This project encourages people to get involved with nature. To achieve this, the project based the design under the concept of “WALKING THE NATURE”.

The intent is touch the sense of the sight. At the moment when the person decides to enter the project, the path is directed to the lobby (FEMA shelter), but in this opportunity there are two possible paths. The first one corresponds to the normal path, demarked with the concrete; the second path corresponds to keep walking in the grass until the path ends. This idea was adopted from “The Turtle Creek House” by the architect Predok, and consist of having a long corridor until nowhere, however, the main goal of this ceremony is to celebrate the fact of contemplating the birds. Thus, we propose this long corridor which has the base of constantly keep walking and appreciating what surround it.

The project was also thought to be used by a handicap person, including emergency exits and a tornado shelter. This detail also focus the fact of going somewhere special because to get inside the project, the spectator has to get in the ground, get in the nature, and experience the fact of walk.

MEASURE 1: DESIGN AND INNOVATION

Due to the increasing population, cities throughout the years have been solving social problems of housing, transportation, and more issues that affect human health. People has forgotten the relation human – earth, and this project gives the opportunity to re-experience nature. The remarkable strategy used to achieve this goal is constantly walk the project which has direct visual relation with the environment. Besides “walking the nature”, continuity is an important goal of the project. Thus, the base of the project was thought for several populations or “stakeholders” that are related to the site, such as vegetation and wild life.

About the program, the project consist of 5 spaces designated to a Visitors Center and an educational approach. Each space is connected through a wide corridor sloped with 10% of inclination and is sectioned every 9 meters in order to decrease the distances for a person in disabilities. The shape of the building resembles the watershed that is located in the South of the boundary, and was developed through the rotation of the spaces every 15%. The project has a great work in terms of how every box is situated in the air that means, development in either X, Y or Z axis.

MEASURE 2: REGIONAL / COMMUNITY DESIGN

During the first stage of the project, the Discovery of the site and all the assessments developed to define the program for this project, it concluded with idea of encourage people to get involved with nature and show them how is possible to build without expending more money, protecting and restoring the environment. Also, the fact of playing with the level of the project at every point promotes the sense of reflection and the constant relation with the vegetation and hopefully the wildlife until the spectators meet the watershed. This goal is to generate a sense of place, public space and community interaction.

The project is intentionally located between two developed towns (Moore and Norman, Oklahoma) to seek people’s attention and give them a good reason to stop in the middle of the I-35 and get involved into another environment

MEASURE 3: LAND USE AND SITE ECOLOGY

This project is located right in the middle of three bioregions which are: Priaries, Core of Laurentia and The Great Basin. That means that the vegetation and the wildlife in this point of the earth is crucial in terms of variety and must be preserved. The location has the benefit of being located next to a watershed that provides food and is the habitat of most of the species previously cited in the boards and it becomes the most important space of the project in terms of design.

This project celebrates the fact that the human being is not the only specie that inhabits the earth and recognizes those stakeholders (wildlife and vegetation) and proposes two big strategies to reduce the impact that the project might cause. The first strategy of the project is to intervene the terrain as less as possible, for this reason just 61% of the total area of the project is buried, letting the rest of the project be above the ground and keep the soil intact. The second strategy is to slope the project and use green roof throughout the structure to reduce the generate heat island reduction and not less important, to keep the continuity of the green space for the species that live in the site.

MEASURE 4: BIOCLIMATIC DESIGN

The massing of the project is split in four spaces designated for education and a long and wide corridor that connects each space. The shape of the project resembles the shape of the river and is developed with modules every 9 meters which are rotated 15° in the X axis, however, the intention is to encourage people to use passive solutions in their homes. For this reason al the project is rotated towards the north with the benefit of receive sun in the longest facades of every space from the South, this because of being located 35°N. Also, through the study of the wind rose per season, the result showed that the predominant wind throughout the year comes from the South; tornadoes concurrence; average precipitation of 38.61” per year; presence of water body; high variety of species and seasons throughout the year. These analysis and special characteristics represent a great opportunity in terms of bioclimatic design.

In order to have advantage of the site, the strategy is based on a thick wall made of solar panels, and a metal structure that refrigerates the façade and finally insulated materials to control the temperature within the spaces.

