Morton Arboretum | [back to Additional Architecture Projects]

Chicago, Illinois

Since its founding in 1922, the Morton Arboretum has functioned as an “outdoor museum” focused on the cultivation and display of woody plants of the world with particular emphasis on trees that are able to withstand the climate of northern Illinois.

In 1994, BauerLatoza Studio completed a two-year, $6.5 million project to create a master plan for a new education center (pictured above) and its four-building campus and to modernize the infrastructure of the 1,500-acre property, including its 65 buildings and the removal of its three private wells and two wastewater treatment plants.

The education center buildings’ improvements include:

The rehabilitation and addition to the Thornhill Building

The construction of the Thornhill Shelter Building

The rehabilitation of the Outpost Building

The adaptive reuse of the Thornhill Annex

The Campus Plan improvements include:

Site lighting

Vehicular and pedestrian paths

Parking design

Forecourt and plaza design

Accessible entrance ramps

Site utility design