The Future is Growing at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

PHOTO BY BECKY THURNER BRADDOCK

Richard Piacentini, president and CEO of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, will never forget his initial glimpse of the grand, glass venue as he rounded the corner in Oakland on his way there for a job interview in 1993.

“I was totally blown away,” he recalls. “From that moment on, I wanted that job.”

At the time, he was serving as executive director of Leila Arboretum in Battle Creek, Mich., and wasn’t seeking a new position. Yet when he received a call from the head of Phipps’s search committee, he became intrigued.

PHOTO BY PAUL WIEGMAN

The New York native had never heard of Phipps, which surprised him as someone incredibly active in the botanical garden world. He quickly learned that, while many folks in Pittsburgh cherish this institution, those in the greater botanical garden world weren’t in the know about Phipps — yet.

Piacentini arrived in 1994, almost a year after Phipps had transitioned from city to private, non-profit management (known as Phipps Conservatory, Inc.). There had been an interim manager before he arrived. Around that same time, the Pittsburgh Zoo, Aviary and Citiparks also shifted to nonprofit status.

During that original interview, the search committee expressed great interest in Phipps remaining a typical botanical garden, according to Piacentini. And it wasn’t long before Piacentini’s conversations with Pittsburghers crystalized how families here treasure their personal, multi-generational history.

As he soon discovered, Phipps holds a pivotal place in locals’ hearts due to childhood excursions with parents and grandparents.

“You cherish those memories,” Piacentini says. “It’s ingrained in a lot of people’s minds.”

PHOTO BY PAUL WIEGMAN

He decided it would be a big mistake to get rid of the venue’s beloved flower shows. Instead, Piacentini saw the need to encourage attendance at the conservatory throughout the entire year.  While still keeping the shows, Phipps has since greatly expanded its offerings.

By 1997, the motto “Something’s always blooming at Phipps” took flight — a promise of enticing programming in any season. Today, the verdant property encompasses 15 acres, including a 14-room glasshouse and 23 distinct gardens.

Beyond the ever-changing seasonal flower displays, Phipps is home to permanent collections that showcase orchids and ferns, palms and cacti. Loyal fans covet the vibrant Spring Flower Shows, renowned bonsai collections and modern traditions such as the glowing Winter Light Garden.

The venue also prides itself on educational programming for all ages, with the goal to inspire in fields such as gardening, botanical craft, healthy living and the culinary arts.

With Piacentini’s arrival, Phipps changed how its exhibits were installed, too. Before, a couple-week gap may have lingered between shows, often leaving spaces empty. (Piacentini even remembers guests asking for their money back.) Now, visitors can experience the flower exhibits while in progress.

“How fun is that?” Piacentini says. “We really changed the whole concept and mentality.”

When Piacentini began there, the venue received about 110,000 visitors a year; they now get more than 450,000 annually. He emphasizes the uniqueness of the offerings, since only a few conservatories in the country do flower shows like Phipps — one other being Longwood Gardens in Eastern Pennsylvania.

PHOTO BY PAUL WIEGMAN

Honoring History, Changing with the Times

The venue has been an important local landmark since 1893, when Henry Phipps presented Phipps Conservatory as a gift to the city. His initial aim was to “erect something that will prove to be a source of instruction as well as pleasure to the people.”

Ever since, visitors have been welcomed to the Schenley Park oasis. Throughout the decades, it’s remained a destination where folks can connect with nature and find a respite from city pollution — something especially desired during the Industrial Revolution.

Yet while holding onto its treasured history, the conservatory is constantly being reinvented. Market research showed that Phipps needed to focus on improving visitor services, so administrators began a multi-phase expansion after Piacentini’s 1994 arrival. At the time, the Welcome Center didn’t have a cafe or gift shop, but it was clear people wanted on-site options for both.

“We realized if we wanted to be the kind of place that draws people from outside the region, we needed to increase visitor stay time,” Piacentini says.

Prior to the addition of the Tropical Forest Conservatory, many visitors remained on property for an hour or less. (Research studies have suggested that guests need to stay for a minimum of 1.5 hours to be satisfied.) What nobody realized, however, was that the expansion project would ultimately transform the conservatory into an internationally recognized leader in sustainability.

In a letter celebrating “125 years of wonder,” Piacentini wrote, “But even as we broke ground on this complex of revolutionary buildings — including the first LEED-certified visitor center in a public garden, a Tropical Forest Conservatory that eliminates the greenhouse effect, the world’s only LEED Platinum-certified Production Greenhouses and one of the greenest buildings in the world, the Center for Sustainable Landscapes — the melding of instruction and pleasure has remained at the core.”

