UNBUILT / HONOR

Allwine Prairie Research Center, UNO Department of Biology, Bennington, NE

Firm: Randy Brown Architects

The project is a research center to be constructed on a native prairie site owned by the University of Nebraska at Omaha.  The prairie is a research site for the Biology department who focus on burning of native prairies.  

The program calls for lab space, office space, conferencing space, a caretaker living space and a large public space to be used for community education and interaction with the prairie. We looked to the grass plants as inspiration for the building.  The stem of Native grass plants grows in a telescoping manner which became our inspiration for the research building.  The building interior is open and frames views to the prairie.  The research labs are located in a two story space which can be viewed from the public space.