Native Ecologies Learning Lab

ARC 202
NCSU College of Design
Spring 2023

The work on this page was completed by undergraduate students in their second year of study at the North Carolina State University College of Design.

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In the broader architecture curriculum, this sophomore studio is intended to introduce students to site analysis and response. As the studio title suggests, students investigated native ecologies of the Triangle, the broader North Carolina Piedmont, and the Triassic Basin within which their site was located.

The sophomores began by studying the analytical work of graduate-level students in the Naturotectonics course, advancing their research by producing diagrammatic studies of the various design strategies employed in each precedent project.

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Students were then given their project brief - to design landscape + planting plans, ecological outlook diagrams, a series of pavilion-like interventions throughout the landscape, and a small classroom on a large unused site within the Museum of Life and Science campus in Durham NC.

Aided by lectures and workshops from practicing landscape architects, native plantings experts, and educators on ecologies of North Carolina, students developed a breadth of knowledge concerning appropriate plantings and landscape design strategies for the particular challenges and opportunities of their site. Using this information, each student crafted a set of concepts for the planning of their landscapes, plantings, and architectural interventions on the site.

Having established planting and masterplans, students began designing their learning “lablets” - small architectural interventions throughout the landscape providing a moment of pause for children and families to observe the native ecologies present on the site - and learning “labs” - small classrooms for 10-15 students or 4-5 families. Students used a highly iterative process to develop the language of their lablets, laboring over how they touched the ground, their ecological impact, and creating experiences that were both educational and playful for museum visitors.

A selection of student work is featured below.