SUBMERGE
WETLAND RESTORATION AND EDUCATION CENTRE, 2022, Hamilton
Submerge is a wetland restoration project that is located at the top of Sanitorium Falls, where historical wetlands were situated before the site became a tuberculosis sanitorium -- which has now been demolished. When entering the site, you are greeted by an enclosed, semi-submerged walkway that leads you to the main building that functions as an education space. The walkway directs your attention to the buildings entrance and allows for newcomers to get a feel for the projects rise and decent into the landscape. The building features two separate axis of circulation: one that leads you to the rest of the wetland site, and another that leads you down an atrium staircase to an indoor education space that opens to the wetland. This indoor space is embedded into the landscape and allow for the occupants to be eye level with the waters surface and catch glimpses of plants and animals submerged within the wetland.
The rebuilt wetland has been designed to educate occupants on different types of wetland ecosystems and their characteristics. Different types of wetlands can be explored using undulating pathways that cut through each habitat. The rising and lowering paths direct your attention to different parts of the wetland that become key parts to the wetland ecology. For example, an embedded pathway allows for people to look closer at the soil and stem structure of the plants whereas the raised pathway allows for occupants to see the birds in the tress of the forested wetland space. Placed between the wetland habitats are expanded spaces for learning and gathering. These spaces are placed between the wetland types to allow people to focus on the differences between the ecosystems and learn more about which ecosystem targets specifically in functionality. These spaces for outdoor learning each take on a different form to allow for different types of learning.
EVOLUTION OVER TIME:
This video titled: When a Tree Falls… is about acknowledging that the landscape in this project is ever changing and that when the unpredictable happens, it can be celebrated as the evolution of the landscape. Eventually I imagine this project will support a new type of ecology and create new habitats for flora and fauna alike when the buildings life cycle has ended.
SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT
This project involves restoring a historical wetland to the site by using the existing natural topography to plan out each habitat location and allow for the plantings to take over the site as the environment becomes stable. The plantings are all native to southern Ontario and help create biodiversity within the project. The building itself uses a mix of natural materials to create a calming space for people to stay in. The project has been designed using mass timber and stone that leads to heat massing in the winter months.