Longwood Reimagined

Longwood Reimagined will transform 17 acres of existing property and feature a 32,000 SF glasshouse at the heart of its renowned garden grounds.

Project Stats

  • Owner
    Longwood Gardens
  • Location
    Kennett Square, PA
  • Project Type
    CM w/ a GMP
  • Design Professional
    Weiss/Manfredi and Reed Hilderbrand
  • Market
    Cultural
  • Square Footage
    17 acres

 

Bancroft recently began construction on Longwood Reimainged, which will transform Longwood’s Kennett Square property as it exists today. Adding new plantings and buildings across 17 acres, Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience will expand the public spaces of the renowned central grounds and connect them from east to west, offering a newly unified but continually varied journey from lush formal gardens to views over the open meadows of Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Valley.

In keeping with Longwood’s tradition of blending fountain gardens and horticultural display, the centerpiece and largest single element of Longwood Reimagined is the creation of a new 32,000-square-foot glasshouse, designed by WEISS/MANFREDI, with gardens and pools designed by Reed Hilderbrand. This new West Conservatory with its asymmetrical, crystalline peaks seems to float on a pool of water, while the garden inside, inspired by the wild and cultivated landscapes of the Mediterranean, is conceived as seasonally changing islands set amid pools, canals, and low fountains.

In the tapestry-like garden design, iconic plants of this ecology such as aloes, laurels, blueblossom, and Greek horehound hug the ground, with higher plants such as cypress and 100-year-old olive trees rising up into the soaring space while other plantings are suspended from above. Building on the great 19th – century tradition of glasshouses through new sustainable technologies, the West Conservatory is a living, breathing building, with earth tubes and operable glass walls and roof that allow the interior garden to thrive.

For more information about Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden experience, please visit Longwood Reimagined | Longwood Gardens.

Awards

2023 ARCHITECT Progressive Architecture Awards (Awarded to WEISS/MANFREDI)

Related Projects

  • Longwood Main Fountain Garden Revitalization

    After two years and over $90 million worth of construction, the Main Fountain Garden Revitalization, originally built during the 1920’s stands as the largest fountain preservation project of its kind in the United States

  • Longwood Nursery Production Greenhouse

    Longwood’s newest greenhouse, the 80,948 SF facility, accounts for 60 percent of Longwood’s crop production.

  • Longwood Meadow Garden Expansion

    Spanning 86 acres, the Longwood Meadow Garden Expansion project added plantings, trails, bridges, and engaging interpretation to the three-mile site.

  • Nemours Reflecting Pool Restoration

    Opened to the public in 1977, the Nemours Estate is home to the one-acre reflecting pool, which was restored to its original glory during this project.

  • Mt. Cuba Center Greenhouse & Headhouse

    Part of a Master Plan project at a botanical garden, the Greenhouse Complex aspired to a zero-energy footprint and involved extensive environmental sustainability measures.