Background

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Its commission was necessitated by Joseph H. Hirshhorn's donation of his extensive art collection to the Smithsonian in 1966. Completed in 1974, it was the first modernist building on the National Mall. The concrete-clad, drum-shaped structure drew both pans and raves from architecture critics. In 1981 the sculpture garden underwent a redesign led by landscape architect Lester Collins, the result of which is what exists at the site today. Additionally, the entrance plaza was modified in the 1990s by Urban & Associates (now the Office of James Urban). Today, the site is under review for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and receives close to 1 million visitors/year.

 

Surprising Last Minute Changes to Final Section 106 Meeting - June 2021 Update

Following the March 2021 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Section 106 consulting parties meeting, the Smithsonian was back at the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) on June 3rd presenting revised plans for the restoration of the original Gordon Bunshaft reflecting pool and additional rationale for why changing the material of the central inner partition wall from concrete to stacked stone was needed.

Those arguments seem to have fallen flat as many of the NCPC Commissioners continue to be concerned that the Smithsonian has not adequately justified the need for the change in material. Docomomo US, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, and many of our consulting party colleagues have been saying this for more than a year. For a Sculpture Garden in which the primary and historic use is the display of sculpture, modifying a core element for a secondary or transitory use such as performances, does not make a lot of sense.

So it was surprising, if not shocking, that Docomomo US along with our peers received a notice of the final Section 106 meeting to review the draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) would be in seven days and the group would meet in-person and not on a virtual platform, introducing yet another obstacle in this review process. In the two days since we were notified of this meeting, the Smithsonian has notified us of an additional meeting scheduled for July likely based on consulting party feedback. 

This all has us scratching our heads at why the date and in-person nature of the June meeting was withheld from the consulting parties until one week before the proposed meeting. Perhaps it could be that the Hirshhorn will be reviewed just one day later on June 17th at the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and expectations for a [final] vote on the proposal from NCPC on July 1st.

The public has a right to enjoy the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden as it was designed for the last fifty years as a quiet, contemplative, thoroughly modern, and historic garden. We have advocated for this position for over a year and believe our feedback has indeed made the Smithsonian's proposal better. With so much to celebrate, it is unfortunate the Smithsonian continues to push forward pursuing design elements that are significantly contentious and incompatible.

For more details on the current situation, read The Cultural Landscape Foundation's latest article, "Hirshhorn Proposal Hits a Wall" (June 8, 2021).

 

Sculpture Garden Redesign Update April 2021

In December 2020, Docomomo US and other consulting parties provided testimony during the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) review of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Revitalization. This review process took place outside of the Section 106 process but in parallel to those discussions. Based on research and stakeholder testimony, the NCPC approved the preliminary site development plans with a series of additional recommendations requiring the Smithsonian to "provide comprehensive rationale for the programming needs that require expanded aprons around the Bunshaft reflecting pool" and to "provide a comprehensive rationale for the programming need for the change in material" at the inner partition wall. As a means of responding to the NCPC's action, the Smithsonian subsequently held a Section 106 meeting in March 2021 providing a supplemental narrative on the revitalization plans. While most of the presentation was a continuation of previous discussions, notwithstanding new acoustics rationale, the Smithsonian provided a "Revised Reflecting Pool Alternative" that maintains the dimensions of the historic 1974 reflecting pool, a key defining element of the site's overall design. Docomomo US supports and was pleased by a follow up communication from the Smithsonian stating they are moving forward with this Revised Alternative for the pool. We believe this is a positive step forward in the process and appreciate having the opportunity to shape the thoughtful and restorative plans that continue to be developed by this process. While we remain concerned that this alternative plan continues to include the expanded terraced pool and the change in material of the inner partition wall, Docomomo US is generally supportive of the Smithsonian’s revitalization plans that successfully address repairs and improve accessibility throughout the Sculpture Garden for the general public and its guests. Docomomo US written feedback (available below) in response to the most recent proposals presented at the March 10, 2021 Section 106 meeting, can be found below. 

Recent news coverage

"Hirshhorn Museum is under pressure to reconsider redesign of its sculpture garden," The Art Newspaper, January 11, 2021.

"The Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden Redesign: Paving Paradise," Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2021.

"Hirshhorn Museum is close to finalizing Hiroshi Sugimoto’s garden revamp," The Architect's Newspaper, March 12, 2021.

"Hirshhorn Museum: revised sculpture garden designs and Sugimoto threatening to quit," Archinect, March 17, 2021.

Sculpture Garden and Assessment of Effects Update Summer 2020 

As the Smithsonian Institution wrapped up the exterior revitalization plans in early 2020, the Docomomo US Advocacy Committee focused its attention to the larger goals for the Sculpture Garden. In February 2020, the Smithsonian released the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Significance and Integrity Report. With this report, consulting parties successfully persuaded the Smithsonian Institution to modify the period of significance to include the changes made to the garden in 1981 by Lester Collins.

