Urban design and landscape firm West 8 has released images of a newly designed sculpture park for Duke University. To be known as Three Valleys Sculpture Park, the 140 acre design will be set within the sprawling Duke Forest, alongside the Olmsted Brothers’ designed Campus Drive, and will help to strengthen the link between Duke’s east and west campuses.
Central to the park’s design is its interaction with the hub-and-spoke plan of the Nasher Museum of Art, designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects. The park will surround the building, transforming existing parking lanes into green space and creating new entrances into the 5 glazed corners of the museum’s atrium. Gently curving pathways will bring pedestrians to terrain for sculpture as well as a new vantage point from which to view the museum.
Further along the path, the three valleys from which the park gets its name will be given new bridges to replace outdated culvert systems, creating a more practical stream ecology and giving students and visitors the ability to enjoy the landscape for the first time. West 8’s vision plan also includes improvements to Campus Drive, museum gardens and plazas, a sculpture slope and a series of walkways.
Other current West 8 projects include a collaboration with SHoP Architects for Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Yards and a revitalization of the Silverton district in West London.