Symposium on botanical gardens

The Botanical Garden: Past, Present, Future
Preservation of the Botanical Garden Symposium
Upper Gallery-Meyerson Hall
School of Design
University of Pennsylvania

April 3, 2004

Beginning in the Middle Ages, the Botanical Garden has evolved from
a humble collection of medicinal plants to large-scale landscapes of
classification and display.  Recent advances in plant science and
changes in public recreation, have required these institutions to
reconsider their contemporary role as valuable and relevant cultural
landscapes.  Critical to the problems of their preservation and
adaptation in the present is an understanding of their past and
current meaning and acquired associations beyond their original
functions.  For many historic botanical gardens, increased
recreational use, coupled with new methods of scientific research,
have brought new problems including accelerated deterioration,
accessibility, interpretation, and scientific redundancy. Underlying
these problems is the more fundamental question of the continued
relevancy and practicality of these places as scientific
institutions dedicated to specimen collection and display.

Symposium Objectives: A day-long symposium is planned to explore the
botanical garden as an historic, scientific, and cultural landscape.
Italian and American scholars and designers will address a range of
topics including the history, conservation, and rehabilitation of
the botanical garden as a construct and place.

Schedule

    8:30    Registration and coffee

    9:00    Welcome
            Frank Matero
            Associate Professor of Architecture and Chair of
            Historic Preservation, University of Pennsylvania

    9:15    The Botanical Garden of the University of Puerto Rico,
            San Juan
            Jim Corner
            Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture,
            University of Pennsylvania

    10:00   The Orto Botanico
            Francesco Scoppola, Professor of Architecture,
            University of Siena and Superintendent of Cultural
            Property for the Italian Region Le Marche

    10:45   Refreshment

    11:15   The Orto Botanico and The Morris Arboretum: Reaching
            Back, Expanding Forward

            Carol Franklin
            Landscape Architect, and  Colin Franklin, Architect and
            Landscape Architect, Andropogon Associates, Ltd.
            Founding Members

    12:00   Discussion

    12:30   Lunch

    2:00    The Origin, Role and Function of the Botanical Garden in
            16th and 17th Century Italy

            Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi
            Professor of Art History and Vice Rector, University of
            Pisa

    2:45    History of the American Botanical Garden
            Therese O'Malley, Associate Dean, Center for Advanced
            Study in the Visual Arts, The National Gallery,
            Washington, D.C.

    3:30    Discussion

    4:00    Closing remarks
            John Dixon Hunt
            Professor of the History and Theory of Landscape,
            University of Pennsylvania

    5:00    Reception at the University's Architectural Archives

As space is limited, please make a reservation by registering at
abhirsch [at] design__upenn__edu or by calling the Graduate Program in
Historic Preservation at 215-898-3169


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:62
                  Distributed: Friday, March 26, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-17-62-010
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