Phase One Subject of Newly Published Case Study Book: “The Living Museum: Celebrating Nature & Modeling Resilience at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens”
May 7, 2026-Sarasota, FL. – Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is pleased to announce that Phase One of its transformational three-phase Master Plan has achieved Living Building Challenge® Petal certification from Living Future, a leading environmental non-profit organization operating the world’s most rigorous green building standards, focused on creating a “living future” through regenerative design and ecological restoration.
Projects pursuing certification must meet one of the most rigorous performance standards in the built environment and demonstrate excellence across multi-performance areas, known as “Petals”.
Rather than relying on design intent alone, certification is awarded only after a full year of verified operational performance. This outcome-based approach sets the Living Building Challenge® apart as a global benchmark for regenerative design, pushing project teams to create spaces that are not just sustainable, but truly restorative for both people and the environment.
Examples of Phase One Petals include:
Energy Petal: Phase One is powered by solar energy, providing a resilient, year-round source of renewable power with no pollution. Selby Gardens is the world’s first net-positive energy botanical garden complex, producing more energy than it uses.
Health + Happiness Petal: Phase One buildings are restorative spaces that actively improve occupant well-being. Abundant natural daylight and biophilic design, ensures indoor environments are free of toxins and connected to nature and creates “living” structures that nourish both physical and psychological health.
Beauty Petal: Phase One draws on biomimicry, echoing patterns found in nature to shape an inspired design that respects its setting and intent. Natural materials, balanced forms, and seamless integration with the surrounding landscape come together to create spaces that are visually compelling and grounded in the richness of the coastal botanical environment.
The January 2024 completion of Phase One added 188,033 sq. ft of new amenities to Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus and features:
- The cutting-edge Morganroth Family Living Energy Access Facility (LEAF), which houses parking, a garden-to-plate restaurant—The Green Orchid by Michael’s On East, a new gift shop, vertical gardens, and a nearly 50,000 square-foot solar array that makes Selby Gardens a net-positive energy botanical garden complex;
- The state-of-the-art Steinwachs Family Plant Research Center, which secures irreplaceable scientific resources in a hurricane-resilient structure and provides a window into once behind-the-scenes world-class research.
- The facility contains the Elaine Nicpon Marieb Herbarium and Laboratory (housing preserved collections of more than 125,000 dried and pressed plant specimens and molecular scientific work), as well as a research library (with priceless volumes dating to the 1700s), spirit laboratory (with more than 50,000 specimens preserved in fluid—the second largest collection of its kind in the world), conference rooms, administrative offices, as well as a rooftop garden and solar array;
- The open-air Jean Goldstein Welcome Center consisting of a ticketing pavilion, welcome gallery, and welcome theater to properly accommodate and orient guests;
- a major stormwater management system to divert and clean millions of gallons of water each year before it is returned to Sarasota Bay;
- a publicly accessible multiuse recreational trail enabling multimodal transportation to the campus and the bayfront;
- off-site roadway improvements, which also make access easier and safer;
- and a number of new garden and water features with more open space, including Lily Pond Garden, Glades Garden, and the restoration of historic Palm Avenue as a pedestrian-only promenade.
Jennifer Rominiecki, Selby Gardens’ President & CEO stated, “When our project team was in the early stages of developing the Master Plan, I had one simple directive: make the plan as “green” and sustainable as possible. Through our partnership with Living Future, our team was able to guide the design plan with metrics capable of translating our values into measurable performance with Living Building Challenge®. We are thrilled to have achieved this significant milestone, making Selby Gardens a model of regenerative design and operations for botanical gardens worldwide.”
Lead designer and planner of Selby Gardens’ Master Plan, Richard Roark of OLIN remarked, “From the master plan’s inception, our team recognized that the mission of a Living Museum is inherently tied to a conservation mindset. We are grateful to Bob Shemwell and John Byrd’s work at Overland Partners for leading the ILFI framework; it empowered our design and engineering teams to realize a project that celebrates resilience, sustainability, and place identity in equal measure.”
A newly published case study book by Ecotone, the publishing arm of Living Future, The Living Museum: Celebrating Nature & Modeling Resilience at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, tells the story of Selby Gardens as both a place and an idea: a living institution where science, art, community, and regenerative design converge on an ecologically fragile strip of bayfront land in Sarasota, Florida. The book chronicles how a beloved cultural and scientific institution, founded on a simple act of generosity, has transformed into a global model for resilience, sustainability, and biophilic design. The narrative unfolds across time scales. It moves between deep history and contemporary urgency, weaving together the ecological, cultural, architectural, and human forces that shaped Selby Gardens—and that now shape its future. The book can be purchased at Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus gift shop and online HERE.
Phase One of Selby Gardens’ Master Plan has been guided by the international landscape architecture studio OLIN, building architecture firm Overland Partners, and civil engineer Kimley-Horn. Willis Smith Construction serves as the construction manager.
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About Living Future
The mission of the International Living Future Institute (Living Future) is to cultivate a society that is culturally rich and ecologically restorative. To do this, the organization envisions a living future and shows that it works better in practice and policy.
Living Future is premised on the belief that providing a compelling vision for the future is needed to reconcile humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Living Future’s programs have shaped more than 55 million square feet of real estate development across the United States and around the world.
About The Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge® is a rigorous, performance-based standard. Fully certified projects must meet all the objectives contained in performance areas or “Petals.” The project must prove that it is net-positive water and energy over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy and operations. Living Building Challenge® is the world’s most holistic and ambitious rating system to create buildings that work in harmony with nature.
About Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens provides 45 acres of bayfront sanctuaries connecting people with air plants of the world, native nature, and our regional history. Established by forward-thinking women of their time, Selby Gardens is composed of the 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus and the 30-acre Historic Spanish Point campus in the Osprey area of Sarasota County, Florida. The Downtown Sarasota campus on Sarasota Bay is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads and ferns, and other tropical plants. There is a significant focus on botany, horticulture, education, historical preservation, and the environment. Selby Gardens’ Downtown Sarasota campus features the world’s first net positive energy botanical garden complex, generating more energy than it consumes. The Historic Spanish Point campus is located less than 10 miles south along Little Sarasota Bay. One of the largest preserves showcasing native Florida plants and active archaeology that is interpreted for and open to the public, celebrates an archaeological record that encompasses approximately 5,000 years of Florida history. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is a Smithsonian Affiliate and is also accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Selby Gardens was selected for Time magazine’s annual list of the “World’s Greatest Places 2024.” For more information visit www.selby.org.