Mathews Architecture

NC Arboretum Baker Exhibit Center

Mathews Architecture served as the local partner to Woolpert, Inc. of Charlotte in designing the Baker Exhibit Center for the North Carolina Arboretum, the second large facility on the grounds.

The facility functions as the primary welcome and orientation center for more than 225,000 Arboretum visitors annually. The complex serves to significantly improve visitors’ experiences by providing stronger and more diverse orientation and education during all four seasons at The North Carolina Arboretum.

It houses the Arboretum’s information center as well as a garden-level exhibit hall that showcases traveling art, history, culture and science-based exhibits. The grounds surrounding the Baker Exhibit Center include approximately 3 acres and feature contemporary concepts for cultivated landscapes in the mountains.

An attached 900-square foot greenhouse showcases exhibits that complement those located inside the exhibit hall. Also included in the complex is a front entrance rain garden, which collects rainwater from the parking lot, building and from an event lawn located outside the exhibit hall on the garden-level.
View of the entrance to the Baker Exhibit Center.
View of the upper level of the Baker Center, showing the large greenhouse connected to the main exhibition level.
Main lobby of the facility, with the information desk downstairs and the gift shop and exhibit hall upstairs.
Looking down to the lower level of the lobby.
The information desk and stair in the entrance lobby.