above the trees at the ends of each allée, responding to the architectural arches of the façade. The presence of trees will create a pleasant experience within the streetscape, reinforcing the central plaza’s volume, yet hedged to ensure that the trees do not detract from the monumentality of the Museum’s façade.Within the central plaza, pairs of bosques of London Plane trees will be planted, flanking the 81st and 83rd Street entrances. By planting the bosques at a 45-degree angle to the street, the resulting lines of the tree trunks will guide pedestrians toward the doorways. The London Plane trees will be pollarded, a historic pruning technique that allows for maximum sun penetration in the winter to warm the plaza and maximum shade in the summer for cooling. The pollarding also limits the height of the trees so they do not grow to block the view of the imposing façade. Along the base of the building on either side of the central stairway, ornamental beds of mixed shrubs and herbaceous flowers will be planted, referencing plantings seen in early- to mid-20th-century photographs and drawings, including original concepts developed by McKim Mead and White.A pair of contemporary granite fountains, designed by the award-winning firm Fluidity Design Consultants, will be operational year-round, bracketing the grand stairs to create an energized connection between people sitting on the steps and those at the fountains, while punctuating the long plaza along Fifth Avenue with attractive water elements. Each fountain will be a quiet square form inset with a circular stone dome, with seating on long stone benches placed adjacent to the north and south edges of the pools. A circular basin will be subtracted from the rectilinear stone form to reveal a shallow stone dome occupying the basin’s negative space and generating a lens effect in the pool’s water volume. Evenly spaced nozzles, mounted around the edge of the circular basin, will orient glassy streams toward the center of the feature. The streams will be individually size-controlled and programmed to present a wide variety of programmable patterns. In winter, the water will be warmed by recycling steam to prevent freezing, thereby allowing for year-round use.