Collaboration builds educational botanical garden in Arizona

The building is designed with biophilic principles and high energy efficiency standards in mind

Spotted: The American design-build firms, 180 Degrees and coLAB studio, llc, have joined forces to create a greenhouse in Phoenix which will also serve as an educational facility. 

The Hazel Hare Center for Plant Science is located within the Desert Botanical Garden and will comprise of three buildings: Greenhouse West, the Marley Horticulture Learning Lab and the Ahearn Desert Conservation Laboratory. Upcoming plans also foresee a headhouse and additional conservatories. The buildings are interwoven with walkways, desert landscaping and shaded areas for resting. 

“This horticulture campus is the heart of the Desert Botanical Garden, providing world-class facilities furthering the art and science of nurturing the garden’s renowned plant collection,” the team explains.

According to coLAB, the building is designed with biophilic principles in mind as well as high energy efficiency standards, insulated walls, airtight weather barrier, and 24-hour heat-exchange ventilation system, thereby rendering the building a quiet and very healthy work environment.

The building is a steel-framed facility with white, polycarbonate cladding to bring in softer light. There is a sawtooth roof and a metal canopy with moving aluminium louvres. At ground level, there are also two metal containers for storing rainwater. 

On one side of the campus are the public-facing structures, such as the Learning Lab. The lab is 161 square metres, and will be used as a lecture hall as well as a space for hosting workshops and lab work.  

On the other side are more operation spaces such as the Desert Conservation Lab, and the West Greenhouse which is the largest of the new structures totalling 482 square metres. The latter will house various species of cacti, including some rarer specimens.  

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