Botanic Gardens Welcome Center
CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Location: Ithaca, NY, USA  
Gross Area: 557m² [6,000 s.f.] + 3 acres gardens

project AWARDS
  • Society of College and University Planning Honor Award 2013
  • AIA NYS Award of Excellence 2011
  • AIA Tri-State Honor Award 2011
  • OAA Award of Excellence (including best-in-show award) 2011
  • Canadian Architect Award of Excellence 2010
project concept

Sited within Cornell University’s Botanic Gardens, the Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center and related site improvements are designed to advance Cornell’s leadership role in environmental stewardship education. The project consists of a 6,000 square foot multi-use visitor services and educational centre, new gardens and site infrastructure that provide complementary visitor and educational experiences. An integral part of the garden experience, the Center is a programmatically adaptable building responsive to the needs of diverse communities of users and cyclical changes between academic and tourism cycles. 

Project Detail

A new arrival terrace and parking facility has been designed to consolidate visitors arriving by foot, bicycle, car and bus, establishing a common point for visitor orientation to the garden. The raingarden (bio-swale), located immediately adjacent to the parking and arrival terrace, addresses storm water management practices and provides an environmentally themed garden as an introduction to the botanical grounds. 

Integrated into the side of a glacial knoll, the Center is organized on two levels in response to adjoining topography. The lower, meadow level of the Center forms an active terrace for visitor services including exhibition/ orientation space, snack bar, washrooms and gift shop. Classrooms, digital conferencing and events programming are accommodated on the upper level within flexible spaces that rapidly convert for community rental functions. Both levels are organized to connect directly with the outdoors to facilitate programmatic and spatial extension.

Technical Features

Extensive consultation with the specialized horticultural client group has lead to innovative uses of structural soils to allow for the layering of trees and heavy duty pavements, while promoting plant and tree root growth. Plant species were carefully selected to act as biological filters and expand the Plantations’ plant garden collections.

Delivered on-time and tendered under-budget, the project exceeded the University’s mandated LEED Silver standard, to become the University’s first LEED Gold building. Rooftop solar thermal panels provide nearly 80% of the building’s space heating needs and the design is expected to reduce energy consumption to 49% below the ASHRAE 90.1(2004) metrics. ‘Green’ systems were carried in the tender package as itemized extra prices, enabling advanced systems to be added to the project without delay to the schedule.