Botanical Research Center Fact Sheet

Construction of the Botanical Research Center

During the more than 40 years since it was established, NTBG’s herbarium, library, and living collections have been indispensable to its scientific research and conservation programs. The resources that these collections provide, not only to researchers and students in Hawai‘i, but worldwide, are incomparable. Furthermore, it is rare to have all three of these resources — comprehensive living collections of tropical flora, an extensive herbarium, and an extraordinary botanical library — at one location.

A Botanical Research Center that brings together the herbarium and library under a single roof, adjacent to its McBryde Garden, has long been envisioned by NTBG.

This will be the fourth building of NTBG’s Headquarters campus.

Headquarters campus National Tropical Botanical Garden Kalaheo, Kaua‘i (on the rim of the Lawa‘i Valley, overlooking NTBG’s McBryde Garden)
$14.7 million
$21 million, including building endowment and operations
$10 million thus far through gifts from individuals and foundations; $12 million toward the total campaign
Sustainable “green” design, construction, and maintenance

Seeking Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification

• To protect the invaluable herbarium and library collections, the building is designed to withstand hurricane-force winds.
• 30 kW Solar roof
• 50,000-gallon water catchment capacity
• Natural light and views

Approximately 10,000 square feet; two-story. Total square footage: approximately 20,000 square feet.
Dean Sakamoto Architects, LLC
Unlimited Construction Services, Inc.
January 2007
Scheduled for February 2008, but projected for December 31, 2006

In addition to housing the herbarium and library collections, the Center will include research laboratories and offices, a room for processing and drying new plant specimens, and dedicated work space for staff, students, and visiting researchers.

The Botanical Research Center will serve not only as a resource for national and international researchers, but also as a significant resource for Hawai‘i and the local community. Through NTBG’s education and outreach programs local students will be able to learn firsthand about tropical botany, horticulture, and ethnobotany, as well as the importance of traditional knowledge, and natural and cultural resource management.

NTBG ORGANIZATION: National Tropical Botanical Garden is a not-for-profit institution, dedicated to discovering, saving, and studying the world's tropical plants and to sharing what is learned. It is supported through contributions and grants.

The organization was founded in 1964. NTBG’s first garden, the McBryde Garden, was established in the Lawa‘i Valley on the island of Kaua‘i in 1970. Since that time, NTBG’s holdings have grown to encompass over 1,800 in four gardens and three preserves in the Hawaiian Islands, and a garden in South Florida.

The mission of the National Tropical Botanical Garden is to enrich life through discovery, scientific research, conservation, and education by perpetuating the survival of plants, ecosystems, and cultural knowledge of tropical regions.

www.ntbg.org Milani Pimental, mpimental@ntbg.org (808) 332-7324, ext. 243
Janet Leopold, leopold@ntbg.org (808) 332-7324, ext. 241