Architecture for environmental learning : a National Outdoor Leadership School in Baja, Mexico

Abstract

An understanding of people, program, and place establishes a foundation from which to make architectural decisions. The focus of this thesis is to understand the needs of those involved in an outdoor education school in Baja, Mexico and assemble a comprehensive architectural solution to these needs. The outdoor education school has the mission to be the best source and teacher of wilderness skills to protect the user and the environment. The people of this school share a common interest to live harmoniously with their surroundings and work to achieve a life-style that has a minimum impact on the natural environment. The site is in a desert coastal ecosystem on the east coast of the Baja peninsula. The school is acquiring additional property and has the need for a master plan that looks to their long term needs. The master plan interweaves the issues of building in a small community and the organization of the program with the natural environment. At all scales the focus of the facility is education. Building designs are direct solutions to the needs of the people in this environment. The site embodies the workings of the school and a relationship to the surrounding area. The natural environment does not act as the setting for the architecture of the school, but is seen as the focus allowing the architecture to become the framework through which one observes the natural environment.