Untitled Document

The building is about its location. It serves to introduce visitors to the Brockholes wetland centre. The site is a wetland because it is prone to flooding. This is a fundamental fact. The characteristics of the site are the horizontal planes of the water, below and on either side of the access road, the green embankments of the former quarries, the rich biodiversity of the wetlands, themselves, the established woodlands and the paths which tie all of these elements together as a meaningful experience for the visitor.

The visitors’ centre forms a nexus for the system of pathways through the site. The pathways run over, under and through the building. It is sited at the margin between the water and the land, poised on delicate legs above the flood line like a water strider barely touching the surface, spreading its weight evenly to a few points.

The roof of the building is formed of parallel bands, raising the contours below to a new datum. The walkways ramp over this green plane, which is an ecosystem of its own.
The structure of the roof is formed of a diagonal grid of timber, sourced as locally as possible. The timber ceiling is folded seamlessly up, like the green banks of the site, to form a series of parallel ridges, which on their due-north face will carry solar collectors, both thermal and electric.

Their vertical southern face will be provided with vents and windows, giving bright, even light to both work and exhibition spaces without solar gain, allowing stale, hot summer air to escape by convection. The structure of the roof-lights forms a series of longitudinal trusses, allowing for a reduction in the number of columns, freeing up the plan and their placement, so as to be more like a forest rather than a grid. The heavy timber structure will be exposed internally, contributing to solar gain. The roof and walls will be wrapped in a warm blanket of sustainably sourced insulation, perhaps wool or shredded cellulose. The waterproof membrane of the roof will be sloped inwards so as to harvest rainwater for toilet cisterns and hydroponic irrigation of the green walls and internal greenhouse style planting. The paths in particular will provide this runoff; the rest of the structure will have an intensive green roof, a sort of wetland in itself.

The V shaped columns provide longitudinal bracing to the structure, lateral stiffness will be provided by the bathroom and service core which is taken through to the ground, enabling services to be connected, and sewage to be pumped to a septic tank at a safe distance from the water bodies.

The main floor will hang from the roof, with its composite structure, and will thus be very slender and unobtrusive, exploiting the tensile strength of timber. Some steel will probably have to be used for connectors in order to optimise material use. The experience of entering this space will be akin to intrigue offered by the space under seaside piers, or under the boardwalk if you prefer, making for a very powerful relationship with the water below, like the shaded views into water offered by Monet’s Giverny paintings.

The open space below the building will have a special quality. The columns and the floor overhead, with sunshine filtering through the floor by glass inserts will be like the space between a forest and a lake, colonised by shade and water loving plants, a sort of airy grotto. A floating dock goes right out into the water, providing mooring for boats, and habitat for waterfowl. The space under the building will provide facilities for boating and covered education space right on the water margins. Amphitheatre seating and a white lime washed wall provide outdoor cinema space, the columns and deck forming a stage and proscenium.

The horizontal datum of the roof is positioned so as to form a foreground to the existing planting of the low ridge behind, screening the parking from view. The parking for 300 buses and cars is the largest component of the project. A new woodland is proposed for this parking area, different to but not unlike the mature woodland to the north. The parking grid is a restatement of the plan organisation of the visitors’ centre. The diagonal stagger serves to break up the regimentation of parked cars. Footpaths run between each line of bays, lined with staggered trees, each like a path trough a forest. These will be gravelled rather than hard paved, and it is intended that the hard standings also be permeable, perhaps ceramic open cell units holding soil and planting together.

Playground and caravan facilities are provided by a smaller and larger circular clearing in the new woodland, an air of living ‘woodhenges’ if you will excuse the pun, nestled against the embankments, screened from wind and views.

The repetition of the order of building and parking serves to restate the similarity between the organisation of the visitors’ centre and site as a whole, picking up too on a number of dualities on the site, the two curved banks-one big, one small, the two main lakes- one big one small…

The keys to achieving the vision of Brockholes wetland centre are clarity and flexibility. As architects with strong experience in master-planning and regeneration for environmental use, with a feeling for landscape, and the ability to design memorable buildings without recourse to faux iconographic vulgarity, we would propose to lead a multidisciplinary team of structural and environmental engineers specialising in sustainability, sensitive landscape architects and experienced cost consultants with whom we have shared experience. We would work with the client closely to define a brief that achieves the most use for the least building, the exactly right placement of the building, the best value use of materials in terms of carbon neutral aspirations, and the financial implications of these in both long and short term. We can offer creativity, commitment, realism and the desire to see this fantastic project through to fruition.


