Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center Specimen Panels

Missouri Botanical Garden

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Project Details
Size
Year
2022
Location
St. Louis, MO
Collaborators

3Form Fabricators

Salt Lake City

Honors
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Project Summary

The Missouri Botanical Garden is the United States’ oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a global leader in plant science research. Entering a new era, the Garden engaged a collaborative team to design a new visitor center–the primary gateway for over one million annual visitors.

Within the new Visitor Center is the Sassafras Cafe, the Garden's main eatery. To amplify the Garden’s emphasis on species diversity, the Garden’s Horticultural department commissioned Arbolope Studio to design a suite of permanent artworks for display in the Cafe, simultaneously providing an inspiring backdrop for visitors as well as showcasing details and history about the Garden’s research and collections. This dual role - to inspire and educate - became the core mission of the project.

The Garden Horticultural Staff was tasked with collecting and drying plant specimens from across the Garden, which Arbolope then selected from, and designed into a suite of 9 panel tableaus, each panel serving as a graphic interpretation of a research theme or garden typology. A speciality fabricator then produced the panels by using a proprietary process to fuse and encase the plant materials within the glass and resin.

Unique in its use of art to facilitate science communication, the Specimen Panels at the Missouri Botanical Garden are already a visitor favorite, due in large part to their ability to function as both art and science at different distances. Passersby see patterns of color and herbaceous shapes, while those sitting at the cafe booths, standing in line to order, or grabbing soft drinks at the counter can see the details and venation of the leaves and read the placards underneath the panels. In this way, the panels mirror the experience of the Garden - providing layers of experience, meaning, and appreciation for the natural world, all at the discretion of each individual visitor.

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Documentation
Light passing through the glass plant specimen panels that separate the room at the Sassafras cafe in the Jack C. Taylor Vistor center at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Arbolope designed a suite of 9 panel tableaus, each panel serving as a graphic interpretation of a research theme or garden typology.
Large wood bookcase holds glass panels that display different plant species pressed between two glass sheets, designed by Arbolope Studio.
A speciality fabricator then produced the panels by using a proprietary process to fuse and encase the plant specimens within the glass and resin.
Natural wood slabs provide seating underneath the glass panels in the Sassafras cafe for guests to relax and refuel. Designed by arbolope studio.
Unique in its use of art to facilitate science communication, the Specimen Panels at the Missouri Botanical Garden are already a visitor favorite, due in large part to their ability to function as both art and science at different distances.
An empty Sassafras cafe with multiple glass plant specimen panels designed by arbolope studio in 2020.
Night time view of the Sassafras Cafe's outdoor dining and lighting at the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center in the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Outdoor dining and lighting from the Sassafras Cafe at the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center in the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center Specimen Panels

Missouri Botanical Garden

Location

St. Louis, MO

Size

Services

Public Art

Completion

2022

Collaborators

3Form Fabricators

Salt Lake City

Honors & Awards

The Missouri Botanical Garden is the United States’ oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a global leader in plant science research. Entering a new era, the Garden engaged a collaborative team to design a new visitor center–the primary gateway for over one million annual visitors.

Within the new Visitor Center is the Sassafras Cafe, the Garden's main eatery. To amplify the Garden’s emphasis on species diversity, the Garden’s Horticultural department commissioned Arbolope Studio to design a suite of permanent artworks for display in the Cafe, simultaneously providing an inspiring backdrop for visitors as well as showcasing details and history about the Garden’s research and collections. This dual role - to inspire and educate - became the core mission of the project.

The Garden Horticultural Staff was tasked with collecting and drying plant specimens from across the Garden, which Arbolope then selected from, and designed into a suite of 9 panel tableaus, each panel serving as a graphic interpretation of a research theme or garden typology. A speciality fabricator then produced the panels by using a proprietary process to fuse and encase the plant materials within the glass and resin.

Unique in its use of art to facilitate science communication, the Specimen Panels at the Missouri Botanical Garden are already a visitor favorite, due in large part to their ability to function as both art and science at different distances. Passersby see patterns of color and herbaceous shapes, while those sitting at the cafe booths, standing in line to order, or grabbing soft drinks at the counter can see the details and venation of the leaves and read the placards underneath the panels. In this way, the panels mirror the experience of the Garden - providing layers of experience, meaning, and appreciation for the natural world, all at the discretion of each individual visitor.

Light passing through the glass plant specimen panels that separate the room at the Sassafras cafe in the Jack C. Taylor Vistor center at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Large wood bookcase holds glass panels that display different plant species pressed between two glass sheets, designed by Arbolope Studio. Natural wood slabs provide seating underneath the glass panels in the Sassafras cafe for guests to relax and refuel. Designed by arbolope studio.
Arbolope designed a suite of 9 panel tableaus, each panel serving as a graphic interpretation of a research theme or garden typology.
A speciality fabricator then produced the panels by using a proprietary process to fuse and encase the plant specimens within the glass and resin.
Unique in its use of art to facilitate science communication, the Specimen Panels at the Missouri Botanical Garden are already a visitor favorite, due in large part to their ability to function as both art and science at different distances.
An empty Sassafras cafe with multiple glass plant specimen panels designed by arbolope studio in 2020.
Night time view of the Sassafras Cafe's outdoor dining and lighting at the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center in the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Outdoor dining and lighting from the Sassafras Cafe at the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center in the Missouri Botanical Gardens.