Louisville Waterfront Botanical Garden

Our team worked on the Waterfront Botanic Garden project in Louisville Kentucky.  This project was located along Interstate 71 which is one of the main roads into the city of Louisville.  The project is being developed on the closed Ohio Street Dump.  The dump was closed in 1973 after being opened for over 40 years.  The build up of trash lead to many design challenges for the site.  Our design was centered on providing the users with a unique experience when they entered the garden.  After entering the visitors center you ascend to into the conservatory and once you exit the conservatory you are greeted with open views of the gardens.  The gardens focus on reducing the negative impacts of development by managing stormwater on site and using native plantings to help remediate the soil contaminates on site.  Our team also focused on providing an experience for the children and the parents who visit the garden.  We created a child’s play area that used plant material that have unique qualities such as texture, smell, and colors to entice children to learn from the garden as well.  Our team feels that a landscape should not only be a place that is viewed by people but also a place where everyone can learn.  We feel like creating spaces that engage the users to use all of their senses when they are in the landscape.  Landscapes should do no harm to the environment and only benefit the natural environment by creating more natural and sustainable landscapes for everyone to enjoy for current and future generations.