Latodami Environmental Education Center ReEnvisioned

Master’s Thesis By Elliott Bartels 2017

Abstract:

Zoos, nature centers and museums have grown to become some of the most important tools in conservation and environmental education. The idea of ecosystem conservation became more prominent during the late 1800’s under the leadership of influential characters such as John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, Ansel Adams, John Wesley Powell, Henry David Thoreau, and Theodore Roosevelt. The United States made great strides to provide land that was accessible and protected for all to enjoy through the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. Attractions, such as park nature centers and museums, specializing in the indigenous life and geological features, began to develop across the nation’s park systems.

As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Program that lasted between 1933 and 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created thousands of new parks throughout the country during a period of swift revitalization. During this time, the Allegheny County Parks Department developed a series of new parks, including North Park, to provide recreation for the growing population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Latodami Environmental Education Center in North Park was founded in 1969 to provide an educational aspect to the growing parks system. The center has provided environmental outreach to several hundred students and recreationists each year (Bates, 2009).

This masters report focused on the redesign of the Latodami Environmental Center to incorporate more contemporary strategies related to successful habitat design and visitor immersion. The methods for the report focused on literature and case reviews related to the history of animal care, the parks movement, historic development of animal displays, and a site analysis of the existing conditions of the area. The final outcomes incorporated improved master planning techniques that led to the creation of new and exciting display habitats for visitors to explore while immersing them in the many unique ecological areas of the park.

Introduction, Design Intent, and Literature Review:

This section outlines the history of the Parks Movement in America and the development of the Allegheny County’s (Pittsburgh) largest park and the Latodami Environmental Education Center.

Research Question:

How can ecological master planning implementation of modern nature center design facilitate increased guest participation in an underutilized section a park?

Design Intent:

Originally a dairy farm constructed in 1890, the barn and grounds for which the nature center site consists of today was integrated into North Park in the late 1960s. With most of the park’s major infrastructure dating to work completed by the CCC and WPA in the late 1930’s, the site is in need of restoration and modernization. The center has provided outreach since its founding, but is in need of desperate revitalization to bring it to modern-day standards for nature centers. Many of the old exhibits and buildings are of older steel wire and cement design from museums of the past. Further, there is no running water, no central heating or air, or bathrooms currently on site that are in working order. While the center continues to provide amenities for the community, including environmental education outreach, protected habitat space, and recreation opportunities, bringing it up to modern standards would greatly benefit the surrounding community.

Making better circulation connections that separates vehicular, pedestrian, and cyclist traffic was one of the key goals of this project. Master planning to improve circulation connections to the center and its grounds, as well as areas currently separated by a road, was one technique this project used to address fragmentation. Improving the grounds to enhance entrance image and raise community awareness was another key goal of the program. Further, old caging designs, exhibits, and outdated trails were updated with modern examples to increase education opportunities and create an exceptional experience for visitors.

Images from the Introduction, History of North Park, and Context.

Case Reviews:

Thirteen Case Studies were selected to gain insight into what makes successful nature centers. Each site was viewed objectivity to help determine where each facility exceled in promoting the three key variables of: 1) Strong Educational Programming and Immersion, 2) Emphasis on Accessibility, and 3) Environmentally Conscious Construction. From these examples, the role of landscape architecture in creating successful nature educational spaces could be implemented in the program and conceptual designs for the project. Lessons learned from these case reviews were directly applied to the concepts that lead into the final master plan.

Sample Images from the 13 Case Review Pages.

Site Analysis:

This section contains the inventory and analysis of existing site features. This inventory and analysis was instrumental in understanding drainage, context, and existing conditions of the nature center’s grounds. Custom Context and Land Use Land Cover Maps were several site analysis features created in ArcGIS. Drainage and site topography was also created via information provided by Allegheny County GIS Department. Each of the three major design areas were broken down into photo surveys highlighting the need for improvement and existing features.

Examples of several site analysis images created for the project.

Design Application:

This section will outline the design process taken to reach the three main goals outlined by the program. Established as parameters to guide the design language of the project, the goals and associated objectives led to the development of the concepts and master plan. These tie together the understanding developed through the literature review and case reviews.

Program:

The overarching design intent of this work was to meet the requirements of the research question presented above. These were created to guide in the development of the program and overall design of the project. Goals are defined as the desired outcome to address one of the many issues the center currently faces. Objectives are the direct actions that were taken to properly address and achieve the desired goals. Together, these serve as guidelines and the foundation of which the project was developed, from conceptual development to the master plan.

Concepts:

Highlighted earlier, this section serves to reiterate the design intent of the project. These were intentionally crafted to reach the overarching intent of redesigning the Latodami Environmental Education Center to bring it up to modern day standards. Each concept reflects the goals, objectives, and elements that were drafted at the beginning of the project. The final concept’s purpose is to make the Latodami Environmental Education Center a leader and example of successful education centers in the United States. When combined, the strengths of each concept led to the final master plan..

Examples of the three main concepts and the final concept that incorporated the strongest attributes from the three originals.

Master Plan:

Showcasing the redesign of the three zones highlighted in the previous section, this portion of the book will highlight new features of the park. Using Autodesk AutoCAD, Sketchup, Adobe Photoshop, and Lumion Rendering Software, the new sections were brought to life in the following section.

View of plan in SketchUp after being exported from CAD.

The base plan started with weeks spent in Autodesk AutoCAD fine tuning the master plan after a series of panels by my design committee featuring professors and student feedback.

View of the total plan in CAD.

The completed master plan incorporates the elements from all three concepts and further explores ideas presented in the final concept. Divided into three main zones, the following section will highlight features found in each area.

Zone Renders:

Each of the three main zones were further explored through a series of in-depth diagrams and renders created by bringing the SketchUp Model (Created in CAD) into post production rendering software called Lumion. The program gave the renders a photo realistic imagining of what the proposed redesign would look like.