Work begins on Foster + Partners' Norton Museum of Art, Florida

The celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the Norton Museum of Art in Palm Beach, Florida coincided with the 'start of work on an expansion for the museum designed by architect Norman Foster.
The Norton Museum of Art was built in 1941 to plans by architect Marion Sims Wyeth to host the art collection of Elizabeth and Ralph Hubbard Norton. The original museum included pavilions of Art Deco inspiration arranged around a central courtyard. Later changes included moving the main entrance, altering the original arrangement and the building's axial layout.

Foster's project restores the logic of Wyeth's initial plan. The importance of the central axis of the masterplan is restored, returning the main entrance to it, and a number of compositional solutions balance the heights of the different pavilions.
The new project not only amplifies the available exhibition space and the range of visitor services (with a training centre, an auditorium, a restaurant, a shop, etc.) but improves and redefines the relationship between the museum and the natural landscape around it.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Design: Foster + Partners
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida USA

Images courtesy of Foster + Partners

www.fosterandpartners.com
www.norton.org

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