spring lake park visitor's center
santa rosa, ca

This building facilitates learning about nature and exemplifies a sympathetic relationship to the environment, perhaps as though Mother Nature had sown a building seed.  The building itself is a teacher of the processes of nature.  It uses a southeast facing solar collector for daytime air heating, a cooling tube and thermo siphoning system for cooling / ventilating, and shaded glazing for natural daylighting.  Backup heat is provided by a wood burning stove with fuel recycled from the site.