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The Arboretum as a Regional and Local Amenity
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Source: M•T•R
Click on the
image above to open a new window with a much larger image
of the the Mitchell Tract as a Local Amenity.
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The Arboretum at Penn State has the potential to be not just a campus
facility, but also a regional facility serving both the University
and an area that goes well beyond State College and Centre County.
The financial analysis has identified almost five million residents
that live within 100 miles of the Arboretum and could be a pool
of visitors. The study also advised that the Arboretum should reasonably
attract 190,000 visitors a year when it is up and running with a
real complement of attractions and events to draw people in. Fully
160,000 of those visitors would be coming from outside the Penn
State community.
The Arboretum is particularly well situated to be both a gateway
to the University and a window on the University and the diversity
of its programs. It will aesthetically complement the open lawn
of the East Sub-Campus directly across Park Avenue and Penn State
Dickinson School of Law's new Lewis
Katz Building directly to the east. It is located on Park
Avenue along the main entrance corridor to the University from
I-99 where its gardens and glass-walled Conservatory will contrast
well with the athletic fields and the stadium.
Recommendations for Creating a Campus Amenity Contributing
to the Quality of Life in the Community and the Region
 Source:
M•T•R This conceptual plan
(developed in 2006) replaced the earlier versions created
by Sasaki Associates, Inc., and by M•T•R. (Click
on the image above to see a larger version.) |
This Conceptual Plan for the Mitchell Tract differs from the original
master planning that had been done by Sasaki Associates, Inc, for
this site in two major respects. The building complex has been pulled
forward closer to Park Avenue; and Bigler Road has been re-designed
to create a major arrival at the front door of the Arboretum and
a shared entrance corridor to both the Arboretum's and law school's
parking lots. Because Housing and Food Services can be serviced
from University Drive, service trucks can be eliminated from this
area, thereby reducing conflicts between users. Relocating the buildings
accomplishes two things. The Aboretum buildings are closer to the
campus, and because they lay along a major arrival route, are more
accessible and visible to the rest of the campus. Placing the buildings
closer to Park Avenue also shields more of the Mitchell Tract from
the noise and and distractions of traffic.
Source: Joel McNeal
This plant, Sisyrinchium montanum
Greene (blue-eyed grass), is a native that grows on stream
banks, and in woods and fields. |
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The area in front of the building complex is critical to the
welcoming look of the Arboretum both for visitors to the University
and for potential visitors to the Arboretum. This area must be
as attractive as possible, and therefore has some of the most
potentially popular features. What a visitor to the University
will see from Park Avenue is the Conservatory and a water fountain
in front of a bamboo allée leading into the gardens - all
beautiful elements that will help to draw visitors into the site.
Since many visitors will be arriving on foot or by bicycle, there
are paths through this area connecting to all the major intersections
on Park Avenue and leading back directly to the Conservatory Terrace
and to the entrance to the Arboretum. On the Park Avenue side
of the Conservatory is the Four Seasons Ggarden, a garden space
designed to have the earliest bloom in the spring and the latest
bloom and fall color so that there is always something to see.
Next to the entry road is the Winter Garden, which will feature
plants that are attractive in even the coldest months. Along the
entire front section is a major gift to the campus community -
a large open space where tall switchgrass fills a natural recharge
area to form the Marsh Meadow. With naturalistic banks created
with grading and plantings, the meadow will resemble a pond as
its grasses sway in the breeze.
Looking southeast along the tree-lined
axis of the East Sub-Campus
The Conceptual Plan responds to the Arboretum's location across
Park Avenue from the East Sub-Campus development in two ways.
It respects the strong axial layout developed from the Berkey
Creamery terrace, between the buildings and out onto the lawn,
by creating a boardwalk and small pavilion in the center of the
marsh meadow that extends the axis across Park Avenue to the water
feature on the Conservatory Terrace. Like the East Sub-Campus
with its large semi-circle of lawn at its center, the Arboretum
uses the sweeping views across the marsh meadow to draw the gaze
of passers-by into the gardens and the building complex.
The Marsh Meadow will invite pedestrians to
stroll its pathways. The boardwalk and pavilion in the middle
will connect to the lawn panels that lead to the Conservatory Terrace where a prominent water feature will be visible from Park
Avenue..
