San Diego National Wildlife Preserve Complex
Visitor Center
Project History
Developed as a replacement for the Client’s decaying office trailer on site the new Complex was designed to sit low on the landscape avoiding conflict with another entities building and blending into the expansive flat tidal marsh. Modularity in the design will allow future expansion onto adjacent, and previously disturbed, property.
Divided into 2 halves, one Administrative and one Public in support the Client’s mandate of providing public interpretive programs about the unique ecosystem of the tidal marsh, each self sustaining and thus easily reproduced within the buildings axis or elsewhere on the site. Funded through the American Recovery Act (ARA) the schedule for this project was provisioned with a very compressed time line and rigid Governmental defined benchmarks and deadlines to be met in order to retain the ARA funding.
The architectural design schedule was a little over a year with Construction Documents completed in under 6 months and Substantial Completion occurring with 1 year. REVIT, used by a team of 3, allowed rapid development in the design phase and completing the project on time and within budget. The project is currently under construction.
Development Process
Initial design by the Project Architect was based on an exchange between AutoCad and hand drawn tracings. Hand sketched form studies were completed and converted into Sketchup models for analysis and adjustment.
The Schematic Design started with the traced over AutoCad base drawings which were then hand rendered for presentation. No three dimensional work was shown.
Hand drawn rendered base drawings were scanned and imported into REVIT as the basis of design. 3D Sketchup studies were imported as a skeleton to build upon to accommodate the rapid schedule.
Utilizing view settings all presentation drawings were done in REVIT; blackened walls, adjusted lineweights, added shadows, etc.
Preliminary Construction Documents were completed and forwarded to an estimating Consultant and as Construction Documents progressed additional updates were forwarded resulting in a very accurate estimate and allowing the design team to adjust the design to fit within the projected estimate construction cost.
Completely detailed drawings and schedules were complete entirely within REVIT and blended with the Engineering Consultant drawings to complete the set. Bids for the project came in under budget allowing all Additive Alternates to be accepted.
Additional Addendum, RFIs and Clarifications are done exclusively through REVIT during Construction Administration.
Design
The facility was designed to capture the spectacular views and to be a long lasting, high efficiency facility. User operable flow through natural ventilation to take advantage of the ocean locations prevalent winds,
a large flat roof allowing maximum coverage of photovoltaics but a low profile and use of a previously existing basin on site to capture runoff for irrigation are just a few of the design features implement.
Mechanical equipment uses solar hot water arrays coupled with small residential heat exchangers to create a low cost, low energy zoned system. Lighting is LED, user adjustable and minimal. Natural daylighting in most spaces reduces energy usage even more.
While LEED certification is anticipated the building is designed outside of the guiding sphere of the USGBC LEED framework to our own framework of sustainable low impact practices.
Note: Renderings by others based on the 3D REVIT model produced during Construction Document Phase
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Visitor Center and Exterior Exhibits
Project History
The site of an old, early “Green”, Visitor Center at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, we designed and developed a Visitor Center, a New Visitor Admissions and Contact Station and revitalized and repurposed the original Visitor Center into a new home for the Conservation Area’s Administrative and Volunteer staff.
Utilizing previously disturbed land adjacent to the old Visitor Center we developed the new Visitor Arrival building as a means of introducing the Conservation Area to the Visitor in the most immersive way possible. In lieu of placing all interpretive displays inside as at the old building the majority of interpretive displays were developed as durable large exterior exhibits in which the Visitor can experience the majesty of the site while appreciating the almost perfect weather 365 days of the year.
The original Fee Booths and Contact Station was a cobbled together volunteer built building that no longer met the needs of the staff. The new building incorporates all the storage that had slowly precipitated as group of small disparate sheds around the original plus it provides a safer and more accommodating environment for the staff.
The renovation of original Visitor Center included removing the exhibits, converted display spaces into Administrative offices, demolition of hastily scabbed on additions, renovating the building to current standards, repairing many structural shortcomings and addition of a large library.
Visitor Arrival Building
The focal point of the Visitor Arrival Building is the view window. A large frameless window framing the Red Rock Formation, it is surrounded by interpretive displays on adjacent walls and on low panels in front of the window but the main focus of the window is presenting an unhindered view of the Red Rocks and the backing Wilson Cliffs, one of the main features of this part of the Conservation Area.
During the design phase Sketchup was used in concert with Google Earth to create a virtual site and building with which we experimented with views and placement of the exhibit features.
Cutting of long sections and using the walkthrough tools we were able to adjust the height and location of the window on a virtual site to allow us the most preferred framing of the view.
