Frick Environmental Center
Investing in our Future
# FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future
Frick Environmental Center
“I roamed Frick Park for many years…The deepest ravine, over which loomed the Forbes Avenue bridge, was called Fern Hollow. There in winter I searched for panther tracks in the snow. In summer and fall I imagined the woods extending infinitely. I was the first human being to see these shadowed trees, this land; I would make my pioneer clearing here, near the water…In spring I pried flat rocks from the damp streambed and captured red and black salamanders.” Annie Dillard An American Childhood, 1987
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Students from the Environmental Charter School measure tree size for their Mission Ground Truth field experience.
# FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future
Frick Environmental Center
From Annie Dillard to Georgia O’Keeffe and E. O. Wilson to Rachel Carson, vibrant artists, musicians, writers, naturalists, inventors and scientists have drawn inspiration from the mystery and majesty of the natural world. We want to nurture original thinking and creative expression in Pittsburgh’s youth. But every day children are spending more time indoors with electronic devices. The roots of scientific discovery and of creative expression are both found in observation of the natural world – by looking closely. Early experiences in city parks can help nourish creativity and expression. These encounters with the natural world can fill the souls of urban children with sights, sounds and smells that one day can be expressed in the creative arts and in the curiosity that feeds scientific inquiry.
The caterpillar of a Monarch butterfly waiting to take wing.
“If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The early years of childhood are the time to prepare the soil.” — Rachel Carson FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future 5
Frick Environmental Center
The new Center will help Pittsburghers understand the critical environmental issues confronting them now and in the future and it will inspire them to explore and adopt technological innovations that can help. The park is the classroom and the building will be the gateway to the park. The building and site will demonstrate the highest standards of environmental practice.
Rendering of the historic entry to Frick Park with the new Environmental Center in the background. Courtesy of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future
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Outdoor Amphitheater An amphitheater built into the hillside fulfills one dream of the local community. At virtually every community gathering during the planning process, an amphitheater to host programs, concerts and lectures in a natural setting was requested. An artist’s rendering of the new Frick Environmental Center and woodland amphitheater. Courtesy of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.
Frick Environmental Center
The three-story building keeps to the modest 6,000 squarefoot footprint of its predecessor and offers 15,500 square feet of usable space. The top floor contains two classrooms that can be combined to accommodate up to 115 students. The classroom opens onto a covered outdoor deck that can be used as an additional classroom and for events.
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# FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future
Frick Environmental Center
Designed to meet the rigorous Living Building Challenge and LEED platinum standards, the Environmental Center will advance Pittsburgh’s national position on the leading edge of green design. The building has been designed to ADA standards of accessibility and includes a state-of-the-art coil for the hearing impaired. Rendering of the rain veil at the new Frick Environmental Center. Courtesy of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.
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Frick Environmental Center
A Living Laboratory for Learning
Site plan for the new Frick Environmental Center campus. Courtesy of LaQuatra Bonci.
Project Design Team Architecture/Interior Design: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Pittsburgh Landscape Architecture/Site Planning: LaQuatra Bonci Associates, Pittsburgh Construction Management: PJ Dick, Pittsburgh Sustainability: evolveEA, Pittsburgh, + Atelier Ten, Connecticut Innovation/Research: Bio_Logic Research Group, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh Civil Engineering: H.F. Lenz, Johnstown, PA Structural Engineering: Barber & Hoffman, Cranberry, PA Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Engineering: RAM-TECH Engineers, Buffalo, NY Principal Artist: Stacy Levy, Spring Mills, PA
The Environmental goals of the project include: • “Net zero water” capturing rain and snow and reusing it • “Net zero energy” reducing the amount of energy we use and generating all the energy we need • Using local materials that are non-toxic
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Frick Environmental Center
Project Sustainability Guide
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Frick Environmental Center site
FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future 21 Rendering courtesy of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Frick Environmental Center
Using Art to Teach and Inspire Art is interwoven throughout the new Frick Environmental Center. Environmental artist Stacy Levy has designed a watershed sculpture called Falls Ravine to illuminate the significance of water to our region and the world. The piece will be activated by rain water that flows off the roof of the main building and through a series of runnels set into the sandstone terrace. The sculpture will create a watershed in miniature, evoking the shale geology of the park and giving visitors a sense of the patterns of the movement of water throughout the park. Additional art pieces will include handcrafted metal gates, wood furniture made from trees removed from Frick Park, and an interactive human-powered energy generator near the historic fountain.
