Olin Partnership has recently completed Concept Design
for a new Children's Garden at the Fort Worth Botanic
Garden. Set within Fort Worth's notable cultural district,
the Children's Garden will provide a valuable new resource
for families and children. Designed to engage children
up to 12 years of age, the garden is specifically targeted
to younger children, from 9 months to six years of age.
The mission of the garden is to involve children in
discovering their natural world and to foster their
respect and understanding for the environment within
a context that is fun, inspiring and educational.
The approximately five-acre site accommodates a series
of gardens that demonstrate different ideas about the
landscape of Central Texas, including agriculture and
crops; the nature and experience of water in different
contexts; native plants and their exotic counterparts;
and the properties of the light and wind that are so
typical to the region. The garden will include a 5000
square-foot education building with a small conservatory,
and a series of pavilions and shelters to ensure year-round
opportunities for garden use. A small amphitheatre of
natural stone set into grade will provide outdoor performance
space as well as a unique environment for plants. Broad
lawns with large grassy mounds will provide kids with
"backyard" space to run and tumble.
It is perhaps the experience of water that will give
this garden its unique identity. Water emerges from
a source at the west entrance to the garden and leads
children through the garden along a series of waterfalls,
gates, a waterwheel and finally to a sinkhole pond.
Rainwater harvested from the education building will
be stored in a cistern and used to irrigate the crop
gardens, and little children will have the opportunity
to water plants in the "Pot Garden" with pots and
watering cans filled by pumps connected to a second
underground cistern.
Like many projects in Fort Worth, the Children's
Garden reflects the vision of a dedicated group of
individuals and a remarkable collaboration with Botanic
Garden staff and the City of Fort Worth, which owns
the Botanic Garden. |
