Brooklyn Botanic Garden Wins Award
for Green Visitor Center Design

A rendering of BBG's award-winning Visitor Center design, as seen from Cherry Walk.
(courtesy Weiss/Manfredi)

Public Design Commission of the City of New York
Accords Award for Excellence in Design to BBG's New Green Building

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK—July 1, 2009—The Public Design Commission of the City of New York (formerly the Art Commission) awarded Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Weiss/Manfredi design firm, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation its 2008 Award for Excellence in Design, conferred on July 1 at a ceremony at the New Museum. The award recognizes the superb integration of form, function, and sustainable practice in the design of the Garden's new Visitor Center.

Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, architects of the Seattle Art Museum's celebrated Olympic Sculpture Park, the Visitor Center was conceived as a seamless extension of the Garden's landscape. The sinuous glass building, nestled into an existing berm at the Garden's northeast corner, will serve as a three-dimensional continuation of the garden path system, framing a series of views into and through the Garden. As the first new structure built in the Garden in 20 years, the Visitor Center will unify past and future: Its form and materials echo historic structures at the Garden, while its design and function belong firmly to the 21st century.

The Visitor Center aspires to earn LEED Gold certification and will feature sustainable design elements including a living roof, recycled building materials, passive solar components, geothermal heating, and bioswales (recessed catchment zones filled with water-loving plants) that will improve storm-water management and relieve the burden on the municipal sewer system. The 22,000-square-foot complex will also house an expanded garden shop, a much-needed orientation room for tours and classes, an information desk, a dramatic oval-shaped event space, a refreshment bar, and other visitor amenities.

"Some of the world's best buildings take their cues from natural settings," said Scot Medbury, Brooklyn Botanic Garden president. "Our vision for the new Visitor Center is that it should be an extension of the landscape, not just serving as a physical entry to the Garden but creating opportunities to enrich the visitor experience so that even before they begin their Garden tour, they will be transported."

"A botanic garden is an unusual kind of museum with a living collection that is constantly changing," said Marion Weiss, principal at Weiss/Manfredi. "The new Visitor Center is conceived as inhabitable topography, defining the threshold between the city and the Garden. Like the Garden itself, the building is experienced cinematically and is never seen in its entirety."

Michael Manfredi, also a principal at the firm, explains, "To provoke curiosity and interest in the world-class collection, the new building will provide a legible point of arrival and orientation, an interface between culture and cultivation. A chameleon-like structure, the Visitor Center transitions from an architectural presence at the street into a structured landscape within the Garden. The building redefines the physical and philosophical relationship between visitor and garden, introducing new connections between landscape and structure, exhibition and movement."

"We are in awe of both the exceptional beauty and the environmental sustainability of this innovative design," says Medbury. "The new Visitor Center will physically embody our institutional commitment to conservation. We hope it will also inspire our neighbors and visitors to think about how they can incorporate green solutions into their own homes, businesses, and lives."

The Visitor Center will replace the current entrance from the parking lot and will extend westward toward the Cherry Esplanade. Visitors will cross a welcoming plaza, accented with plantings, to enter the new green building. The project will break ground in summer 2009 and is planned to open in spring 2011.

The new Visitor Center is one of the core components of Brooklyn Botanic Garden's master plan for the 21st century, which also includes enhancements to the Garden's public entrances, three new gardens, and expansion and refinement of the exhibiting gardens and collections.

The Visitor Center's design was approved by the Design Commission in June 2008. Lead funding for the Visitor Center has been provided by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New York City Council, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and U.S. Representative Yvette C. Clarke. Additional support for design of the Visitor Center was provided by the Achelis and Bodman Foundations, Booth Ferris Foundation, Helen V. Froehlich Foundation, Independence Community Foundation, Kresge Foundation's Green Building Initiative, National Grid, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Weiss/Manfredi

Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism is a multidisciplinary design practice based in New York City. Founded by Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, the firm is known for its integration of architecture, art, infrastructure, and landscape design. It has received the Academy Award for Architecture by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, won an award in the Nature category at the World Architecture Festival, and named an emerging voice by the Architectural League of New York.

Public Design Commission of the City of New York

Established in 1898 as the Art Commission, New York City's design review agency was renamed the Design Commission in July 2008 to better reflect its mission. The Design Commission reviews permanent works of art, architecture and landscape architecture proposed on or over City-owned property. Since 1982, the Design Commission has recognized outstanding public projects with its Annual Awards for Excellence in Design. The winning projects are selected by the Commission from the hundreds of submissions reviewed each year and exemplify the highest design standards.

Past winners of the Excellence in Design Awards include the Rose Center for Earth and Science, a project by Polshek Partnership Architects at the American Museum of Natural History, and the Brooklyn Children's Museum Expansion, a project by Rafael Viñoly Architects.