Snug Harbor Music Hall

The landscape design for Snug Harbor Music Hall uses a language of allees and hedges to create an intimate courtyard garden that defines the Music Hall and connects to the greater Snug Harbor Cultural Campus. The courtyard is an outdoor performance space that can also be used for programming and social events.

The project was born from a need to have more backstage and public assembly areas and to improve ADA access to the campus. To accompany the building addition designed by Studio Joseph Architects, the courtyard plays off the theater theme of curtains. Through a simple gesture, the landscape features a low hedge or curtain, which wraps the site and building addition to create an intimate courtyard which belongs to the Hall and the larger campus. Bluestone, in the form of bench and paving, further delineates the courtyard into space for an audience, stage, and backdrop. The ground plane defines circulation and to ground the landscape in the greater campus language. A ginkgo allee forms a final backdrop to the space, surrounding the lawn with a glittering gold curtain of foliage.