The new Education Center at the North Carolina Botanical Garden is finished.

The idea for it grew out of necessity and the reality of it resulted from generosity. Peter White, the Garden's director since 1986, said that in the 1990s the staff had doubled and the demand for its programs had greatly increased.

Creating an education center was part of the garden's master plan formulated soon after White's tenure began. Then a donor died, leaving the garden a very generous gift.

"We got going on the architectural planning at that point," White said. "We had a very broad conversation among all the folks at the garden and took trips to other gardens."

In addition to the founding donor, students donated through UNC's Renewable Energy Special Projects Funds, and more than 400 individuals gave to cover the $12 million budget.

The 31,2000-square foot building center, located at 100 Old Mason Farm Road, was designed by architect Frank Harmon of Raleigh. It is a green building, designed to receive a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certification.

The Education Center will be the first UNC site that uses reclaimed water for toilet flushing and other non-drinking uses. It will use a geothermal heat exchange system that reduces energy use for heating and cooling, and will employ only no- and low-volatile organic compound emitting materials within the building.

As White stood in front of the center, he said what was going through his head was that the fabulous architecture will be enjoyed by the people who use the garden.

"It is not a building that is separate from the campus it is sitting on," White said. "All the spaces work together. There is a spirit that it will provide for everyone who comes here."

"The Center lets us do what we do better," said Bill Bracey, president of the Botanical Garden Foundation, which supports the garden, a part of the UNC system. "It will raise the profile in both the community and the state to help us further the mission, which is to promote conservation gardens, native plants and rare plants. Most gardens are collections of plants from all over. We are focused more on North Carolina plants."

Nancy Easterling, the associate director for education and a garden employee for 26 years, said that the new space includes a children's discovery room and will allow the garden to expand into early childhood programs.

"Also, we now have a growing classroom that is a most beautiful space for the work we do. It will be a place where we grow plants and people," Easterling said. Other highlights include an auditorium that will seat 200 people for lectures and 128 people for banquets.

Easterling said the Botanical Garden's Totten Center will be used for seed propagation.

September art events in the new space, in addition to Robert Johnson's show (see accompanying article), include work by graduates of the Garden's Botanical Illustration Certificate program, through October in the Botanical Art and Illustration Gallery. The Garden's annual sculpture show runs Sept. 12 through Nov. 15 with a reception on Oct. 4, 3-5 p.m. This year's theme is "Celebrating Life Forces: Earth Air Fire Water Spirit."

A rotating permanent exhibit by the Durham-Orange Quilters Guild honoring wildflowers has also begun. For complete events go to www.ncbg.unc.edu.