The Butchart Gardens Children’s Pavillion

The Butchart Gardens located in Victoria, BC recently unveiled the much anticipated Rose Carousel in the Children’s Pavilion at the beginning of December 2009. The only one of its kind on Vancouver Island, the Rose Carousel has nearly thirty hand-carved, hand-painted animals that reflect the international variety of travellers who visit The Butchart Gardens each year.

There are also two specially designed chariots to accommodate disabled visitors. The Children’s Pavilion, designed by well known Victoria architect Terence Williams, will be a domed 7,500-square-foot pavilion with an event room and the reconstructed Coffee Bar West.

The Children’s Pavilion has incorporated LEED design principles and criteria, exemplified by such features as the living green roof planted with native mosses and sedum, which allows the architecture to blend into the existing landscape of the nearby Rose Garden. Other sustainable design features include radiant floor heating produced by an on-site water to water geothermal heat pump, the use of natural light and natural ventilation techniques to offset energy consumption. The Rose Carousel is sure to appeal to the young and the young at heart, while at the same time leaving a child-sized carbon footprint.

For more information visit www.butchartgardens.com