Museum Hill team outlines Gateway Pavilion and Children’s Discovery Garden; HDRB appoints subcommittee to work with state

Designers for the Santa Fe Botanical Garden presented a proposal Tuesday night for a small Gateway Pavilion, restroom building and a roughly 1.2‑acre Children’s Discovery Garden on state property at Museum Hill, and the Historic District Review Board asked staff and the applicant to work further with a board subcommittee before the project returns for design review.

The project team, led by Phil Weddle of Weddle Gilmore Architects, told the board the plan includes a modest restroom building (about 572 square feet), a shaded ramada/portal and an adjacent children’s garden with a loop trail, play elements and a rainwater catchment system. The team said the PV array now at grade will be relocated to the pavilion roof and that the pavilion roof will have a butterfly slope to collect roof runoff to a below‑grade cistern for irrigation.

Board members and staff said the site is partially state owned and therefore subject to the board’s review under the city’s state capital outlay process. Director Heather Lamboy told the board that Section 14‑5.2(m) (state capital outlay projects) requires the state to present early designs and to accept board feedback; if there are major issues, a board subcommittee can be formed to work with the state and applicant.

Board members raised material and form concerns. Several members said the proposed weathered‑steel ramada, large wall areas and the butterfly roof are not consistent with many district standards and would require exceptions. Member Beachhead told the applicant the board is generally reluctant to permit weathered steel in the historic district and called out the roof form and “wall‑dominated” appearance as the two primary exceptions likely required. Member Mather said the design, as presented for the first time, would not fit most district standards and urged the applicant to expect multiple exceptions or to scale the design toward more traditional forms.

Applicants said they were seeking to tie the new elements to existing materials at the Botanical Garden — moss‑rock masonry, integrally colored stucco and weathered steel ramadas — and emphasized the project’s sustainability features, including the rainwater harvesting and relocating the solar array to the roof.

After discussion, the board asked staff to continue working with the applicant and appointed a two‑member subcommittee of board members — Member Mather and Member Degnan — to meet with the Museum of New Mexico and project team and report back to the full board. The subcommittee appointment was made by volunteer; no formal motion to disapprove or approve design exceptions was taken at Tuesday’s meeting.

The applicant was told to expect additional guidance about what exceptions the board will consider and to prepare refined drawings before returning to the board.

What’s next: staff will coordinate the subcommittee meeting with the Museum of New Mexico and the project team; the board expects an updated design and any formal exception requests at a future hearing.