PHOTO BY PAUL WIEGMAN

Going Green

Over time, climate change has become an increasing concern and focus at Phipps. Piacentini notes that, when this venue was developed in 1893, people had very different mindsets, as many believed they were going to “conquer” nature.

The focus on sustainability — now a crucial Phipps pillar — didn’t emerge until officials started considering the master plan for the future. In the process of interviewing architects for the Tropical Forest Conservatory, the venue’s leaders talked to Bill McDonough, who introduced them to a then-new certification program called LEED.

They realized if they truly cared about the environment, their actions and designs must align with their values.  In 2003, work began on the new Welcome Center; it opened in 2005. The LEED-certified building features an inviting beacon of warmth, Dale Chihuly’s Goldenrod, Teal and Citron Chandelier, which was designed and created exclusively for Phipps.

The year 2006 introduced both the Production Greenhouse and Tropical Forest Conservatory, a multi-level exhibit with exotic plants, rushing waterfalls and a tranquil fish pond that made its debut as the most energy-efficient structure of its kind. Every three years, it showcases a different part of the world, and experiences no greenhouse effect, thanks to elements such as high-efficiency, double-pane glass, six underground earth tubes, and a radical roof design where half can open.

When designing the Production Greenhouse, staff and board members were told they couldn’t get a greenhouse LEED-certified. The team later went back and got it deemed Platinum in 2012 under the LEED-EBOM (Existing Buildings Operation and Maintenance) rating system. It took a few years to identify other greenhouses for a comparative study in order to prove their greenhouses were much more efficient.

Piacentini says the Phipps team has “upped the ante” with each new development. On the lower campus alone, they’ve erected three zero-energy buildings: the Center for Sustainable Landscapes, opened in 2012; the Nature Lab at Phipps, opened in 2015; and the Exhibit Staging Center, opened in 2019.

PHOTO BY PAUL WIEGMAN

Current + Future Endeavors

In discussing their most meaningful accomplishments, Piacentini highlights the complete renovation of the original conservatory to make it look as it did back in 1893. This includes the replacement of the ogee (the distinctive architectural molding and arch curve formation) at the top of the Victorian-inspired Palm Court, which had been missing since a devastating storm in 1938.

Phipps has now turned its attention to the glasshouse decarbonization project, which will transform the glasshouse and additional facilities into a net-zero energy campus powered by 100% renewable energy while simultaneously preserving the historic character of the building. The project will serve as a global model for others wanting to retrofit historic structures — and inspire large institutions to transition from fossil fuels.

“It’s the biggest challenge yet, but we’re very excited,” Piacentini says. “We have a plan, and we think we can do it.”

Last spring, Phipps announced it had acquired the former Irish Centre site in Squirrel Hill. Although the project is still pending funding — and is contingent on the timing of the nearby Commercial Street Bridge demolition over the summer — it is intended to be used for the growth of both plants and communities.

The satellite site will serve as headquarters for Phipps’ Homegrown program, an incubator for new community greening projects that has expanded to more than 250 city-wide gardens (primarily in areas without access to fresh food), a nursery for plants for upcoming flower shows and a laboratory for research projects. Over time, Phipps plans to transform the property into a green building as well.

Piacentini also is proud of the Sustainable Landcare Program, developed to teach landscapers how to care for properties without the use of toxic chemicals.

“This is very important for people with children and grandchildren, in addition to schools, daycares and others,” he says.

Leaving a Better World

Phipps’ leaders seem to understand that humans are naturally compelled to understand and protect the things they find beautiful. In this way, they see how a place like Phipps can “help demonstrate important lessons about how to live, work and build in harmony with the natural world.” They’re happy to share knowledge gained along the way.

In 2019, Phipps created The Climate Toolkit — a collaborative program for museums, gardens, zoos, science centers, nature centers, field stations and related institutions that also want to learn how to “aggressively address climate change.” Since its inception, the initiative has grown to reach 254 institutions in 30 different countries; they’ve even started one for nonprofits in Pittsburgh.

Of all the team’s accomplishments at Phipps, Piacentini says, “the most exciting thing is the mindset we’ve been able to develop.”

He credits regenerative thinking as the single most important reason they’ve been able to build some of the greenest buildings in the world.  In using regenerative systems-based nested thinking, he explains, “We see ourselves in relation to everything in nature.”

This means working to enhance the whole versus isolated components, ensuring that human and environmental health are prioritized over profit, and understanding that success needs to be measured in the long term.

Throughout Phipps’ many evolutions as one of the city’s most generous gifts, the venue’s leaders have never lost sight of its true purpose: connecting people to nature.

“We’re still doing the same, but seeing it from different angles 130 years later,” Piacentini says. “I think we’re really lucky to have Phipps here in Pittsburgh.”