Architect and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto has completed the hirshhorn sculpture garden redesign, rebuilding the sunken garden behind the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. The garden now displays 60 works, up from 35. Sugimoto was first selected in 2018 to refresh the lobby of Gordon Bunshaft’s brutalist building, one of 11 Smithsonian institutions on the National Mall. The garden project goes much further.
The brief for the hirshhorn sculpture garden redesign had three goals: make the sunken space more visible, shade it more effectively, and show more art. Sugimoto’s office, New Material Research Laboratory, designed the scheme with New York-based YUN Architecture. Acting museum director Aaron Seeto calls it “a complete rethink. It is not just a renovation of an existing plan.”
The garden covers 1.3 acres and sits up to 14 feet below the surface of the National Mall. Bunshaft’s circular museum begins 14 feet above street level, so the two levels were designed as a pair. For decades the garden had only two entrances. A third passage under Jefferson Drive has been closed since 1981.
Under the hiroshi sugimoto hirshhorn scheme, the shuttered passage was reopened and the northern entrance widened. Seeto says the change is transformational. “It means that our front door is the National Mall.”
Sugimoto also returned to Bunshaft’s original intent. Bunshaft wanted a larger reflecting pool, and Sugimoto built two pools in the center. A platform in the middle can host performances, an idea drawn from Noh theatre. Sugimoto says Bunshaft also drew on Zen gardens.
In a design statement, Sugimoto described the logic behind the empty center. “Having ‘void space’ amid greenery is the essential precondition for a proper Zen garden. Placing a lifeless, empty space amid vigorously flourishing vegetation has the paradoxical effect of presenting the viewer with a powerful visualization of the concept of life.”
The original garden had too few plants. “While the original Bunshaft-designed garden succeeded in establishing this void space, I believe it was missing the surrounding green plantings,” Sugimoto said.
A contested hirshhorn sculpture garden redesign
The Smithsonian addressed the planting gap in 1981, when Lester Collins produced a partial redesign that greened Bunshaft’s bare scheme. Preservationists have objected to Sugimoto’s work mainly because it erases the Collins elements. The Cultural Landscape Foundation classified the garden as ‘threatened’.
The new stacked stone walls drew particular critique for abandoning a central concrete element that matched the museum’s form.
Even so, the project reshapes the museum’s forecourt into something more ambitious. The result feels both more comfortable and more monumental. It works less like a secret garden and more like a conversation pit.
The stone walls contain 950 tons of stone from Gloucester, Massachusetts, hand-stacked by Japanese stonemasons. The hirshhorn sculpture garden redesign adds considerably more seating and shade, which matter in Washington’s humid summers. Seeto says, “We want people to linger longer and to really use the space for contemplation of our extraordinary collection.”
The architects on the hirshhorn sculpture garden redesign, working with Rhodeside & Harwell landscape architects, kept the historic elms along the perimeter. They added 57 new trees, from American elms to Katsura cherry trees, plus more than 40,000 plants. Sugimoto’s goal was “the perfect forest,” with a different character in each spot.
More art, new commissions
The number of sculptures on display rose from 35 to 60. Nineteen of those works have never been shown at the museum. Seeto describes the collection as a narrative. Rodin works serve as a foundation for modern sculpture, and the museum holds personal ties to Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. A gallery now focuses on those two artists.
Eleven new works entered the garden, by artists including Woody De Othello and Chatchai Puipia. Four are commissions. They include works by Izumi Kato and KAWS, and a stainless steel piece by Sugimoto himself, Passage of Reflectance. That work sits beneath the bridge linking the museum and the garden. Yoko Ono‘s Wish Tree for Washington, which incorporates a live dogwood, has also returned.
Danish artists Elmgren and Dragset contributed Eight, a stainless steel work that resembles a backyard swimming pool turned on its side. Ingar Dragset addressed the timing with a joke. “We have been asked if there’s a relation to other pools that have been tremendously infamous in Washington recently. To that we have to say we planned this for four years. More than us commenting on reality, reality sometimes starts to comment on our pieces.”
Source: wallpaper.com
Frequently asked questions
How many sculptures are displayed in the Hirshhorn sculpture garden now?
The garden now displays 60 sculptures, up from 35 before the redesign. Nineteen of those works have never been shown at the museum before.
Why have preservationists objected to the Hirshhorn sculpture garden redesign?
Preservationists have objected mainly because the redesign erases the partial 1981 redesign by Lester Collins. The Cultural Landscape Foundation classified the garden as ‘threatened,’ and the new stacked stone walls drew particular critique for abandoning a central concrete element.
How large is the Hirshhorn sculpture garden and how deep is it?
The garden covers 1.3 acres and sits up to 14 feet below the surface of the National Mall. Bunshaft’s circular museum begins 14 feet above street level, so the two levels were designed as a pair.
How many new trees and plants were added to the garden?
The designers added 57 new trees, ranging from American elms to Katsura cherry trees, plus more than 40,000 plants. They kept the historic elms along the perimeter.
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