Storm King Art Center Welcome Sequence

Mountainville, New York

Storm King Art Center’s 500-acre outdoor museum celebrates large-scale sculpture, site-specific commissions, and groundbreaking temporary exhibitions where contemporary artists create some of their most ambitious works under open sky and in conversation with the natural world. The first Capital Project in Storm King’s 65-year history reorients how visitors encounter art in dialogue with the ever-changing meadows, forests and rivers of the Hudson Valley.

The team for this project is a result of an international design competition awarded to Dublin-based heneghan peng, with NYC’s WXY Studio and Oxford’s Gustafson Porter Bowman. Reed Hilderbrand’s work on the renewal of Storm King’s historic allées and deep reading of the site offered a natural collaboration at the conclusion of the Comprehensive Plan phase for design confirmation and construction.

The sweeping transformation of the Capital Project connects visitors to art through a vibrant and diverse native landscape. Set within a forest frame and bounded by adjacent wetlands, a welcoming, intuitive, and accessible entry sequence unfolds to bring visitors to a generous outdoor lobby with restrooms, ticketing and wayfinding amenities. A distant view of Alexander Calder’s The Arch greets visitors as they begin their journey into Storm King.

Storm King Art Center Mountainville, New York

DJI 0236 — All visitors now arrive to Storm King the same way, whether by bus, car or ride share.

3177 N64 wb — The Restroom Pavilion’s handwashing station looks onto Storm King’s wetlands and woods

The Capital Project begins with removing more than 5 acres of former parking lots, reclaiming space for art and nature. Now visitors arrive via a new, consolidated parking lot or bus & rideshare drop-off at the north edge of the site. The outdoor lobby features a trio of pavilions — one for shelter and storage, one for restrooms, and a third for information and ticketing — hinged upon Storm King’s historic Scandrett House.

Viewed from Museum Hill, the Welcome Sequence appears as a narrow opening in the woodland edge. In midground: Robert Grosvenor, Untitled, 1970.

Entry Path Plan

1 Capital Project
2 Existing Conditions

After leaving their vehicles, visitors move through the Outdoor Lobby within a grove of Sweetgum trees. The entry path aligns visitors to the historic Museum Road Allée as they enter the site.

We edited existing paving to create intuitive way finding, and removed it where it was no longer needed.

Before Where there was previously road and cars, visitors now arrive at Storm King along a quiet path that gradually reveals the expanse of the site. In background: Alexander Calder, The Arch, 1975.

Plan of Storm King

3177 N75 wb — Prior to the Capital Project, peak days would often require parking on Storm King’s lawns, diminishing the experience of art and the landscape.

Tippet’s field after the removal of South Parking Kevin Beasley, PROSCENIUM| Rebirth / Growth: The Watch / Harvest / Dormancy: On Reflection , 2024 – 25.

Water Systems A robust understanding of the site hydrological systems informed our approach to stormwater management. By placing septic fields under parking areas, additional land was conserved for art.

The Capital Project enabled the stewardship of lands and waters at multiple site throughout Storm King. Following the removal of former parking areas, we daylit a culverted stream, restoring the site’s hydrological connection to a healthy wetland system feeding into the nearby Moodna Creek. A new accessible path brings visitors to the Café, with a view of the vibrant meadows design by Darrell Morrison. At the edges of the forest, great care is taken to enhance the site’s ecology, with more than 650 trees and shrubs and a diverse mix of pollinator grasses and perennials planted, each selected for biodiversity and resiliency. As an outdoor sculpture center, maintenance is integral to success. At the David R. Collens building for conservation, fabrication and maintenance, we precisely graded the existing hillside, minimizing earthwork and giving Storm King facility to grow, educate and steward both art and nature.