Ford Calumet Environmental Center

Calumet, IL

SCAPE teamed up with Studio Gang in Chicago for this project, an environmental and community center in Calumet, Illinois. After winning a competition in 2004, Studio Gang and SCAPE were awarded a contract for full design services, and construction documents were completed in 2008. FCEC is an example of a truly collaborative, interdisciplinary, sustainable approach to design and a signature project of Mayor Daley’s green building initiative.

The site, a 117 acre marsh, is located amongst fragmented patches of abandoned lots and emergent marshlands, shuttered and working factories, parking lots, and towns. This marsh is on the hinge of 2 major drainage basins and is an important stop for migratory birds along the Mississippi flyway. The presence of these rare birds was the impetus for the project; community members began organizing informal bird walks.

Like a bird’s nest, the building is constructed from discarded and abundant materials from the Calumet industrial region: slag, wood, and steel. We learned from Ornithologist Daniel Klem’s research that bird deaths from window collisions are estimated at 97 million birds per year and that glass buildings are a major killer of birds. To avoid this, we introduced a finely woven "bird-visible" screen facade, giving birds time to slow down yet enabling people to see outside. The building is nestled into an existing clearing, up against a large stand of cottonwood trees.

For the landscape, we started by mapping the emergent industrial marsh’s vegetation (primarily cottonwood and phragmites) topography, and contaminants, including lead, chromium, benzene and arsenic. In addition to mapping current conditions, we researched the site's history, and discovered that in 1940 the original course of the river was moved and straightened to accept barge traffic. The idea was to "reset" the forest succession process and diversify the habitat profile, in order to support a wider range of bird and animal life. We gradually culled out the late-stage cottonwood trees and used this wood as supplementary fuel for the biomass boiler for the building, setting into motion the transformation of the site.

Credits:
STUDIO GANG Architects