Description

The Center for Urban Ecology is an unbuilt project I designed for my graduate school thesis project. Located in downtown Eugene across from the Amtrak train station, the purpose of the project is to create a center for research and advocacy for restoration and renaturalization projects within a highly visible urban context to generate public interest and inspire more comprehensive and larger scale urban ecological initiatives. The intent of the center is to lead by example- through exhibits, sharing of research with the public, and by the example of the building itself, the Center for Urban Ecology can be a proponent of ecologically oriented urban redevelopment.​

A prominent and organizing feature of the building's design is the extensive deep soil living roof. The The parabolic vaulted forms of the Futures Assembly Hall roof create areas of deep soil that permit the growth of trees and deep rooted shrubs and perennials helping to create a more diverse habitat for wildlife, particularly birds and invertebrate pollinators. These deep soil areas also serve to funnel rainwater, which is naturally cleaned through sand filtration down into a cistern beneath the Hall's floor where it is stored for reuse for toilet flushing, irrigation, and fire suppression. A host of other sustainable technologies, such as a large rooftop photovoltaic panel array, solar hot water panels, and passive cooling strategies including night flush of thermal mass, and evaporative cool towers help contribute towards minimizing the building's use of energy.