Global Flora’s sustainable design strategies strengthen the collective public realm

The sustainable use of living soils connects Global Flora plant specimens to local topography and ecosystems, enhancing Campus use as a public resource. An innovative Interactive Platform provides real time air, water, soil and energy status, expanding public access for on-site and online users. Instead of being bounded by a lot line, Global Flora creates a precinct of shared clean energy and water exchanges that remediate the natural landscape and improve land use, value and the sustainability of renovated and new Science buildings. Repurposed masonry, stone and wood from Campus and region-sourced ETFE cladding minimize embodied and operational energy. Global Flora meets living building net zero challenges with intelligent, passive design and humid air transfer between biomes.

Global Flora reinvents the “stand alone” conservatory typology with net zero performance

Global Flora achieves net zero and expands public programs with a new integration of site, buildings, biomes and sustainable passive systems. 1-hectare precinct site is net zero water, managing rainfall in cisterns and filtering waste water from the Science Center roof. With a 10K kwh solar grid, harvested water is reused for plants, toilets and maintenance, minimizing high energy municipal water treatments. Passive design, site orientation and material choices minimize energy use. Global Flora is heated by on-site geothermal wells, and 100 % passively cooled through natural ventilation, fans and water design. Each biome helps to support another’s needs through passive air & energy transfer: the design demonstrates ecological synergy and supports comparative study of adaptive plant biology.

Interdisciplinary innovations advance design, natural sustainability and public education

Global Flora advances practice with interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative integration of affordable, passive ecological principles and architectural design. Use of thermal mass with ETFE minimizes structure, enables air/heat exchanges and direct visual comparison of plant biomes. Public knowledge on sustainable natural specimens is disseminated globally with an open source interactive research and bio-feedback sensor platform. This monitors and enables on-site and online access of matter flows in Global Flora, and the display of ongoing research and data that reveal plant processes and growth over time. Linking immersive, physical experience of nature with digital technology, Global Flora’s design redefines public access to nature and transfers knowledge of its systems.