Environmental Learning CenterScience and Math Institute + Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

Design Development

Client Team

Tacoma Public SchoolsMetro Parks

Science and Math InstitutePoint Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

Design Team

McGranahan Architects Coughlin Porter Lundeen

Cascade Design Collaborative PCS Structural Solutions

Metrix Engineers Hargis Engineers

architectcivil engineerlandscape architectstructural engineermechanical engineerelectrical engineer

Acknowledgements

photographsCasey Madison

Environmental Learning CenterScience and Math Institute + Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

Design DevelopmentOctober 2015

The School

The Park

The Site

Dots Mark the Memories

Scenario Mapping

Concept

Concept Development

Concept Resolution

Key Details

Visualizations

Contents

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The School

“the ecosystem of community”

The Science and Math Institute (SAMi) is a public high school within Tacoma Public Schools, formed in partnership with Metro Parks Tacoma and Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium (PDZA). SAMi encourages a creative path of learning for every student that emphasizes human understanding and expression, seeking to educate the whole student through the values of Community, Empathy, Thinking and Balance.

SAMi is located in Point Defiance Park, a 700 acre urban park surrounded on three sides by the waters of Puget Sound. Amenities in the park include the Zoo, Rose and Rhododendron Gardens, beaches, trails and most notably, a stand of old growth forest. Currently operating from a base of 14 portables on the edge of the park, SAMi also utilizes, on an ad-hoc basis, a number of community buildings located throughout the Park and Zoo. Recognizing the timetabling challenges faced by this arrangement and seeking to strengthen already close bonds with the school, PDZA offered the opportunity to develop a site in an underutilized corner of the Zoo.

The new 30,000 square foot Environmental Learning Center includes eight formal learning settings for SAMi and community use, communal space for collaborative and interpretive activities, planning/work space for SAMi and Zoo educators, coordination/work space for Zoo staff and volunteers and a setting for a nature-oriented early learning program.

Since its founding in 2009, SAMi has created a powerful community of learners that contributes to the public educational mission of the Park and the Zoo. The school is strengthened when students and teachers can engage with community partners through citizen scientist workshops, interpretive exhibits, research with educational partners in the region, as well as advance the research and educational mission of the Park and Zoo. Sharing the space with Zoo staff and volunteers on a daily basis immediately expands the learning community for SAMi students beyond that of a typical high school. The new facility will be a public asset that supports greater understanding and appreciation of nature’s ecological systems and our relationship to them.

The Park

“the park is our lens for learning”

With limited traditional educational resources at hand, SAMi has developed an agile and flexible approach to learning, availing of the natural resources in the park and those of its community partners. In so doing, it has created a curriculum steeped in the natural environment and imprinted with the core values of the school.

In considering architectural proposals for this project, we reflected on the unique aspects of SAMi as an educational entity and, as a community of learners, it’s ubiquity within the park setting. Our approach to this project endeavors to support the culture of community by providing a gathering of spaces that can readily host a variety of group assemblies and adapt to a diversity of activities. This building provides a base from which students can set out to explore the park, and a facility to which they can bring back research findings and data for further analysis, interpretation and understanding.

The school thrives on diversity. So rather than add to a single centralized site, SAMi aspires to reside in numerous small settlements throughout the park, each benefiting from a distinct relationship with the surrounding forest and water. It is the intent that the basis of the proposals put forward for this project, SAMi’s first permanent roots within the park, may be adapted and applied to future projects as SAMi establishes further outposts throughout the park. It is our goal to provide a suitable framework within which this growth may be supported and a series of component parts that may be applied appropriately in each new location to ensure continuity in the cultural identity of SAMi. Following this coherent conceptual approach, by applying the same principles to various parts, will allow users to intuitively understand how other components operate without the need to replicate them identically.

