MATERIAL STRATEGIES Extremely local materials were of use in this project to provide both sustainable solutions and learning opportunities for the youth of the area. The material strategies utilized involved up-cycling existing site resources and replenishing the lands for future growth, making the whole site adaptable past the lifespan of a typical building. Land stewardship and educational opportunities are additional benefits to this plan. BLACK WALNUT (JUGLANS NIGRA) The site offers existing Black Walnut as a source for timber. As an allelopathic first successional plant, using this tree for timber framing allows for other successional plants to have a chance to reseed the once Pine Barrens and Oak/Hickory Forests that claimed this site as their own. Similar to our site conditions, Black Walnut grows best on lower sloping areas of limestone parent material. It is possible to produce 16” saw logs in 30-35 years. Black Walnut can add 4” of diameter every 10-12 years on deep, well-drained soils. RAMMED EARTH
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2
Revealing the layers of earth as structural load bearing walls. Soil, mixed with 5% cement and recycled crushed brick, provides superior strength, sustainable qualities, and acts as a thermal mass by absorbing high amounts of solar energy, which is released into the building when it cools down, keeping a stable interior temperature.
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4
LIMESTONE
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The naturally occurring limestone bedrock peaking through the site’s ground plane as outcroppings inspired this material choice. With a neglected limestone quarry on site, limestone from the site and region is readily available, and the reuse of the quarry for play and learning about the land’s resources and geology was incorporated in the design.
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QUARRY’S MAKER SPACE ALONG THE EXCAVATION CONTEXTUAL LINE
SITE AREA:
INTEGRATED LEARNING STRATA
SITE LOCATION:
BUILDING AREA:
28.83 acres
PROGRAM:
Borough of State College, Pennsylvania
+ 75,000 sq ft Elementary School + Community resources
ECOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE + ECOLOGICAL LITERACY tulip poplar and beech
OVERVIEW
birch groves various spp.
While time passes, and buildings age, the landscape’s cyclical ecological processes allows for evolution and regeneration. These processes are matched in the material selection, construction, program adjacencies, and overall concept by providing a design that is an integral part of the working ecological systems for the benefit of both the environment and the present and future users.
oak and hickory crab apple
Through revealing site and regional ecological processes, this design promotes environmental literacy at multiple scales. The strata that form the entire site and the building fabric are deliberately called out, chosen, and interwoven to allow for a harmonious connection between ecology, education, and community.
85% percent of building that can be daylit during occupied hours
proposed dry meadow parking and bus drop-off
85% percent of building
that can be daylit existing paths
community bike path
<
2”
4-8” dia.
biota
avg.
organic matter
2.5-3”
5-6 yr. old
2 yr.
43.85”
terraced wetlands
contextual line:
1 . excavation 2 . production 3 . water
maker space
quarry
8-12” dia.
10 yr.
12-16” dia.
7-8 yr. old
30 yrs
49.25”
sinkhole 16-20” dia.
5.2”
9-10 yr. old
Hagerstown Opequon Nolin
54”
20-24” dia. 50 yrs
drain 100 yr.
overlook
3
sinkhole
hydro/geo forum
2
summer
composting bin
orchard
berries broccoli eggplant peppers squash
well slide + sled hill
apples carrots cauliflower pumpkins pears
earth wall play
70”
tree/forest growtH
user growth
EVENTS
sports field
kale collards leeks radish brussel sprts
adult
storm water
terracing
proposed reforestation
produce collection
winter 5.8”
karst topography
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2
asparagus peas rhubarb spinach
autumn
40 yrs
50 yr.
music forum
3
existing woodland
20 yrs
soil profile
94%
spring
10 yrs
3.8”
limestone
47%
bioretention check dams
1
bedrock
66%
ephemeral stream
The main users, elementary school students, grow with the site as they complete their education. Changes in scale were considered in the design functions. These students will experience first-hand the site’s productive, efficient, and resilient qualities and have a hand in the stewardship of the land.
sometimes caves can be formed from this process
percent of floor area with views to the outdoors
Somewhat Walkable
during occupied hours
CIRCULATION
The site’s limestone bedrock is the foundation for the site’s systems. It contributes to soil composition; karst topography, which creates topographical depressions and sinkholes through contact with stormwater; the vegetation and its growth abilities; built structures; and how users will interact with the site. The overall design solution uses immediately local materials, such as the site’s soil, limestone outcroppings, and available mature tree species, while also slowing down, harvesting, and dispersing stormwater throughout the site to avoid sinkholes.
subsoil
80%
proposed paths
To allow for longevity, resilience, and future adaptability, the design attempts to understand and integrate the site’s evolving elements of soil, karst topography, stormwater, tree/forest growth, user growth, and crop seasonality. These evolving measures consider both the cyclical and linear qualities of time to allow for future re-evaluations of use and growth.
Hagerstown Opequon Nolin
Light & A
proposed lawn
LONG LIFE, LOOSE FIT
true soil
percent of floor area with views to the outdoors
PROPOSED PLANTING
Where these lines intersect, the three nodes of the project stand (creatology, philology, and foodology). The structure of these nodes celebrate the its use of timber through expressive system which emulates the form of trees. Leaving the central collecting space between the nodes, which gracefully gathers people, water and light throughout the day.
depression
80%
black locust
some transit
The excavation line connects the existing quarry and spring fed well through programs of art/making/doing (creatology) and library of knowledge (philology). The production line aligns with historic agriculture crop boundary to link the community and users with the food production process: pollinator garden, on-site composting, orchard and edible gardens, and the teaching kitchen and mess hall (foodology). And finally, the water line illustrates the relationship between the ephemeral stream fueled through stormwater and the erroding limestone sinkhole, while celebrating the use and reuse of water through a stream access, wetland learning, aquatic play, and hydroponics lab.
malus orchard
biker’s paradise
The site’s functions have shifted over the last couple of centuries, from Pine Barrens and Hickory/Oak Forests, to agricultural lands, to an elementary school and a small quarry, to today’s need for a new educational facility. Through the ever-present evolution of community needs and materiality, the design highlights the historic changes of the site by utilizing local and site-specific resources to construct an educational facility that mimics an ecologically mindful pedagogy for the students and the surrounding community. Contextual lines that trace the historic uses and cycles of construction, production, and hydrology guide the programs and systems within the design.
Light & AI
reading pits
crop seasonality
exploded site Axon