The Landscape

Reed Hilderbrand has worked with Tadao Ando to articulate a sweeping new landscape design that balances visitor experience with environmental sustainability, enhancing the Clark’s 140-acre campus in the process. A tiered reflecting pool replaces current parking areas, uniting the natural setting and surrounding buildings. The reflecting pool is also at the heart of a sophisticated water engineering program that significantly reduces the Institute’s impact on natural resources and underscores its commitment to stewardship of the land.

Among the key elements of the landscape design:

—New entrance drive reorienting visitors' arrival on campus, highlighting the lily pond and surrounding vistas

—Two miles of new walking trails providing greater access to Stone Hill’s meadows, woodlands, and seasonal streams

—Interpretive trail markers highlighting geological features and conservation initiatives

—Substantial new plant installations of native species, including more than 350 trees

—A reflecting pool adjacent to the new Visitor, Exhibition, and Conference Center

—Landscaped parking area for 340 vehicles

—An integrated water management system that reduces potable water usage by 50 percent, including:

• Reflecting pool that also acts as a self-sustaining reservoir to harvest stormwater for reuse in plumbing and irrigation
• Rooftop rainwater collection systems that will capture approximately 120,000 gallons per year for reuse
• Constructed wetlands, rain gardens, and infiltration meadows to detain, infiltrate, and benignly treat water before it flows into existing waterbodies

Landscape Architect:
Reed Hilderbrand Associates, Inc., Watertown, Massachusetts