Longwood Gardens West Conservatory Case Study

A Reimagined Garden Experience Tuned for Atmosphere

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Built Environment

Industry

Museums, Arts & Culture

Location

Kennett Square, PA

Architect | Landscape Architect | Lighting Designer | AV Manufacturer

Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism | Reed Hilderbrand LLC Landscape Architecture | Tillotson Design Associates | Meyer Sound

Longwood Gardens has long stood apart as one of the country’s most celebrated cultural and botanical destinations, known for experiences where landscape, architecture, and atmosphere feel seamlessly connected. That legacy was expanded through Longwood Reimagined, a $250 million transformation spanning 17 acres and centered on the West Conservatory project, which introduced a 32,000-square-foot glasshouse, a Mediterranean-inspired landscape, a new Bonsai Courtyard, and upgraded dining experiences. Following the renovation, Longwood Gardens was recognized by TIME as one of the World’s Greatest Places of 2025.

Jaffe Holden, a Trinity Consultants team, provided acoustics and AV design for the West Conservatory project and related spaces, helping ensure each environment could support its intended use without compromising the calm, immersive quality that defines the gardens. This work also built on Jaffe Holden’s earlier contributions to the broader Longwood Gardens campus.

Vision

The design team set out to create an experience that felt both contemporary and deeply rooted in Longwood’s identity. For Jaffe Holden, that meant developing acoustics and AV systems for the West Conservatory project that supported gathering, dining, programming, and day-to-day operations while remaining visually restrained and experientially intuitive. Each intervention needed to feel natural within a setting shaped by transparency, reflection, water, and plant life.

Partnership

The West Conservatory project required close coordination across diverse architectural and landscape environments, each with its own technical and experiential demands. Highly reflective materials presented acoustic challenges throughout the project, requiring tailored solutions that responded to both form and function. In the new administration building and library, Jaffe Holden, designed isolated podcast studios and an acoustical curtain wall to reduce noise from the adjacent high-traffic lawn. In the event and dining space, the barrel-vaulted ceiling created a demanding acoustic condition, addressed through the integration of high-end acoustic plaster to create a more balanced auditory environment.

Within the conservatory, the team tuned low-level fountains to produce a modest hush of sound that complemented the surrounding acoustics rather than competing with them. On the AV side, Jaffe Holden expanded on earlier work completed elsewhere at Longwood Gardens, including previous work in the main fountain garden, by adding racks within the underground tunnel system beneath the fountain canals to extend speaker coverage into new areas while preserving the visual character of the site.

Services Performed

Trinity Consultants’ Jaffe Holden team provided acoustics and AV design for Longwood Gardens’ West Conservatory project, supporting immersive visitor experiences across diverse indoor and outdoor spaces. The team developed solutions to manage reflective environments, enhance event and dining acoustics, and extend discreet audio coverage throughout the gardens.

Environmental Acoustics

AV Systems Strategy & Design

Traditional Landscape Architecture

Value-Add

At Longwood Gardens, technical design had to do more than perform well. It had to disappear into the experience. Jaffe Holden approached the West Conservatory project with that balance in mind, creating acoustic and AV systems that support a wide range of uses while protecting the clarity, calm, and sensory richness visitors expect from the gardens. Whether controlling noise in enclosed spaces, refining sound behavior in large-volume architecture, or extending audio infrastructure into new exterior zones, the result was the same: sound that feels effortless, aligned, and fully in service of the setting.

These improvements help Longwood Gardens continue to evolve as a world-class destination, with infrastructure that supports its next chapter without interrupting the wonder that has always defined it.

Thanks to Jaffe Holden’s exceptional design, the Institute of Contemporary Art’s Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater has consistently impressed both audiences and performing artists since opening in 2006. The discrete acoustical treatment above our hardwood ceiling, as well as the rippled design of the theater’s entire East wall, plays a crucial role in managing reflections and ensuring both clarity and warmth. Additionally, the team’s expert noise isolation design allows for seamless co-existence between the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater, our lobby, and our galleries, even as significant development has transformed the surrounding Seaport District. Their expertise continues to be invaluable, and we deeply appreciate their ongoing support in maintaining the integrity of their original acoustical vision.

Ryan Arnett | Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston

Director of Production