The North Carolina Museum of Art is currently surrounded by acres of parking and mowed lawn with a retention pond at the southeast corner of the site. The Museum Park and Preserve to the south, which will become a more active part of programming in years to come, is separated from the museum and lawn by a band of deciduous trees.
As part of its expansion, the museum plans to upgrade and restores its grounds. Necessary changes will be made to meet its storm water management requirements resulting from the new construction. Reconfigurations to the site will be made while keeping art as the main focus.
It is the intention of this project, “Layered Pond: House Creek Basin”, to transform the vacant terrain surrounding the museum into a destination while acting as a connector to the Museum Park and Preserve. The focus on the imagination that takes place inside a museum is extended beyond its walls and used to call attention to the character of the site. Water, its presence and movement as it affects the site, is the subject of this work. Many of the often invisible functions of watersheds and wetlands are revealed as the viewer moves through this newly configured landscape. The grounds of the museum become a starting point for understanding and becoming aware of the issues of water that affect this region.