Ecology of Foreign Objects

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Ford Calumet Environmental Center is based on the phenomenon of adaptation.

A foreign object aided by its surroundings: on the North and West by the natural and on the East and South by the industrial, creating a dialogue between nature and artifice. The different skins of the building generate an ecology of foreign objects. 

The LEED Platinum environmental center sits directly between a biologically sensitive marsh and Ford Motor Company, acting as a hub of environmental activities for the local community and for Chicago-based museums.

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPE

Calumet, just south of downtown Chicago, is colored by the movement and production of man made goods and by the migration and inhabitation of its wildlife.

The industrial image of the factory started as a foreign object on the natural landscape, but over time became part of the ecosystem itself. Throughout time many of these have surrounded the area, aiding in, and developing its history, becoming part of the manufactured landscape. 

NATURE & ARTIFICE

The center operates as a zone of transition between the constructed industrial setting and the immediate natural surroundings. 

A compact, carefully sited building protected by a car hood brise-soleil, reclaimed utility poles, a "flat factory" and endemic vines that restores the genetic memory of the site through rooftop seed dispersal and landscape restoration. The recycled materials forming and protecting the skin of the building establish relationships with its surroundings and heritage.