MEASURE 5: LIGHT AND AIR

Through the process of protecting the interior space from the solar rays and providing windows towards the North, the project guarantees that there will be always natural light without problems such as glare. Besides to disposition of the spaces, the location of the project inside the mass of trees was carefully selected for the less disturbance of nature and the proximity of the foliage of the trees that generates shadow as well as purified air provided from the process of photosynthesis.

But, there is one space that doesn’t have those benefits, the tornado shelter does not have natural light because it is buried to increase the protection of the people inside the project. For this reason, the necessity of common light is necessary to illuminate this space when used and the application of cross ventilation in the shelter for the flux of clean air throughout the corridor.

MEASURE 6: WATER CYCLE

This site is located on a critical point of storm water runoff control due to its low topography. Close to the project there is a watershed which is used as a nice detail to finish the path, but it is harmful in April, May and June because the level of the river increases (78 to 123 inches per month) and the project might have flooding issues that are meant to be analyzed. For this reason, the contour lines of the site were modified to locate the project up to 2 feet above the flooding level and with this modification generate paths for the raining water to approach easily the river. In other words, the project plays with the terrain to return the water to the river without being contaminated or infected with any human element.

With the idea of increasing the level of the project with ramps, the goal is to preserve the land that drains the water, and use green roof to maintain the landscape without any use of energy and hold the rain water to decrease the amount of water close to the project, similar to how the trees hold water in their leaves.

MEASURE 7: ENERGY FLOWS AND ENERGY FUTURE

Before the design of the project, one of the main goals of this project was to preserve al the energy as possible and use every bioclimatic strategy to keep generating natural energy. In this opportunity the basic issues that were analyzed were: the lighting system and the heating system.

To achieve or regulate those important necessities of the project, the analysis concluded with providing solar panels all over the south façade and turn green the roof to respectively save the energy from the sun in the batteries located inside every mechanical room and be used when necessary, and cool or preserve the temperature of every space with the green roof. Besides the freshness of the green roof, the fact of being buried helps to regulate the temperature in spaces that for instance are meant to be used for machines or many other different elements that radiate heat.

The heating system of the spaces that are not buried, were carefully located in the floor of every space. The pipes for the heating system are intentionally above the concrete slab and every grill for the hot air is close the window to lose as less heat as possible.

MEASURE 8: MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION

The material selection was highly discussed throughout the design process. The goals were established from the beginning and are these: The criteria of selecting materials with a low coal footprint; Safety for the people in every space of the project; Reduce carbon emission of transportation for the materials used in the project.

In order to achieve these goals, the first material that was selected was the wood because of the benefits and the time that is required to re-generate itself, but with the presence of water and humidity, it was necessary to establish any material that could separate the wood from the ground. For this reason, reinforced concrete was selected because of the structural features and the proximity where this material can be found, in this case it is used as containing walls and the platform that holds the balloon frame. After determining the materials of the structure, it was necessary to think about the wall section and which materials could help me to preserve heat and reduce the demand of energy of the project.

MEASURE 9: LONG LIFE AND LOOSE FIT

Attending to the possible changes of the project, the design provides the same features in every space to guarantee that many activities can be developed and any machine could be used. If any of the system is damaged or needs attention by any entity, there is no necessity to brake the structure of injure the materials because it was designed to just remove the deck and make the changes that are needed. Everything is connected underneath the deck, but the machines are separated above the deck to keep the privacy or the undesirable details.

MEASURE 10: COLLECTIVE WISDOM AND FEEDBACK LOOPS

The design process for this project started with the analysis of two components. The first component is related to light, wind, and water; the second component is related with issues that are not easily seen such as sound, the quantity of light between the ground and the foliage of the trees and the places where is possible to find the materials demanded by the project. Next, after all the results given in the exploration section, the opportunities of the site were clear and ready to approach with relation of the design concept that was established from the beginning which is “Walk the nature” and start the process of design.

The program was written and divided from the beginning to clarify the relation of spaces and the future opportunities to gain the desired flexibility. While the design process was increasing, the analysis of different precedents was necessary to clarify ideas and adapt several details that were relevant to the project.