Austin, Texas, USA
Snøhetta has created a comprehensive grounds redesign for The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin. The initiative unified and revitalized the museum campus across approximately 200,000 square feet, including two buildings and Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin. The design was guided by an overall goal of creating a bold, inclusive gathering space for Austin; one that unites the civic core of the city represented by the State Capital to the south and the progressive character of the University to the north.
Blanton Museum of Art Grounds Redesign, by Snøhetta for Simone Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, won an American Architecture Award 2025 from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
Through a choreography of planting, geometry, and art, the landscape vision is defined by a series of new gardens and entry points that knit the grounds together. From Congress Avenue, visitors will now approach the courtyard under a canopy of dramatic petal sculptures which offer a threshold from the busy streetscape while framing Kelly’s Austin beyond.
The plantings for the Blanton campus were carefully selected through a variety of environmental considerations, with an overall desire to establish feelings of comfort, welcomeness, and support. The project’s planting draws upon species proven to succeed on the University’s campus, underpinning the design goals with pragmatism around maintenance and climatic suitability. Wherever possible, existing vegetation was maintained – especially the character defining oak trees growing along the margins of the grounds. Multi-stem crape myrtles step down the scale of the existing oaks, framing the entrance to the plaza. The Faulkner Garden sees the most expressive and dynamic vegetation with a wide range of sun and shade conditions and hydrologic character in its bounds.
Rising above the trees, a canopy of petal sculptures creates a shaded microclimate with dappled light that follows the sun. Standing 40 feet tall, each petal is made of perforated panels and spans 30 feet in diameter, equipped with drainage that moves water from the upper canopy through the column down to grade, allowing for infiltration and passive irrigation into the surrounding subgrade. The perforations of the petals, while smooth on the exterior, are raised on the inside moving water toward the drainage system.
To mark the Blanton’s bold new presence, the redesigned grounds include a new site-specific mural by renowned Cuban-American abstract painter Carmen Herrera. Sited on the interior wall under the Michener Gallery Building’s loggia, it will span the length of the building, with the museum’s entrance in the middle. Our landscape design carefully plays upon the texture and colors of Carmen Herrera’s public mural, Verde, que te quiero verde with the lush plantings and topography of the Faulkner Garden in addition to a sound garden gallery for works of an auditory nature.
Architect & Landscape Architect: Snøhetta
General Contractor: Snøhetta
Client: Simone Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin
Photographers: Casey Dunn
