The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania has been awarded Platinum Level LEED Certification, the highest rating of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its new $13 million Horticulture Center at Bloomfield Farm, across the street from the Arboretum's public garden.

LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. The Horticulture Center marks the first new building to be built on the Morris Arboretum property since its founding in the early 1900s. It’s the first LEED® Platinum certified building for the University of Pennsylvania, and only the second in the state of Pennsylvania.

Environmentally friendly design features at the new Horticulture Center include an efficient ground-source heat pump that will provide heat and air-conditioning for the building, photovoltaic panels that will provide on-site generation of renewable energy and other sustainable elements, including geothermal wells to help keep office temperatures comfortable, green roofs that showcase drought-tolerant plants and cisterns that catch rainwater and make it available to be used to irrigate the landscape.

The Horticulture Center was designed by architects from Overland Partners of San Antonio, TX, Muscoe Martin of Philadelphia’s M2 Architecture, and Andropogon Associates, Morris Arboretum’s Philadelphia-based landscape planners for the Arboretum since 1977.  The contractor for the project was W.S. Cumby. The mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer was Bruce Brooks & Associates, and the site/civil engineers was Hunt Engineering.

Click here to visit the Morris Arboretum website and learn more about the Horticulture Center.