Friesenhahn Ridges

The Friesenhahn Cave in San Antonio is home to some of the most important artifacts from the Pleistocene era, or the last Ice Age. While the cave entrance is small, the possibility of other undiscovered cavities results in a large, invisible boundary, within which there can be no heavy site elements. The proposal is for a new research center, focused on studying the Pleistocene past. The massing of the various program elements is based on defining and respecting the presence of the boundary condition. Through radiating sections, each portion of the site is dedicated to either program elements or circulation. All of these are joined by a series of undulating roofs that respond to the presence of massing elements. A consistent series of trusses holds these roofs up, further unifying the language of the site.