This plan also creates spaces for activities as well as places
to get away from the urban campus. It is well known that green
spaces have the ability to calm and refresh the spirit. Many Penn
State graduates remember the valley and its landscapes before
they remember particular places on campus. The Arboretum wants
to be a remembered place, a place of beauty, a place to go and
unwind and to reconnect with nature and growing things, as well
as a place to meet and socialize and to participate in activities
and events. The Mitchell Tract is a bridge to the larger Arboretum
that is vast and less intensively developed. This plan creates
the physical connections into the larger landscape by developing
the bike trail running along the east edge of the Mitchell Tract
and by connecting the trail system into Sunset Park. This path
also provides access to the larger site for the neighbors.
The Mitchell Tract provides much needed activity space, not
only for Arboretum-related activities, but also for use by the
whole University family and the local community. There are outdoor
spaces suitable for social events under tents and terraces for
gatherings of all types from educational to social. The terraces
are placed next to indoor spaces that can be set up for events,
seminars, and parties. In the prime location on the crest of the
hill is the Overlook Pavilion with views across the perennial
flower gardens and into Big Hollow and back to the Education Center.
It is designed to function not only as a special garden spot but
also for after-hours events with its location near parking, adjacent
catering set-up spaces, and restrooms. The Education Center has
a multi-purpose room for large classes, seminars, meetings, and
social events. Several universities have found that their gardens
and arboreta are excellent places to introduce newcomers to the
university, entertain alumnae, and to hold important university
events. The opportunities exist in this plan for those kinds of
things to happen. The botanic gardens can also function as an
adjunct to the social activities that take place at the Schreyer
House.
Source: College of Agricultural Sciences Several universities have found that
their gardens and arboreta are excellent places to introduce
newcomers to the university, to entertain alumni, and to
hold important university events. |
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This Conceptual Plan responds to the needs of the State College
region by designing the Mitchell Tract and its programs not only
for the University, but also for the larger community. The site
welcomes visitors by providing not only gardens to see, but also
amenities such as parking, a gift shop, restrooms, and limited
food service. Specific teaching exhibits are included that can
be used by the community and for community outreach such as the
Children's Garden and the Demonstration Gardens. Event
spaces are open to all. This institution will welcome community
involvement by offering memberships and volunteer opportunities.
This Conceptual Plan responds to requirements for environmental
sensitivity and to the constraints of the Mitchell Tract's location
on the University well field's watershed. While grading on the
site has been kept to a minimum and storm water is held on the
site and not piped away, the most important thing that the Arboretum
can do is to maintain the quality of water infiltrating back into
the ground and then into the well field. This must be done using
best horticultural practices and minimizing the use of chemicals.
This will be a focus of the Arboretum's research and will certainly
be a focus of its educational outreach.
The lower area of the swale has been kept free of structures
and paving and the design has been accomplished with bold planting.
This area can flood if the need arises. It is the intent of the
master plan to capture the roof and parking lot runoff and hold
it for irrigation and to recharge the water features. In this
way almost all of the runoff on the site will find its way back
into the recharge system for the wells.
The Mitchell Tract Circulation
The main entrance to the Arboretum is along a gently angled driveway
that sweeps visitors off of Bigler Road up to the front door of
the Arboretum. The Arboretum's parking lot and vegetative screening
shields visitors from views of the Housing and Food Services Building.
Truck traffic from the core of the campus to Services Road is
Rerouted via University Drive. Pedestrian paths move back into
the site from the Bigler and Shortlidge Road intersections and
Park Avenue.
Everyone is directed to the Education Center. It is critically
important to bring everyone through the Education Center in order
to orient visitors, to provide them with the materials they will
need to understand and enjoy the Arboretum, and to entice them
to return to attend an event, a class, or an exhibit that is coming
in the future. In this way the Arboretum can build programmatic
and financial support.
In order for this portal to work, the main exhibits in the Mitchell
Tract must be fenced. While the Mitchell Tract needs to be fenced
and admission to this portion of the Arboretum may require a fee,
the majority of the Arboretum is freely accessible to all. Access
to it is maintained from Park Avenue and the College Heights neighborhood
as well as from Big Hollow and Overlook Heights. As part of a
comprehensive bike trail plan, bicycle access runs along the east
property line on the main Arboretum service drive and out to the
larger Arboretum and its trail system. This trail system also
connects into the neighborhood at Sunset Park. Visitors to the
Mitchell Tract have their own entrance into the rest of the Arboretum
and its trails through a gate at the end of the Meadow Garden
at the far end of the tract.
