Hilltop Arboretum was gifted to Louisiana State University in 1981 by Emory Smith, who lived there with his wife for over 50 years. Emory was passionate about Louisiana plants and collected native specimens along the Gulf Coast to grow and display on his property. He built a small house on the property with a window in every room to connect with nature. The proposed design for the Emory Smith Interpretive Pavilion should interpret what his house abstractly meant to him, as a constant connection between the man-made dwelling and the natural world.
