Natick Collection Exterior

Natick, MA

Shauna Gillies-Smith, Design Principal for Martha Schwartz, Inc.

The landscape of the Natick Collection is designed to give a clear identity to this retail district and to provide a rich and varied experience for pedestrians. The plantings soften the experience and transform the vehicular routes into a public space with strong visual connections to the community and the outlying roads.

A series of low stone walls reminiscent of the New England countryside highlights the main entrance. The walls provide a datum that remains at a constant height, highlighting the rolling grades of the ground plane. Lighting fixtures embedded within the stone walls, illuminate the sinuous forms of the walls at night.

Running around the perimeter of the mall landscape is a waving ribbon of ornamental grasses. On one side this ribbon is flanked by a bicycle and pedestrian path. A complex planting scheme of broad leaf deciduous trees and evergreens hug the perimeter of the parking lots, giving warmth and green views from all directions. Birch trees, with their distinctive bark and beautiful leaves spill out beyond the tight planting band, intensifying at the entrances

LOCATION
Natick, MA

CLIENT
General Growth Properties

ARCHITECT
Beyer, Blinder, Belle

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Martha Schwartz, Inc.

ASSOCIATE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.

FACILITY
Mall Exterior

STATUS
Completed 2007

SCOPE
Landscape Architecture

PHOTO CREDITS
Laura Knosp