Como Park Bonsai Japanese Garden

Location: St. Paul, MN

Client: Lunning Wende Associates, Inc. (structural), Close Landscape (civil)

Services: Structural, Civil

Square Feet: 3,000

Construction Materials: Cast-in-Place Concrete, Precast Concrete, Structural Steel

 

The Como Park Bonsai Japanese Garden project consisted of an approximate 3,000 square foot building addition and a paver block patio to the Como Park Conservatory along with an access drive and pathway to the Japanese Garden. Civil design included erosion control, utilities, drainage and stormwater management. Rain gardens and underground detention were used to limit stormwater volume and runoff from the site. Design also included coordination with St. Paul Public Works since the new building foundation infringed into the sanitary sewer main serving the Zoo. The old sewer main was removed once a realigned sanitary sewer was constructed. 

 

The addition consists of two main parts: the link and the Pavilion.

 

The link is a one-story steel framed building built tight to the existing greenhouses that supports a proprietary glazed roof structure.  The steel columns bear on grade beams and concrete foundation walls that are supported by conventional spread/strip footings. 

 

The Pavilion is two stories with the lower level below grade. It has concrete foundation walls on strip footings supporting precast plank at grade and steel moment frames supporting the glazed roof structure above.