Like a sea-bound river twisting and turning down through the landscape, the Water Research Center is an ever-growing ribbon folding through the sky, over the ground, and emptying into the mouth of the river lingering at its feet. Between these folds life clings to the shoreline, pulling away and expanding outward from its safety only where it must.

Designed for my Architectural Design Studio at RISD in Spring 2011, the project was to create a building for use as a community education center and water research laboratory.

The site is adjacent to the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, RI.

Program includes laboratories, a library, a conference room, interior and exterior exhibit and gathering spaces, a gift shop, and a floating classroom on the river.

Three sets of thin wooden folds weave in and out of the heavy concrete structure.

A long process of building and rebuilding started with my original folded planes, and ended with the articulated tower.