Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Campaign for the Next Century consists of roughly equal parts community outreach, forward-thinking design, and completely reimagining the 113-year-old institution’s relationship to water
Fifth Avenue just across the river might lay claim to an enviable assemblage of institutions collectively known as Manhattan’s Museum Mile, but we’d argue that the stretch down Eastern Parkway from Grand Army Plaza, to the right on Washington Avenue, then slightly beyond, contains an even broader and more astonishing diversity of resident and visitor experiences. In not even a mile, you have the Raymond F. Almirall-designed curvilinear wonder (or Soviet era-esque outrage, depending upon your point of view) that is the Central Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, then on to the McKim, Mead & White splendor of the Brooklyn Museum. Between the two, there’s the modernist entrance to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, of course, but whether this reader is a frequent visitor or new arrival, it’s recommended that he or she take a few extra steps down Washington Avenue to the garden’s new Visitor Center to complete this singular walk.
Courtesy of the city’s-own Weiss/Manfredi architectural firm, the center was conceived and described by its designers as “…an inhabitable topography defining a threshold between city and garden.” With its living roof, petal-like forms, and at-once declarative and modest lines, the building is that rarest of things: a structure that makes a statement without shouting, conveys a mission without preaching, and is worth visiting in its own right, even among non-plant aficionados.
The center is just one aspect of the 113-year-old garden’s Campaign for the Next Century, which supports a suite of projects, including new herb, woodland, and water gardens; expansion of the Native Flora Garden to include coastal plain meadow and pine barrens ecosystems (both unique and threatened habitats within the metropolitan region); expansion of the hands-on children’s Discovery Garden; the introduction of powerful new water conservation measures; and the new Visitor Center.
We had a chance to discuss the campaign—and the future of the garden itself—with Scot Medbury, its president and chief executive officer.
Matt Scanlon for Industry: One of the interesting parts of the garden’s original design was its multitude of entrances. It might have been easy to argue that the institution had its entrance needs covered. Why the need for a new one?
Scot Medbury: Well, we get close to three quarters of a million visitors a year, and also the highest single day attendance of any North American public garden, with as many as 36,000 people visiting every day. None of our entrances were really scaled to that. Plus, we needed a gateway— a way to transition from the grey to the green, as it were—a more pronounced and architectured transition into the serenity of the garden, and of course retail consolidation and orientation. The visitor center was able to accomplish all that, and in a remarkably small footprint, all things considered.
Industry: With some pretty forward-thinking ideas about energy efficiency as well…
SM: Visitors notice the roof, and it’s hard to miss, but one of the lesser-known aspects of a living roof is its insulating value. We took pains to reduce the amount of electricity used, too, and the heating and cooling system is assisted by something called geo-exchange, in which 28 wells were dug 400 feet into the earth in order to capture the ambient air below, which at that depth is a constant 55°F. By recirculating that, all that’s required of the traditional HVAC system is to merely assist. It’s fantastically simple in its concept, and very effective.
Industry: Did any of the traditionalists balk at the new design?
SM: No, the proposals and planning went on for some time, so there was plenty of opportunity for board members and others to chime in, but no, the praise has been pretty universal. Some of the siting was a challenge, however. Coming from San Francisco and Berkeley [Medbury was the director at both the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers and the Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum, Golden Gate Park], where people chain themselves to trees to prevent you from removing them, we were a little nervous, because we did remove four good-sized trees from the site in order to accommodate the building. A 70-foot ginkgo was shifted…three others we cut down. But we milled and kiln dried its wood and used it in the building. There’s some pride in that.
Industry: Then the relatively modest dimensions were deliberate, given the existing plant areas you’d presumably not want to disturb?
SM: Yes, but we also wanted the building to accentuate the fact that the garden, from its founding in 1910, is built on a very human scale. The original designers [Central Park and Prospect Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted] handled transitions among spaces especially well, I think. Because, good horticulture doesn’t really always go along with display…with design, and the need to be visitor friendly. It’s a bit of a dance to do well so as to benefit both.
