Environmental Extrusion

After I created the reading room and archive, the next step was to create an environmental research institution and gallery at Jefferson Island, LA. In 1980, Lake Peigneur faced a catastrophe from oil drills accidentally puncturing the top of a salt mine. This caused a whirlpool and a deep erosion at the drilling point of the lake. Soon after, a lot of the borders of the lake and parts of Jefferson Island went underwater as the earth sank toward the new sinkhole. The water composition changed to be much saltier, and the ecosystem of both plants and animals, such as fish, evolved to fit this new condition. The research institution strives to both tell the story of that day and provide opportunities for research into this recently created environment caused by catastrophe. The building consists of multiple galleries: geology, land animals, air animals, and salt. There is also a cafe on the top floor, in addition to the reading room and archive on the floors below ground—a rare condition in Louisiana. The different offsets of each floor and the window placement provide calculated views in different directions at different heights in order to relate to the different programs of each floor and have completely different experiences at each.