While this inclusion showed progress, extensive changes impacting the historic integrity of the Sculpture Garden have remained, and even expanded, in the updated project plans. Consulting parties continue to speak out against avoidable adverse effects on critically important historic elements such as the expansion to the reflecting pool, and the addition of stacked stone walls that would “significantly alter Bunshaft’s design and denigrate the crucial visual relationship between the museum and its sculpture garden.”

Reflecting Pool

The design and dimensions of the reflecting pool and its relationship to the museum’s balcony overlooking the garden remains one of the most critical design elements of the entirety of the site. The visual relationship of the balcony and building to the garden cannot be understated. While there are some initial Bunshaft sketches showing a larger pool, this was not the final built design. But yet, in each project update, an enlarged pool remains, and the critical relationship of the garden and pool is significantly obscured. Docomomo US believes that enlarging the pool will create a false historical appearance which will significantly diminish the integrity of the site.

Addition of Stacked Stone Walls

Referencing Japanese Zen gardens, the historic sculpture garden offers visitors a minimalist palette of materials and landscaping, to provide a delicate balance of openness, shelter and framing devices for sculpture. One of our main take-a-ways from the Hirshhorn Museum Sculpture Garden Significance and Integrity Report is Collins’ masterful ability to balance the overlapping sculpture views with vertical plantings rather than introducing physical walls, which were analyzed in the 1981 renovation, but ultimately deemed unnecessary. Docomomo US finds the proposed introduction of numerous stacked rock walls a significant negative impact to the integrity of the garden. While stone walls can be found at other sites on the mall, the specific materials precedent for the Sculpture Garden should be drawn from the Hirshhorn landscape elements (introduced by Collins) and not the larger materials palette of the National Mall Historic District. By placing stacked stone walls at each and every vista as one travels through the garden, it dilutes the original design intent and negatively impacts the garden’s integrity of design, feeling, materials, and workmanship, as well as association with the designers. Collins careful understanding of room hierarchy delicately placed plantings as a means of defining space while not taking away from the purpose and aesthetics of the exposed aggregate concrete walls that are featured in other significant museum sculpture gardens constructed between 1950 and 1990.

In addition reflecting pool changes and the introduction of stacked stone walls, the proposal includes other design elements that create a significant adverse effect on the resource: 

• Site modifications to accommodate a significant increase in performance art in the West Garden and the area around the reflecting pool
• Proposed circulation changes throughout and grade changes to the southwest corner
• Introduction of a new north stair and lateral ramps
• The reopening of the underground passage and historic stairs in a new configuration
• Introduction of amphitheater seating, increased hardscape and reduction of grass areas across the site

 

Third Phase

Docomomo US has also recently become aware of a third phase: an interior rehabilitation and expansion of the Hirshhorn Museum. As the Smithsonian Institution rolls out each of these phases over time “in a way to allow the Hirshhorn to remain open to visitors” it does little to minimize or address the impact each of these phases creates as a whole. Docomomo US will continue to advocate for this important resource. It is our opinion the Smithsonian Institution has not yet clearly identified the total of the adverse effects, and is shoehorning incompatible programmatic decisions into onto this historic site.

 

Call to action

Docomomo US urges members to review the proposed changes and participate in the upcoming October 7, 2020 public presentation. https://hirshhorn.si.edu/sculpture-garden-revitalization/

Renovations and Section 106 Process

In early 2019, the Smithsonian announced plans to redesign the sculpture garden, entrance plaza, and to make improvements to building envelope. The museum board chose architect and artist Hiroshi Sugimoto for the sculpture garden portion of the project. Sugimoto was also responsible for the 2018 redesign of the museum lobby. The primary goals of the garden renovation are to allow for the display of larger artwork and performance art, improved ADA access, and improved access between the garden and museum. The proposal includes reopening the original tunnel that connected the museum and garden, which was closed during the 1990s renovation. For the building envelope, proposed changes include the replacement of all of the original precast panels on the building façade, the roof, and the third floor outer ring window that looks onto the garden and Mall. 

The project is subject to Section 106 review under the National Historic Preservation Act. Both Docomomo US and Docomomo US/DC were asked to participate. A meeting was held on April 10 which both Docomomo US and the DC chapter attended. View the meeting presentation here. 

In a joint letter to the Smithsonian, Docomomo US and Docomomo US/DC commended the Smithsonian for undertaking efforts to make the sculpture garden more accessible and improving the connection to the museum by reopening the original tunnel, however also raised a number of concerns and recommended alternate approaches be considered. Notably, that the replacing all of the original precast concrete panels should be not be undertaken without first exploring all other options, and the introduction of stacked stone walls in the garden, a feature that is not currently found elsewhere on the site.