New Horticulture Center Complex Coming for Morris Arboretum

The Morris Arboretum’s new sustainable Horticulture Center will break ground on Oct. 3, 2008. It will be the first green building on the 167-acre arboretum grounds.

The Horticulture Center Complex at the Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill, Pa., part of the University of Pennsylvania, is a project envisioned by the Arboretum’s 1977 master plan. It has been a long time coming, but the first phase of construction is scheduled to break ground Oct. 3, 2008 and cost $11.1 million. The 20,000-square-foot first phase will provide space for the arboretum’s staff and equipment.

The Horticulture Center Complex seeks LEED platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. It would be the first LEED building for the arboretum.

Phase II of the construction, a new education building, will total 22,000 square feet and is projected to get underway in 2010. It will also be targeted for LEED platinum certification.

The expansion project is being funded by a $5 million gift from Campbell Soup heiress and philanthropist Dorrance “Dodo” Hamilton, a capital grant from the state and leadership gifts from the William Penn Foundation and John and Janet Haas.

The project was designed by Overland Partners of San Antonio, M2 Architecture of Philadelphia, and Andropogon Associates, the Arboretum’s Philadelphia-based landscape planning partner.