Stratum Pier

Stratum Pier is an artwork installation at Indianapolis Museum of Art featuring emerald green platforms with fiberglass grids supported by steel beams that extend over a lake on the museum grounds. The structure creates a walkable pathway from the shoreline into the water, changing how visitors can move through the landscape.

The installation was commissioned by Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2010 as one of eight site-specific artworks created for the 100 Acres: Virginia B. Fairbanks Art Park. The project emerged from a larger effort to blend contemporary art with the museum's natural landscape and outdoor spaces.

The structure serves as both an artwork and a gathering point, encouraging people to walk across its platforms and experience how art can reshape how we move through outdoor spaces.

Water levels around the installation can rise up to 10 feet depending on rainfall, sometimes covering the lower platforms. Wear footwear suitable for wet conditions and check which sections are accessible before walking onto the structure.

The layered platform design references actual topographic maps of the surrounding area, creating an architectural translation of natural landforms into a physical form you can walk across. This connection between mapping and form allows visitors to experience the land's contours in an unexpected way.