The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), a well-regarded science and conservation center, recently broke ground on its $48 million, 69,000-square-foot facility on a 5.2 acre site located next to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, writes Bustler. BRIT will seek LEED Platinum certification for the new building, which will include a “living roof” planted with native plants. New York-based H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, an architecture firm, and Balmori Associates, a landscape architecture and urban design firm, are expected to complete the project in 2011.
Tim McKinney, chair of BRIT’s Board of Trustees, said at the ground breaking: “BRIT’s new home will be the embodiment of BRIT’s mission: to conserve our natural heritage by deepening our knowledge of the plant world and achieving public understanding of the value that plants bring to our lives.”
The site’s productive landscape, which has been designed in part for botanical research, will work with the building’s living roof and site’s parking lots as part of an integrated site design. Bustler writes: ”An integration of landscape and parking occurs with the design of planted research fields within the parking bays. The roof, walls, and braided pathways will showcase some of BRIT’s areas of research as well as floral representatives of the Fort Worth Prairie.”
The need for extra parking spaces will be minimized – BRIT plans to share spaces with the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. Additionally, any new parking areas will feature rain gardens, interwoven into parking lots, which will collect rainwater for reuse. Any water overflow will be collected in a retention pond. ”The rain gardens, filled with native plants with low water demands, will gather, filter, and reuse rainwater for watering. They will overflow to a retention pond, which will be the source of water for irrigation. Rainwater is also collected off of roof areas and channeled to the pond. The pond is topped up during dry periods using ground water from a well that taps into an underground stream.”
The landscape architecture will feature “a braided landscape system” consisting of paths, water and a shady walkway. ”While one main path will provide access from BRIT to the lecture hall of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden (FWBG), another will wind toward the Garden’s entry. Concrete pavers and crushed limestone will differentiate the two paths as they wind together toward BRIT’s entry. Secondary braids of gravel will lead to views of special small-scale areas.” To educate visitors on native plants, the winding paths will feature plants and flowers. Furthermore, the “geological strata of the Fort Worth Prairie of thin limestone and sand” will be recreated in outdoor ledges for seating.
The building will also feature solar panels and a geothermal energy system. “Bi0-based materials” will be used in construction, including bamboo ceilings, cork wall coverings, and wool carpets. ”A large portion, approximately 93.4 percent, of the materials that have been removed from the site (steel beams, joists and decking, aluminum, concrete, and brick asphalt) will be recycled and used in a land reclamation.” The building is also sited to preserve existing trees.
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Image credit: Bustler / Balmori Associates
