Insulated pipes on the outside of the building are a kind of exhibit in themselves.
I didn’t know what to expect when I went to the Audubon Center at Debs Park in April. Located in the hills between Los Angeles and Pasadena where 30-somethings are now buying homes (myself not included), the Nature Center was, according to Audubon’s website, the nation’s first LEED Platinum building to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, and the first in Los Angeles to be entirely powered by its own solar system. I was curious, so I went, and invited my architect friend Emily along for the adventure.
The few interpretive panels on the outside of the Nature Center seemed ad-hoc — but in a good way, as if they were created to address real visitor questions rather than the questions designers and planners wanted visitors to have. Other than that, there really isn’t much in the way of exhibits. What I realized was that here, the building itself is the exhibition. Evidence of its pioneering construction is visible everywhere. Solar cells flash the midnight blue that’s finally becoming more familiar in L.A., the natural fibers in walls and furniture are left uncoated, and weird insulated pipes parallel the building’s lines.
Limited to a few panels on the outside of the building, interpretive media here is nevertheless effective, addressing real questions about the place.
In terms of nature interpretation, it’s delivered by educators, and it’s definitely focused on kids. Emily and I were two adults, but fortunately for us, the children had gone home and a friendly staff member named Patty, who said she’d been working there since the building’s opening, took a generous amount of time to show us around. She even ushered us through heavy bolted doors to show us the building’s water tank and its banks of batteries. Emily, an architect at Pugh + Scarpa, was particularly interested in the sustainable aspects of the building. As our personal tour continued on past the one-hour mark, with a visit to the staff shower (they get a LEED point for catering to bicycle-riding employees) and a detailed examination of the contents of two refrigerators, Emily leaned over to me and whispered, “Who does she think we are?” Perhaps Patty thought we were potential donors or some bigwigs from the City, but I like to think that that’s just how they roll at the Audubon Nature Center.
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