Sydney & Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden

New Orleans, LA

This sculpture garden occupies five acres in City Park adjacent to the New Orleans Museum of Art. A lagoon bisects the picturesque site, creating two distinct halves. The garden, designed in collaboration with New York City-based landscape architects Sawyer/Berson, accomodates sixty outdoor sculptures in a layout where visual connections are in most cases implied rather than dictated. The site is organized around a central axis that runs from the paired entry pavilions to a secondary entrance near the City Park Botanical Garden. Depending on the location, this axis is either clearly defined by paths or expressed solely as a view corridor. The abstracted geometries of the garden's architectural features create a quiet backdrop for a collection comprised of both figurative and abstract sculptures by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Antoine Bourdelle, Jacques Lipchitz, Aristide Maillol, George Segal, Louise Bourgeois, Anish Kapoor, George Rickey, and others. The placement of those outstanding sculptures beneath centuries-old live oaks and within groves of mature pine trees elucidates the garden's special character. The entry pavilions, bridges, gates, niches, and terraces are consistently detailed in cast stone, bronze, and stainless steel, materials shared with the adjacent museum building. At the lagoon's edges, grading was gently manipulated to allow three pedestrian bridges to remain discreet and flat, seamlessly woven into the fabric of the land. Landscape Architect: J. Brian Sawyer, Sawyer/Berson, New York Lighting Designer: Stephen Bernstein, Cline Bernstein, New York