Warren Skaaren Environmental Learning Center at Westcave Preserve

Narratives

Architect Narrative

Exemplary Ideas for Learning

1. Create an awareness and understanding of the basic environmental systems that we live within. Most of us are ignorant of the basic relationships between ourselves and our environment. The educational challenge of environmental learning is to simplify the complexities of the natural sciences and ecology to these basic components; air quality, water quality, protection of the soil and the conservation of energy.
Awareness of the basic systems of our world is not taught thoroughly in schools. To this end, we wanted the sustainable elements of the building to teach lessons on the conservation and protection of the environment, water quality and cycles, air quality and cycles, soil and geography of the site, conservation of energy, seasonal cycles, and numbers and patterns in nature.

2. Interactive exhibits that are integrated into the buildings architecture draw parallels between sustainable man-made systems and natural systems of the earth.

• Water: Water quality and water cycles are demonstrated through the use of a rainwater collection and filtration system. Wetlands and Clivus Multrum (a self-composting restroom) wastewater systems show recycling of materials in nature.
• Air: Natural ventilation, orientation and a weather station illustrate the physics of air currents and air quality at the site. (Ventilation fans, high/low operable windows)
• Geology/Earth: Stone walls illustrate fossils of local sedimentary stones. A panel exhibit shows how the canyon was formed over 250,000 years ago.
• Energy: Sustainable energy systems such as a photovoltaic array, ground source heat pumps, daylighting, and efficient lighting are integrated into the building. An interactive panel shows how these sustainable energy systems can be controlled to balance energy demand with incoming “clean” solar power.
• Seasonal Cycles: Seasonal cycles are illustrated by a meridian line and sky map embedded in the terrazzo floor marking the sun’s motion (correct to atomic time) during the seasons through an aperture in the ceiling.
• Natures Numbers: Also embedded into the terrazzo floor, this exhibit illustrates the enigmatic relationship between the Fibonacci Series, golden rectangle, logarithmic curve and the form of a 90 million year old ammonite.

2. Indoor and outdoor rooms form a continuous classroom/gallery. Functional and spatial flexibility was created by a simple plan where the indoor and outdoor rooms are considered one continuous space. Circulation and visual connection to the site flow along the ‘true’ north/south axis of the building. Outdoor ‘centers’ for energy, air quality, and water cycles are organized along this space. This allows staging of smaller focus groups to have lessons both inside and outside while teachers have visual contact with all groups along a 300 ft. ‘axis’ space to stage the sequence.
This sequence is important since the actual tour of the canyon is limited to two groups of 30 students each at a time.

Innovations in the Process and Programming

1. The idea for the ‘wilderness’ classroom space is to provide standard teaching tools and equipment in a space which feels like an open-air shelter. Such a classroom provides standard teaching tools such as computers, projection screens, marker boards, tack boards, exhibit walls, etc. while making the space feel like it is part of the outdoors and open to the surrounding preserve. Acoustical privacy was created with a folding glass wall to separate the classroom from the public entry and exhibit area. Black-out shades are located in the windows to either side of the projection screen and the stone pylon creates a recess allowing for A/V programs to have bright images.
Slat wall on the east interior wall provides flexible exhibit areas for the plants and animals found in the two ecosystems located on site. Visitors and school groups are encouraged to ‘discover’ unique exhibits within the walls, the building and the site.

2. Create a flexible building to accommodate large school groups of 150+ students simultaneously with normal visitor groups of 1-10 people.

3. An interactive community funding process. Unlike the typical architectural design period of 2-6 months, this project greatly benefited from a process in which the design concepts were distilled over a funding period of 3 years.
Over the three years, the project design was presented to dozens of public and private funding sources and educational groups. With each meeting we gained new ideas about potential programs as well as enlisted additional support for the project. The nature of the presentations purposely maintained an interactive character and served to expand the client’s mission beyond the central Texas focus to larger issues of ecology and how they are connected to the environment of the preserve.

4. Effectively used the space to support learning. We integrated many exhibits into the physical structure of the building which frees the space for maximum flexibility of use.
By broadening the vision for environmental programs we gained additional friends and supporters within the community. For example, by integrating a meridian (solar observatory) and sky map into the terrazzo floor we gained support for programs from the University of Texas Astronomy Department: by integrating rainwater collection and filtering systems (as exhibits) we gained support from the Meadows Foundation; by including programs on air quality we received support and funding from a local TV station and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) for a weather station on site; and these are only a few examples.

