Phase 3A | Welcome

Visitors Center

Visitors to the garden will be greeted by its main building, the Visitors Center. As they pass through on their way to the gardens, they’ll find a restaurant and gift shop, meeting and event space, and the administrative offices. The building will be designed to meet the highest levels of sustainability.

The green roof will provide ample shade on the south and west sides, offering shelter to those coming and going from the gardens. To the east (on the gardens side), the roofline will begin at ground level and gently slope up to a rooftop terrace. The gently rising roofline and planted roof will allow visitors to ascend to the top of the structure, where they will be afforded spectacular views of downtown and the river.

Just outside the Visitors Center, guests will find the circular Water Filtration Garden. This feature will collect “gray water” from the building and use plants to clean the water as it passes from pool to pool. The clean water from that garden will flow down waterfalls through the Cascade Garden near the Visitors Center entrance.

Entry Garden

Guests will enter the garden on Frankfort Avenue, just south of the Founders’ Garden at the Heigold Façade. Visitors will be able to park their cars on the west end of the gardens, taking a woodland path up the hill to the garden entrance at the Visitors Center. A driveway and entrance plaza will enable guests to be dropped off at the main building. Bike paths from River Road and the bike trail along Beargrass Creek ensure bike riders and pedestrians can easily access the site. As visitors journey up the hill, they will experience the unique feeling of going off to explore a very special place.