Wayne National Forest Visitor’s Center
In this visitor’s center project, I explored the concept of designing a building with a central core,
rethinking how spaces can be organized and how circulation can interact with the architectural form.
The central core is the heart of the design, featuring a glass elevator that rises through the building,
offering a transparent and continuous visual connection between the floors. This elevator is not just a
means of vertical circulation but a key element that binds the entire structure together.
The five-building floors are suspended around the central elevator, with each level carefully positioned to
float away from the walls of the building’s outer shell. This design choice creates a sense of lightness and
transparency, as the building's interior appears to defy traditional notions of solid mass.
The geometries and spatial relationships of this project draw from concepts explored in my Project Two, a
transformation project that served as the foundation for this design. In Project Two, I experimented with
modular forms and the idea of creating dynamic and interconnected spaces, almost like a puzzle. The
jagged glass windows are a direct inspiration from it, and they serve as great observation areas for the
floors that meet at the levels that interact with glass.
- Bianca Sako, UG2 Architecture