The Site

“connection to context”

The immediate site covers an area of approximately 40,000 sq.ft and is defined along the western boundary by Animal Road and the forest beyond, the eastern edge by an active zoo attraction and to the north by a service road for the zoo. The southern edge is less well defined but extends along the rear of an existing Education Center and is bounded by vehicle and pedestrian access routes to the zoo. Grades slope down from the west to the east and from south to north with an average fall across the site, south to north, of approximately 20 feet. A number of mature trees, which had been incorporated into the zoo’s now defunct rope walk course, will remain on the site.

This project responds directly to the immediate context of the site and in particular the close relationship shared with the zoo. Elevated approaches to the building from the north and south address the grade change across the site and a loose collection of formal settings create communal settings in the space between. In this communal space a freedom of movement into and between settings encourages collaboration and the sharing of ideas and activities. The spaces between settings form eddies in this pattern of movement, places of pause or reflection and with views to nature from a variety of perspectives.

Zoo Staff and Volunteers are dispersed across both levels of the learning environment embedding them with the daily cycle of school life providing both groups the opportunity to engage and interact with each other on levels deeper than structured curriculum-based activities. On a wider community scale the doors to the entire school are opened in welcoming diverse groups.

Forest edge

Physical site constraints

Alignment with Education Center

Kids Zone plaza

Existing structures

Existing trees

Dots Mark the Memories

“dots mark the memories”

At the beginning of predesign inquiry we sought to understand the relationship of students’ experience of SAMi with the realm of Point Defiance Park. We asked them to share their most memorable educational experience during their time in the school. What were they doing and where did it occur? Students placed a numbered dot on the map where this experience occurred and they gave us a description of the experience. The results of the exercise demonstrate that the most memorable learning occurs outside of the classroom and that connection to nature is an essential element of SAMi. Here are some of their offerings:

Hiking to the point with Miss Brulett the first week of school and for the first time feeling like a real SAMI student.

During Outdoor Ed with Ralph Harrison during the first year of SAMI, we built our own outdoor classroom out of tree stumps and different sized logs. We arranged them in a classroom order and then on sunny days had class out there.

The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. The aquarium is a lovely spot to work. It’s almost always silent, serene, and the fish can provide good inspiration without providing extreme distractions.

I love the spot that we went to in the last forestry class. Dependent on what the trades do down there, I feel like it would be a great area for Geology/Marine Bio studies. It is a great place where the forest ecosystem meets the ocean.

My mind always functions better in the open air surrounded by nature. Two places that have helped me learn the best are Owen’s Beach and in the forest. Both are unique in their settings but being surrounded by plants awakens my passion for learning

about the incredible way in which all things live and thrive.

The rhododendron garden was the most serene classroom I’ve ever had. We used our surroundings as inspiration, and were able to talk to park visitors about our school. I felt very connected to our surroundings there.

Ground zero - my alien invasion mini term with Jacob Johnson, the students pulled invasive species. They taught me what to look for. Outside is where students are experts, and they are able to make this a learning community in the truest sense of the word.

Scenario Mapping

“scenario mapping”

In the course of early design inquiry, twelve guiding statements were crafted to represent strong principles of school design, partnerships and the values of SAMi. To understand the place-making implications and bring life to these value statements, “scenario mapping” workshops were conducted; engaging students, teachers, zoo educators, curatorial staff, community partners and local artists. Over 100 scenarios described daily life, special events and particular activities that strengthen each student’s personal sense of community as well as broader perspectives of the Tacoma community at large.

The scenarios described the activities, attributes and essential qualities of the SAMi learning environment and a place to engage with community. The following are representative examples:

Not pristine, allow it to be messy, creative freedom

A place to invite the community to engage

Learning settings should feel like workshops

Secure school materials to open all spaces for community

Performances, presentations, symposiums, science fairs

Intimate relaxing settings, social “connection” places

Include artifacts of the Zoo in this place

Transparency between workshops and out to nature

Concept

“a loose gathering, grounded under a sheltering canopy”

A group of students, clad in raincoats and boots, gathered around an instructor deep within the forest of Point Defiance Park captures the essence of the SAMi learning culture.

The colors, textures and scales of Nature in the image also illustrate the beauty and diversity of the setting.

