Pressed Petals

Pressed Petals is a proposal for Princeton’s horticulture department. The massing kinks in response to the site, allowing the two interior programs, the library and office space, to be separated yet connected. Typical greenhouse profiles were extruded through one another to produce atypical forms. Their variation in directionality and location on the site correspond to the different sunlight exposure and orientations required by the vegetation subjects. The attached greenhouses pull through the massing and create circulation paths defined by the grass-lined floors and the skylights above.

Once the plants become accustomed to their new environment, they will flourish and overgrow. Their leaves or flowers will begin to press up against the glass of the greenhouse. The graphic applied to the greenhouses represents a hyperbole of that condition. The graphic intends to catch the attention and spark the curiosity of the students and visitors passing by on the street.