National Wildflower Center / Ginseng Chicken Architecture

Written by Karen Cilento
Published on June 24, 2009

Ginseng Chicken Architecture, a promising new firm, has proposed a design for the National Wildflower Center in Liverpool. The science center, which provides a variety of activities such as plant production areas and facilities for seed processing, “will inspire people to visit the center to learn about the relationship between nature, mathematics and physics…it will provide an operational hub for creative conservation, learning and innovation,” explained the architects.

More diagrams, images and information after the break.

The building’s geometric form was derived from the Fibonacci Spiral, a mathematical principle prevalent in nature. The spiral form is layered to divide the complex pragmatically. The lower spiral contains conference rooms, classrooms, and a community room; above, a pebbled floor provides the base for operational programs, such as the seed processing rooms, while a sustainable wildflower screen provides enclosure; the uppermost level offers a continuous circulation path along a PV paneled covered roof.

The wildflower screen is a self-standing sustainable skin that creates a greenhouse condition to develop an energy saving system. “The double-skinned screen enhances the building’s energy-saving performance through features such as seasonal daylight control by varying pot arrangement, water irrigation systems, and living machines,” stated the architects. The screen provides an aesthetic texture to the façade and allows users to stay connected with the exterior gardens, even while occupying the interior spaces.

Once the proposed design is further developed, the notion of incorporating a geo-thermal system and redesigning the existing outdoor garden to feature the same geometries as the structure will be investigated.