Our vision is for the architecture to support this culture and reflect SAMi’s intimate relationship with Nature.

Concept Development

01. workshops 02. topography 03. canopy

04. collaborative 05. eddies 06. connection

07. external surfaces 08. internal surfaces 09. affordances

“a loose gathering”

This is a building of component parts expressed at varying scales. The clear form of the box defines the individual workshop settings while the spaces between workshops contribute to presenting a legible organizational strategy. Overlapping orthogonal grids organize the workshops and allow the building to respond sensitively in scale and form to the immediate context while setting up a dynamic relationship between spaces internally. Employing a modular approach to program, the workshops are sized appropriately to host learning activities characterized by Discourse, Design, Experiment and Fabrication.

Workshops are drawn together in a seemingly loose arrangement but governed by an underlying orthogonal grid. This allows the building to acknowledge the natural setting, settling comfortably into the surroundings while retaining an element of order and legibility to the formal composition. One grid is rotated 10° to the other offering each workshop within the building a subtle relationship with both opposite and adjacent neighbors. A unifying depth of 30’ is introduced to all workshops, bringing with it a consistency in approach to repeated elements such as structural resolution. 30’, 40’ and 50’ are the nominal lengths assigned to Discourse, Design and Experiment settings respectively and with this modular approach to program, the workshops are therefore proportionally related as each setting expands to accommodate the anticipated activities.

Formal learning settings are defined as workshops to reflect the labor and energy students at SAMi apply to the process of learning. An industrial aesthetic of exposed systems and robust materials will invite students to actively engage with their environment and seek knowledge through exploration, making and risk taking.

01. Workshops

“grounded in the earth”

The building consists of two story accommodation, with a majority allocated on the upper level. This grounds the structure into the contours of the relatively steep site. Elevated walkways on northerly and southerly approach describe a discrete relationship to the forest floor and by contrast emphasize the building’s connection to the earth. This relationship is further accentuated with extensive glazing in the spaces between workshops highlighting the solidity of the boxes. A large opening in the upper level floorplate connects all of the educational and administrative elements of the building. This transition between floors coincides with the existing slope and is enhanced by terracing the floor into an informal seated auditorium creating a place of gathering and a social hub for the building.

At the southern entrance, a portion of the building rests in the hillside, semi submerged in the earth and planted with a living wall to reflect this embedded relationship with the earth.

Materials elsewhere on the outside of the building extend to the full height of the façade, stopping just short of the ground and offering a glimpse of the solid base. This uniform relationship between earth and building is highlighted as the slope falls away to the north end of the building and the transition between the building’s materials (core + skin) follow the grade.

In the auditorium a subtle differentiation in texture and color between slab on grade and suspended slab is expressed to reflect the grounded relationship from within the building.

02. Topography

“under a sheltering canopy”

A canopy roof encloses a central volume of space drawing the workshops together with large and small collaborative spaces under the protective reach of the roof.

It is a plane held above the workshops and from this elevated position is clearly visible from a number of vantage points around the site. From within the building it is read as a defining element of the composition. Lower roofs at entrances signal the transition between internal and external environments and mark a moment of spatial compression before releasing into the larger space, filled with abundant natural light. A continuous perimeter of clerestory glazing creates the impression that this plane floats above the space at once offering both protection from and a connection to the external natural environment. This is the symbolic heart of the collaborative learning environment at SAMi.

Internally the canopy is clearly differentiated from the workshops by the absence of large scale building systems attached to the surface of the plane. A king post truss arrangement spans the entire width of the collaborative space. Tapering gently toward the perimeter and terminating in a protective overhang, this provides a visual continuity and extension of the plane beyond the formal enclosure of the space.

03. Canopy

“occupying the voids”

SAMi culture is built on collaborative, project-based learning. These activities occur in groups of varying sizes and are accommodated by the design with one large central space and smaller Eddy spaces at the perimeter. Both of these types of collaborative space function to support the more formal workshop settings. With this diversity of settings the building also seeks to offer an accessible and welcoming base for SAMi’s community partners.

