Closing Bell: Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitors Center Wins Architectural Award

Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Visitors Center has won the American Institute of Architects’ Institute of Honor Award, the organization’s highest recognition. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi Architects, the glassed-in structure has a zig-zagging roof that transitions into undulating green grass as it extends back into the garden. Here are the AIA’s comments on the building’s design:

“…The building blends gracefully into the landscape. On the south side, too, the design mediates the relationship between ‘culture’ and ‘cultivation’ through veiled views into the Garden from the exhibition gallery. The gallery’s curved glass surfaces are spectrally selective and fritted to minimize heat gain and maximize natural illumination.”

The visitors center was built with locally purchased materials and incorporates sustainable elements, like a geothermal exchange and a rain garden. And it includes a century-old Ginkgo tree. The building also incorporates an information lobby, orientation room, restrooms, gift shop, café, catering and kitchen and an event space.

Photo by Albert Vecerka/Esto via AIA