A Living Laboratory: The Smith College Botanic Garden

After more than a century of constant use by students and the public, the conservatories, teaching facilities, and work spaces of Smith College’s Botanic Garden have been renovated and reconfigured to provide new spaces for expanded services to the campus and the regional community.

The refurbished facilities provide new exhibition space; increased space for teaching and public education; improved traffic flow through the complex; appropriate heating, cooling, ventilation and humidity for specimen and research plants; and improved safety for plants and people with the installation of tempered glass, sunshade systems and reconfigured work and research spaces.

Smith's living laboratory campus and plant collections continue to play an important role in the academic curriculum, with numerous classes-from engineering to art- availing themselves of the live and preserved study materials and improved laboratory and classroom spaces.

Tempered glass and new ventilation systems provide protection from New England’s ice and snow and proper airflow to control temperatures that simulate different plant zones. A new system of shades control exposure to summer sun.

Smith takes pride in the many opportunities provided for undergraduate students to engage in hands-on research with faculty. The new spaces created by renovations to the conservatories offer enhanced teaching and research spaces.

In addition to better use of space and increased air circulation, new bench systems in research greenhouses allow improved visibility and access to plants for study and maintenance.

The Church Exhibition Gallery preserves some architectural features of the original building while providing well-lit public space for exhibitions related to student research and Smith events.

Visit the Botanic Garden website