Workshop walls that front the collaborative space are porous, providing a visual and physical connection between workshops and collaborative space. This transparency and connectivity is balanced with a need to allow a diversity of activities to coexist in harmony and so the level of openness can be adjusted by the users to suit particular needs.

Distinct from the raw aesthetic and exposed systems of the workshops, the character of the collaborative space is intended to be more restrained. The core palette of robust materials are still evident in concrete floors and plywood project walls but exposed systems are generally absent or enclosed within ceilings. Expositional rather than exploratory activities are expected to be prevalent within the collaborative space.

PDZA staff and volunteers share the space with SAMi and operate from a base within the workshop settings. This proximity will enhance an existing relationship and foster a deeper understanding of each other’s values providing each group with a unique opportunity to learn in a culture of diverse activities.

04. Collaborative

“at SAMi we embrace both left and right brained thinkers”

In the learning culture at SAMi, contemplative retreat is recognized in parity with formal group based instruction. In programmatic terms we employ an analogous reference to flow within a river course to describe the spaces formed between workshops and at the edge of the collaborative space. These ‘eddies’ therefore are workshops in their own right, workshops for personal exploration and reflection. Furniture and light fittings within the eddies are intended to support activities of a more contemplative nature.

Recessing the eddies from the workshops, both in plan and section, further strengthens the holistic conceptual intention of a building that functions to support a ‘loose gathering’.

The organizational geometry of the workshops (outlined in 01) influences the relationship each eddy has with the collaborative space and the external environment. Some present a narrower ‘throat’ to the central communal space and a wider aspect to nature outside the building. In doing so these eddies offer a subtle but important separation from the busy, group based activities of the collaborative space; a short term sanctuary from the typical high energy life within a high school and somewhere to reflect in the presence of nature. Conversely, others are open to the collaborative space and provide an area for group based activities to break away and continue focused research in a more intimate environment.

05. Eddies

“nature and the environment are ever-present”

On the north-south axis the building projects beyond its immediate footprint to solidify connections between the zoo and forest. The zoo is one of SAMi’s strongest community partners and the forest, one of their greatest assets.

Approach to the building from either direction is by way of an elevated walkway signifying efforts to respect the natural setting and minimize impact on the forest floor. The walkways connect to the earth with minimal disruption allowing the ecology and hydrology of the forest floor to continue with minimal impact. These walkways are extensions of the park wide network of forest trails and the emphasis is on the walking surface.

On the southern approach to the building the path is constructed to appear as an extension of the forest trails, although appropriate materials such as resin bonded gravel are specified in order to manage the movement of large numbers of people during periods of inclement weather. This path follows the existing contours of the site, although the final entry sequence to the building utilizes an elevated bridge element to span the grade change.

On the north end of the building an external deck at the upper workshop level connects the students directly with the forest trails and provides safe passage across Animal Road. The deck is both a base camp for exploration and an external workshop catering specifically to forest-based activities. Experiment workshops enjoy direct access to the external deck and each is provided with a mud room to allow staff and students to prepare for and clean off from forest excursions.

Similar elements to the southern approach are combined to form a bridge to the forest. A lightweight, open mesh walking surface defines the bridge components. The walking surface of the bridge is contained within a well-defined edge of structural spanning members differentiating this component from other paths and trails. Walking surfaces are primary and vertical elements, where required, become background pieces in the composition.

The elevated pathways form physical connections on the north-south axis. In the east-west axis the connections are visual. The eddies are fully glazed and offer visual connections to nature, bringing close range forest views to the west and panoramic water views to the east into the building. This is a two way interaction and also allows zoo and park visitors a glimpse of the ongoing and varied activities taking place within the building.

06. Connection

“a kit of parts”

At the scale of the workshops, the component parts of the building are evident in the modular approach to enclosure. A strong vertical emphasis acknowledges the immediacy of the forest as backdrop and the introduction of differing panel widths speaks to the variety found in nature. Wood siding is the primary external material and offers a clear association and transition from living forest to man-made structure. This natural ‘skin’ is meant to age gracefully bearing the mark of exposure to the elements.