Rendering of families playing in Falls Ravine, a watershed sculpture in the amphitheater at the Frick Environmental Center. Courtesy of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.
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Frick Environmental Center
Embracing the Community The Frick Environmental Center has been designed to welcome and serve people from around the Pittsburgh region. Engagement • Over 1,000 community members participated in the decade long planning process sponsored by the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy • Outreach and engagement included planning meetings, focus groups, hands-on design workshops, and park walks. Research • Both the RAND Corporation and the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs were commissioned to look specifically at how to better engage the nearby Homewood community and increase diversity across our programs • Study participants living near Frick Park expressed strong interest in environmental education • Barriers to participation included lack of awareness of the center, difficulties with transportation and concerns about safety. Outreach • The Parks Conservancy has been working for 5 years to increase engagement and diversity in all programs • School programs now serve students from Pittsburgh Public, private, and charter schools • Children with different abilities, including deafness and autism, regularly participate in programs • A full-time nature educator is placed in Homewood to help bridge the gap between the neighborhood and the park • A Slavery to Freedom garden is being developed for the site in partnership with the Heinz History Center. The garden will feature examples of some of the more than fifty plants that were historically significant to escaped slaves.
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“For ourselves, and for our planet, we must be both strong and strongly connected — with each other, with the earth. As children, we need time to wander, to be outside, to nibble on icicles, watch ants, to build with dirt and sticks in the hollow of the earth, to lie back and contemplate clouds….” — Gary Paul Nabhan & Stephen Trimble The Geography of Childhood, 2004
Looking west from the living room of the Frick Environmental Center. Courtesy of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.
Frick Environmental Center
SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS The Center offers a variety of programs for the community. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Education Partnerships with local schools are the heart of the programs and informal programs are also offered each season. There is a waiting list for school participants because capacity is limited while programs are operating out of rented trailers in the park. We anticipate 20,000 participants in programs annually by the fifth year of operation in addition to several hundred thousand casual park visitors.
Campers explore the soil.
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Young Naturalists practice their birding skills.
“The first day we saw a hawk. Some students have never seen a hawk that close, they didn’t know what it sounded like. They were scared, but also wanted to know more about it. They learned the call of the hawk and now can sometimes tell what it is when they hear it.” — James Brown, Director of Youth Development, Homewood-Brushton YMCA
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Frick Environmental Center
Partnerships with Schools The Environmental Center offers four programs to local schools during the school year. These programs supplement the schools’ STEM education curriculum by bringing students outside to the park to learn concepts of ecology directly through handson activities that actually improve the health of the parks. Students visit the park multiple times during the semester. Curriculum was developed in partnership with classroom teachers and mapped to Pennsylvania state education standards. Mission Ground Truth participants testing the water in Nine Mile Run.
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“Kids kept coming up to me and saying ‘This is the best field trip of my life’.” — Kristen Golomb, Coordinator of Science Programming, Propel Schools
# FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future
Frick Environmental Center
Core science skills such as observing and recording are practiced by students at all levels.
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Learning to Wonder Through Habitat Explorers (Kindergarten – 1st grade) Habitat Explorers explore meadow insects and plants, woodland birds and mammals, stream insects and amphibians and trees, wildflowers and grasses. They visit the park in fall, winter and spring and discover what makes habitats unique and how animals and plants adapt to survive.
