The Plaza

Located on Museum Way across from the Amazeum, the Plaza is your starting point for any visit to the Crystal Bridges Campus. With free parking, seating, bathrooms, refreshments, and more, the Plaza is perfect for kicking off a day at the museum, exploring the trails, or just relaxing in comfort.

The Plaza features free parking, multiple outdoor seating areas, restrooms, an outdoor splash pad, the Plaza Café, art installations, and more.

Much of the Plaza is an open, outdoor space with both patio seating and picnic tables. All are welcome to relax and enjoy the space from sunrise to sunset, or during museum events.

Located in the Campus Parking Plaza, the Plaza Café is a convenient place to grab a snack, enjoy lunch with friends, or wind down after a day exploring the trails. The Plaza Café offers a selection of both hot and cold sandwiches, salads, snacks, juices, alcoholic beverages, and cold brew coffee. Indoor and outdoor seating is available.

Restrooms are located on the ground floor of the Campus Parking complex, near the Café. Male, female, and non-gendered bathrooms are available and include changing stations.

Perhaps the most visible feature of the Plaza, the Campus Parking complex offers free, sheltered parking options for Crystal Bridges and other spaces on campus.

While parking is available in the small Museum Parking garage next to the Crystal Bridges building, during especially busy days we encourage you to park in the Campus Parking garage and either walk to the museum via Orchard Trail or enjoy our complimentary shuttle service to the museum’s main entrance.

Guests who are accessing the North Forest Trail and other events or experiences in the North Forest experiences should also use Campus Parking.

Similar to other garages of its size, vertical clearance on the first floor of the Campus Parking garage is 8 feet, 4 inches tall, and the second through sixth floors have a clearance of 7 feet, 2 inches. Oversized vehicles (including RVs, trailers, and buses) that do not fit the clearance requirements should park in the gravel lot on Museum Way, or at Orchards Park across NE J Street. The gravel lot is closed to all other guest vehicles.

The space also features Congruence, a 21-foot-tall structure by artists HYBYCOZO that will illuminate at night and function as a beacon on the facility’s Sky Terrace. Comprised of interlocking forms called truncated octahedrons, Congruence borrows inspiration from the natural world, casting light and shadow, and bathing the parking complex in geometric beauty.

Shuttle service is available continuously during museum operating hours. Passengers are picked up at the shuttle shelter in front of the garage and at the museum’s main entrance.