The Wertheim Conservatory at Florida International University is intended to be a living laboratory for the benefit of students and researchers, and to house a collection of rare and endangered plants. The building is a futuristic glass structure with computerized environmental control systems including artificial fog.
In the interior I sought a fusion of art and science. The handrail of the bridge is a carved mahogany serpent. Enormous ancient treetrunks are hung with rare epiphytes. The pool and falls feature an integral undergravel bio-filtration system that has kept the aquatic ecosystem crystal clear for years with virtually no maintenance.
Many rare and unusual plants live in the conservatory, some of which I collected on a two month long expedition to the jungle wilderness of Guyana.
We were especially honored to have Sir Ghillian Prance, director of Kew Gardens in London, as keynote speaker for the opening of the conservatory.
In the following photographs, please note the extraordinary degree of growth and ecological maturation in a short period of time, all with little or no human intervention after installation. Good landscape design sets the stage, then steps back to allow natural processes to do the rest.
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