5. Used sustainable design in the topographical site constraints, materials, building systems.
For the Site:
• Located in an open area on the site for low impact to the preserve.
• Aligned to Earth’s rotation (true north) for earth/sun exhibits and for views of trails to the uplands portion of the site and the canyon.
• Xeriscaping and plant exhibits replaced site construction damage around the building.

For the Building:
• Stone: Glenrose stone from a nearby quarry. The geological significance is that the Glenrose formation lines the banks of the Pedernales River just below the site. Fossils from the quarry are scattered throughout the walls for exhibits.
• Stucco: Natural cement/lime finish with no coating. Celbar is efficiently produced - low energy in production - from recycled cellulose. The walls have an R-30 rating.
• Windows & Doors: An operable system was employed for the lower windows and auto-controlled awnings were installed at the high roof clerestory for passive natural ventilation.
• Attic fans on each end of the high clerestory for forced circulation when there are no breezes.
• Solar power and ‘grid’ power consumption are displayed with monitors to create an interactive exhibit. Switches for lights, fans, and the A/C system are adjacent to the monitors so that reductions in consumption can be seen.
• A wildlife open cistern is used for aquatic exhibits and for attracting wildlife.

Educator Narrative

The main goal of the Environmental Learning Center is to demonstrate how the different systems of nature work and how they affect each other. Then visitors are shown how these natural systems are affected by people and how we interact with the world. The exhibits show five basic elements of nature, Earth, Water, Air, Energy, and Nature’s Numbers and Patterns and describe to visitors in basic terms how the systems work, why they are important, and how we affect them. Many of the exhibits are interactive.

Earth and Relationship in the Solar System
The Environmental Learning Center first shows where the local site is related to the earth through the Orientation Entry.

1. A series of exhibits in the floor of the center illustrate the following Earth-Sun relationships:
• Longitude/Latitude of Westcave (the significance of being at this point on the surface of the Earth)
• Earth’s Motion Exhibits- Some of the exhibits which illustrate the Earth’s daily and yearly cycles controlling time and the seasons are: Apparent motion of the Sun on the horizon, illustrated by lines on the floor showing sunrise/sunset between solstices; Path of the Sun in the sky (ecliptic), illustrated by the shape and pattern of the Sun overhead inscribed on the floor; Altitude and azimuth of the Sun, illustrated by the Sun Tracker exhibit.
• Geological time is displayed at an outdoor exhibit that shows the changes in the Earth’s surface over great spans of time. The wall is to display various rock strata – granite that is 1.3 billion years old to the sedimentary layers. The relationship to the nearby Llano uplift. Fossil samples linked with the strata. Diagrams of the movement of continents over time. Artifacts of ancient Americans found on the site. This leads to a cultural discussion of ancient man’s relationship to the natural world.

Water use and quality
1. Watersheds (conservation)
• Building as Watershed: diverts water to 6 exhibits/areas, illustrative filtering techniques of roof water, historic cistern exhibit, wildlife cistern exhibit
• Water Sources for Lab studies: building cisterns, creek, river, well
2. LCRA - River Watch Program
• Steve Hubbell – exhibits on water quality and pollution
3. Water Cycles- Exhibit built into the structure

Air
1. Cycles- Exhibit built into the structure
2. Relationship between local and global air quality
3. Motion/Characteristics/Pollution/Global Warming/Etc.

Energy
1. Solar Panels on the building feed into the building’s electrical grid and operate exhaust fans. Exhibits demonstrate how energy from the Sun can be used by us:
• Power strip at the Meridian exhibit for chime.
• Sun Tracker – with joystick motion exhibit.
2. Geothermal HVAC system
• Display equipment with diagrams explaining operation.

Nature’s Numbers - Shapes & Patterns
1. Relationships between Math, Number Theory, Geometry, Art, Architecture, Growth Patterns of Plants, Shells, etc.
2. The primary exhibit installed in the terrazzo floor on the classroom side (south) illustrates the presence of the irrational number (Phi), 1.61803, in the geometric structure of the natural world. This exhibit illustrates the interlocking presence of Phi in the golden rectangle (used by ancient Greeks and Egyptians), the log rhythmic curve, Fibonnaci number series, and the growth form of an ammonite, which will be set in the floor to generate the curve.

The most popular exhibits have been the meridian with its sunspot which illustrate the earth’s motion through the seasons, and the energy consumption display which allows people to turn lights (and other power uses) on and off and try to balance power from both the photovolatic array and the electrical grid. The energy consumption display gives people a real-time look at how they affect the use of energy in homes and workplaces, as well as how effective solar power can be.