The Environmental Learning Patch
@ Tyson Research Center
w/ the Endangered Wolf Sanctuary
2020
A demonstration of ecological research and habitat restoration for all ages.
Design collaborator: Alisa Blatter
Clients: Tyson Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis
and the Endangered Wolf Center at Tyson
A work in progress.
The integrated poster features site research, an adaptive masterplan, 3 vignette perspectives featuring the ultralight Ultra-High Performance Concrete structures, interpretive material, and maintenance regimes for the patch.
Tyson is a field research station, made up of 2,000 acres of forests, meadows, glades, and streams. At the center is Tyson Valley, a cultural landscape with a deep history of land management. Native American prescribed burns steered forests for openness. European grazing, agriculture, and logging impacted the land composition. A later US Military installation of munitions bunkers—now university storage—channels surface water under a road and into an intermittent stream in this patch.
Today, Tyson shares its grounds with the Endangered Wolf Center, a host of year-round researchers, summer fellows, campers, and daily visitors. Research plots are framed throughout the landscape. Around headquarters, Tyson manages land to foster habitat and biodiversity.
The aims in this 14-acre project are to impact habitat structure and resident species, while elevating awareness of the human role in dynamic ecosystems. The re-envisioned patch offers play, environmental learning, observation of ecological research, and management by fire—all tied together with a network of accessible paths, trails, and foot bridges. The ultra-high performance concrete structures have a lightness, but recall the persistent impact of the military use of this landscape.