2014-15 Schools City Charter High School Community Day School Environmental Charter School Pittsburgh Public Schools: Colfax Elementary – Squirrel Hill Faison Elementary – Homewood Linden Elementary – Point Breeze Science and Technology Academy – Oakland Westinghouse High School – Homewood
5 schools on waiting list
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Propel Charter Schools: Braddock Hills East Homestead McKeesport Montour Pitcairn
Spectrum Charter School The Ellis School Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf Wilkinsburg Middle School Winchester Thurston Academy
Frick Environmental Center
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Frick Environmental Center Understanding the Park Through Park Stewards (4th Grade) Students in the Park Stewards program learn about biodiversity and analyze a specific site in Frick Park, observing how it changes over time. They keep a nature journal to record their observations. They begin to understand how the living and non-living pieces of their site interact and they plant native trees or shrubs to improve their site’s health.
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Evaluating the Park through Mission Ground Truth (7th – 8th grade) Student scientists in Mission Ground Truth use the tools and sampling methods used by actual scientists in the field. Kick nets and probeware are used to collect and analyze data for deeper understanding of the health of the park’s ecosystem. The health of the park stream is explored through a macroinvertebrate species survey. Water quality sampling reveals stream health. The types of trees growing in the park woodlands are surveyed to determine health of the forest. FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future 29
Frick Environmental Center
# FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future
Frick Environmental Center
Restoring the Park while Learning Through High School Urban EcoStewards (9th – 12th grade)
Becoming Leaders As Young Naturalists (11th – 12th grade)
Young Naturalists is a capstone program High schools adopt a site in the park — a paid summer internship for students where students plant native trees, shrubs who have excelled in the High School and wildflowers and identify and manage Urban EcoStewards course. The Young invasive plants. Students also work on Naturalists begin by spending a week erosion control and building trails. They together at Allegheny College’s Creek document their experiences in nature Camp. They spend four more weeks in journals and present their observations Frick Park studying park ecology alongside and conclusions to the group. As the High expert naturalists, working to improve School Urban EcoStewards learn about the health of the park and serving as human impacts on the park they become crew leaders and role models for younger better stewards of our urban environment. children in the summer programs.
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From stream walks to reading books, learning outdoors promotes curiosity.
# FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future
Frick Environmental Center
Programs for Children, Families and Adults Summer camps are offered for children. Family programs include “Night Explorers” to learn about nocturnal life in the woods, “Bump in the Night” a Halloween-themed program for all to enjoy— rather than fear— the night, and the “Earth Day Festival”. Our Homewood Nature Educator also participates in the PNC-sponsored “Buzzword” program. Adult programs include Osher classes and volunteer Urban EcoStewards.
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Frick Environmental Center Summer Camps Unique age-appropriate summer camps provid adventure in Frick Park for kids from pre-Kindergarten through 7th grade. Nature activities include games, stories and walks in the woods. Kids dig worms, plant seeds and buzz like bees. They explore the outdoors through art, park restoration projects and stream hikes. Some even learn basic wilderness survival skills such as finding water and food. Respect for others, teamwork and decision-making are emphasized.
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Bump in the Night This family celebration of fall fun is an exciting chance to experience the park in the dark.
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# FRICK ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER | Investing in our Future
Frick Environmental Center Earth Day An April community celebration filled with hands-on opportunities to improve the park and take nature walks. Volunteer tree plantings are also part of the weekend long festivities.
“ The new environmental center will promote a more inclusive environmental community in Pittsburgh and enhance Pittsburgh’s position at the leading edge of environmental design and experiential STEM education. All of this will make Western Pennsylvania even better known as a great place for children, adults and families to live, work and play.” — Meg Cheever, President & CEO, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
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A private nonprofit organization partnering with government and the community to improve Pittsburgh’s city park system. Since 1996, The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy has worked with the City of Pittsburgh to conduct projects and programs with respect for the environment, historic design, and the needs of our diverse region.
45 South 23rd Street, Suite 101 Pittsburgh, PA 15203 412.682.7275 www. pittsburghparks.org