Wetland Centre Brockholes Preston UK	images 1 2	drawings 1 2

The building is about its location. It serves to introduce visitors to the Brockholes wetland centre. The site is a wetland because it is prone to flooding. This is a fundamental fact. The characteristics of the site are the horizontal planes of the water, below and on either side of the access road, the green embankments of the former quarries, the rich biodiversity of the wetlands, themselves, the established woodlands and the paths which tie all of these elements together as a meaningful experience for the visitor. The visitors’ centre forms a nexus for the system of pathways through the site. The pathways run over, under and through the building. It is sited at the margin between the water and the land, poised on delicate legs above the flood line like a water strider barely touching the surface, spreading its weight evenly to a few points. The roof of the building is formed of parallel bands, raising the contours below to a new datum. The walkways ramp over this green plane, which is an ecosystem of its own. The structure of the roof is formed of a diagonal grid of timber, sourced as locally as possible. The timber ceiling is folded seamlessly up, like the green banks of the site, to form a series of parallel ridges, which on their due-north face will carry solar collectors, both thermal and electric. Their vertical southern face will be provided with vents and windows, giving bright, even light to both work and exhibition spaces without solar gain, allowing stale, hot summer air to escape by convection. The structure of the roof-lights forms a series of longitudinal trusses, allowing for a reduction in the number of columns, freeing up the plan and their placement, so as to be more like a forest rather than a grid. The heavy timber structure will be exposed internally, contributing to solar gain. The roof and walls will be wrapped in a warm blanket of sustainably sourced insulation, perhaps wool or shredded cellulose. The waterproof membrane of the roof will be sloped inwards so as to harvest rainwater for toilet cisterns and hydroponic irrigation of the green walls and internal greenhouse style planting. The paths in particular will provide this runoff; the rest of the structure will have an intensive green roof, a sort of wetland in itself. The V shaped columns provide longitudinal bracing to the structure, lateral stiffness will be provided by the bathroom and service core which is taken through to the ground, enabling services to be connected, and sewage to be pumped to a septic tank at a safe distance from the water bodies. The main floor will hang from the roof, with its composite structure, and will thus be very slender and unobtrusive, exploiting the tensile strength of timber. Some steel will probably have to be used for connectors in order to optimise material use. The experience of entering this space will be akin to intrigue offered by the space under seaside piers, or under the boardwalk if you prefer, making for a very powerful relationship with the water below, like the shaded views into water offered by Monet’s Giverny paintings. The open space below the building will have a special quality. The columns and the floor overhead, with sunshine filtering through the floor by glass inserts will be like the space between a forest and a lake, colonised by shade and water loving plants, a sort of airy grotto. A floating dock goes right out into the water, providing mooring for boats, and habitat for waterfowl. The space under the building will provide facilities for boating and covered education space right on the water margins. Amphitheatre seating and a white lime washed wall provide outdoor cinema space, the columns and deck forming a stage and proscenium. The horizontal datum of the roof is positioned so as to form a foreground to the existing planting of the low ridge behind, screening the parking from view. The parking for 300 buses and cars is the largest component of the project. A new woodland is proposed for this parking area, different to but not unlike the mature woodland to the north. The parking grid is a restatement of the plan organisation of the visitors’ centre. The diagonal stagger serves to break up the regimentation of parked cars. Footpaths run between each line of bays, lined with staggered trees, each like a path trough a forest. These will be gravelled rather than hard paved, and it is intended that the hard standings also be permeable, perhaps ceramic open cell units holding soil and planting together. Playground and caravan facilities are provided by a smaller and larger circular clearing in the new woodland, an air of living ‘woodhenges’ if you will excuse the pun, nestled against the embankments, screened from wind and views. The repetition of the order of building and parking serves to restate the similarity between the organisation of the visitors’ centre and site as a whole, picking up too on a number of dualities on the site, the two curved banks-one big, one small, the two main lakes- one big one small… The keys to achieving the vision of Brockholes wetland centre are clarity and flexibility. As architects with strong experience in master-planning and regeneration for environmental use, with a feeling for landscape, and the ability to design memorable buildings without recourse to faux iconographic vulgarity, we would propose to lead a multidisciplinary team of structural and environmental engineers specialising in sustainability, sensitive landscape architects and experienced cost consultants with whom we have shared experience. We would work with the client closely to define a brief that achieves the most use for the least building, the exactly right placement of the building, the best value use of materials in terms of carbon neutral aspirations, and the financial implications of these in both long and short term. We can offer creativity, commitment, realism and the desire to see this fantastic project through to fruition.