Project Description
Gracefully emerging from the hardwood forest, the nature center hovers over the pond, lifting spirits and fading into the landscape as it preserves a singular focus – NATURE.
Transparency and openness unite the interior with the surrounding landscape, offering wide vistas of the pond and encouraging contemplation. Soaring roof planes lift quietly upward. Broad decks perch visitors over the sloping terrain offering a vast panorama. Natural processes are highlighted and examined throughout the building: a flood of daylight, captured breezes and recovered rainwater exemplify this sustainable approach.
The unique setting of the center reveals the natural rhythms of the place: cool breezes off the pond; a Pileated Woodpecker drumming in the distance; Scarlet Tanagers singing nearby; blossoming dogwoods and pink azaleas; the woods after a fresh rain; and the ever changing sky on the azure pond. This immersion in nature invites visitors to move through and beyond the center.