Individual boards are gathered together into panels of three widths within a governing module to create a non-uniform pattern on the façade. Windows and other openings in the enclosure are treated in much the same way and are contained within one of the various widths of modular panel. Where an opening occurs, the full height panel is replaced with spandrel or infill materials in contrast to the cedar siding to ensure the vertical emphasis is preserved.

Based on a 16” module, panels of 16”, 32” and 48” extend the full height of the building from grade to parapet. These are applied around the envelope in a sequence intended to reflect the variety of natural materials. Each individual panel is itself composed of smaller units in the form of cedar boards, again applied in three different widths in a non-repetitive sequence. The building seeks to take the beauty found in the texture and grain of natural wood and scale it to a building application. This scaling, from 6” cedar board to 32” panel to 40’ workshop, adds the aesthetic of a natural texture to the external envelope.

To control glare, windows on the eastern façade are limited to the 16” and 32” module and further shading is provided in the form of panels, affixed to the southern jamb of east facing windows. On the shaded western façade, however, windows are formed in the 32” and 48” module to maximize the diffused natural daylight entering the building.

07. External Surfaces

“a place for active learning”

SAMi supports a culture of inquiry and staff acknowledge that in order for students to realize their full potential they must be encouraged to take risks. A workshop aesthetic with exposed systems and palette of robust materials invite the students to actively engage with their environment. Internal walls are sheeted with plywood, providing an expansive, robust surface for students to display their work in two and three dimensions, and tinker with interactive, exploratory exercises. Local artists and scientists may also be invited to create or exhibit original work; engaging students, teachers and the community at large.

Openings in the core fabric of the workshop offer a way for students to connect with a world outside their immediate environment. Transparency provides a visual connection to other workshops and the collaborative space and large format roll-up doors allow the students to take their activities and resources out into a larger volume to continue exploration or share with other students.

A similar approach to emphasizing the vertical nature of the setting is deployed internally. An infill material is added above apertures to further define the panels to either side.

Internal workshop surfaces continue the modular approach as it applies to solid and void. Panel width is regulated by a 16” module and appears as 16”, 32” and 48” wide elements or, in some instances, a combination of individual widths. A base separates internal skin from floor as a demarcation between horizontal and vertical but other than that visible vertical surfaces extend to the full height of workshop walls.

The roll-up doors emphasize the industrial aesthetic and allow an open connection with the adjacent collaborative space when users are engaged in shared group activities. Other glazed panels and relites increase the visual porosity of the space and distribution and proportion of these elements are balanced with a need for display and other active surfaces.

08. Internal Surfaces

“take your tools with you”

At SAMi we define the relation between objects and a user as an affordance. Agility and utility are fundamental criteria for anything we place within this environment and their ability to adapt to the needs of the user under different circumstances are critical to the success of the space and the activities it supports. At SAMi, alternative methods of learning are encouraged. Less emphasis is placed on the traditional approach of student’s attention directed towards an instructor standing at the front of a classroom imparting information, and more on encouraging students themselves to become that focus through active engagement in the search for knowledge and understanding. In order to support that approach we have strived to provide an environment where learning can occur in any situation and the tools or resources to facilitate that are on hand wherever that may be.

Efficiently distributed resources are key to the success of any agile learning environment and at SAMi we have introduced mobility as the key driver in ensuring affordances are readily accessible from anywhere within the building. Writing and presentation surfaces, casework, tables and chairs are all designed to be taken to where they are required at any given time.

Tables are on castors and all share a common dimension so regardless of which workshop they are taken from they can be pulled together with any other table to form a larger project surface. Elements of casework reside in a similar modular approach (referenced in 07) as that adopted for external surfaces. 16” wide casework units, also on heavy duty castors, become mobile tool trolleys, 32” wide components are student project storage cabinets and the wider 48” units have the ability to store larger format items such as art projects or science experiments.

