Introduction
SPRINGFIELD MUSEUMS LANDSCAPE MASTER PLAN
L
ocated in the heart of downtown Springfield, a city self-proclaimed as the “cultural urban center of the region,” the Springfield Museums’ campus encompasses four cultural centers, each with its own focus: the Museum of Fine Arts, the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, and the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. The grounds are also home to the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden, an array of life-sized bronze statues modeled after the author’s fanciful characters, serving as a memorial to the late creator in his birthplace. The complex has been evolving since the Smith Museum was built in 1895 and the transformation continues to this day, as the Museums prepare to open a fifth museum, dedicated to highlighting Springfield’s rich cultural history. In developing a landscape master plan, the Springfield Museums’ landscape committee seeks to broaden its vision for the site. This vision imagines the future landscape being a place that is safe and welcoming for all visitors, creating spaces for social and educational interaction, while encouraging public stewardship and raising environmental
awareness in the community. In order to reach this vision, the landscape committee has developed a list of goals and program elements for the master landscape plan:
GOALS • Provide a secure and welcoming environment for all museum visitors. • Create spaces in the landscape to provide for various kinds of educational and social interactions. • Develop a landscape plan that reduces maintenance and uses native vegetation and local materials wherever possible. • Encourage public stewardship by partnering with interested community groups and provide spaces for them to engage with the landscape. • Preserve the existing green quad in order to maintain the benefits of open space in an urban environment.
PROGRAM Outdoor classroom space for: • Groups of school children • Art students • Family groups Eating space for: • Large groups of school children • Museum staff • Visitors (families and individuals)
Educational components including opportunities for: • Engaging the senses • Identifying plants • Observing butterflies and birds • Interacting with nature and various materials • Viewing art, history, and science in the landscape
Special events spaces including: • Multi-use, open space
SPRINGFIELD MUSEUMS LANDSCAPE MASTER PLAN | Springfield, MA | June 2008 Liz Kushner & Theresa Sprague | Conway School of Landscape Design Not for construction. This drawing is part of a student project and is not based on a legal survey.
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