Transforming A Gathering Space for Artists
The project transforms an unpaved parking lot and gravel pathway into a thoughtfully designed outdoor space for art and everyday use. The common space includes a new central plaza with outdoor amphitheater for performances and events, new pedestrian walkway connecting artist residency studios with the main public buildings, and a redesign of the public entryway into a more welcoming and accessible front door. The design resonates with Headlands’ overlapping cultural and natural histories, creates more social interaction, and carefully places the architectural elements in a way that allows them to be discovered as artifacts. The use of natural materials such as raw concrete, reclaimed wood, crushed stone paving, and native plants draws the larger landscape through the Commons site. Native plants, grown by the Golden Gate Parks Conservancy nursery and planted by volunteers, add beauty to the new landscape, frame major program spaces, and integrate the Headlands Center with the larger Marin landscape.
The Commons creates new social and programmatic spaces that expand and enrich the Headlands experience for artists, staff, and visitors. The project is about community: providing new opportunities for neighbors and locals to gather and connect with each other and the art and landscape around them.