Traditional storage rooms associated with teaching spaces have been omitted in favor of an integrated approach offering greater capacity and efficiency. Storage bars are located on the south wall of the majority of workshops and contain adjustable shelving with accommodation for mobile storage carts. Lockable sliding panels provide direct access from the workshop and the exposed face of the panels may also be utilized as additional writable surface or tackable display.

Elsewhere, writing surfaces are lightweight boards that can be taken anywhere within the building and hung on purpose made project pegs to allow activities and discussions to take place wherever a group may gather. Boards can be used on their own in an intimate eddy setting or stacked together in the collaborative space for large group presentations.

Project walls of plywood panels form the wall surfaces throughout the workshops and collaborative space allowing users to install larger objects and displays. Acknowledging that such activities may potentially compromise the acoustic integrity of construction that separates spaces, a system of fixing the panels has been developed, allowing for easy replacement as required.

09. Affordances

Concept Resolution(vignettes)

Workshops

Topography

Canopy

Collaborative

Eddies

Connection

External Surfaces

Internal Surfaces

Affordances

Key Details

Grade adjusted to avoid need for handrail/guarding

Walking surface defines edge inviting users to step off path

Visible fixing thru’ walking surface

Timber bearing member on galvanized shoe

Diamond pin foundation

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01. Walking Surfaces (path)

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Walking surface contained within structure

Three distinct components: spanning element/walking surface/vertical guarding

Structure defines edge. Differentiates between path + bridge

Handrail separate component to guarding

Horizontal emphasis on bridge distinct from vertical façade elements on building

Mesh as opposed to horizontal wires denotes transition in direction

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02. Walking Surfaces (bridge)

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Core wall

External Skin. Cedar boards in three sizes fixed in non-repetitive sequence

External joints between modular panels expressed positively

Internal joints between modular panels expressed negatively

Internal Skin – plywood project wall

Affordance – mobile writable/tackable surface

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03. Module

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External Wall Construction

Internal Wall Construction

48” 32” 16”

48” 32” 16”

Roof spans between workshops. Flat fascia (depth of roof build-up)

Span requires structural beam + post therefore identified as separate component

16/32/48 module visible in composition of cement board panels

Vestibule (entrance)

Sliding panels (exit)

Wall visible inside. Bridging transition between In + Out

Cement board panels do not touch ground. Recessed galvanized base

Elevated deck in open mesh material emphasizing grounded nature of building

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04. Entrance

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Skin extended to meet grade. Extended sections within 16/32/48 module

Nominal 8” minimum

Nominal 20” maximum

Skin as layer applied in front of core

Drip Flashing

Core

Skin contained top + bottom to address exposure

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05. Touching Ground

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Top chord

Bottom edge of knife plate connection (web) aligned with bottom flange of chord

Bottom flange of top chord realigned to taper towards edge connection

Extended length clevis connection

Tapered king post in cruciform configuration

Clevis connections from each rod connected at single pin to reduce width of post

Web of post in N/S axis cut short to allow connection of rods below

Separate cross bracing connections made on either side of web

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06. Canopy Structure

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Eddy ceiling composition of three components – roof/services void/ceiling

Ceiling components do not ‘touch’ workshops. Shadow gap

Roof

Services void – heat recovery unit

Ceiling plane

Access hatch

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07. Eddy Ceilings

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Double layer wall board (outer layer plywood)

Outer layer held back from corner

Galvanized metal corner protection to match base (full height)

‘Project Pegs’ @ 16” on center

Outer layer workshop

Galvanized metal base

Corner protection overlaps base (vertical joint)

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08. Base + Corner Protection

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Objects ‘set’ into collaborative space to differentiate from Workshops

Top of wall terminates 4” below bottom of structure

Wall offset to screen mechanical systems serving conference rooms + offices

Structure aligned with canopy above

Structure spans from workshops

Color of inside of box glimpsed from collaborative

Glazed panels extend to underside of deck

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09. ‘Objects’ in Lower Collaborative

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Visualizations

McGranahan Architects2111 Pacific Avenue Suite 100

Tacoma WA 98402