clark art institute feASIBILITY STUDY
Williamstown, Massachusetts
We were the landscape architect on the team that prepared this feasibility study for an undeveloped hilltop site that was being considered by the Clark Art Institute for a new art conservation facility. These studies informed the siting of a building to be designed by architect Tadao Ando. We provided landscape design services for the building schematic design as well.
The landscape is designed to be kept rural in character, to relate to the natural landscape of the area and local agricultural patterns. Care is taken to minimize the impact of the new construction on the site. The approach drive slips obliquely across the steep slope of the site to reach a driveway that rings the summit of the hill. The summit is left preserved with the building sited on its back slope. The hill is restored as woodland with a entry meadow cleared adjacent to the highway, a second meadow framing the first view of the building and a third meadow that assures a clear view from the building to neighboring Mount Greylock.