Chicago Botanic Garden
CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN
Jacobs Ryan Associates , Mikyoung Kim Design
ARCHITECTS
Jacobs Ryan Associates , Mikyoung Kim Design
PRINCIPAL Booth Hansen
Laurence Booth
YEAR
2016
LOCATION
Chicago, IL, United States
TYPE
Landscape + Planning › Public Park
The Regenstein Learning Campus is an environmental discovery center and nature playground at the Chicago Botanic Garden. This seven acre horticultural center serves a vibrant community of families, offering an interactive experience with the natural world.
The design immerses families and children of all ages to a variety of outdoor experiences that include inquiry focused learning and play that engenders a deep understanding of ecological systems.
This regenerative project is envisioned as a gateway to the natural world; one that highlights creative discovery in all seasons.
The campus weaves together multiple landscape typologies: from an upland play mound area to a lowland fountain fed from the adjacent lake.
These sculptural mounds frame the garden and create an unfolding experience in the landscape where visitors engage the earth. At the central green, a serpentine water feature and large scale boulders allow for exploration and discovery.
The perimeter of the garden includes other active elements such as a willow tunnels, informal council rings and hollowed out climbable wood logs.
The surrounding plant beds are a diverse palette of native plants and include a multisensory experience that engages all of the senses.
The upper garden adjacent to the Learning Center includes an apiary, an outdoor classroom space for art and gardening classes.
A large terrace that looks out onto the garden is used each morning for yoga and tai-chi classes each morning.
Discovery and imagination are emphasized in this design, offering visitors fertile ground for the expansion of the mind and body.
As nature increasingly becomes a distant concept for children plugged into the digital world, this new garden encourages direction engagement with the natural cycles of nature and reconnects our youth to the ecological world.