Shown below is the mock-up model with the Google Earth imported topography showing through a general mock-up of the Visitor Arrival Building. This view is what a person of average height first see when entering the View Window Room.
The image below is a picture taken in the completed View Window Room as one enters the room.
This model was also used to determine if the unseen Amphitheater, exterior and directly below the view window would be visible from the edge of the view window. Differing locations, view angles, people heights etc, were inserted and it was determined to not be visible.
For this project Sketchup Modelling provided more than a base for hand rendered presentation models it provided the affirmation of design ideas without direct regular on site access.
Exterior Exhibits
Taking a page from the old Visitor Center the Exterior Exhibits area utilizes earth berming and sustainable practices in its design. By creating exhibits that were tolerant of being outside we were able to save considerable building and associated conditioned space plus we were able to create a much more immersive interpretive experience by allowing the visitor the backdrop of the Mojave Desert behind each display and exhibit.
The exhibits are divided into the 3 elements: Earth, Fire and Air with additional desert environments represented including the rock cliffs, the desert tinaja, the mountain springs and slot canyons.
Water captured from the expansive Visitor Arrival Building roof is used to water all the Interpretive habitats and provides the water for the spring and stream exhibits.
At the far end of the exhibits a view deck has been placed where one can “float” over the Mojave Desert and enjoy unencumbered views of the Wilson Cliffs and the Red Rocks. All the Mojave Desert in its eternal beauty.
Development Process
All drawing was done in AutoCad for this project using a series of Base drawings where working drawings were completed and utilizing Plot files where base drawings were externally referenced into a new file with title blocks and plot plotting appearance set.
I developed this system to allow working files to be fully manipulated without having to reset the appearance for production drawings each time documents were desired. Allowing working drawings to be manipulated separately from plotting divorced them from users need to change layer colors, statuses and linetypes to suit their drafting needs.
This process allowed the final document sets to be printed much more rapidly and with less errors, especially important when the complete document set was greater than 175 pages.
Design
For the Visitor Arrival and Exterior Exhibits initially 8 differing sites were chosen around the existing facility. Exhaustive analysis of the site was done, determining views, sun, terrain, etc.
Conceptual plans were established on 2 of the sites determined to be the most rich and multiple conceptual models based on these conceptual plans were completed. Once modeled they were presented to Client for approval. Upon approval development of the corresponding buildings could begin.
Large roofs were utilized to create temperate and light transitions zones when enter and exiting the Visitor Arrival Building buffering the harsh desert climate. The expansive thin roofs collect rainwater for reuse for irrigation and interpretive displays. Solid masonry walls create perfect locations to mount numerous interpretive displays and information kiosks.
Exterior exhibits are placed along a path defined by bands of color introduced at the main entrance, with colors corresponding to the various elements; Fire, Earth, and Air. A central earth berm retained at one end by the cast in place concrete cliff walls is planted with specimen trees of the Conservation Area, and interspersed with water exhibits in the form of springs, rivers and tinajas.
Earth berms, utilized in the original Visitor Center, are adopted as a means of shielding the Exterior Exhibits. Photovoltaics are positioned on the earth berms for the latitude of the Visitor Center.
Materials selected were ones that would blend into the surrounding landscape; rusted steel, exposed natural and colored cast in place concrete, bold hues of primary colors, and splitface concrete block.
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Contact Station
Project History
The original Fee Booths and Contact Station was a cobbled together volunteer built building that no longer met the needs of the staff. The new building incorporates all the storage that had slowly precipitated as group of small disparate sheds around the original plus it provides a safer and more accommodating environment for the staff.
The Contact Station is sited near the main highway and is screened behind a framework of steel tubes covered with perforated raw steel, as were the refurbished and reused fee booths, both as a gesture to the red, ferrous colored rocks of the rock formations and the red banded Wilson Cliffs beyond. Slowly rusting steel and grey split face concrete blocks help blend the building with the low chaparral and scrub brush of the surrounding Mojave Desert.
Windows pop through the screens in red painted sheet steel surrounds, shaded by louvers to protect from the low late afternoon summer sun and allowing views to both the scenery and the critical vehicular intersections.
The fee booths, also wrapped in perforated steel screens, are also covered by overhead corrugated steel deck shade structures to provide some respite from the midday summer sun for the volunteers and visitors.
Development Process
All drawing was done in AutoCad for this project using a series of Base drawings where working drawings were completed and utilizing Plot files where base drawings were externally referenced into a new file with title blocks and plot plotting appearance set.
