Atrium Ecosystem

The "Atrium Ecosystem" is in keeping with the look of the gardens surrounding the building, Donald Gammon Associates designed the indoor garden to look like a naturalized New England landscape with ferns, grasses and blooming plants.

The Atrium is planted in a panoramic vista to make the viewer "work to see the design". The plant materials are indigenous to temperate and semi-tropical zones, but are used to simulate hardy New England species. In a seasonally changing landscape of plants, the Paphiopedilum orchids suggest the Lady's Slipper that we see in the woods in early May. The Camelia and Arboricola give the effect of Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron. Liriope echoes the planting of its grassy cousin outside the Atrium entrance.

List of Plants

Bamboo, Phyllostachys nigra "henon"
Ficus, Ficus binnendijkii "ali"
Maidenhair Fern, Adiantum capillus veneris
Rabbit's Foot Fern, Polypodium aureum
Muscari, Liriope spicata
Kafir Lily, Clivia miniata
Orchid, Paphiopedilum
Camellia, Camellia japonica
Arboricola, Schefflera actinophylla

Building and Planting Specs

The atrium curtain wall glass is Type One Viacon Glass; the glass is glazed to reduce the transmittance of infra red and ultra violet light. It transmits the following:

• only 73.4 % of blue @ 430 nanometers necessary for photosynthesis and
• only 71.1% of red @ 650 nanometers necessary for chlorophyll synthesis

The planting mixture is Scott metro mix 360: a sterile soil mix of a special formula for indoor gardening with the addition of Stockosorb: a water absorbent polymer mixed in the soil mix to hold and slowly release water between weekly watering. The mulch is cranberry compost.

To keep the bamboo from competing with the other plants, Texel, a copper impregnated fabric material lining, was placed between inner and outer pots to prevent escape of roots from the double potted plants into the surrounding soil mix.