AIA, New York Chapter Citation

Following the adoption of our master plan for the North Carolina Museum of Art’s 160-acre site, Quennell Rothschild & Partners, with architects Smith‑Miller + Hawkinson and artist Barbara Kruger, was retained to design an outdoor amphitheater and performance space.

The project combines landscape and architecture to sculptural effect, integrating the new amphitheater into the sloping terrain. The amphitheater stage is sheltered by a corrugated fiberglass roof, and a new movie screen was mounted on the west face of the existing art museum. Concentric concrete ledges inserted into bermed levels form seating for an audience of 500 patrons, and an informal grassy slope accommodates an additional 2,400 movie‑goers.

Viewed from an airplane, the site reveals the words “PICTURE THIS”, each letter imprinted in the landscape and constructed from a different material, including chain link fencing, plants, natural rocks and wood decking. The letters also serve as seat walls, retaining walls and even buildings.