VanDusen Visitor Centre Inauguration

Sunday will be the Inauguration of the Visitor's Centre of Vandusen Botanical Garden.

The maquette of the new Visitor Centre of VanDusen Botanical Garden

It is more than one year since we saw first time the maquette of the New Visitor Centre in the main hall of the garden, that will be built at the VanDusen Botanical Graden. Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation together with the VanDusen Botanical Garden Association started the "Capital Project" in 2007 to develop a new Visitor Centre for the garden.

This new botany centre should be a great place for social and cultural activities where people would learn about the world of plants and the living building philosophy. According to the project, "the building will contain design features for human delight and the celebration of culture, spirit and place", like the native orchid leaf which conveyed inspiration for the unusual shape of the roof.

I liked the idea of "sustainability in the built environment". The building's energy needs will be supplied by on-site renewable energy and the water will come from captured precipitation. Challenging seems to be to make the building 100% water independent and  to clean and filter the water using plants grown in the garden.

Visitor Centre of VanDusen Botanical Garden - ground floor plan

On my ways to Vandusen Botanical Garden I passed the construct area many times... and sometimes I noticed the construction progress. This Sunday, Oct. 23, at 1pm,  in the Atrium of the New Visitor Centre (5151 Oak Street at West 37th Avenue ) will be the official opening ceremony for the new building. It is time to visit it, and if you pass by, you may visit also for free the Vandusen Botanical Garden (as gift to Vancouverites the admission to the garden will be free).


The 2011 Dried Flower Sale will be in the same day in the Entrance Pavilion (10am to 4pm) where anyone can sellect an autumn symbol from a range of dried flower topiaries, wreaths, bouquets and arrangements made from materials gathered in the Garden.


See you there!