Hidden between the Business and Science buildings, the tiny SF State Greenhouse, used by the biology department for propagating plants and research, is slated to move to
more spacious location that will begin construction in mid-July 2008.

Professors and students alike said the current greenhouse is too small to accommodate more research projects, and SF State has turned away potential researchers here because of limited space. On the eighth floor of Hensil Hall there is an older and bigger facility, but due to poor construction, sources say plants fry on a hot day and freeze on a chilly
one. That greenhouse is now being used as storage.

“I hope the future of the greenhouse as a whole is that it gets what it’s been hoping for and can expand into a new facility that it desperately needs because it’s kind of packed,” botany major Alex Busuttil, who called it his “sanctuary,” said.

The new location is planned to be constructed between Thorton and Hensil halls, but according to the greenhouse’s manager, Martin Grantham, there are still some kinks to be worked out.

“A greenhouse is a space designed for optimum plant growth, it involves controlling the environment,” Grantham said. “The greenhouse here is needing to be used sometimes in
research. So you want to have it set up to have a wide range of possible settings for different environmental conditions.”