This project is about trees and water and respect. As an education facility focused on the study of wetland ecosystems, this (LEED Gold) Center teaches by design and example. It immerses students in a thriving upland tree canopy overlooking a major urban wetland, while exhibiting principles and techniques that help keep the wetlands intact.

This wetland ecosystem is the filter to everything that enters it from uphill, with many natural vessels to carry water and nutrients. By creating a place that respects these factors, the Center is integrated with the wetland organism, a part of the system rather than apart from it.

Preserving the tree canopy meant footprints of no more than 2,500 square feet. By analyzing voids in the forest, the design team identified "rooms" for each of eight structures, four of which barely touch the land. Using helical pilings and concrete pile caps, the structures cantilever over the land and up into the tree canopy. This allows water, air, and vegetation to flow beneath, thus sustaining the fragile, sloped site and the land’s natural vessels. Building volumes and decks are staggered, offset and pierced to accommodate trees and allow the buildings to interact with their surroundings.

While the buildings comprise 9,500 square feet of usable space, less than one quarter of the square footage touches the ground. It is hard to quantify the effects of this footprint reduction at grade. What is the value of seeing eye-to-eye with a Pileated Woodpecker? What is it worth to design buildings so that, in 15 or 20 years, the water, bugs and birds don’t know the buildings are there? The Center is a place to explore these questions.

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