Prairie Visitor Center and Ecological Health Field Institute

The prairie, in all its expressions, is a massive, subtle place, with a long history of contradiction and misunderstanding.  But it is worth the effort at comprehension.  It is, after all, at the center of our national identity. - Wayne Fields, Lost Horizon

In this project, students will be designing a visitor center and facility to house the operations of a local nature preserve.  Located in a rare and unique environment, their design will focus on two individual issues:

• A basic element of architectural form as a starting point of design – the cube
• The relationships between building, landscape, and ecology

Students will be required to create and locate a building and functional program that will integrate with and/or stand out from the surrounding landscape.  This facility should contain all of the necessary elements for a working visitor center, educational facility, and research institute.  For this project, architecture students will be collaborating with the Career Center East graphic design department.  All students will be working under the guiding documents created by the Fort Worth Prairie Park and Great Plains Restoration Council.  Their goal will be to understand and fulfill the stated public mission of the organizations by providing designs that advocate for the preservation of this fragile and endangered landscape.

We are privileged to be working with the Fort Worth Prairie Park and representative Jo Ann Collins as our client on this project.  We look forward to collaborating with her this school year to promote the vision of her organization and raise awareness about their efforts.

Fort Worth Prairie Park