Wide Wednesday - Architecture

Clearly an integral part of the Nature Center, Antoine Predock designed the Rio Grande Nature Center to be visually hidden in the Bosque, almost part of the infrastructure. From the parking lot, one walks along a path through the cottonwoods and enters the Visitors Center through a galvanized tunnel that could be a culvert. The Center is made of poured-in-place concrete and glass, low-slung and out of site. Visitors look out onto a human-made lake that now seems entirely natural. The major exhibit is nature itself with views from this “bird blind” toward the Sandia Mountains, the nearby fields, the cottonwoods, the lake with turtles sunning themselves, and migrating birds in season stopping by for a rest.

Thank you, BobsBlips, for hosting W-I-D-E Wednesdays.  I learned a lot about our beloved Nature Center when facing this challenge.