San Francisco Botanical Garden
2007 – $5,000 Center for Sustainable Gardening
Located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park the Botanical Garden inspires visitors with an extraordinary diversity of plants from Mediterranean climates around the world. Included in the Garden’s collection are over 7500 varieties of rare and unusual plants that can be successfully grown in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Center for Sustainable Gardening (CSG) at San Francisco Botanical Garden replaced the old, rundown, temporary nursery facilities that were built in the 1960s in the coldest part of the Garden. A new highly-efficient building enabled both the Recreation and Park Department and Botanical Garden Society staff and volunteers to maintain and expand plant propagation and growing activities in a safe and improved work environment.
The CSG includes a Headhouse (4,230 square feet of working space, staff meeting area, and restrooms for staff and the public), a Greenhouse, a Shadehouse, and an outdoor publicly accessible Learning Court. Key elements of the project include the Living Roof on the Headhouse, showcasing California native plants; photovoltaic panels for on-site energy generation; and an on-site storm water management system that captures storm water as well as condensed fog from the Greenhouse and Shadehouse roofs.