The following was submitted by Robert Jackson, Jackson McElhaney Architects, the principal architect for the Warren Skarren Environmental Learning Center (seen above in the DesignShare Blog masthead):

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In the future nothing will be more important than environmental awareness and a basic understanding of ecology (the interconnected relationships between all living and non-living things).

The illusion that we are separate from our surroundings will probably change in the near future, as we approach the tipping point for environmental balance. The natural ecosystems which are the focus at the Skarren Ctr. are analogous to everyone’s home & yard, or to a dense, inner-city living & work place. We depend on the clean elements of air, water, soil and energy which shape all living systems – no matter where we live and work.

A facility like the Skarren Ctr. could/should be a component to any school campus to provide a focus to understanding: the importance and effect of place (ones latitude and longitude), orientation (relationship to the sun, moon and stars), cycles of nature, seasons, etc, conservation and purity of water, importance of clean air and how the motion of air can provide cooling, study of soil, (learn that ‘dirt is alive’), learn about the conservation of energy - clean energy sources, etc, etc.

Interactive exhibits built into the framework and embedded into the floor of the Skarren Ctr. suggest the importance of an integrated approach to learning, reinforced by discovery in one’s surroundings:

Learning how Eratosthenes estimated the earth’s circumference in 250BC while one is watching the sun spot move across the floor, or how Kepler calculated the shape of our orbit while watching the sun track across the analemma, how energy from the photovoltaic panel can provide enough energy in the space if unnecessary systems are turned off (due to daylighting, passive cooling, etc), how the Fibonacci series, Golden Rectangle, logarithmic spiral and the shape of an ammonite are related, how the building can funnel air into the space to provide cooling, how the building shades the wall/windows from the sun, how water is collected, stored and filtered by the building, etc.

The Skarren Ctr. was designed to engage the student/visitor - a space open to the environment and one that interacts with it much like a sail boat interacts with wind and water…let’s cut those engines and catch the breezzzzzzzzzzzzz…