Ross Barney

The programmatic objective of the Ford Calumet Environmental Center is to provide an environment where people from age 3 to 103 can improve their understand of the historical value of the area, and, more importantly, the value of the natural cycles of earth, water, plant, and animal life that flow through the area. A portion of the site is extracted to reveal the subsurface value of the earth and to exhibit its organic processes. A careful choreography of natural and industrial materials also produces benefits from thermal mass, natural ventilation, daylighting, and water filtration. The building gently adjusts to natural fluctuations and dynamically demonstrates that filtering and recharging of resources can be a model for building systems. Therefore, the building processes and the act of its construction becomes a tangible and logical extension of the exhibits in and around it. While the building is memorable formally as a levitating mass, it is also selectively permeable. Water will flow through the building’s walls, to be collected, used, and cleaned before being released back into nature. The exterior enclosure will respond seasonal change. Plants will grow on the façades, continually transforming them as the surrounding site around is restored and transformed.