I developed this system to allow working files to be fully manipulated without having to reset the appearance for production drawings each time documents were desired. Allowing working drawings to be manipulated separately from plotting divorced them from users need to change layer colors, statuses and linetypes to suit their drafting needs.
This process allowed the final document sets to be printed much more rapidly and with less errors, especially important when the complete document set was greater than 175 pages.
Design
The Contact Station was traditionally developed with hand sketches and plans making way for the Sketchup mock ups. The existing Contact Station needed to stay functional until the new building/portal was completed so it was sited up the entry road from the existing which allowed the original to continue function during construction.
Materials selected were ones that would blend into the surrounding landscape; rusted steel, exposed natural and colored cast in place concrete, bold hues of primary colors, and splitface concrete block.
Mojave Discovery Center
at the Red Rock National Conservation Area
Project History
Building upon the programmatic and funding framework of a larger but shelved educational project within the Conservation Area the Mojave Discovery Center continues with that previous project’s mandate of establishing a Day School for Clark County School District students to immerse them in the Mojave Desert as part of the educational experience. The curriculum, in concert with the building, is designed to help children foster a sense of stewardship for the desert they live in.
The Discovery Center is sited at a prominent location abutting a series of fossil laden rock reefs yet is also placed so that it is out of the viewshed of the adjacent Red Rock Canyon Visitor Center’s spectacular views of the eponymous rock formations. Presenting a minimal profile towards the adjacent loop road and the distant highway as a consequence of this siting it still has an amazingly expansive and uninhibited view of the Red Rock formations and the surrounding Wilson Cliffs.
Children will spend the day at the school, hovering over and looking out at the desert below, investigating the rock reefs, heading out on the connecting nature trails and experimenting in the laboratory and outdoor science areas.
In evenings the facility will host astronomical gatherings to take advantage of a location hidden from the lights of Las Vegas and steeped in the beautiful surroundings.
Development Process
Initially designed through the process of additive sketches within the 3D program Sketchup, this project was our first foray into REVIT. Design Development was handled strictly through Sketchup, with hand renderings based upon images exported from program used for presentation purposes.
Using the Sketchup model as a framework the REVIT model built up upon this and then all further design proceeded within in REVIT and AutoCad.
Due to my relative inexperience with REVIT all plans, schedules, major elevations and sections were done within REVIT but all Wall Sections, Details, and Furnishing/Millwork plans and details were done within AutoCad.
The project was developed in concerted with incremental cost estimating to keep within the Client’s capped budget constraints. Cost estimating was started at the end of Schematic Design and progress incrementally during Construction Documents. Unfortunately the project while within budget has become delayed by the Client in order to accommodate proposals for a new sanitary sewer system deemed to be incompatible with the Complexes current loads. A new environmental analysis be completed to accommodate the new septic system before the Mojave Discovery Center will move forward.
Design
Immersing the Students in the Mojave Desert as soon as they leave the bus, a pathway leading away into the desert, snaking along past large rock reefs, mojave yucca and Joshua trees leads them to the Discovery Center.
The building touches lightly on large cantilevered concrete fin walls between which the floors and roofs are suspended permitting the north facade to be almost completely glazed. Fantastic views abound.
Siting low behind a hill the building is barely seen from the distant highway or from the adjacent Visitor Center Complex allowing a sense of seclusion in a busy visitor center hub perfect for teaching children.
Mechanical equipment is based upon solar hot water systems mounted on the roof. All HVAC ducting and heat exchangers are below the floor allowing a large and thin roof. Lighting is LED but the majority of lighting is daylight to take advantage of the desert locale.
The expansive roofs are canted up at the north edge to both increase the glazed area within the Teaching and Laboratory Rooms and provide a location specific slope for the photovoltaic panels. This canted edge is sloped to maximize solar energy capture during the midday and spring and summer months. Smaller photovoltaic panels, mounted along the railings, are provided with hand operable gimbals and simple electric gauges allowing students to manipulate the panels altitude and azimuth to see the effect on energy produced.
Large cisterns placed at corner of each roof capture the majority of the minimal rainfall each year. The cisterns are sized to contain enough water to irrigate the surrounding areas between seasonal rainfalls which helps offset the effect and impact of the buildings presence on the site and to help establish plants reclaimed and reestablished from the construction period.
As with our other projects while LEED certification is anticipated the building is designed outside of the guiding sphere of the USGBC LEED framework to our own framework of sustainable low impact practices.
Note: Renderings by others based on the 3D REVIT model produced during Construction Document Phase
