Botany Outreach Center and Conservatory

Botany proposes to expand and enhance our greenhouses and replace outdated growth chambers. The flagship of this new facility will be a tropical cloud-forest conservatory. This new glasshouse will be only the third in the world (and the first at a university) to provide the cool, humid climate of the high-elevation tropics, and will generate new opportunities for research, education, and outreach related to these beautiful, diverse, and highly endangered ecosystems. The plants such forests harbor, and the patterns of global warming which threaten them, are active subjects of research within our department.

	Rendering of the proposed conservatory on the slope between the existing greenhouses and the Botany Garden

The renovation will produce plant growth and educational spaces to help university students and school children develop a deep appreciation for the plant sciences. Additionally, scholars will be able to use the conservatory and growth chambers to advance research and draw students into the latest aspects of botanical science. Teaching, research and outreach are not isolated endeavors within Botany, but are drawn together by the activities of the faculty and staff through the facilities we wish to enhance. As such, these growth facilities will be perhaps the most visible public face of botany at UW Madison.

Highlights of the proposed project:

Construction of a new conservatory
The proposed conservatory (name to be determined) will be the new gateway to the greenhouses. It will be a beautiful environment that will showcase the montane tropics, allowing us to bring to Madison botanical gems of New and Old World cloud forests. We will be able to grow species – many under study by our faculty and students – for which we currently lack suitable growing conditions. The current design envisions a conservatory in the form of a 50’-tall doubled Fibonacci helix on the slope south of the existing greenhouses. This will grant easy access to visitors via the Botanical Garden and allow us to use the steep terrain to create a visually impressive, 21’-tall internal slope and waterfall that can be used to showcase jewel-like epiphytes and cliff-lovers such as orchids, bromeliads, ferns, and ericads. Design details are still being finalized with architects from Strang & Co.

	Artist's rendering of the conservatory interior showing cliffs and waterfall

Renovation of a classroom and the head house
The renovation of a classroom adjacent to the greenhouse would create a space better suited for hosting class visits, school-groups, or evening courses. The head-house extension will provide improved working conditions to meet modern health and safety standards for the greenhouse staff.

New Controlled-Environment Growth Chambers
Controlled-environment growth chambers are an essential research resource and are heavily used by many Botany labs. The current facilities are aging and insufficient for the demand. New growth chambers will relieve the bottleneck that currently exists.

	Rendering of the conservatory from above

How Can You Help?

Your donation can help make this exciting addition to the Botany Department and UW campus a reality. Any amount is helpful. Naming opportunities exist.

To give, visit the Theophrastus Fund for the Outreach Center and Conservatory.

For more information about the Botany Outreach Center and Conservatory project and the Theophrastus fund please contact:

Ann Dingman
Director of Donor Relations, College of Letters & Science
University of Wisconsin Foundation
608-265-9954
Ann.Dingman@supportuw.org