Cleveland Botanical Garden Expansion & Renovation

This project consisted of the renovation and expansion of Cleveland Botanical Garden's 1960s-era Garden Center located in the heart of Cleveland's University Circle.

The three main components of the project included a reconfigured/renovated administration building, a new visitor center, and the iconic 18,000 SF Eleanor Armstrong Smith Glasshouse.

The main focus of this one-of-a-kind project, the glasshouse has become a regional landmark among Cleveland’s cultural institutions. It contains replications of two of the world’s most fragile ecosystems in separate, climate-controlled biomes, requiring very sophisticated MEP systems to support the drastically different environments.

In the Madagascar biome, guests find themselves in the spiny desert, which makes up the southwest corner of the island country.

In the Costa Rica biome, guests enter a cloud forest inhabited by butterflies, orchids, and brightly colored birds.

Other elements of the project included an education wing, the expanded Eleanor Squire library, exhibit galleries, a lecture hall, a dramatic new lobby, a gift shop, a café, new office space, and a 200-space underground parking garage.