A resilient, educational, and
biodiverse museum landscape

The Field Museum of Natural History Landscape Master Plan + Phased Implementation

Location	Chicago, Illinois
Client	The Field Museum of Natural History
Expertise	Horticulture & Arboriculture, Resilience & Sustainability, Master Planning & Visioning, Stewardship & Continuing Landscape Consulting
Size	23 acres
Completion	Master Plan: 2016, South Terrace: 2019, North Terraces: 2022

Bringing Research into the Landscape

Site Design Group partnered with the Field Museum of Natural History to extend its mission beyond the building and into the landscape, transforming the museum’s grounds into a living expression of its commitment to conservation, research, and education.

As a cultural touchstone on Chicago’s Museum Campus and one of the world’s largest natural history museums, the Field Museum sought a landscape that would support an energy-efficient, sustainable maintenance program while actively promoting biodiversity and ecological health along the lakefront.

Field museum of natural history vignette site design group

Working closely with museum staff, we developed a landscape master plan that reimagines the 23-acre campus as part of a broader ecological network. The plan fosters growing community awareness of ecological processes, sustainable practices, and landscape restoration, while positioning the site as a critical link within the larger systems that shape the Museum Campus and Chicago’s lakefront. By demonstrating regenerative design at a highly visible civic site, the project sets a precedent for sustainable landscape design and management at both campus and regional scales.

The Master Plan organizes the site into eight interconnected landscapes: the Field Museum Terrace – comprising four separate terraces – and four adjacent areas partially or wholly owned by the Chicago Park District. While each landscape responds to specific programmatic needs and ownership conditions, all contribute to a unified ecological vision. Phased implementation allowed the project to advance strategically over time. The four terraces have since been realized and are collectively known as the Rice Native Gardens.

Once dominated by turf and monoculture foundation planting, the site is now a vibrant destination showcasing diverse native Illinois species that connect outdoor landscapes with indoor exhibits. The gardens reinterpret regional habitats while linking to existing plant community corridors along the lakefront and in nearby Grant Park. Interpretive signage, accessible pathways, and seating areas transform the grounds into an outdoor classroom, supporting informal gathering, structured programming, and self-guided learning.

From turf and monoculture...

...to biodiverse campus

Environmental performance guided every design decision. Replacing turf with bioswales, rain gardens, and other stormwater best management practices eliminated runoff from the grounds while creating habitat for native wetland species. Native planting systems dramatically reduced potable water use, requiring irrigation only during establishment and periods of extreme drought. Tallgrass plantings and wet swale ecologies mitigate the urban heat island effect through shading, evapotranspiration, and soil moisture retention, helping to moderate temperatures across the campus.

Field museum of natural history edna sampling site design group

Field Museum ecologists continue to steward the gardens as a living laboratory, advancing research, promoting biodiversity, and studying relationships among flora, fauna, and human communities. Seasonal waves of pollinators animate the landscape; in summer, the hum of insects often rises above the sounds of the surrounding city.

Through the Rice Native Gardens and the broader Master Plan, the Field Museum's grounds have become an active extension of its mission, demonstrating how thoughtful landscape design can advance sustainability, education, and ecological resilience at both campus and city scales.