Canada’s Gorgeous Green-Roofed VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre Now Open to the Public

Canada's new <a href="http://www.perkinswill.com/">VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre</a> is a flowing green building that blends into its surrounding landscape in Vancover. Designed by <a href="http://www.perkinswill.com/">Perkins+Will</a>, the billowing structure is sited amidst a thicket of tall and lush greenery, and it brings a harmonious balance between modern architecture and nature. From its rammed earth walls, all the way to the top of its green roof, this <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/leed-platinum-office-building-by-cook-fox-architects-to-rise-beside-the-high-line/">LEED Platinum building</a> is also steeped in green building strategies that will help it achieve net-zero energy.

The front entrance overhang darts to the sky, and a central atrium and skylight pours natural light into the center while also serving as a solar chimney that exhausts hot air.

The design of Perkins+Will's VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre was<a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/biomimicry"> inspired by the organic forms</a> and natural systems of a native orchid.

The 19,000-square-foot building is organized into undulating green roof ‘petals’ that float above its rammed earth and concrete walls.

Designed to exceed LEED Platinum status, the Visitor Centre is pursuing the <a href="https://ilbi.org/lbc">Living Building Challenge</a> — the most stringent measurement of sustainability in the built environment.

In addition to an expansive green roof that reduces heating and cooling requirements, the facility uses on-site, renewable sources to achieve net-zero energy on an annual basis.

A <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/08/23/new-york-firemen-go-solar-with-140-panel-photovoltaic-array/" target="_blank">photovoltaic system</a> on the roof will generate electricity for the center.

Hot water will be provided by a biomass boiler fed by dry wood waste reclaimed from the surrounding area. 

Measures have been implemented to sequester enough carbon to achieve carbon neutrality, and filtered rainwater is used for the building’s greywater requirements. Most impressively 100% of the blackwater is treated in an on-site bio-reactor.