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millcreek nature center

Third year | Fall 2008

buford, georgia

[3rd Place: Third Year Competition, Spring 2009]

[Exhibited in AIA South Atlantic Regional Convention: Greenville, SC]

[site plan]

[study model a] [study model b]

The Millcreek Nature Center will preside as the

headquarters for the Georgia Wildlife Federation, as

well as an established sanctuary for the local habitat

and a site for educating. The site exists as an

endangered oasis, it is being invaded on all fronts: the

ever-invasive commercial expansion to the North and

the Mall of Georgia, to the South a hard boundary line

of i85, to the East suburban neighborhoods.

In an attempt to reverse the expansive and destructive

force of nearby expansion, this design is an interaction

with the landscape. Rather than leveling the existing

grade, the center reacts to the landscape, burrowing

down into the earth [study model a], preserving the

hillside as it provides ADA accessibility to the trailhead

below. As the trees obstruct views from the hilltop, the

building extrudes outward [study model b], expanding

its view outward while lightly treading on the landscape

below. The program allows for an interaction with

nature, providing laboratories and lecture halls for

study, sustainable practice such as cross-ventilation

and water retainment, galleries for exhibition, and a

butterfly pavillion to provide a nesting ground for the

annual butterfly populations.

[level 0] [level -1]

exhibitionlecture halllaboratoriesbutterfly pavillionpower substationgift shopoffice

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[transverse section, through butterfly pavillion]

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[longitudinal section, through exhibition]

[exibition hall][butterfly pavillion]