Environmental Education Center
Washington, District of Columbia

This design competition entry was done in collaboration with Kao Design Group, for a Discovery Museum to be developed on a brown field island in the middle of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC.

Our design intent was to create a unique journey of nature and discovery for both children and adults to link the mainland, Heritage and Kingman Islands, and the area's diverse aquatic and coastal environments. The journey explores eight distinct experiences through diverse ecological habitats and exhibitions. The project consists of multiple parts that can be flexibly phased and sized in response to project demands. The building's mission is to serve as a "living laboratory," to make regenerative technologies and systems visible, and to serve as a model of ecologically sustainable design. The buildings are organisms with their own metabolisms, and they use adaptive strategies similar to those of natural organisms.