BBG Visitor Center Design Unveiled, Award Announced
Yesterday the Brooklyn Botanic Garden gave the public its first views of its new Visitor Pavilion and announced that the design by Manhattan-based Weiss/Manfredi had won the Award for Excellence in Design by the Public Design Commission of the City of New York. There’s lot of detail (and more renderings) over on the BBG site…
Yesterday the Brooklyn Botanic Garden gave the public its first views of its new Visitor Pavilion and announced that the design by Manhattan-based Weiss/Manfredi had won the Award for Excellence in Design by the Public Design Commission of the City of New York. There’s lot of detail (and more renderings) over on the BBG site about the environmentally-friendly building, but the center, to be located at 900 Washington Avenue, will house new garden shop, an orientation room for tours and classes, an information desk, an event space, a refreshment bar, and restrooms.
A New Visitor Center [BBG]
it is embracing its role as a upscale wedding center.
…not a park.
Terrible idea. So the herb garden is not going to be rebuilt, the japanese peonies are gone (or moved I hope at a minimum), the cherry esplanade will be marred by this visitor center, and the tranquil hill above the espalande and the rose gardens will be a thoroughfare of visitors coming and going into the gardens.
Who is the moron who dreamed this up. One of the best things about the BBG is the understated elegence of the place. This flies in the face of that. If they want a better main entrance, that’s ok I guess (unecessary but ok), but this is overkill. A big reception center is not needed. Really bad decision in my opinion.
Total waste of money. Who’d decide to go to a botanical gardens based on their having a spiffy Visitor’s center? The current one is fine, and also, the food is good in the concession, quite a surprise.
Great idea, Tomqee
What about the huge old Ginkgo tree by the entrance (the biggest I’ve seen)- that seems to have been chopped down in the rendering too. And the wisteria over the current entrance? Screw it, I’m cancelling my membership.
I think a good use of the money would have been to design and build a pedestrian archway over Flatbush Avenue that connects Prospect Park to the Botanic Garden. It could be long and sloping, with a formal entrance inside Prospect Park.
This pavilion will be located at the entrance to the garden at the Museum parking lot. It will be located within the garden and will destroy the lovely knot garden/herb garden. They claim to be rebuilding the herb garden along flatbush avenue. Unfortunately, that required the destruction of the peony garden.
This whole project is an abomination. Unfortunately the garden got a large donation and forgot that they have some magnificent classic spaces that are beloved by their members and instead decided that they need a new building.
UGH
Chip I agree. The top end of the cherry esplanade is currently quiet and a lovely place to relax when the blossoms are out. It seems now its going to become a thoroughfare. What a dumb idea. Any BBG committee members out there care to fill us in?
Do I understand correctly that the visitor center hasn’t been built yet? If so, how can anybody give out awards based on renderings?