Architecture & Nature #4: Lobby Plant Wall
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.
Architecture & Nature #3: Museum Courtyard
At the scale of a museum campus, the relationship between art and nature is reflexive — there is art in the courtyard itself, and nature woven into the art within.
The reopened Foundations of American Art Gallery and redesigned Courtyard at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art bring art, architecture, and the Ozark landscape into dialogue as part of the museum's expanded vision. The courtyard extends the museum into nature through a curated landscape of native plantings, framed views, and meandering paths, designed for both discovery and reflection, and allowing nature to become an active part of the guest experience.