FALL 2020: GLEN FALLS NATURE CENTER

The major theme of my third semester in UB's B.Arch. program was an exploration of inhabitation, time, and built form. Many buildings constructed today will outlive their designed use. Therefore, we ask: "How can we create long lasting meaning in an economy that focuses on the short term? How can architecture stay relevant in the long term, when we cannot know what the future holds?"

To begin the semester, we worked in groups of two, doing precedent research on a given building, while trying to figure out how and why it 'stood the test of time'. Our group selected MIT's Building 20. This structure was hastily constructed during WWII to be a temporary home of the MIT Radiation Laboratory. As a result of this expedited construction, the space was poorly ventilated, violated fire code, and had many leaking pipes and exposed utilities. Yet Building 20 was still beloved by many of the groups that inhabited it. We began to look at why people enjoyed the space, and how we could incorporate those elements moving forward. Some of the reasons why Building 20 'stood the test of time' were:

1. Malleable walls and exposed utilities, allowing researchers to reconfigure the space as needed.
2. Constricted corridors and stairwells which encouraged collaboration.
3. Multiple diverse groups using the building at the same time, reinforcing cross-collaboration.

From this, we formulated the thesis that well-designed circulation space is critical to a successful building's design. This carried over into the next phase of the semester, which had us designing a building with no specified programmatic use on a site in Williamsville, a Buffalo suburb. The site we were given is unique, because it sits on the site of a steep cliff which separates the street level above from a park below. As a group, our goal was to use a properly designed circulation system to connect these two different elevations.  After several rounds of massing models, we proposed a smooth transition from street to park through a series of ADA compliant stacked, ramped circulation sticks, which punctured through three stepped, monolithic volumes. The monolithic volumes are remnant of Building 20's unassuming façade, while the ramps create a series of social spaces and visual connections between different parts of the building. The ramps also 'break through' the final building form in certain places, which allows for uninterrupted views into the park.

In the next phase of the semester, our building was finally given a programmatic use: a Nature Center. With this, we tried to solve two questions:

1. How does the program of Nature Center change the form of our building?
2. How does the unique form of our building influence the program of a nature center?

We capitalized on our building’s focus on connection between street level and park, and wanted to push this further to connect people and the park, through circulation as well as visibility. While our building serves as a physical connection between street and park, the goal for our nature center is to form a mental connection between interior displays and exterior nature. The term we’ve used to describe our vision is an Architectural Brochure: a place to learn about the local flora and fauna, before exiting into the park to see them in their natural habitat.