Artificial Climates and the Agile Conservatory: Towards a New Botanic Infrastructure

Conservatories, the crystalline structures evolving from the Orangeries of the 18th and glasshouses of the 19th century, are distinctly different from the production greenhouses used throughout the world at an agricultural scale since 14 – 37 CE (Common Era) Rome. Yet the legacy of Conservatories as cultural destinations filled with botanic wonders is at a critical moment of inflection. As temperatures increase and weather events intensify, the evolution of climate adaptive transparent structures into fully living and breathing structures, passively modulating indoor climates, has increasing relevance for botanic research. The urgency for botanic research around climate change has never been more pressing. 

Recently, Governors Island announced their interest in creating an academic center for climate research, appropriately located on a shoreline subject to sea level rise. Dedicated to tackling the effects of climate change on New York City and beyond, a non-profit net-worked organization, THE EXCHANGE, established to bring together academic and entrepreneurial leaders from around the country to advance research and potential prototype projects that offer sustainable approaches for supporting life in the decades to come. 

Located adjacent to the emerging climate center on the eastern side of Governors Island, the conservatory research center also can become a new landmark destination, a research and visitor center revealing vital connections between climate and cultivation at the waters edge. 

While accessible only by boat and ferry, the new conservatory research center has the potential to establish a resilient island edge, capable of mitigating the impact of rising water levels that bring contemporary risk to the island’s future and test new prototypical architecture at the water’s edge.