Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - Kansas City, MO

Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company’s legacy with the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art began in 1988 as the irrigation consultant for the nationally-acclaimed 17-acre Henry Moore Sculpture Garden designed by architect, Jacquelin T. Robertson, FAIA and landscape architect, Dan Kiley, FASLA. JBC continued to provide consulting services to the Museum on a variety of projects including the East Sculpture Garden Renovation, a centralized irrigation system, and the museum’s green roof garage.

JBC was most recently involved when architect Steven Holl was selected to design a $240 million addition to the original 1933 building. The award-winning design called for seven above-ground “lenses” to house new galleries for modern art. JBC provided irrigation, green roof, and site design along with the technical detailing of these design elements for the entire phase of this expansion. A series of narrow-profile green roofs allow the sculpture gardens above the lenses to flow over the new galleries. Visitors wander on a meandering path among the lenses that look out to striking views of the midtown skyline and the renowned sculpture garden below.

Collaborators

• Steven Holl Architects | New York City, NY

• BNIM | Kansas City, MO

• Gould Evans Associates | Kansas City, MO

• Structural Engineering Associates | Kansas City, MO

• Office of Dan Kiley | Charlotte, VT

• Olin Partnership | Philadelphia, PA

• Cooper, Robertson & Partners | New York, NY

• HNTB Architects | Kansas City, MO

• Rick Howell Landscape Architect | Kansas City, MO

Site Features 

• Extensive and intensive green roof design

• High-performance natural grass

• Weather-based irrigation and soil moisture sensing

• Site specific engineered soils for green roof

• Centralized irrigation design