By GRETCHEN METZ, Special to the Times
WEST CHESTER — Archer & Buchanan Architecture's design of the Wister Education Center and Greenhouse for The Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College has been selected as a Green Building of America award-winning project.
As a project winner, the Wister center will be spotlighted in a special Real Estate & Construction Review-Northeast Green Success Stories edition in 2010. The special edition will feature in-depth interviews with the West Chester firm's owner, architect and contractor.
An editorial advisory board reviews and chooses what projects will be in the annual publication, said Lance Kamin, publisher.
The board looks for projects that are "unique and challenging," projects other architects could "learn from," with advanced "design, construction and technology" and a project the board feels is "cutting edge," Kamin said.
The 5,200-square-foot building with a $3.8 million budget is under construction and is expected to be finished in late September.
The new center will showcase Scott Arboretum's horticultural displays, plant evaluations, and public education and volunteer support operations. It will replace a 1,000-square-foot structure that is more than 25 years old.
The Wister center was selected from more than 2,500 nominated projects.Daniel Russoniello, a principal at Archer & Buchanan and responsible for the Wister center, said though he was surprised the project was chosen since it is still under construction, it is one that is worthy of being considered.
The Wister project is anticipated to earn at minimum a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, Russoniello said.
The LEED rating system is a third-party certification program and a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of environmentally friendly buildings.
"We're doing rainwater management, capturing rainwater to be used for irrigating plants, and a heating-air conditioning system that captures expelled heat or cooling from other parts of the campus," Russoniello said. "The building will have large windows to let light in.
"Construction waste is being sent to a third party to be sorted, records kept and then recycled, Russoniello said. The building will also have a green roof, like some of the other buildings on campus.Scott Arboretum was founded in 1929 by the Scott Family, who wanted to establish a college campus as an arboretum to educate home gardeners about plants and landscaping, to put on lectures, workshops and guided tours, said Clair Sawyers, arboretum director.
Since that time, Swarthmore's 399-acre campus has been a designated arboretum, complete with rolling lawns, creeks, wooded hills and hiking trails. The college was founded in 1864.
The Wister Education Center and Greenhouse will help the organization's outreach programs, Sawyers said.In the building, there will be a classroom where people can work with plants and soil, a "head house" with benches and potting area so people can pot plants and two greenhouses for plant propagation and other growing activities, she said.
In addition, there will be a corridor where the arboretum's team of 120 volunteers will have a place for their tools and other supplies. Volunteers are trained and commit to work a half a day twice a month. They weed, mulch, do planting and pot up plants, Sawyers explained.
The arboretum broke ground in 2008 with advance financing from Swarthmore College. It is committed to paying back the loan by 2014, officials said.
"It's been a long fundraising effort, a decade long," Sawyers said, adding that when the arboretum began the project, costs were expected to be $1.4 million. But over time, prices for materials soared, more than doubling the original estimate. Eventually, the decision was made to push ahead before prices shot higher, Sawyers said.
Like Russoniello, Sawyers is particularly proud of the sustainable component of the project.Wood from redwood trees cut down on campus in order to build a new residential hall was used for the shingles on the side of the new education center, Sawyers said. The education center is being built next to the arboretum's office building, once the home of an astronomy professor.
W.S. Comvy of Springfield, Delaware County, is the construction company working on the project.
Source>
Vivian Shoalts is a master gardener and an accredited horticultural and floral design judge. With the arrival of August, Vivian shifts her attention in a recent article to the traditional practice of collecting and saving seeds from the past growing season.
