The Hilltop Arboretum at Louisiana State University (14 acres) is an arboretum owned by the Louisiana State University. It is located at 11855 Highland Road, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and open to the public free of charge during daylight hours seven days a week.
The arboretum was developed by Mr. and Mrs. Emory Smith, starting in 1929, and donated to the university in 1981. The Smiths planned the garden to follow the form of a cathedral: “It had a central great hall or nave, and from that – in every direction – ran hallways leading to other rooms and on to others, with niches and passageways of every description. The nave and other rooms were the grassy plots; the walls were trees, shrubs, and bamboo; the pillars were old tree trunks.”
The arboretum collection includes bamboo, beech, birch, black cherry, black walnut, box elder, buckeye, camellia, cherry laurel, cow oak, clethra, crape myrtle, cypress, dogwood, elm, fig, Formosan gum, green hawthorn, hickory, hop hornbeam, holly, illicium, ironwood, Japanese maple, justicia, ligustrum, magnolia, live oak, loquat, pecan, persimmon, pine, red maple, red oak, sassafras, sawtooth oak, short leaf pine, silver bell, silver maple, sourwood, spruce pine, sugar maple, sweet gum, sweet olive, sycamore, tulip tree, viburnum, vaccinium, water oak, and yaupon.
The Hilltop Arboretum is located at the convergence of three ecosystems indigenous to the Baton Rouge area of Louisiana; boggy wetlands, scrubby highlands, and open meadows. The site connects the three systems through a series of small but dramatic ravines. Historically seasonal heavy rains have flooded the site, washed out the ravines and destroyed the vegetation and habitat within the ravines. The building has been sited and designed to frame the narrow natural site, and preserve and highlight the existing ecosystems.
The program components: administration offices and gift shop, exhibit areas, storage and meeting space, are all housed in discreet architectural volumes and are captured under one long roof protecting the open walkways which connect the enclosed spaces.
The long simple building takes cues from both the local agricultural pole barns as well as the formal historical raised plantation homes. The building isolates the parking and cars from the natural areas and creates a sense of arrival or entry to the natural grounds. The structure is raised off the ground to allow the natural drainage patterns of the site and surrounding areas to be maintained. The retention pond mitigates the destructive effects of the seasonal rains by capturing the site run off before entering the ravines and slowly releasing the water to nourish the fragile habitat.
The open-air assembly pavilion extends out over the pond on piers and is used for Arboretum programs as well as cooking classes, weddings and community meetings. An enclosed pavilion has also been designed for future construction to house more formal events. In combination with the open-air section, the future enclosed area has been sited to include an Activities Lawn to compliment both pavilions.
Hilltop Arboretum won an Honor Award in Wood Design & Building Magazine’s 2006 Wood Design Award competition. Winners in the program push the boundaries of conventional wood building practices and highlight the qualities, versatility and beauty of wood as a building material.
Quoted from wikipedia.com and structuremag.com
What is it? A small arboretum.
Where is it? 11855 Highland Rd., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Why go here? Nice place for a walk, eco-friendly architecture.
