Visitor Center aerial shot at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Photo by © Albert Vecerka-ESTO. Courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Click to learn more in The International Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database.

Greenroofs.com Project of the Week: 5/16/16

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center
Brooklyn, New York, USA
9,690 sf. Greenroof

Project of the Week Description & Details

Founded in 1910, the 52-acre Brooklyn Botanic Garden is an urban botanic garden that connects people to the world of plants, fostering delight and curiosity while inspiring an appreciation and sense of stewardship of the environment. Embedded into an existing hillside in its northeast corner, the new LEED Gold certified Diane H. and Joseph S. Steinberg Visitor Center offers an exciting and innovative gateway into the garden. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, the $28-million Visitor Center is a model of energy-efficient design, including earth-sheltered construction, a geoexchange system for heating and cooling, fritted-glass walls, and a striking undulating green roof. Seamlessly melding architecture and landscape, the 20,000-square-foot sinuous glass building has dual roofs: pleated copper on top of the gift shop on the east side, which will eventually oxidize to a greenish patina, and the leaf-shaped living roof on the west.

The serpentine form of the living roof hosts over 40,000 plants, supplied by Intrinsic Perennial Gardens, in a richly textured variety of grasses, flowering perennials, and bulbs, including a number of native species. Thriving in all seasons, the biodiverse green roof attracts a variety of birds and pollinators. The slope is a prominent visual element of the site, pitched from 4 to 27 degrees, including a peak in the roof’s center. Roofmeadow designed the green roof profile and the slope stabilization system. Roofmeadow and Sika Sarnafil (the waterproofing provider), are warranting the assembly for a period of 20 years. As a condition of the warranty New York Green Roofs, who also installed the green roof, is maintaining the roofscape. Landscape architecture firm HM White Site Architects incorporated the green roof into the site’s stormwater management strategy and the vegetated roof is expected to harvest almost 200,000 gallons of water each year. The multi-award winning Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center is an inspired example of innovative and sustainable design with its engaging exhibits, enhanced visitor amenities, and gracious event space.

Year: 2011
Owner: Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Building Type: Educational
Type: Semi-Intensive, Test/Research
System: Custom
Size: 9,690 sq.ft.
Slope: 21%
Access: Inaccessible, Open to Public

Photo ©Albert Vecerka Esto, Courtesy of Roofmeadow.

Designers/Manufacturers of Record:

Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism: WEISS/MANFREDI
Landscape Architect: HM White Site Architects
Construction: EW Howell General Contractor
Green Roof System Provider and Designer: Roofmeadow
Waterproofing Manufacturer: Sika Sarnafil
Growing Media: Stancills
Pant Supplier: Intrinsic Perennial Gardens
Greenroof Installer & Maintenance: New York Green Roofs
Irrigation: New York Green Roofs
Post Construction Maintenance Management: Roofmeadow

Photo ©Albert Vecerka Esto, Courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

View the PROJECT PROFILE to see ALL of the Photos and Additional Information about this particular project in The International Greenroof & Greenwall Projects Database.

Project of the Week Video Feature

Watch the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center Project of the Week Video below or see it on our GreenroofsTV channel on YouTube:

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By Linda S. Velazquez, ASLA, LEED AP, GRP
Greenroofs.com Publisher