Bogotá, Colombia

DARP creates a botanical garden made of six self-supporting glazed volumes that have been purposed for the protection and conservation of the local ecosystem in the Colombian capital.

The project called Tropicario Bogotá Botanic Garden is a 3,787-square-meter complex is located in the center of the country at 2,600 meters above sea level. 

The Tropicario Bogotá Botanic Garden is developed as a response to the deterioration of wetlands and ecosystems in the area, the new Botanical Garden of Bogotá aims to protect the area’s most threatened ecosystems and offer an initiative for the “Nodes of Diversity.” 

Comprising a group of six rounded-shaped volumes, each volume has a different program and function – the volumes are named Humid Forest, Dry Forest, Special Collections, Useful Plants, Superpáramos, and Biodiversity.

The six volumes are raised on concrete pillars driven 30 meters deep in the ground, located on the perimeter of the structures.

“The territory that the city occupies is known as the ‘The Bogotá Savanna’, a plateau that is part of the eastern mountain range of the Andes. The city is limited in the eastern area by a mountainous system known as the eastern hills and in the west by the Bogotá River,” states DARP in its project description. 

As the office emphasizes, “the country’s environmental wealth is contrasted by the high levels of deforestation and exploitation of raw materials; Illegal mining, extensive cattle ranching and indiscriminate logging are some of the biggest problems.” 

Due to the high rates of endangered species, Colombia takes place on the red list of the eight countries responsible for half of the deterioration of the planet.

The studio devised a strategy for the conservation and protection of ecosystems by designing clearly visible and manageable structures. 

DARP describes the project as “an ambitious project that seeks to carry out a new botanical expedition throughout different areas of the country and that will allow protecting and valuing some of the most threatened ecosystems in the Colombian territory.”

The space is used as an exhibition space for promoting the results of these expeditions.

The project is located on the footprint of a former structure, which was in a high state of deterioration. 

According to the studio, the conservation of the wax palms surrounding the implantation site was a key design element for the project.

It is known as a species of very slow growth, declared a national tree, and in danger of extinction. 

“These palms live for more than 100 years, reaching heights of up to 70 meters,” adds the studio.

“There are more than 70 adult palms of this type around El Tropicario. This raised the need to use a system of flexible forms, in order not to affect the trees.”

Another important aspect of the project was to integrate “El Tropicario” into the structure of the Botanical Garden and the project should have been strong educational outreach.

To achieve this, the studio tried to understand the building as a system of related parts that make up a whole.

To design these structures, the studio takes cues from the references of amphibian architecture developed by pre-Hispanic engineering (Chinampas, Camellones, Floating Islands). 

Six glazed volumes act as “floating” modules, articulated through an artificial wetland, a collection proposed by the design team from the competition phase.

Inside the botanical garden, the studio implemented passive temperature control systems that don’t require mechanical ventilation systems.

The team used glass on the façades with different thicknesses and filters and automated systems, allowing some areas to control the temperature. 

The studio conceived each structure as a water receiver, with an oculus incorporated in the upper part to capture rainwater, leading it to lakes located within the space, passing it further to the artificial wetland in the perimeter, which in turn works as a large reservoir of water that is used for irrigation systems for vegetation, thus creating a closed cycle. 

The volumes contain a system of “locks,” as transitional spaces between the different collections allow the visitor to move from one space to another, preserving the temperature conditions required for each space. 

Each lock has the required technical controls and emergency exits.

The environmental emergency that our planet is experiencing makes it necessary for the public project to be imagined using urban and environmental logic in a symbiotic way, in order to safeguard the shared environmental heritage.

Upon reaching the surface, of these pillars, the concrete sloping walls were emptied, functioning as a support for the metal structure, allowing it to serve as “flowerpots” inside the spaces. 

Inside these spaces, part of the earth could be maintained for plants and could enable changes in the topography that allow organizing the planting areas of the different species.

Project: Tropicario Bogota Botanical Garden
Architects: DARP De Arquitectura y Paisaje
Lead Architects: Jorge Buitrago and Jaime Cabal
Coordinator: David Carmona
Graphic Designer: Adriana García 
Design Team: Jamie NG, Teresa Tognetti Bottone, Carlos Andrés Palacio, Cristian Camilo Ríos, Milena Jaramillo, Sebastián Rosas, Héctor Ospina, Mauricio Álvarez, Katherine Agudelo, and Adriana Garcías
Engineering: CNI Ingenieros
Landscape Architects: DARP and Jardín Botánico de Bogotá
Museography: Carlos Betancur and Nadia Guacaneme
Collaborators: SISTEC. Sistemas Integrados De Energía y Tecnología S A S. and Flux Ingeniería SAS
Photographers: Mauricio Carvajal