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Laguna Gloria Birding Center

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2015 | Academic

Design Excellence nominee

Professor Allison Gaskins, University of Texas at Austin

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Laguna Gloria is a park and center run by the Austin Contemporary as a unique experience of history, art and nature. The land lies on a peninsula on Lake Austin in NW Austin, Texas. 

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The project creates a space that allows for learning, birding and sharing of information for those that visit the peninsula in west Austin. 

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The programmatic responsibilities of the building include spaces for lectures, classrooms, bird blinds, photography development, and informational pin-ups.

 

Three main views of the peninsula were activated by creating a rectilinear axis for path and building. To ground the design and facilitate circulation and path, that axis translated into a strong structural wall. On both ends, and anchored by this transcending wall, two primary spaces emerged. One is for primary entrance and formal engagements of photo editing, display and lecture space. The second functions as an educational space with classrooms and reference areas. The path that connects the two sits on the ground level and references Laguna Gloria’s nature through curated courtyards. 

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