Children’s Adventure Garden

The new, eight-acre Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden & Exploration Center creates an experiential learning oasis at the northern end of the Dallas Arboretum.

The new Children’s Garden is sited to animate a previously undeveloped and steeply sloped portion of the vast arboretum. Each day hundreds of youngsters visit the garden. The varied experience begins at the orientation amphitheater, includes 17 integrated learning galleries along meandering, accessible pathways for visitors to engage at their own pace.

The Exploration Center is a central focus of the Garden. Bermed into the natural slope, the Center houses indoor-outdoor learning areas, innovative exhibits, and interactive technology developed to meet state and national science education standards and engage school children in earth and life science exploration.

The new, eight-acre Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden & Exploration Center creates an experiential learning oasis at the northern end of the Dallas Arboretum.

Credit: Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Society (DABS) and MKW

The Texas Skywalk, a 200-foot long elevated architectural walkway, provides accessibility across the site and meanders through a tree canopy, soaring 20 feet above the lush understory. The Skywalk and other exhibits provide unique views into the interconnections between living organisms and their habitats, from the tree tops to the landscape below. The garden conveys science concepts in a manner not possible in a classroom and provides science support for schools to challenge students through more engaging methods.

Shared/Multi-Use Program Spaces

There are 17 integrated indoor and outdoor learning galleries and 150 interactive exhibits—including the OmniGlobe, a six-foot-diameter sphere that projects atmospheric and geological phenomena. At the plant lab inside the Discovery Center, lessons learned outside are solidified with first-hand experiments utilizing innovative computer kiosks and interactive video monitors. While the program’s overall mission is to make science fun, interesting, and inspiring, the spaces also integrate unique solutions for functional and operational needs. To accommodate the needs of administration, teachers, and volunteers, while maximizing the use of built space for educational purposes and minimizing crowding within circulation areas, support and utility spaces are thoughtfully integrated within the facilities.

Sustainable Design

The campus offers visitors a tangible learning experience by using techniques that incorporate low-maintenance materials, visible solar photovoltaics, natural daylighting, and buildings that incorporate both earth sheltered structures and high-mass concrete structures to temper heat gain.

Exhibits ring the viewing platform, which are shaded by photovoltaic panel screens. Sustainable features permeate the garden: materials selected for durability and low maintenance requirements, recycled materials, planted roofs that reduce heat, low-flow plumbing, and a cistern for collecting rainwater that is recycled for irrigation.

Dallas has become a powerhouse in STEM education facilities. The next phase phase of the Arboretum’s expansion is the Garden Education Center. A unique facility at the forefront of STEM education, this new Dattner-designed building will complement the other science facilities in the Dallas area. The GEC will play a large role in attracting young families and expanding educational programs to further engage the local community and beyond.

Location

Dallas, TX

Area

7 acres

Completion

2013

Clients

Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Gardens

Collaborators

Van Sickle & Rolleri Ltd
MKW + Associates

Recognition

IES Illumination—Award of Merit
SARA—Landscape Architecture Design Awards
Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) Thea Awards—Award for Outstanding Achievement
Urban Land Institute North Texas—Industry Impact Finalist

View Project Facts