Gallery
Project Perspective
A wetland observation platform designed for environmental engagement and bird watching in Goose Island State Park, Texas.
RISE is located at Goose Island State Park, overlooking a coastal marshland notable for attracting migratory birds, especially the highly-endangered Whooping Crane. The sensitive thirty-acre habitat was recently granted to the park for conservation management.
The six-foot high observation deck serves as a platform for environmental educators to discuss the stewardship of wetland habitats and local bay systems. To gain views to the wetland without disturbing the slough and scrub, students developed a seventy-foot accessible ramp leading to the raised deck.
A key architectural feature is the one-hundred-foot long screen-wall. Responding to the native grass meadow, the wall incorporates narrow vertical slots, acting as an optical filter that changes from opaque to transparent depending on the viewer's movement toward the platform.
The project was designed and fabricated within a 15-week Design-Build studio at the University of Texas at Austin's Gulf Coast Design Lab, bridging the gap between theoretical drawing and physical environmental impact.