Creating lifelong connections with nature through immersive play at the historic Garfield Park Conservatory

For more than a century, the Garfield Park Conservatory has provided Chicago residents with a place to experience nature, regardless of the season. In an urban neighborhood with limited access to green space, the Conservatory serves as an urban oasis and beloved community resource, welcoming visitors year-round to explore and learn.

For children, the most meaningful connections with nature often come through experience, not just observation. Building on that mission, the Elizabeth Morse Genius Children’s Garden blends environmental education, inclusive play, and immersive storytelling in an indoor play environment that invites children and families to engage with nature firsthand. 

Housed within the Garfield Park Conservatory’s century-old glass exterior, among acres of exotic botanical environments, the Children’s Garden challenged our designers to balance delicate architectural preservation with universal accessibility, all while accounting for tropical climate conditions in the heart of the Midwest.

Environmental learning through play 

When children and families arrive at the Garden, they’re welcomed into a vibrant world of discovery and movement. More than just a playground, the experience reimagines the Conservatory through the eyes of a child, where climbing, exploring, creating, and imagining become pathways to learning about the natural world.

Learning came first. Before designing the play elements, before navigating the challenges of building within a historic glass structure, the RVi team worked alongside the Conservatory’s education staff to define a set of educational objectives for every garden room that visitors would encounter, and then create the experiences through active play, sensory exploration, art, and interpretive, interactive exhibits.

“We had to think about what we wanted kids to learn, and that helped us frame the experiences for each space,” says Lacey Lawrence, Director at RVi.

The resulting play experiences were woven into a plant palette created by RVi and sourced from across the U.S., creating learning opportunities that felt inseparable from the surrounding gardens.

Visitors learn about plant roots, ecosystems, soil types, and insects by digging in soil, examining underground cross-sections, and crawling through an underground tunnel in the Beneath the Surface area. The Curiosity Canopy invites children to gain an elevated view of the Conservatory gardens by climbing a net structure 20 feet in the air and engaging with others. The Understory section encourages gross motor skills while teaching about the movement of vines and plant support systems with a spiral caterpillar slide and a pitcher plant perch. For quieter moments, the Arbor Alcove provides a calming space where children can recharge before continuing their exploration.

Nature-inspired play elements complement the botanical surroundings and blur the line between play environment and conservatory, where oversized fungi, fallen logs, giant leaves, and custom play structures like the “High-biscus Climber”—modeled after the hibiscus flower—connect children and families with the landscape.

These are just a few examples of more than 30 individual learning objectives and play activities spread across six separate garden rooms and organized around a central Base Camp Explorer theme. The journey begins the moment visitors set foot in the Children’s Garden, equipped with maps and tools for the adventure. And with free, year-round access to the tropical environments you wouldn’t typically find in Chicago, the journey and learning can continue indefinitely.

Building within a living landmark

Originally constructed in 1908, the Garfield Park Conservatory is an iconic Chicago landmark designed by renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen. As one of the largest and most recognizable conservatories in the nation, it pioneered Jensen’s vision of “landscape art under glass.”

Today, it stands as a beloved community destination, providing year-round access to more than two acres of tropical indoor gardens. With a glass canopy reaching 65 feet at its peak, designing play environments within the dense gardens presented unique challenges to the RVi team. And building it within a historic, glass-paneled structure added a new layer of complexity.

“Working inside a living historic landmark is very different than designing a typical park or playground,” says Lawrence. “We had to think beyond the play environment itself and consider how every decision would affect the building, the gardens, and the visitor experience.”

Typical demolition methods weren’t an option. “We couldn’t touch the building at all, and historic buildings weren’t designed for modern construction equipment, so we had to get creative,” Lawrence explains. In addition to protecting the building, this meant preserving the delicate plant life within the Conservatory. With construction occurring through winter in Chicago, exposure to the harsh temperatures could have been catastrophic.

To access the interior, the team built a temperature-controlled enclosure for staging, while crews carefully navigated the space constraints of the landmark structure.

In addition to its impacts on construction methods, the high-humidity climate meant designing an indoor play environment to outdoor specifications. The moisture can accelerate degradation and create slippery, unsafe play surfaces for children.

“We essentially had to design for the outdoors, indoors,” explains Lawrence.

This required careful selection of materials, finishes, and hardware that could withstand constant moisture, resist corrosion, and provide safe footing for children in a tropical environment. Every detail was evaluated for long-term durability while remaining visually consistent with the Conservatory’s lush, historic setting.

Designed for every child 

Garfield Park represents a historically underserved community where continued investment in public spaces and community amenities plays an important role in supporting residents and families. With growing research demonstrating that access to nature supports physical, psychological, and social well-being, the Conservatory offers free admission 365 days a year for Chicago residents, providing a place where families can connect with nature and one another.

The Conservatory believes that access to nature is a fundamental right. The Children’s Garden furthers this mission by engaging the younger generations through accessible, inclusive, and culturally relevant play experiences. It offers opportunities for children of all cognitive, sensory, and physical abilities to explore, learn, and discover together, ensuring every family can participate in the wonder of the Conservatory.

“It was important to the Conservatory to be leaders in inclusive nature-based play,” said Lawrence. “Every component of the space considered accessibility. Our goal was to create a place where every child feels welcome.” A dedicated sensory-friendly area and wheelchair-accessible spiral ramp are among the most visible features, but inclusive design decisions are woven throughout the facility—from the colors and fonts on signage to the layout of pathways, play opportunities, and seating areas that support a wide range of physical, cognitive, and sensory needs.

Inspiring lifelong connection with nature 

The Elizabeth Morse Children’s Garden at the Garfield Park Conservatory opened its doors to the public in May 2026.

“It’s so rewarding to see the smiles, hear the laughter, and watch families make the space their own,” says Lawrence. “When you spend years designing something like this, you hope it resonates. Seeing the Conservatory’s vision come to life—and the community embracing it—is what makes the project so meaningful.”

Every child who climbs into the canopy, discovers an unfamiliar plant, or simply spends an afternoon immersed in nature leaves with something more valuable than a memory. They leave with a relationship to the natural world. And for many families, that’s exactly where lifelong curiosity begins.