A New Welcome for Burden

A New Welcome for Burden

Inspired by the Southern architectural tradition, the master plan for the Burden Center's new welcome center is a work of sustainability and innovation

By Caroline Alberstadt

Ask some of the citizens of Baton Rouge about the Burden Museum and Gardens, and the response might be “that place with some gardens and little cabins?”. The picturesque locale, right at the center of the city’s busiest corridor, is the focus of the latest efforts by the Burden Foundation Board of Directors and the LSU AgCenter, who hope to not only correct this limited perception, but also to go a step further, improving the visibility of the complex and expanding its usefulness to the social and cultural fabric of the city. A new welcome center, designed by award-winning New Orleans-based architects Eskew Dumez Ripple (EDR) in collaboration with renowned local landscape architects, Carbo Landscape Architecture, invites the public to take another look.

Renderings courtesy of Eskew Dumez Ripple and the LSU AgCenter.

Nodding to yesterday, looking out towards tomorrow

You’d be forgiven for missing the center’s entrance as you zoom off I-10 down Essen Lane, driving right past the 440-acre site located in the heart of the city. Once rural farmland, the acreage was donated by the Burden Family to LSU over fifty years ago to create a garden oasis aimed at highlighting the best practices of good stewardship over the rich natural environment of our state. The current Burden Museum and Gardens site is the realization of the vision of Steele Burden, one of the original benefactors, featuring formal gardens at Windrush, the LSU Rural Life Museum, numerous agrarian buildings relocated to the site from historical properties around the region, an interactive learning and exhibit space, and the beautiful Orangerie, the last-built project of revered architect A. Hays Town.

Looking to the future—Suzanne Turner Associates and Carbo Landscape Architects’ master plan, finalized in December 2021, proposes a road map for the complex’s next chapter, starting with the welcome center.

Renderings courtesy of Eskew Dumez Ripple and the LSU AgCenter.

Reviewing the proposed renderings, at first glance, the expansive box form with inverted gable roof grabs your attention, providing stark contrast to the greenspace beyond. There’s a familiarity to the forms and shapes ; you feel you’ve seen it before, but not exactly in the same way. The building is “identifiable as a prominent structure, but it still feels like it’s part of the landscape,” remarked Zach Broussard, senior project landscape architect with Carbo Landscape Architecture. In their innovative design, EDR architects took great care to craft a style complementary to other historic buildings on the site, while sending the signal that this one is decidedly different. The design team has incorporated details and cues from the vernacular buildings located on the property, such as the enslaved person’s quarters, dogtrot cottages, and the complex of green-houses—without reverting entirely to the more traditional design seen so often in the architectural vocabulary of the region. As Mark Hash, the senior project architect with EDR explained: “The design of the building is meant to be a simple expression of the current day and not to replicate the past.”

Drawing from a rich tradition of architecture in the lower coastal South, EDR incorporated elements into their design that brought sustainability and functionality to the forefront, including deep overhangs, breezeways, and courtyards for solar shading and cooling. These practical design devices reduce solar heat gain and promote cross circulation to reduce energy consumption. While functional in protecting against the intense heat and frequent stormy weather, they are also useful in providing sheltered outdoor spaces for communal gatherings, a testament to South Louisiana’s vibrant, social culture. The shed roof of the interior courtyard drains water for irrigation, which then moves it through a “runnel” to the main entry and out to the bioswale, minimizing the impact of storm water on local infrastructure. “The overall concept of the building and its response to the landscape illustrates how to coexist with water, not fight against it,” said Broussard.

A Threshold to the Front Door of Baton Rouge

At the heart of the project is a deference to the landscape, where the building punctuates but the plantings dominate. It acts as a lens to more clearly see the surrounding flora and fauna of our beloved state, so unique in its swamps and bogs, windswept prairies, and towering forests of pine and hardwood. Formal gardens feature prominently, a nod to our Southern heritage of parterres and garden rooms. The building itself is meant to be experienced from within, ensconced inside the cozy courtyard at its center. Programmatically, it is a cluster of small “pavilions,” united under a central protective roof structure, which recalls the arrangement of rural farmstead outbuildings with its use of simple metal panels and rough-cut wood planks. Openings in the exterior envelope create picturesque vistas on all four sides, forming welcome portals from which to embark on one’s exploration of the property.

Richmond Savoy, Assistant Director of LSU AgCenter Facilities, summarized the landscape design as conveying “what is being done in response to the land, the impact of climate change, the impact of water … it’s a bioclimatic approach. The building’s design is responsive to the climate … not just brutally imposed on the landscape, but a part of the landscape. There is dialogue between the building and the land, which is key.”

A Hidden Jewel No More

Renderings courtesy of Eskew Dumez Ripple and the LSU AgCenter.

The Burden Welcome Center is only the beginning, the gateway project to the rest of the master plan’s ambitious initiatives. For now, fundraising continues to prepare for the day when the first shovel can go into the ground. The estimated project cost is around $6.5 million, with construction projected to be complete within twelve to fourteen months after it begins.

A key part of the master plan includes improving the access and visibility of the Burden Center by a total rework of the entrance off Essen Lane. A hidden jewel no more, the complex and its gardens will be much harder to miss, and one step closer to establishing itself as a new public living space and oasis, where Baton Rougeans and visitors might gather at the heart of the Capital City.