Project Description
This LEED-Gold building for the education-focused Greater Texas Foundation is the first LEED-certified building in the town of Bryan, Texas.
Through a novel collaboration between the Foundation and the City of Bryan, a large quantity of antique long-leaf pine was reclaimed from a demolished building. Reclaimed material is now prominently featured throughout the new building, with rougher pieces used as structural blocking inside walls to finished wood floors, exposed roof decking, wood ceilings, the front door and several custom furniture pieces
The site challenged the architects to “create a sense of place in the middle of nowhere.” In response, a series of landscape interventions transition the surrounding rural setting to a park-like campus that creates a context for the building.
The architecture combines local rural traditions of shed roofs and the brick construction found in the nearby historic downtown of Bryan. The careful placement of roofs on the simple building establishes a rhythm that further emphasizes the sense of place.