{"id":219232,"date":"2010-01-14T13:22:47","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T18:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dirt.asla.org\/?p=3692"},"modified":"2010-01-14T13:22:47","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T18:22:47","slug":"integrated-site-design-botanical-research-institute-of-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/219232","title":{"rendered":"Integrated Site Design: Botanical Research Institute of Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nThe Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT)<\/a>, a well-regarded science and conservation center, recently broke ground on its $48 million, 69,000-square-foot\u00a0facility on a 5.2 acre site\u00a0located next to the\u00a0Fort Worth Botanic Garden<\/a>, writes Bustler<\/em>. BRIT will seek LEED Platinum certification for the new building, which will include a “living roof” planted with native plants. New York-based H3\u00a0Hardy Collaboration Architecture<\/a>, an architecture firm, and Balmori Associates<\/a>,\u00a0a landscape\u00a0architecture and urban design firm, are\u00a0expected to complete the project in 2011.<\/p>\n

Tim McKinney, chair of BRIT\u2019s Board of Trustees, said at the ground breaking: \u201cBRIT\u2019s new home will be the embodiment of BRIT\u2019s 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.”<\/p>\n

The site’s productive landscape, which has been designed in part for botanical\u00a0research,\u00a0will work with the building’s living roof and site’s parking lots as part of an integrated site design.\u00a0Bustler<\/em> writes:\u00a0”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\u2019s areas of research as well as floral representatives of the Fort Worth Prairie.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The need for extra parking spaces will be minimized\u00a0– \u00a0BRIT plans\u00a0to share spaces with\u00a0the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. Additionally,\u00a0any new parking\u00a0areas will feature rain gardens, interwoven into\u00a0parking lots, which will collect rainwater for reuse. Any water overflow will be collected in a retention pond.\u00a0”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.”<\/p>\n

The landscape architecture will feature “a braided landscape system” consisting of paths, water and a shady walkway.\u00a0”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\u2019s entry. Concrete pavers and crushed limestone will differentiate the two paths as they wind together toward BRIT\u2019s 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.\u00a0Furthermore, the “geological strata of the Fort Worth Prairie of thin limestone and sand” will be\u00a0recreated in outdoor ledges for seating.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The building will also feature solar panels and\u00a0a geothermal energy system. “Bi0-based materials” will be used\u00a0in construction, including\u00a0bamboo ceilings, cork wall coverings, and wool carpets.\u00a0”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\u00a0land reclamation.”\u00a0\u00a0The building is also sited\u00a0to\u00a0preserve existing trees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read the article<\/a> and see more photos<\/p>\n

Image credit: Bustler \/\u00a0Balmori Associates<\/em><\/p>\n

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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\u00a0facility on a 5.2 acre site\u00a0located next to the\u00a0Fort 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}