爱豆传媒

Wellesley College Global Flora Collection

Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA

爱豆传媒 supported Wellesley College to deliver a world-class environment for studying plant life from a range of climates around the globe.

The Global Flora conservatory brings together a diversity of plant forms and cultural connections in a connected landscape, representing plants from every continent except Antarctica.

Beyond replacing an aging structure, the Global Flora project models innovative sustainable design, creates a new interdisciplinary platform for teaching and research, and provides a home for educational exhibits and interpretation that interweave the arts and sciences.

Global Flora reimagines how a sustainable greenhouse can enhance interdisciplinary science education and deepen a public understanding of nature.

It includes a Dry Biome, which features plants adapted to desert and dry climates, and a Wet Biome, for plants from subtropical humid regions.

ETFE pillow technology was incorporated to minimize structural weight and create maximum transparency for the plants.

Global Flora strives to meet the net zero water petal requirements of the Living Building Challenge.

Challenge

Global Flora reimagines how the design of a sustainable greenhouse can enhance global interdisciplinary science education and deepen a public understanding of nature. The botanical facility expands the 1920 vision of Dr. Margaret Ferguson who argued for plant biology as a central part of science education and encouraged students to 鈥渓isten to鈥� plants and learn through hands-on interdisciplinary experiences.

The new 6,200ft虏 greenhouse enclosure consists of a range of habitat zones including desert and Mediterranean-type climates, subtropical wetlands and tropical habitats.

The habitat houses are joined by a new connector that provides workspace and display and circulation space. There is also one exterior cold zone for plantings that is south of the new enclosure. Located 12 miles outside Boston on the college campus, the new building replaced a permanent collection greenhouse structure while retaining the existing teaching and research greenhouses to the north. This project is part of the College鈥檚 larger campus renewal plan. The greenhouses are an example of sustainable design and are a research platform for exploring the interface of biology and the physical sciences in the built environment.

The key challenge for the project was reducing the facility鈥檚 carbon footprint and its use of potable water supply, while maximizing sunlight penetration and minimizing its heat exchange requirements.

Solution

Global Flora includes three sections – the Camellia Pavilion, which houses the Durant Camellia tree, a living link to the founders of the College who cultivated this specimen; the Dry Biome, which includes plants adapted to desert and dry climates around the world, and the Wet Biome, for plants from subtropical humid regions.

Our MEP team worked closely with the architect and the botanical experts to shape the infrastructure required to achieve the appropriate heat and humidity conditions for the plants. We connected into the campus鈥� existing steam-based district heating network.

We maximized the use of natural ventilation and mechanized shading controls to minimize energy use as much as possible. Rainwater harvesting serve the irrigation systems, meaning Global Flora is striving to meet both the net zero water and low energy requirements of the Living Building Challenge, the world鈥檚 most rigorous certification of sustainable construction.

ETFE pillow technology was incorporated to minimize structural weight and create maximum transparency for the plants. This is believed to be the first use of ETFE pillow technology in Massachusetts. This innovative facade material also allows for the easy construction of the gentle curves of the facade and roof while meeting the high energy requirements of the greenhouse envelope.

Our structural and facades engineers played a key role in helping to rationalize the complex geometries of the greenhouses, which helped to minimize overall project costs, while also ensuring the new structures could successfully work around existing constraints, including the protection of the 140-year-old camellia tree.

Several aquatic features within the greenhouse provide unique habitats and opportunities for further study 鈥� with a mangrove tank, as well as the Paludarium 鈥� a microcosm of a natural freshwater ecosystem, and a live-streaming sensor network which monitors environmental data throughout the complex. This open-source interactive sensor platform allows people to gather and share real-time data from plants, soil, air, and water over multiple public digital media platforms.

Value

Global Flora is an educational space and public botany lab and 鈥渕useum鈥� that emphasizes the importance of environmental stewardship to current and future generations on-site and online. Gathered data is accessible to public schools and international research universities, thereby strengthening the global knowledge-sharing platform.

Our multidisciplinary team of experts worked closely with the architectural team from Kennedy & Violich, to shape the vision for the attraction, while working towards the client鈥檚 aspirations for a facility that incorporates a range of passive and sustainable solutions that ensure the correct environment for the plantlife, while minimizing the building鈥檚 operational carbon intensity and the cost of heating the spaces.