Metropolis - Queens Botanical Garden

The small cantilevered meeting room[above) off the director's office hassliding glass doors that can be openedto the elements. "It feels like a treehousein there," Krevlin says.continuedfrompage80 strengths is showingthat "environmental initiativescan generate aesthetic richness."Eight years ago, making the building green was only one of thegarden's priorities. Another was responding to Queens's diversitytheborough is a melting pot, with particularly large Asian andLatino communities in the neighborhoods surrounding the garden.Some 75 percent of its visitors speak a language other than Englishat home. Every morning a large Chinese contingent uses thegrounds for the meditative martial art Tai Chi."We thought those were two very different missions," Krevlin says,recalling her initial response to the cultural and e!J.vironmentalmandates. But as the design process got under way, garden officialsbegan meeting with community members to learn about their cultures'responses to landscape. "Every time we had an event thatyear, we had drawings out, and we would talk about the ideas andget people's input," says Jennifer Ward Souder, continuedonpage118Local Tai Chi groups [left) practiceon the grounds daily. The WeddingGarden(above left) hosts 85 ceremoniesa year..i a'iḤ". :I' .:!c>. .'~Ji! SIH'..,G' e'.~,I~ilE. ..~1 .a ..:,