The Dallas Arboretum’s new children’s garden has touch screens to explore scientific puzzles, a giant kaleidoscope and a 5-foot digital sphere.
But children may be more surprised by the trees.
“There is research that discovered some kids didn’t think of trees as being alive,” said Andrea Rolleri, whose firm programmed exhibits for the garden. “They thought trees were just out there, like lampposts.”
For kids who are more comfortable with video games than the great outdoors, technology is being used to stimulate their interest in the natural world — which is what a botanical garden is all about.
“You have to look at technology as a tool and a hook,” Rolleri said.
For the past 10 years, the Medford, N.J.-based Van Sickle and Rolleri design firm, in tandem with others, has worked to unite technology and nature in the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden.
Those efforts come to fruition Saturday, when the ribbon is cut on the $62 million facility set on the east shore of White Rock Lake.
The cutting-edge children’s garden has 17 themed galleries with 150 interactive exhibits. In the Exploration Center, children can use computers to play CSI-inspired games to solve nature mysteries. They can also play games individually or with a group on the smart tables. Topics range from the solar system to animal habitats.
The giant globe, called an OmniGlobe, is programmed for various lessons, including how the continents divided, current forestation around the world and the path of historic tsunamis. The kaleidoscope is part of an exhibit on patterns in nature.
The 8-acre garden sits at the northern end of the 66-acre arboretum, which is a Dallas city park operated by the nonprofit Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society.
Part of the park is on the former estate of pioneering oil man Everette DeGolyer, who in the 1930s chaired a committee to found a botanical garden in Dallas. The arboretum, which opened in 1984, drew almost a million visitors last year.
In recent years, arboretum officials broadened the venue’s scope, scheduling concerts, lectures and special events. The annual Dallas Blooms display is a big draw each spring and an exhibition of glass sculptures by artist Dale Chihuly proved wildly popular last year.
The Dallas Arboretum operates with an annual budget of $15.4 million. Revenue comes from the city, grants, admission, membership and rental fees. Maintenance and operation costs for the new children’s garden will be incorporated into the arboretum’s general budget.
“The Children’s Garden operations will be covered primarily by the operating revenues of the arboretum, and we expect with attendance and membership growing, revenues will grow along with them,” Renell Hutton, vice president of finance, said by email. “Many of the Children’s Garden galleries are underwritten annually by individuals, corporations, and/or foundations, just as the other programs are now.”
The great outdoors
Arboretum officials said a primary purpose of the children’s garden is to bolster regional education standards in subjects such as earth science and biology.
The trend to use interactive exhibits as a teaching tool in museums and gardens has been building for more than a decade, said Heather Johnson, project director of initiatives for the Association of Children’s Museums.
The Dallas garden, however, may be in a class by itself.
“They’re using technology in a way it hasn’t before, or more extensively than ever before,” Johnson said.
She agrees that technology can be used to lure children outdoors. “When you couple unstructured play opportunities with structured learning, research shows that really significant learning can occur,” Johnson said.
And, she said, the garden can help solve another problem of the social-media culture — a lack of physical exercise.
“There’s what some people are calling ‘nature deficit disorder,’ which is impacting children who are less active because they’re disconnected from nature, and that can lead to obesity,” she said.
Successfully engaging children could come at a price, however.
“One challenge is how well some of these high-tech exhibits hold up,” Johnson said.
Designers of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science expected large crowds but were surprised when more than a million people visited in the first seven months of operation. Some exhibits broke down under the strain. Officials closed the museum for a few days in August to catch up on maintenance.
Arboretum officials expect the same kind of tough love.
The exhibits were designed with children in mind. The paths are paved and the plants will change with the seasons. Ponds are lined with plants and other barriers to let children look, and there is one pond where children are encouraged to touch pond plants to show that some plants grow in water. Volunteers and docents are stationed in the exhibits to guide children and teach garden etiquette.
For the past few weeks, the children’s garden has had preview openings. The Children’s First Encounter gallery has been wildly popular, but the kids haven’t limited themselves to an exhibit’s intended use.
Joan Cooper, a volunteer in the exhibit, said little boys began adjusting the heads on pipes in the caterpillar fountain to change the spray. “The maintenance people told me to be firm with them. Let them have fun, but don’t let them play with the fountain heads,” she said. “They’re savvy little learners, aren’t they?”
Mindful of the Perot Museum’s experience, arboretum officials say they ordered duplicate and even triplicate exhibit replacement parts.
Engaging design
Whatever the wear and tear on the garden, the designers have worked hard to make sure children are actively engaged with the exhibits.
Given the complexity of the project, three firms — in charge of programming, landscaping and construction of major elements — worked together on the project.
Allen Juba of MKW + Associates, which did the landscaping, said designers looked at another institution popular with children — zoos.
“Zoos are more engaging. For a long time, public gardens were passive. A lot of places have rethought it and there’s a definite effort to become more like a zoo, with its animals, which are natural attractions,” Juba said.
Of course, animals move, and plants don’t. On the other hand, it is usually easier to touch a plant than a zoo animal.
“Touching is a better place to learn. It helps to make emotional connections,” said Tracy McClendon, vice president of programming for the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
The Atlanta facility was one of the first in the country to house a garden specifically designed for children. Designed in the late 1990s, it has fewer technological bells and whistles than subsequent counterparts. McClendon said the growth of interactive technology in botanical gardens is a logical reflection of the times.
“Over the past decade, for students, having opportunities for experience has become more important. Just to experience is a precursor to learning,” she said.
But while education is the goal, living plants are still the reason for the Dallas garden’s existence, Juba said.
“Plants are not background,” he said.
Not everything has to have a practical end.
“It’s meant to be beautiful as well,” he said. “It satisfies the hunger for education and the hunger for beauty.”
Rory Meyers
The new children’s garden is named for Rory Meyers, a Dallas civic volunteer who has served on the board of the Dallas Arboretum for more than 13 years. She was chairwoman of the education committee, where she was an early advocate of building a children’s garden. She also served on the executive committee and the Board of Distinguished Advisors. Her husband, Howard Meyers, and two sons, Craig and Kevin, gave $15 million in her honor to the children’s garden.
David Flick
DESIGNERS
Van Sickle and Rolleri
Role: Designed programming and exhibits for the children’s garden
Located: Medford, N.J.
Other projects: Atlanta History Center; Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.
MKW +
Associates
Role: Designed the landscaping
Located: Rutherford, N.J.
Other projects: Everett Children’s Adventure Garden in New York City; BASF Wildlife Habitat in Rensselaer, N.Y.; and East River Park in New York City
Dattner
Architects
Role: Designed the buildings and skywalk
Located: New York City
Other projects: Princeton University tennis Pavilion; Hudson River Park in New York City; and the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, New York
SOURCES: Van Sickle and Rolleri, MKW + Associates, Dattner Architects
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