These big changes could be coming to Indianapolis Museum of Art gardens

Andrew Clark and Steve Mannheimer
The DAVID RUBIN Land Collective’s master design for the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s 152-acre grounds includes a broad, straight vista of tree-edged lawn running west from the historic Lilly mansion (also known as Oldfields), down through 100 acres of forest of the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park and out across the lake.

The Indianapolis Museum of Art will transform the Lilly House and Gardens into a park that aims to place the same emphasis on nature as art. 

A Philadelphia-based landscape architectural firm will redesign the 152-acre grounds with some notable additions, including a tree-lined walkway from the historic mansion through the Virginia V. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park: 100 Acres. Check out a rendering of the walkway below:

The proposed master design plan for the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s 152-acre grounds includes a proposed linear garden that retraces the interurban rail that used to cross the historic property.

Other additions include a a new pedestrian bridge across the canal between the museum grounds and the 100 Acres, a new pedestrian corridor with flowerbeds along the canal's towpath and a new plaza that would circle the fountain with seating options and food carts.

David Rubin, the founding principal of Land Collective, the landscape architectural firm leading the transformation, modeled his creations after college campuses. 

"Think about college," Rubin said. "Who remembers the classrooms? But everyone remembers the campus itself, the places and common ground where we experience so much of what makes our college years so powerfully memorable."

The plan will take some time, and some cash. Museum director Charles Venable said the plan has an estimated $100 million of improvements. But not only will the plan include visual improvements, it will also have cultural improvements.

"We need to ask how the museum can prepare for the next 20-30 years, and what museum visitors will want," Venable said. "Over the past two years we have engaged in eight major studies, including this major new land use plan." Fulfilling that plan will give "greater emphasis on enriching lives of museum visitors with exceptional experiences."

Here are other upgrades the museum could receive with this new plan:

  • A biergarten near the current greenhouse complex
  • Remodeling the caretaker's cottage for cooking classes 
  • A new children's garden and play area just off the museum's western terrace
  • An improved sound system for the amphitheater sloping west from the terrace down to the canal, along with accessibility accommodations and food options
  • A raised pedestrian berm at the Fairbanks entrance that would provide structure for restrooms
  • A more open and attractive street frontage to offer passing drivers a visual invitation onto the campus
  • Reconfiguring spaces inside the museum for more efficient pedestrian flow
  • Repurposing the round entrance pavilion
  • Relocating the main museum entrance to the center of the main eastern facade over the current cafeteria space

Venable said new generations of museum visitors will want to engage with the places, activities and things that fill the campus, even if those things aren't works of art. Visitors will demand more movement inside and outside of the buildings; more fresh air, sky and land; more interaction with family and friends.

 "We have to be open to try these things," he said.

Here is the proposed full vision of the DAVID RUBIN Land Collective’s master design, which shows how the upper and lower campuses of the Indianapolis Museum of Art would look.

The grounds first opened to the public in 1967 when they were bequeathed to the IMA by the great grandchildren of Eli Lilly. The Indianapolis Museum of Art is the largest museum-plus-park in the country. The 158-acre Frederick Meier Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI, has a tad more acreage but has no museum proper for interior arts. 

Contact IndyStar reporter Andrew Clark at andrew.clark@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Clarky_Tweets