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Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Contact: Deborah McGuire, +1 412.477.1222, G20media@phipps.conservatory.org, www.phipps.conservatory.org

Exhibit Now Open: Life in the Gardens, Fräbel Glass at Phipps

Synopsis
For Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, the past is prologue to a future as ingenious as the region it serves. Built as a repository of horticultural excellence by Henry Phipps in 1893 at the height of Pittsburgh's industrial prowess, Phipps has evolved from the nation's first teaching conservatory to a distinguished eco-champion among America's 500 public gardens and an exhibit space ranked among the nation's top conservatory experiences. The transformation of Phipps' Victorian glasshouse into a pace-setting model for advanced green building practices, sustainable development and environmental awareness has resulted in 13 prestigious awards.
Overview
Award-winning horticultural and artistic exhibits at Phipps attract the world to Pittsburgh. Phipps couples a "living museum" of exotic flora with superlative artistry in fourteen magnificent conservatory rooms and outdoor gardens. Each conservatory room features a unique horticultural focus such as tropical fruits or orchids, or they serve as changing display spaces for our many seasonal flower shows and exhibits. Throughout the space, glass art by Hans Godo Fräbel and Dale Chihuly accentuates the natural beauty.
Phipps is committed to sustainable buildings and operations. Phipps' Welcome Center debuted in 2005 as the first LEED®-certified visitor center in a public garden. The following year, a 12,000-square-foot Tropical Forest Conservatory garnered national acclaim as the most energy-efficient conservatory in the world and the nation's largest, changing-theme tropical forest display space. The Forest incorporates revolutionary heating and cooling that completely eliminates the greenhouse effect with a palette of energy-saving technologies including computer-controlled shading and ventilation, earth tubes, and a solid oxide fuel cell.

Currently, Phipps is once again setting the pace with its greenest venture to date -- the Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL). Designed and built by people from Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania as an innovation for the world, the CSL will emerge as a Living Building, exceeding LEED® Platinum. The CSL will produce all of its own energy from renewable resources onsite and treat all of its own water while it serves as a leading-edge environmental education and research facility.

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