Alphawood Foundation Chicago has made a $2 million gift to the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) to establish an accredited arboretum on the university’s historic Mies Campus. The campus is currently home to nearly 2,000 trees consisting of 68 different species. Alphawood’s gift will allow Illinois Tech to increase the number of different species to 100, and to bring educational and research opportunities into a formal arboretum program. The program will provide a platform for studying climate change among urban tree canopies as Illinois Tech will have the opportunity to test species native to more southern locations in Chicago’s environment.
College of Architecture students Jessie Flatley, Erik Schiller, and Johann Friedl originated the idea of going through the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program as a way of celebrating the legacy of Mies and landscape architect Alfred Caldwell and expanding the campus’ tree canopy. Their initial work, under the direction of Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism Ron Henderson, has earned the university a national accreditation, founded as the Alphawood Arboretum.
Illinois Tech’s Mies Campus is now the second educational institution in Chicago to be accredited and is the first arboretum on Chicago’s South Side. The Alphawood Arboretum joins a handful of Chicago parks, including Garfield Park Conservatory and Lincoln Park, to receive the designation.
“Alphawood Foundation Chicago is thrilled to partner with Illinois Tech on its campus arboretum plan,” Alphawood Executive Director Chirag Badlani said. “Our hope is for students, faculty, staff, and the community to come together to further cultivate and preserve this incredible landscape—strengthening the ties between the historic campus and the Bronzeville community.”
📷 Maria Villalobos, College of Architecture Assistant Professor