Land+Living: Crystal Bridges

Architecture, Landscape — August 22, 2005 Posted by Deborah

Moshe Safdie showcases Bentonville Arkansas ravine

Moshe Safdie is an architect whose designs exude harmony. This is especially true of the new Crystal Bridges museum and cultural centre designed for Bentonville Arkansas.

The location chosen for the centre is a ravine fed by Crystal Springs, a sylvan setting with mature trees and steep slopes. The sides of the centre will be carved into these slopes, and galleries, libraries and cultural activity spaces will straddle the ravine itself. Two of the galleries will act as bridges that not only allow visitors to easily access the perimeter of the ravine, but have a more utilitarian function as dams that will make a set of ponds out of the interior.

Link: Crystal Bridges
Firm: Moshe Safdie and Associates

Crystal Bridges will be located on 120 acres of parkland, trails and picnic grounds, and sculptural gardens both formal and informal will lead to the centre itself. A third bridge set high in the treetops will connect to a trail that leads to Bentonville's city centre. The setting is lush, green and sunken suggesting privacy and removal, but yet is bound to create a strong connection to the community through its activities and purpose. Peter Walker FASLA is the project landscape architect (many thanks to David Connell for the update). The completion date is set for 2009.

3 comments

Comments (3)

David Connell — August 23, 2005
Peter Walker, FASLA, is the Landscape Architect

Moshe Safdie may be the big name, but everything in the third paragraph should be credited to Peter Walker, FASLA, who is the landscape architect for the project, and the one who ensures Safdie's design fits the surrounding land and the community.

Deborah Kenley — August 25, 2005
Peter Walker

Thank you David for an update that is unfortunately missing from the press releases.

Katy Moss Warner — April 25, 2008
Peter Walker

Is there any information available on what Peter Walker is including in the landscape for the Crystal Bridges? Will there be sculpture, a kid's garden, other outdoor spaces for art?