Edinburgh’s Gorgeous John Hope Garden Gateway Wins 2011 Sustainability Award

Inspired by its luscious natural surroundings, the magnificent <a title="Award Winner John Hope Gateway Gets Inspiration From Luscious Edinburgh's Botanic Garden" href="http://www.rbge.org.uk/the-gardens/edinburgh/the-gateway" target="_blank">John Hope Gateway</a> at Edinburgh's <a href="http://www.rbge.org.uk/">Royal Botanic Garden</a> was designed with social sustainability in mind. Created by award-winning <a title="Award Winner John Hope Gateway Gets Inspiration From Luscious Edinburgh's Botanic Garden" href="http://www.edwardcullinanarchitects.com/index.html" target="_blank">Edward Cullinan Architects</a>, the building hosts an exhibition space, a media studio, a shop, a restaurant, indoor and outdoor educational areas, and a new bio-diversity garden and information center. The groundbreaking green building makes great use of renewable <a title="Award Winner John Hope Gateway Gets Inspiration From Luscious Edinburgh's Botanic Garden" href="http://inhabitat.com/energy/" target="_blank">energy</a>, recycles rainwater, takes advantage of passive heating and cooling strategies, and produces little waste.

Officially opened by <a title="Award Winner John Hope Gateway Gets Inspiration From Luscious Edinburgh's Botanic Garden" href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/HMTheQueen/HMTheQueen.aspx" target="_blank">Her Majesty The Queen</a> in April 2010, the John Hope Gateway just won the <a title="Award Winner John Hope Gateway Gets Inspiration From Luscious Edinburgh's Botanic Garden" href="http://www.rics.org/site/scripts/press_article.aspx?pressreleaseID=501" target="_blank">2011 RICS Annual Sustainability Award</a> thanks to its use of low-energy, waste-reducing sustainable systems.

The building's high-tech design incorporates passive building strategies as well as energy-generating renewable systems such as a biomass boiler, solar thermal and photovoltaic panels, and a wind turbine.

The building's roof mimics the structure of a plant's leaf - rainwater flows from roof canals into a corrugated steel tank that collects it to be reused for flushing the toilets.

Nature flourishes both outside and in thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows, which suffuse the interior with daylight.

The center also makes great use of natural ventilation, which is controlled through a system of vertical fins.

The center's restaurant was built using local Scottish timber, glass and stone, and it offers astonishing views of the gardens.

The building's educational facilities include many interactive displays that allow visitors to learn about the garden's research and conservation work in <a title="Award Winner John Hope Gateway Gets Inspiration From Luscious Edinburgh's Botanic Garden" href="http://inhabitat.com/gorgeous-green-roofed-black-sheep-house-in-scotland-looks-out-to-sea/" target="_blank">Scotland</a>.

Ted Cullinan created <a title="Award Winner John Hope Gateway Gets Inspiration From Luscious Edinburgh's Botanic Garden" href="http://www.edwardcullinanarchitects.com/index.html" target="_blank">Edward Cullinan Architects</a> in 1965. Since then the London-based studio has been committed to designing ’long-life, loose fit, low-energy buildings’ with a strong commitment to social sustainability.