Transcendence Water Education Center

Etched into the deep recess of City Creek Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah, Transcendence represents itself as a water education center that reacts to it’s immediate environment. Buried in a field of trees, it’s North-to-South geometric steel shell cladding reflects the natural surroundings.

It’s exposed East-to-West wooden underbelly provides users with two parallel sightlines of un-obstructed visual permeability. Users can see from one end of the building to the opposite through a series of glass walls. This provides each and every space a connection to the outside.

The site plan, a series of dramatically shifted roof shells and the foliage surrounding, owe inspiration from a “quick and dirty” sketch I produced at the site of the Salt Lake City skyline, diagramming only the artificial light produced from the buildings at night.