The Conservatory supports collegiate and community programs associated with preservation and conservation.  It serves as a boundary to the campus, and features trails leading to restored prarie and woodland habitats.  The building was designed as a pedagogical device, with huge interpretive murals showing the evolution of local flora and fauna.  The design features a rotunda with a lantern that serves as an iconic geospatial reference, visible from everywhere on the campus.  The building itself is only part of a larger experience, as plazas, trails and gardens and restored habitats extend the campus and provide the visitor and student with a broader, richer, evolving environment.

Inside, the Conservatory house special plant dislay areas, while the rotunda houses educational, recreational and other support functions.  Research space is contained in two wings.