There are other compelling reasons to fence the Mitchell Tract
and control access to it. Another reason is that the Arboretum
will be a steward of valuable collections and exhibits that require
protection. This facility needs to be thought of as a museum outdoors,
and it is common sense to lock the doors at the end of the day
and to control access. It is important to donors that these fragile
spaces are protected and maintained at the highest level. In this
way future donations and support are assured. Finally, the collections
must be protected from deer and other wildlife. The fence will
be largely integrated into tree masses and is not an intrusive
element. Where it is visible from the gardens, it will have to
be designed as a garden feature.
The Mitchell Tract will be serviced from a maintenance center
behind the Housing and Food Services Building. Service access
to the gardens is from the primary pedestrian loop. Service access
has also been provided through the Mitchell Tract to the back
of the Conservatory and to the Schreyer House.
Recommendations for Creating a Vibrant Educational Center
All of the outdoor exhibits are educational on all sorts of different
levels. The casual walker may just enjoy the color. But each exhibit
is part of the Arboretum's collection of plants, and each plant
is displayed in conditions conducive to its health and well-being.
In each garden there will be plant labels and perhaps interpretive
signs or materials, all of which provide low-key educational opportunities.
Each garden also can be used for interpreted tours, classes, symposia,
and so on. It is absolutely critical as the master plan is implemented
and each part of the Arboretum is designed in more detail, that
educators be a part of the design process so that good solid interpretive
underpinnings exist.
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Source: College of Agricultural
Sciences
Peter Feretti, professor
of horticulture, conducts a tour of a vegetable trial garden
at Penn State. Best practices for growing vegetables will
be displayed in the Arboretum's demonstration gardens -
all of which will be used for tours, classes, and volunteer
activities. |
But the key to the educational programs at the Arboretum is
the educational core created by this plan. It consists of the
teaching spaces in the Education Center, the classroom and the
multi-purpose room, the Event Lawn and the flanking teaching gardens,
the Children's Garden, and the Demonstration Gardens.
The uses for the teaching spaces can be as varied as a class for
the general public, a continuing education class for green industry
professionals, or a seminar about the latest findings of some
aspect of the University's research programs. The Event Lawn is
available for large plant shows and festivals. The teaching gardens
are planned to engage people directly in horticulture, in learning
about environmental issues, and in exploring the relationship
between plants and man.
The Demonstration Gardens are hands-on places to learn about
all aspects of landscape design, horticulture, environmental issues,
and the world of plants. They are set up with teaching areas at
a learning center including a small outdoor amphitheater. They
are the heart of the plant trials, the results of which need to
be published and made available to the gardening community. They
have the potential to be one of the windows on the University's
research. Parts of the gardens are meant to change over time to
engage different talents from within the University and to provide
practical learning experiences.
Recommendations for Creating a Horticultural Museum
and Showcase
The Arboretum consists of 370 acres, and the majority of the site
is devoted to research and environmental exhibits. The Mitchell
Tract, containing the fifty-eight acres facing Park Avenue, is the
horticultural and botanical center for the Arboretum and the transition
to the rest of the Arboretum. This Conceptual Plan differs from
the original Arboretum Master Plan in trying to tie the Mitchell
Tract more firmly to the rest of the Arboretum. This has been accomplished
by extending the planting beyond the crest of the hill and across
the open field to the tree line at Big Hollow.
There are two major types of exhibits: displays and environmental
exhibits. The horticultural displays are what bring visitors to
the site for the first visit. They have popular appeal and, typically,
are colorful or exotic. They also reveal themselves in completely
different ways across the seasons, rewarding those who return
to explore. Some of the displays on the Mitchell Tract are concentrated
along Park Avenue to advertise the Arboretum to the passing public
and provide a particularly inviting front door. They include the
Marsh Meadow, the Four Seasons Garden, the Conservatory, and the
Rose and Fragrance Garden.
Source: College of Agricultural
Sciences
Robert Berghage, professor
of horticulture, leads a tour of the Penn State flower gardens.
