NBW was commissioned by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection to renovate the historic sculpture gardens at the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal in Venice. The plan respects the horticultural and architectural fabric established by Peggy Guggenheim mid-century and refined by the Venetian architect Giorgio Bellavitis, while sharpening the visual coherence of the garden's series of outdoor rooms.
The design reconsiders visitor circulation through a heavily-trafficked public garden, introduces a new layer of planting tuned to seasonal interest across the year, and carves out smaller, quieter spaces where a visitor can sit with a single sculpture or a single view.
Working alongside the Collection's curators, NBW also developed a new sculpture garden organized around pieces from the Collection's recent acquisitions — a planted composition in which art and horticulture frame one another and neither dominates.
