This was a student project by Kelly Murphy, David Ruffing, Alex Stitt, April Fiorelli, and Ron Crowe, Spring 2006 for Lisa Tilder's ARCH 343. This USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) competition entry was pursued by a multidisciplinary team including two 3rd year architecture students, a 3rd year landscape student, and two 3rd year students from the College of Design. This project was awarded first prize in the 2006 competition. Project description: The Imago Earth Center -- a nature center for the education and integration of nature into the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. Imago's proposed center is conceived as a verdant refuge that transcends the experience of the urban landscape. On a larger scale, the new center, coupled with the way of life advocated by the adjacent eco-village, is seen as a means of reversing the contemporary notion of a city as monotonous and generalized. It will promote the diversity that is integral to the design and composition of the land and built environment of our future. As the building lessens its impact on the site and promotes pedestrian use, it also acts as an informal boundary between built environment and landscape, advocating responsible development which distinguishes the two and resists sprawl. --Kelly Murphy, Landscape Architecture; David Ruffing, Architecture; Alex Stitt, Architecture; April Fiorelli, Industrial Design; Ron Crowe, Interior Space Design