The flower trials will be incorporated in the Demonstration
Gardens of the Arboretum.
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The other displays, the Perennial Gardens, are located prominently
around the Event Lawn and run out to the north from the Overlook
Pavilion. The display gardens are arranged along a formal axis
that runs the length of the Mitchell Tract. This axis features
the grass family to help tie the Mitchell Tract to the larger
Arboretum.
While the Arboretum has the turf research, restored prairie,
fields, and meadows, the Mitchell Tract explores turf, ornamental
grasses, meadow gardens, agricultural crops, and even exotic members
of the grass family such as bamboo. To the south the axis runs
through the pavilion on the boardwalk in the Marsh Meadow, along
the lawn panel and through the Four Seasons Garden to the fountain
in front of the bamboo allée between the Conservatory Terrace
and Oasis Garden. Following the bamboo allée, it runs across
the Event Lawn, through the Overlook Pavilion at the crest of
the hill, and then down through a River of Ornamental Grasses
and Dry Stream and finally into the fields of the Arboretum and
the Prairie beyond. Visitors are encouraged to move out into the
rest of the Arboretum to explore further.
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Source: Joel McNeal
This plant, Thalictrum
thalictroides (L.) A.J.Eames & B.Boivin (rue anemone,
windflower), was found growing on the land that will become
the Arboretum. It is common in wooded banks and thickets,
and flowers from April to June.
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The Mitchell Tract is the transition to the larger Arboretum
with its re-created native plant communities. Therefore the Arboretum
exhibits closest to the larger Arboretum have an environmental
theme, exploring plants that grow in meadow and in shade and woodland
settings. This creates a smooth transition to the native woodlands
and meadows of the Arboretum, inviting visitors to explore further.
These environmental exhibits are designed as gardens, not native
environments. They explore the plants appropriate to Asian Woods,
closer to the educational core, and, as the visitor passes through
the Transition Woods into Penn's Woods, exhibits gradually concentrate
exclusively on native plants along the edge of the Mitchell Tract
next to the larger Arboretum. Together they contain all the best
plants for shade and woodland settings in central Pennsylvania.
While the Mitchell Tract is arranged in what we have called
displays and environmental exhibits, these exhibits contain a
large portion of the Arboretum's plant collections. Though the
plant collections may be shown in a way that they have public
appeal and are not set out in neat rows or separated by genus,
they need to be curated the same way that any museum collection
would be. They are the basis for research and for the Arboretum's
educational programs.
Recommendations for Generating Income
The Arboretum needs to be as self-supporting as possible through
endowment income, annual giving, and earned income. Therefore
the Master Plan maximizes the opportunities for generating income
and developing membership support. Based on the recommendations
that have been generated by the financial analysis, it is important
that the Arboretum appeal to as many people as possible to generate
support. The Arboretum must be a regional attraction, not just
a University facility.
The Arboretum must have the capacity to charge admission, since
admissions can contribute as much as 26% of total income over
time. The Arboretum can set its policies to allow most students
to visit the botanic gardens at very favorable rates or at no
charge, but it is important to collect fees from other visitors
and to persuade them to become members of the Arboretum. Members
are created by motivating visitors to come back. Establishing
a membership program is important to income since members will
be the Arboretum's biggest supporters. They spend more, take advantage
of the educational offerings, volunteer, and are more apt to give
annually. Therefore it is critical to start a dialogue with visitors
and to promote all that the Arboretum offers. The visitor services
areas are key to making this happen.
The Education Center has several revenue-generating spaces including
the gift shop, café, and educational spaces. All of the educational
facilities in the Education Center must be attractively designed
so that they can be rented for meetings and social events. These
indoor spaces have adjacent outdoor terraces that can be rented
in combination with the interior spaces. The Conservatory needs
to be designed to accommodate small groups both inside and out.
Out in the gardens, the Event Lawn and the Overlook Pavilion
are not only attractive garden features but also venues for large
fund-raising events such as plant sales and festivals, or for
small parties and events. The Overlook Pavilion can be combined
for rental with the Event Lawn or the Children's Garden
for more flexibility. The financial analysis emphasized that there
is a very good potential market for weddings on the Arboretum
site. Accordingly, the plan provides spaces within the gardens
where small ceremonies could take place.
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