The prairie has returned to Fort Worth’s Cultural District. Evicted long ago by urbanization, native flora have again taken root along University Drive where revived grassland heralds the emergence of a unique enterprise. So surprising is the sight of children at play in this field of prairie grasses that one may not immediately see the new building on the site. Completed earlier this year and situated on 5.2 acres, the headquarters of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) was designed by H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture of New York. The project team, which included local firm Corgan Associates as the architect of record, conceived the 70,000-sf facility to help BRIT achieve its mission to conserve the earth’s natural heritage by deepening our knowledge of the plant world and achieving public awareness of the value plants bring to our lives. Founded in 1987, the nonprofit has established an international reputation for researching, collecting, and preserving plant materials from around the world, as well as for identifying previously unrecorded species even as many natural habitats are disappearing from the planet. Located adjacent to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden Center, BRIT’s leadership recognized that the two institutions would most likely attract the same audience. Therefore, parking areas were placed in between to serve as a shared amenity. Interspersed among the parking aisles are generous planting areas lined with trees whose foliage softens the views between the two facilities. Also within this zone are planting beds that are formed to function as rain gardens by collecting and slowing runoff to nourish the soil. Here also is BRIT’s research garden, where the visitor experience begins immediately upon arrival with a stroll through plots of drought-resistant indigenous plants. The meandering path leads to the front of the new building, an L-shaped assembly of two connected two-story blocks—the Think Block and the Archive Block. Visitors enter the Think Block, which houses public areas, a gift shop, and classrooms on the ground level, and offices for staff, scientists, and visiting researchers on the second floor. As if offering a gesture of welcome, the planted roof slopes downward to display a thriving exhibit of prairie grasses. Joining the Think Block at a right angle is the Archive Block, wherein lies the heart of the headquarters, the herbarium that houses BRIT’s collection of more than one million dried plant specimens. The Archive Block’s upper level contains additional areas for storage of plant specimens and also holds BRIT’s library of over 125,000 volumes, including publications by BRIT Press, such as the “Illustrated Texas Flora” series and scholarly periodicals. A rare book room and a children’s library complete the library holdings. The straightforward massing of the two blocks exemplifies the economy of means – no gilding of the lily here – that runs throughout the project. Comprising the Archive Block’s exterior are site-cast, tilt-wall concrete panels with a multitude of arcing cables attached for training vines that eventually will cover the walls. All but the north sides of the Think Block’s exterior are composed of precast panels patterned with a rhythmic repetition of vertical ridges. This linear texture is amplified by a shift in the sequence of the projections, with those on the top half of the two-story-tall panel (“bisected” by a horizontal reveal) set out of phase with those below. Along the south facade, plate-steel trim frames tall and narrow windows, protruding 13 inches from the wall to cast additional shadows that further activate the surface. On the Think Block’s north side, tilt-wall concrete panels again comprise the base of the facade but with expansive curtainwall above. Along
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(this page, left and below) Tall windows brighte n t h e T hink Blo ck ’s first-level corridor. The lobby view opens to the restored prairie. (opposite page, top and b o t t o m ) T h e A r c hi v e Block is equipped with high-densit y s torage. One o f the projec ting glazed boxes provides meeting areas that overlook the site.
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