Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation - Joan Pick Nature Center

CEDAR LAKES CONSERVATION FOUNDATION

JOAN PICK NATURE CENTER MIAD GREEN STUDIO 2015

Aldo Leopold at “The Shack”

Interior Architecture + Design Student on Site

Client: Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation

“When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect�

Aldo Leopold

MIAD INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN In Collaboration with the Ideas of Aldo Leopold and CLCF

Green Studio The Interior Architecture + Design Green Studio is a real world, client sponsored project executed as a team. The ultimate goal of the project is to expose students to collaboration and professional-level thinking, to challenge them to manifest the mission of a real-world client and to practice sustainable design in a cost effective but imaginative way.

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“The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include, soils, waters, plants and animals or collectively: the land�

Aldo Leopold

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CLIENT

“To acquire, develop and maintain lands in the Cedar Lakes area...�

Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation

The Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation is a land trust for the Cedar Lakes area in Washington County, Wisconsin. CLCF secures land to protect the natural landscape from development in perpetuity. The focus of the group is to protect the land area that encompasses the watersheds of the local lakes.

CLCF believes in conserving these natural elements and ecological processes in order to protect water quality and wildlife habitat.

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MAKING A NATURE CENTER Applying Aldo Leopold’s Ideas to the Joan Pick Nature Preserve

Client Directive: Create awareness of the land ethic by building in a way that honors the concept of land stewardship expressed by the Sand County Almanac. This can be accomplished by restoring the land, utilizing natural building materials, and practicing sustainable building techniques. In essence, “holding the health of the land above all else.”

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The Property: In 2013, the CLCF acquired the Pick Property, a parcel of nearly 56 acres.

Adjacent to this piece of former farmland was Ms. Pick’s residence and grounds.

In Ms. Pick’s will, she bequeathed her personal residence, a caretaker’s house and 17 acres to her two nieces, Lorraine Budke and Andrea Sellinger. This property was gifted to CLCF with the intention that the organization would create a memorial to Ms. Pick and her love of nature.

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RESEARCH

...Inspired by Aldo Leopold’s Ideas and the Land

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PRECEDENT ANALYSIS

Field Station

Nature Center

Educational Foundation 13

PROPOSED SIX PART PROGRAM The precedent research helped us to condense various programs into one comprehensive, six-part program, which will help to showcase all the features of the CLCF mission.

Field Station + Lab

TrailHead

Nature Center

Residence

CLCF FOUNDATION

Maintenance

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EXISTING BUILDING ON SITE

Robert Boucher, CLCF Executive Director, Re-Imagining the Pick Nature Site.

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SITE DIVISIONS Campus

Outreach to Community

Elders

Point

Retreat to Nature 16

SITE PHOTOS

Center - Domestic 17

Perimeter - Wild 18

READING THE LANDSCAPE

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PRIMARY PATTERNS

Farm Use and Topography

Transitional Zone

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TRANSITIONAL AREA

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LOCATION THEMES Point Focus + Expand Elders Align + Organize

Campus Connect + Cooperate

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SITE WORK

“THE CAMPUS”

“THE ELDERS”

“THE POINT”

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GATHERING SPACE Parti Concept Creating a sense of community by connecting new buildings and outdoor gathering spaces to the existing Pick residence.

The negative spaces between buildings create opportunities for outdoor rooms.

Direct parallel alignments to existing and new buildings, which helps to maximize passive solar and bridge the gap between the forms.

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SUBTLE SHIFT Parti Concept Through the subtle shift of the building mass, the plan is elongated, allowing for the utilization of exterior spaces along the perimeter, extending into the landscape.

Two building masses creates distinct dynamics.

First, a push out towards the prairie and a pull back towards the Pick residence. Secondly, the office and conference program extends into the landscape while the large group gather space reaches back toward the community gathering areas at the Pick residence.

N The thin, extended plan maximizes solar exposure and provides multiple views of the surrounding landscape.

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At the edge of a great tree line with prairie expanding in both directions, bounded only by the curve of the marsh in sunlight. Long views across the land. The sound of wildlife and the smell of leaves. A real retreat.

“THE POINT�

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THE POINT Parti Concept The three building forms maximize the sense of retreat by embracing the end point of the treeline furthest from the road, creating panoramic views in three directions that showcase the beauty of the landscape.

Each major programmatic area - gathering, classroom, and offices - has its own building form, which can be separated to allow for more efficient heating and cooling as well as effective phasing of construction.

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Three building forms create a courtyard garden at the center for staff and a larger outdoor gathering area at the entrance for visitors and groups

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CONVERGE AND EXPAND EXPLORING BUILDING SHAPES THAT COMPLIMENT THE LAND

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ARRAY

DISTANCE

ADJUST

GATHER

LEARN

WORK

Architecture serving as an integral part of any community can stand as a constant signifier to how natural forms can cooperate with the built environment and vice versa. We can design to our climate and strive for function over aesthetics, understanding practicality as a back to basics approach.