Industry: That human scale element seems to resonate in much of the garden’s original mission materials. Can you speak to that a bit?
SM: This institution created a new model for botanic gardens in the world in making education the equivalent of horticultural display and scientific research. Prior to us, similar gardens in Europe, for example, were essentially scientific in nature, and, while tolerating the public, didn’t exactly encourage visitors. By 1914, we had already opened our own children’s garden—a kind of urban farm for kids. It was the first of its kind in the world, and we’ve never looked back since.
Industry: How many students visit the garden yearly?
SM: About 150,000, and they come from all boroughs. We have a robust grammar and middle school development program that tries to attract as many students as possible. Of those, I often think the Staten Island kids are just superheroes; I mean, they take the bus to the ferry to the train just to get here. I hope it’s worth it, because they’re able to test drive a new identity for themselves; from the beginning, we start talking to them about the possibility of becoming community leaders in spreading and improving green spaces. Keep in mind, too, that kids don’t randomly become a biology major or scientist; it has to be rooted in childhood.
Industry: In most cases, we’re likely talking, too, about young people who’ve never spent time getting their hands dirty for the fun of it.
SM: In most adult cases as well, particularly city-born and bred people. Outreach is critical for us, and we’ve got a series of programs to address it. One is called the Brooklyn Urban Gardener, which essentially trains citizens to be the knowledgeable plant person on the block…puts them in a position to help the school garden, or the street tree program, or the community garden. We can be the mother ship and bring them back for enrichment, but we like to get the enthusiasts out there. Another is the Community Garden Alliance, which helps train members of 150 Brooklyn community gardens, along with a Street Tree Stewardship Program that provides training in how to care for a street tree bed, for example. The city’s [MillionTrees] planting program is great, but I often think it’s lost that an equally pivotal concept is caring for trees already in the ground.
Industry: I’d read that water management is going to be a key provision of the Campaign for the Next Century.
SM: Oh, it is already. The way the system works now is that our Japanese Garden pond is filled with potable water brought from the Catskills and the Delaware Water Gap. From there it drains into our meandering brook to what we call the “terminal pond” on the south end. From there, it goes to the combined sewer and into New York Harbor. So, from an environmental standpoint, that’s obviously not terrific. Our vision was to recirculate this water using pumps…to go from using 21.9 million fresh gallons of water a year to just 900,000 gallons. That’s one project we’re just about to push out the door.
Industry: Better than a 90% reduction…
SM: Which is wonderful, but what we didn’t realize is that the bigger environmental problem is actually related to sewer overflow, which [Hurricane] Sandy really brought to the forefront in a lot of lives. New York is one of 200 American communities where the sanitary sewer and storm water systems are one and the same. With heavy rains, that system gets overloaded and fouls everything. The EPA actually fines communities for doing this, and Atlanta almost went into receivership for doing it. We are a 52-acre watershed, are contributing to this, and what our project team came up with as a solution was unique in its technical capabilities: an Intelligent Sewer Management model, which uses 17 sophisticated data sources to predict immediately prior to a weather event how much precipitation we might receive. The system would then lower the level in an existing pond by draining into a dry sewer. When the storm comes, we will then have a buffer—a space in the lake to fill with storm runoff, which can then be released into the sewer at a time when it can be handled better. This has been attempted before, but never at this scale, with a recirculation project coupled with open detention like our lake.
Industry: Sounds complicated…and lengthy.
SM: We’re anticipating 18 months for both projects, which is a chunk of time, yes, but there’s a lot on the line. A great peril to an institution like this, with an emerging and savvy population of young people, is that if we don’t get it right and lead the way in sustainability, they might get turned off to solutions regarding one of the greatest environmental issues of the day. How we manage water—particularly as climate change makes more prevalent extreme events like heavy rains and droughts—will effect young people far more than ourselves, and the garden has a responsibility to demonstrate that efficiency management can solve huge problems.
Photos By Luca Sforza
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