广场景观坐凳意向图

The northern-most major city in the United States, Anchorage spreads across the foothills at the head of Cook Inlet. Inspired by the dramatic wilderness setting, the design team’s unified goal for the Common was to encourage an appreciation of the museum's extraordinary natural surroundings.  The landscape concept sprang from an idea to “scoop the trees from a nearby forest and toss them down in front of the museum.”

The grove of The Birches uses paper birches, one of the most culturally and ecologically important native trees in the state, salvaged from commercial developments. The trees are planted on a graduated grid, moving from dense spacing at the west end of the site to a light and airy configuration at the building face. The trees fill the park, complementing the dramatic form, mass, and semi-transparent skin of the building, and creating a striking presence at the street frontage.  A low understory planting of natives affords the park a sense of openness and visibility. Together, these plants will adapt to the environmental influences of the city and create their own, dynamic urban ecology.