New York Botanical Garden Selects Diller Scofidio + Renfro for New Café and Biofiltration System

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) has selected Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) to design a new café and a "living biofiltration system" at its historic campus in the Bronx. SCAPE and Natural Systems Utilities are participating in the project as design partners.

The New York Botanical Garden said the southeastern part of the campus currently lacks visitor amenities and restrooms, and the new café and biofiltration system will fill that gap. The new facility will be situated above the Bronx River, near the Thain Family Forest and the Rockefeller Rose Garden. The existing parking lot and septic drainage field will be transformed into a wetland-meadow ecosystem.

DS+R partner Ben Gilmartin described the design as "an ecological prototype for the Bronx." Jennifer Bernstein, CEO and President of the New York Botanical Garden, said the biofiltration system will be the first of its kind in New York City and will "serve as a living laboratory, demonstrating the process of water cycling." She also confirmed that the café will be the first public dining facility in the southeastern part of the campus, and the new additions will "visually attract visitors and be educational."

SCAPE is responsible for ensuring the biofiltration system integrates with the surrounding ecosystem, while Natural Systems Utilities will provide engineering services for on-site wastewater purification. Sean Gallagher, DS+R's Director of Sustainable Design, said the New York Botanical Garden is an ideal partner to "demonstrate how such living systems can reimagine waste as a resource, revealing new ways for humans and nature to collaborate in sustaining urban life."

The collaboration with DS+R and SCAPE is the latest architectural investment at the New York Botanical Garden. In June, a new "climate installation" created by designers Hermine Demaël and Stephen Zimmerer opened at the NYBG's Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Weiss/Manfredi is currently redesigning the NYBG's museum complex, as well as the Mosholu Entrance and Welcome Center, and will design a new education center.