Designers offer first peek at Springfield's botanical center

The general contractor for the 12,700-square-foot facility has not yet been selected.

Renderings released Oct. 8 by project architect H Design Group LLC show the center with a rooftop plaza and a 125-foot glass facade designed “to allow for maximum natural light and a sense of the interior and the exterior flowing together,” said architect Brent Stevens, an H Design principal.

“The design concept is to fit the building into the landscape as nonimpactfully as possible,” Stevens added. “Our intent is to make it a low-profile facility that’s very responsible to the existing terrain.”

The terrain is that of the adjoining 59-acre Nathanael Greene Park and 55-acre Close Memorial Park at 2400 S. Scenic Ave.

The botanical center building will be built against a hillside overlooking Lake Drummond in Close Park and will be a “green” building to be submitted for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

“We’re looking at responsible design for LEED certification by building with local materials, allowing daylight into the building and using efficient mechanical and lighting systems,” said Stevens, whose firm also designed the additions to and renovations of Discovery Center, Springfield’s first gold-certified LEED project.

Beginning to build

The contractor for the project will be chosen through a public bidding process, for which the opening date has not yet been determined.

Several engineering firms are already involved, but Stevens said their names aren’t being released until contracts are finalized.

Construction is tentatively set to start in 2009, with the botanical center to open in 2010.

The center’s 20-year master plan calls for it to be surrounded by 34 gardens, 16 of which are already in place. Serving as a botanical, horticultural and environmental educational center, it will house classroom, meeting and exhibit spaces; a library; a combination gift shop and bookstore; and offices for the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, University of Missouri Extension and its Master Gardeners, 4-H and other programs; and Friends of the Garden, the project’s nonprofit fundraising organization.

Funding efforts

The botanical center project is funded by $3 million to come from a 2006 voter-approved quarter-cent sales tax; $400,000 received from the Greene County Commission and early donors; $200,000 received in private pledges; and $400,000 to be raised through a public drive by Friends of the Garden and University of Missouri Greene County Extension donations from extension partners and Missouri University alumni.

The city of Springfield covered the building’s $400,000 design cost.

Donations are held by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and so far total $107,000, said Susan Boswell, Friends of the Garden development director. Boswell said a major capital campaign begins Nov. 1.

“People are beginning to see how we need the botanical center and what it will do for us,” she added. “We’re trying to promote gardening from generation to generation. We’re all stewards of the earth, and our children can be directed into this path through the center’s classes and programs.”

Tentatively christened the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center, the facility may eventually bear the name of a major contributor through a naming opportunity, Boswell said. She noted that any donations exceeding Friends of the Garden’s $400,000 goal will go into developing the gardens and providing additional services.

The park board will own, operate and maintain the center.

“We have a lot of public input on the project. The public wants it. We want it. This is a great thing for our community,” Springfield-Greene County Park Board Director Jodie Adams said. “It gives us a headquarters on the site for all of the entities that will be there, especially anything that has to do with horticulture and our botanical development. It’s going to give us a broad diversity of programs. It will give us basically a seven-day-a-week operation there to assist volunteers. It will be open to the public and educate the public, and it creates a destination.”

Adams said the park board is putting together a business plan for the facility and will also search for and hire a center director, whose responsibilities may include other park operations.

For Gaylord Moore, horticultural specialist with the University of Missouri Extension, the botanical center will provide a home for extension programs and activities.

“For the Master Gardeners program, the facility will be much more appealing for having a classroom to conduct educational programs,” said Moore, who will retire Oct. 31. “We’ll be able to use the gardens as workshops for classes in how to divide perennials, soil conditioning, everything that has to do with plants, fruits, vegetables, trees, shrubs, you name it.”

Master Gardener classes, held once a year, currently must meet on offsite locations. Moore said the next class will be held some time in February at St. John’s Cancer Center.

The Master Gardener program is open to the public and provides, for a fee, 30 hours of classroom instruction in home garden, lawn, and landscaping horticultural practices. To become a full-fledged Master Gardener, students also must provide 30 hours of volunteer service.

“About 750 people have taken the classes through the years,” Moore said. “We now have about 240 members and 175 active participants. We also teach through the Mo Gardens program, where for a fee people can come in and take 14 different classes, and the volunteer work isn’t required.”[[In-content Ad]]