The final post in our NatureAndArchitecture series explores nature as an organizing principle at the scale of a single wall.
The lush plant wall in the Lower Lobby at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art anchors a reimagined arrival space designed around clarity, comfort, and accessibility. Designed in close collaboration with Botanic Plant Co, the green wall is the museum's first installation of permanent indoor greenery. Its location was carefully selected: a sheltered nook that receives direct sunlight even one floor below the main lobby, creating the conditions for a living wall to thrive in an otherwise high-traffic environment. Custom millwork benches invite visitors to sit beneath the plants, fully immersed in the greenery, in a quiet moment set apart from the activity of the rest of the lower lobby. A small intervention with a significant effect on how visitors feel the moment they arrive.
From a city trail threshold to a biophilic workplace to a museum courtyard to a single plant wall — the thread across this series has been consistent: when nature is part of the design thinking from the start, it changes the quality of every experience, at every scale.
Explore more on our work at Crystal Bridges.
Photography: Rafael Gamo
