PROVIDENCE -- A seven-story, glass-encased replica of a landscape in Papua New Guinea, a conservatory with artwork by the late actor Anthony Quinn, and a replica of the 12th hole of the Augusta National Golf Course will be focal points of the new $15-million botanical gardens at Roger Williams Park, scheduled to be completed next year.
The project, which is to be celebrated in a groundbreaking ceremony at 11 a.m. today, aims to dramatically transform the current botanical gardens, a modest cluster of greenhouses and gardens on the park's Cladrastis Avenue, into a major attraction for visitors.
The project will span 26 acres and will include a host of outdoor gardens, a cafe with a terrace, a retail garden shop in the visitors' pavilion and a large area that will be available for functions. That area, called "The Great Lawn," will overlook the park's Edgewood Lake, which will get a pedestrian walk.
But the focal points are most likely to be the 3,000-square-foot Anthony Quinn Conservatory, which will also include his sculpture and seasonal plant collections, and the Papua New Guinea Conservatory, a 15,000-square-foot glass-encased replica of a native landscape designed to give visitors a "total immersion experience," park officials say.
"There really is nothing else like it in New England," said Nancy L. Derrig, parks superintendent, pointing out that the garden will have plants from all over the world. "We've got art, architecture, beauty, education, environmentally-friendly buildings and gardens . . . what more could you want?"
In her 18 years at the department, Derrig said, "it's the most exciting project that I've ever been involved in." So far, $11 million of the project's cost has been raised from donations, grants and bond money. Fundraising continues.
The scale of the project is huge, Derrig said, noting that very few other cities have botanical gardens as comprehensive as the Roger Williams Park site will be. The nearest comparable botanical garden is in New York.
When parks officials sat down to select a spot for the project and to help design it, they purposely sought to craft a plan that "fit with the historical nature" of the 19th-century park, said Charles E. Carberry, executive director of the Botanical Gardens.
The guest pavilion, where visitors will go to buy tickets to enter most of the gardens, will be an environmentally-friendly building that is thermally heated and cooled, Carberry said. It will also have cisterns designed to catch rainwater, which will be used to water plants. The pavilion will also include the garden shop and cafe.
Visitors will start to notice the garden environment, as they park their cars in a 109-car lot, lined with rows of native plants and swales, or ditches, to collect runoff water. The walkway to the guest pavilion will include a carriage circle, lined with permanent gardens and an annual display garden.
There will be an outdoor "bridal court" with a lawn area for weddings and other special events, and a 150-seat amphitheater.
Other outdoor green areas will include a children's teaching garden, to supplement indoor classrooms; a guest designer garden that will annually feature the vision of famous gardeners; a sunken garden; a formal garden; a 2 1/2-acre oak and hickory woodland garden with walking trails and vistas; wildflower gardens; butterfly and bird gardens; an Asian garden; shade garden; and greenhouse plant menagerie. The Asian garden and menagerie will be in the existing greenhouses.
There will be a Peninsula Garden Retreat with native woodland species, interactive features for children, and a seasonal plant display on the park's Cunliff's Lake.
Parks officials chose to replicate the 12th hole at Augusta because they say it has been noted for its horticultural beauty.
The project, designed by NBBJ Architects of Columbus, Ohio, will place an emphasis on energy conservation with the buildings oriented on the site to take advantage of passive solar energy. Most of the glass panels on the conservatories will open in warm weather for cooling. Project supporters say the entire facility will serve as a living laboratory for sustainable design. Providence-based Gilbane Building Co. will oversee construction.
Parks officials believe that the new Botanical Gardens will become a year-round tourist attraction, able to cater to local residents, New Englanders and those visiting the city to attend conventions.
Taking cues from the local zoo, which routinely draws visitors from the city and out of state, Carberry said parks officials are working to create a place "where people want to be."
Derrig said she hopes the new Botanical Gardens will debunk the myth that the park's botanical gardens are only for gardeners or some select group of people. Parks officials say they have always strived to educate all people -- from preschoolers to the elderly -- about their surrounding environment and its relevance to their lives.
"We're not doing this for any one type of person, we're doing it for everybody," Derrig said. "At the end of the day what we do is education. We try to educate people about the natural world."
