Out on a Limb - A Tree Adventure Exhibit
$3.1 Million Goal
Creating compelling visitor experiences remains
central to the Arboretum’s goals. Visitor surveys and
community focus groups indicate that the Arboretum’s
audience is evolving from primarily adults to multigenerational
families. In response, the Arboretum
has committed itself to developing a new interpretive
master plan and corresponding exhibit that
incorporates existing garden features and one that will
be newly constructed. Planning for this new attraction
was initiated in December 2004 and schematic designs
were presented to the Advisory Board of Managers in
June 2007. The result will be a new interactive, family
experience through enhanced garden interpretation.
The primary message of this educational exhibit is that
we — as individuals, families, and communities — need trees and that trees need us to grow and survive.
The goals of the exhibit are to:
• Create an interactive, handicapped-accessible and
multi-generational
installation at the Arboretum
that enhances the overall Arboretum
experience for
both children and adults;
• Introduce visitors to the critical role that trees play
in our environment;
• Provide a unique perspective on how trees develop,
grow and contribute to
the world around us;
• Increase visitation to the Morris Arboretum; and
• Encourage visitors’ care for the trees in their communities and, in so doing,
engage them in
stewardship of our broader environment.
Arboretum staff, Board members, and volunteers
have collaborated with museum exhibit design
experts from Metcalfe Architecture and Design in
envisioning this project. It will incorporate a number
of the Arboretum’s most popular focal points,
including existing garden features such as the:
• Log Cabin
• Springhouse complex,
• Dawn redwood grove, and
• Woodlands by the Butcher Sculpture Garden.
 The exhibit’s central feature and greatest opportunity for
expanding the garden’s interpretation will be a dynamic
new Out on a Limb Tree Canopy Walk that will soar
over 40 feet into the air, providing a wonderful vantage
point from which to understand the critical role that
trees play in our environment. Metcalfe Architecture and
Design are collaborating with Forever Young Treehouses
to finalize the design of the canopy walk. The messages
incorporated into Out on a Limb will focus on the
importance of trees in the environment, especially in
cities, where trees require human help to survive. Out on
a Limb will be a permanent, interactive installation at the
Arboretum, one that will enhance both children and
adults’ experience of, and appreciation for, nature and
the environment. The heart of the exhibit is a 275-foot
Canopy Walk where visitors can stroll at their leisure
from the forest floor up into the tree canopy, more than
four stories above ground level.
Additional features
planned for the Canopy Walk, include:
• Several Bird’s Eye View Look-Out Stations along
the way, with binoculars for
viewing wildlife;
• Beautiful Bark, bark specimens or cross-sections of various trees mounted
on the railings, explaining
the importance of bark to tree health;
• A giant Spider’s Web skirting a huge chestnut tree
and woven from a net of
rope for climbing;
• A Tree Pavilion, the exhibit’s wide central axis with
enough room to gather
groups of 30 or more children
and adults for both formal and informal
programming;
• A swaying Suspension Bridge that will allow access
to a tree house in the
shape of a Bird’s Nest; and
• The Wissahickon Vista, a level platform at the end
of the walkway, extending
out through the steeplysloped
forest of the Wissahickon Valley and directly
into
the tree canopy. This unique perspective provides
views of both the
forest and
the Wissahickon Creek.
The Vista will be spacious,
accommodating group
activities that focus on the role that trees play in the
protection of our region’s
water resources.
The Out on a Limb - A Tree Adventure Exhibit will be constructed in
such a way that it blends into the Arboretum’s
landscape and will accessible to all visitors.
For additional information please contact:
Melissa von Stade, Director of Development
215-247-5777 ext. 102
mstade@exchange.upenn.edu
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