EAST BUILDING PLAZA
Located between the West Wings and East Wings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The two buildings that house the National Gallery of Art - the West Wing, a 1941 Greek Revival structure designed by John Russell Pope, and the Modernist East Wing, designed by I.M. Pei in 1978 - straddle Fourth Street at a point where the lines of Pennsylvania Avenue converge with those of the Mall. The treatment of the pedestrian plaza that ties the new, modern building to its classical counterpart is the collaboration of architect I.M. Pei and landscape architect Dan Kiley.
Cobblestone pavers that stretch from west door to east door, incorporating Fourth Street itself, play an important role in unifying the expanse between the two buildings. On the larger west plaza, Pei designed pyramidal skylights and a sunken fountain, illuminating the passage below and bringing design elements of the new building literally to the door of the old. To frame the space into an elongated court and extend the symmetry of the west building façade eastward, Kiley placed twin, rectangular groves of saucer magnolias (Magnolia soulangiana) on either side of the plaza. The east plaza is more open, providing a space for the daily play of shadows on the cobblestone paving. Between the East Wing and the Mall, Kiley planted a bank of cherry trees that forms a curtain, offering a naturalistic, alternative treatment to the linear, axial nature of the adjoining Mall. Kiley also designed roof terrace plantings for the East Wing that included a small grove of tea crabs.
EAST BUILDING PLAZA
Located between the West Wings and East Wings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The two buildings that house the National Gallery of Art - the West Wing, a 1941 Greek Revival structure designed by John Russell Pope, and the Modernist East Wing, designed by I.M. Pei in 1978 - straddle Fourth Street at a point where the lines of Pennsylvania Avenue converge with those of the Mall. The treatment of the pedestrian plaza that ties the new, modern building to its classical counterpart is the collaboration of architect I.M. Pei and landscape architect Dan Kiley.
Cobblestone pavers that stretch from west door to east door, incorporating Fourth Street itself, play an important role in unifying the expanse between the two buildings. On the larger west plaza, Pei designed pyramidal skylights and a sunken fountain, illuminating the passage below and bringing design elements of the new building literally to the door of the old. To frame the space into an elongated court and extend the symmetry of the west building façade eastward, Kiley placed twin, rectangular groves of saucer magnolias (Magnolia soulangiana) on either side of the plaza. The east plaza is more open, providing a space for the daily play of shadows on the cobblestone paving. Between the East Wing and the Mall, Kiley planted a bank of cherry trees that forms a curtain, offering a naturalistic, alternative treatment to the linear, axial nature of the adjoining Mall. Kiley also designed roof terrace plantings for the East Wing that included a small grove of tea crabs.