SAB Awards 2008 winner: Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre

SAB Awards jury: John Potter, Teresa Coady and Stephen Pope comment on the project.

About Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre:
Earth walls dissolve building into landscape using rammedearth

The design of NkMip Desert Cultural Centre is a specific and sustainable response to the buildings unique context-the unusual Canadian desert found in the South Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Sited adjacent to a remnant of the Great Basin Desert, of which 1,600 acres are being preserved by the Osoyoos band as a conservation area, this interpretative centre is part of a larger 200-acre master plan.
The partially submerged, 820 m2 building contains exhibits that celebrate the culture and history of the Band, and is designed to be an extension of the remarkable site. The desert landscape flows over the buildings green roof, held back by a rammed earth wall which, at 80m long, 5.5m high and 600mm thick, is the projects most visible green design feature.
Read more here: http://sabmagazine.com/winners.html

Category:

Education

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• nk'mip