Project Overview

Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience is a $250 million transformation of 17 acres at the heart of Longwood Gardens — the most ambitious revitalization in the institution's century-long history. The program was delivered in five phases. Architectural Precast Innovations (API) supplied precast for three of them: the Lower Reception Suite, the Waterlily Court, and the West Conservatory.

Precast Solution

API supplied precast across three phases of the project. The Lower Reception Suite — home to 1906, a fine dining restaurant, and private event space — was reworked as a full precast structure of beams, columns, hollow core plank, insulated and solid wall panels with exposed aggregate, and coping. Carved into the hillside behind the original retaining wall, its arcade of vaults and arched openings frames views of the Main Fountain Garden. Precast was specified for the façade expressly to achieve optimal color matching across every component of the exposed aggregate finish — consistency difficult to hold on a building read at close range against historic masonry.

At the Waterlily Court, precast columns and beams form a covered walkway framing the historic court, terminating in a cantilever beam at the corner that carries a precast oculus. Inside the 32,000 SF West Conservatory, API supplied the interior and exterior walking path slabs threading the glasshouse's planted beds and water features.

 

Awards 
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Project Team

Owner

Longwood Gardens

PCI-Certified Precast Producer

Architectural Precast Innovations (API)

Lead Designer

Weiss/Manfredi

Landscape Architect

Reed Hilderbrand

General Contractor

Bancroft Construction Company

Key Project Attributes

  • Three of the project's five phases delivered in precast — architectural envelope, structural frame, and horizontal walking surfaces
  • Full precast structure at the Lower Reception Suite designed and erected around a retained existing center section
  • Arched insulated wall panels combining thermal envelope and finished architectural exterior in curved geometry
  • Precast specified expressly for color-match consistency across all exposed aggregate components
  • Replica datestone reproducing the original 1919–1921 Conservatory stone — duplicated from clay impressions, converted to a 3D model, and used to cut a custom form
  • Waterlily Court columns and beams finished in exposed aggregate on all four faces, with a cantilever corner beam carrying a precast oculus
  • West Conservatory slabs set one at a time off the completed path with a small forklift, each protected before the next was placed
  • Deliveries and erection sequenced within an active 17-acre construction program on an operating public garden

Project/Precast Scope

  • 1,145 Total Precast Pieces
  • Lower Reception Suite: 710 pieces — 413 hollow core plank, 150 coping, 57 insulated wall panels, 42 columns, 41 beams, 7 solid wall panels
  • Waterlily Court: 93 pieces — 48 columns, 44 beams, 1 oculus
  • West Conservatory: 342 interior and exterior walking path slabs
  • Exposed Aggregate Finish