Learning

When visitorship to the VanDusen Botanical Garden began to decline in the early 2000s, the Vancouver Botanical Gardens Association and the Vancouver Parks Board embarked on a search for a way to revitalize interest in VanDusen as a destination. They realized that a new facility was needed—one that could attract visitors locally while elevating the garden’s profile internationally.

SAAHA’s winning competition design for a Visitor Center at Mt. Fløyen in Bergen, aims to facilitate the use of this popular mountain landscape for children, youth, hikers and tourists. With its undulating movement, the pavilion leads the visitor from the gravel road around the lake to the walkways through the surrounding mountains.

Hylla Cloud Nature Experience Center, also known as the “Red House”, is located on the gentle slope of Yanjiao Village, Baisha Town, Lijiang, Yunnan Province. It is a natural living scene experience place in Hylla Land. On one side, it looks up at the snow-capped mountains and glaciers, on another side; it overlooks the village and countryside. Except for one side of the countryside, the other three sides are closely surrounded by the complete canopy line extending from Mount Zhishan. In front of the project, there are lawns, water pools, and trees, high and low, successively arranged; behind the house is a natural canal, across the water from the main building of the hotel. In this specific site, the architect uses his own unique interpretation of the “local”, not restricted to the existing experience and the public label, which have caused a “casual” building to break through the ground.

Territories of the Danube-Ipoly National Park (DINP) encompassing mountains, river valleys and plains spread out also in the vicinity of Budapest. DINP opened a new visitor center in Pilisszentiván, near the center of the settlement.. The task was to provide a solution considering the natural fit into a residential village area and the function of a characteristic public facility. As a concept of extension, a new skin of wooden slat structure frames the extant white plastered core.

Given the hospitable climate of Kerikeri, we wanted the centre to be a reflection of the environment and for children to interact with this in a more natural way. The building is therefore split into four pavilions covering a large area of 700m2 each housing varying age groups of children, sheltered by a large soaring roof form which ties the pavilions together and allows for movement between these undercover, but not enclosed.

The Jutland region, with its diversity of landscapes and long history, is in many ways the most continental region in Denmark. Hjørring has some of the oldest traces of settlements nationally and an established cultural landscape. The Kornets Hus – or grain house, is the realisation of a new centre for the dissemination of the region’s rich food and farming culture.