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View
of terraced roof gardens and beautiful greenery.
Photo by Johanna Kahn
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Design
Concepts
The
Building
Architect Kevin Roche faced a difficult task in designing the new
museum building. The Oakland community’s strong desire for
a defined place to congregate, Oakland’s sense of inferiority
to nearby San Francisco, and the concern generated by increasing
political unrest were some of the immediate problems that required
thoughtful solutions.
Inspired by the hanging gardens of Mesopotamia and other ancient
cultures, Roche proposed a tri-level organization of the three departments
of the museum. Natural science would be on the lowest level, history
in the central level, and art on the highest level. Roche’s
solution “was to create a large open garden plaza in which
the buildings would step back, the roof of one museum forming the
garden terrace of the next.” The result was a graceful, three-tiered
blend of spacious galleries, terraces, patios, sculpture gardens,
and a pond.
He developed the idea of an “antimonumental monument”
which is intended to welcome and invite all people rather than to
overwhelm them. “The building must be cordial,” said Roche.
Only three materials were used—wood, glass, and concrete—in
order to de-emphasize the presence of the building and put more
importance on the gardens and community spaces.
The
Gardens
Because of their importance to the overall design, the roof gardens
needed to be carefully engineered in order to prevent leakage or
damage by plant roots. In the geologically volatile location, an
important consideration was to design for the prevention of seismic
damage.
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George
Rickey's sculpture "Red Lines II" in the Great Court.
Photo by Johanna Kahn
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The
abundant vegetation in the museum is just as much part of the overall
design as the physical structure. Over one thousand plants and over
85 species make up the gardens, courtyard, and pond environments.
The flora acts as “a lacy veil superimposed on the surface
to complement and soften this rigid geometry of structure,”
wrote landscape architect Dan Kiley.
Vegetation that existed in climates similar to that of Northern
California was imported from all over the world to complete the
collection. Plants and flowers from Australia, China, South Africa,
and the Mediterranean region still flourish in the lovely setting
of the museum gardens. Kiley paid great attention to the placement
of each plant so that “there will be a continual show of floral
interest throughout the year…Plants with fragrance have been
placed along heavily used paths of circulation. Trees or shrubs
with fascinating bark or branching structures have been located
in obvious areas for careful examination and study.” The exterior
regions of the museum are just as interactive as the interior galleries.
Read "Living Artifacts," an article from The Museum
of California magazine!
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