The Expansion Game Lucile Halsell Conservatory

San Antonio, Texas, USA

The 1st semester of the Master’s program focused on architecture expansions as a “game”. The goal was to propose an expansion for the Lucile Halsell Conservatory located in San Antonio, with slight modifications, and a new educational and public architecture to host currently endangered ecosystems.

The expansion designed for the Lucile Halsell Conservatory consists of four new pieces that continue the pattern of fragmented buildings on site.

Team Members: Vivek Bhargav Nalluri, Brooke Berge and Olivia Forish

Visitors will follow a ramp along the curve of the lake to the bottom level where they can view the tank from an underground seating area. The courtyard expansion is sunken into the ground just like the rest of the project and connects to the palm house along the main axis of the building. With its structured seating area and large patio, the courtyard is a more substantial event area to replace the existing tent.

The first of the two new greenhouses is a butterfly pavilion filled with flowering shrubs and bushes that attract this unique collection of insects. Its geometry is a cone, similar to existing structures, but shorter and wider so that the butterflies can easily navigate the space.

The last expansion piece is the Mediterranean shrubland filled with a diverse collection of plants from dry, coastal areas. The geometry of the roof also resembles the existing conical shapes, but it is fragmented to allow for an existing pathway to go through it.

Tropical Conservatory

Desert Pavilion

Exhibit Room

Existing Structure

Butterfly Pavilion

3” Diameter Space Frame

1” Insulated Glass

Butterflies

Floral Collections: Lavendar, Lillac, Lupin

Concrete RampRatio 1:12

Concrete Wall

Concrete Footing

Earth Fill Concrete Retaining Wall

Axonometric Wall Section Detail - Butterfly Pavilion

Symmetry

Circulation Diagram Program

To maintain balance, the underground pond and new courtyard are placed along the main axis, and two new circular structures have been added to either side of the fern grotto. In the middle of the existing courtyard, the pond has been expanded underground to host a tank of marine life and corals and add to the diversity of botanical collections in the garden.

The Mediterranean rooftop lets in just enough light for the shrublands below and has been broken into two forms to make room for an important pathway that runs overhead. The butterfly pavilion maintains its conical shape to create plenty of space for the butterflies to spread their wings. The tube

The roof forms were created by combining and deconstructing simple geometric shapes such as cones, cylinders, and pyramids. Each one is unique and specific to the climate it holds. We used the same technique for the new roof forms we designed by starting with simple conical forms and transforming them into shapes that fit their programs.