Tropical Forest: Thailand
It looks like an ordinary doorway in the back of the South Conservatory. But step through that doorway and you’ll soon come to a room like no other in the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. In fact, it’s a room like none other – period.
Phipps Conservatory is raising the bar with its new Tropical Forest, the most ambitious expansion project since the building opened in 1893 as a gift to the city by industrialist Henry Phipps.
The new 12,000-square-foot Tropical Forest: Thailand opened in December. The conservatory staff is focusing on a new country or region every two years, with the debut exhibit featuring the amazing plant life of this Southeast Asia country. Just look at this sampling listed in the autumn/winter 2006 Phipps magazine about the new Tropical Forest: Thai vanda orchids, jackfruit, elephant apple, lychee, bougainvillea, Thai everbearing mango, sugar palms, Pinang Yaki, Cecropia trees, teak, tamarind trees, nutmeg trees, Buddha fig, spindle palm and contorted queen palms.
In addition to the plant life, the conservatory depicts the culture of Thailand. The preparations for this new feature included sending staff members Karen Daubmann, director of horticulture, and Heather Mikulas, education specialist, to Thailand for three weeks where they visited and photographed ancient temples, floating flower markets, royal gardens, mountainous cloud forests, cities and small hillside villages.
But that’s only half the story. The Tropical Forest also is setting a standard for energy-efficient conservatory construction and operation. It offers environmental friendly and technologically advanced features such as thermal massing, energy blankets, root zone heating and insulated glass for heat retention as well as a computer-controlled shading system and extensive passive ventilation system that includes 1,800 feet of underground earth tubes for cooling.
“We’re working on a new era of a renovated and reinvigorated Phipps,’ executive director Richard V. Piacentini said in a press release on the new addition. “For months, we have witnessed the construction of Tropical Forest Conservatory, the delivery of rare and exotic species of plants, the installation of interactive education tools, and now we are eager to unveil this new world to the public.’
The conservatory takes care to explain all this new science through educational signage not only on plants but also about the new technology. It’s a learning experience that’s also fun.
“We want to grab people and make them interact,’ said Ellen James, communications coordinator for Phipps.
During a recent visit, James pointed out what’s special about the Tropical Forest, including such details as the vestibule being decorated with Thai’s national colors of crimson and gold in overhead panels that are reproductions of rugs. The lessons in culture continue with the display of Khon masks, which have been used in traditional royal Khon dramas for several hundred years.
Visitors also will find a fuel cell on display in the vestibule – the first solid oxide fuel cell system in the world that’s in a conservatory and is used to power the structure. Phipps material explains a fuel cell is an electrochemical device similar to a battery but it does not run down or require recharging. They are clean power sources, creating byproducts of only heat, water and carbon dioxide. Background information notes this will “produce energy savings of more than 60 percent while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 57 percent on a per-kilowatt basis.’
Of course, there’s simply the beauty of this room that will get people’s attention. After studying an introduction to Thailand and a map of the room, James suggests that visitors head to the left, where the canopy overlook offers a stunning view of this 60-foot-tall structure.
“The idea is you’re up in the treetops,’ said James.
As visitors leave this area, they will embark on a journey on a meandering trail that takes them past waterfalls, streams and pools and through different environments from the wild of the forest to a more rural setting and finally to an urban landscape. Along the way, there are explanations of Thai culture and the plants used throughout the country. Visitors can access more information by using their cell phones to call special telephone numbers.
And, of course, there’s that question: Aren’t all tropical forests actually tropical “rain’ forests?
No. Phipps material explains there are a variety of tropical forests. Rainforests are found in lowland areas where year-round temperatures are 70 to 90 degrees and the annual rainfall is 50 to 108 inches. Cloud forests are in the mountains where forests are permanently hidden in mist, fog or clouds. There are deciduous tropical forests where trees lose their leaves for six to eight weeks during the dry season from March to May as well as swampy forests along the coastlines and river estuaries and flooded forests found along sluggish rivers where rainfall floods the forest floor and rivers overflow for several weeks.
The Phipps Tropical Forest also will allow visitors to learn about botanical research through a research field station that shows how scientists work in tropical forests to study medicinal plants, ecosystems, climate patterns and soil science. The area includes several interactive exhibits. Thailand is included in Phipps’ own Botany in Action program that supports graduate students studying botany and ethnobotany (how people use plants) in natural areas around the world. Botany in Action researchers will make appearances at Phipps throughout the year to explain their work.
Visitors also will come upon a Healer’s Hut, a replica of an herbalist’s home in a typical rural village. Here visitors can learn about spiritual, culinary and medical purposes for Thai plants.
Just outside the Healer’s Hut is a Spirit House made of wood. A more ornate Spirit House is found in the urban area. These are miniature houses built to provide homes for spirits who are believed to belong to ancestors and dwell on a piece of land. People offer gifts of flowers, incense, beverages and rice to please the spirit, who in turn brings good luck and health to homes and businesses.
The Palm Circle is being used for educational programs. Located in the urban section, this area will allow up to 40 visitors at a time to hear presentations and participate in special activities.
Public programs are being offered at 1 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday and Phipps will celebrate Thai national festivals several times a year. They include the Songkran Festival for the Thai new year on April 14-15, the Candle Festival, which is the start of the Buddhist Lent on July 21-22; The Queen’s Birthday on Aug. 11-12; and The King’s Birthday on Dec. 9-10.
The Tropical Forest is part of a $36 million expansion project for Phipps that included a new Welcome Center that opened in March 2005 and state-of-the-art production greenhouses that opened in summer 2006. Trustees Hall also opened in December – an indoor special events rental facility that allows guests to walk into the adjacent Tropical Forest. The final phase will include an expanded surface parking area and a two-story education and administration building.
For more information, call the conservatory at 412-622-6914 or visit www.phipps.conservatory.org.