The Cedar Lakes Conservation Foundation selected “The Point Converge + Expand� as their preferred design concept. The design integrates the diverse features of the site. With the program of work and visitor areas, while capturing the panoramic drama of the surrounding views, by utilizing simple, relatively low-slung, small scale forms in the rustic traditions of Aldo Leopold’s shack.

EXTERIOR

“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.�

Aldo Leopold 36

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ELEVATIONS The three elevations have a sense of hierarchy that serves different purposes.

Tallest out of the three, the Exhibition Space is meant to be a multi-use room. It can be a gallery throughout the day, but can hold special events like a seminar.

The Office is small scaled but appropriately sized for a daily workspace. With a lowered ceiling height, it is more intimate and cozy like working from home.

The Classroom is a learning space. Like the name suggests, it houses ideas and generates future scientists.

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Converge + Expand The building shape reaches out to the environment, providing three different perspectives of the land. Physically speaking, the building expands out to the field, giving a panoramic view.

At the same time, the building can be interpreted more poetically. Although physical, this building is meant to reach out to many aspects of its surroundings: to the land, the community and to a future generation of independent thinkers.

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NORTH ELEVATION

SOUTH ELEVATION 40

INTERIOR

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.�

Aldo Leopold

FLOOR PLAN The massing of the building points towards major landscape features of the site: prairie, treeline and marsh. The building is arranged around the furthest point of an existing path and tree line. It is oriented to maximize southern exposure for optimal daylighting inside the building. The north-south cross axis provides service spaces for entry, coats, restrooms, kitchen, serving and exhibition.

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Entry and Exhibit The air lock, or vestibule serves to control heat loss through the main entry. This vestibule will also allow visitors to shift between the great outdoors to a space comfortable for learning, office works and more.

To the right of the entry is the exhibition space.

This space will welcome the visitors as they learn more about the land and its ecosystem.

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“Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient.�

Aldo Leopold

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“Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient.�

Aldo Leopold 48

DETAILS In the Words of Aldo Leopold...

ECOLOGICAL CONSCIENCE The concept of sustainable building incorporates and integrates a variety of strategies during the design, construction and operation of building projects. The use of green building materials and products represents one important strategy in the design of a building.

Using materials that already exist on land is highly advantageous due to little processing and reducing shipping long distances.

Therefore, materials found directly on site are more sustainable and uses less energy. Heavy Timber and field stones are the building blocks of the design, which can be obtained and sourced directly on site or locally..

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ETHICAL AND AESTHETICALLY RIGHT PROCESSING ENERGY REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMON BUILDING MATERIALS

Heavy Timber The embodied energy (including carbon sequestration) invested in the cultivation, logging, manufacturing transport and erection is usually lower than for non-renewable raw materials.

Using timber stimulates the expansion of managed forests to absorb CO2.

Untreated hardwood timber using heartwood can obtain a service life of between 40 – 60 years.

Cladding can be reused recycled and downcycled. It is biodegradable and can ultimately serve as a fuel source.

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STABILITY AND BEAUTY Post and Beam The construction offers the same longevity as any other material and make for structurally sound outdoor buildings, minus the high costs associated to construction.

By opting for post and beam construction makes strong, durable and fire resistant building frame.

Buildings that are constructed from post and beam method can often be completed in just a few months.

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REDUCE THERMAL TRANSMISSION Tight Building Envelope A building envelope is a combination of the foundation, wall and roof assemblies working together to provide a comfortable environment while maintaining the integrity of the building shape. The more tightly sealed the building, the less energy loss the building will have.

A tight building envelope keeps out the rain, groundwater, and moisture vapor, as well as soil gas like radon, and keeps the heat in during the winter and out during the summer.

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SUPER INSULATION

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SOLAR SHADING Passive Design Use of shading device can improve building SUMMER SOLAR SHADE

energy performance, prevent glare, increase useful daylight availability and create a sense AIR TIGHT, HIGHLY INSULATED BUILDING SHELL

of security.

The proportion between the three components is determined by the angle at which the solar

CROSS VENTILATION WINTER SOLAR GAIN

beam strikes, or angle of incident. Roof overhangs can shade from summer sun while letting in warming winter rays.

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INSULATED GLASS

Triple Paned Windows

Low E Glass

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COLLABORATION

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CLIENT PRESENTATION

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“To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.�

Aldo Leopold

Green Studio Class of 2015 Project Director: Eric Vogel Revit Specialist: Abigail E. Oliver Graphic Designer: Purumi Park

Copyright © 2015

By Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design Interior Architecture + Design Area All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the creator of this book, addressed, “Attention: IA+D - Green Studio,” at the address below.

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design 273 East Erie Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 Printed and self-published in Milwaukee, WI.

wwwmiad.edu | www.conservecedarlakes.org