KATIE COONEY PORTFOLIO

Location
mount lemmon
tucson, az

Placed at the peak of Mount Lemmon, around several high powered telescopes, the design of this visitor center invites the public to fully experience the clear and contrasting Tucson environment at the top of its tallest peak. 

The design of the visitor center, and subsequent housing at the peak of Mount Lemmon is meant to highlight three categories of the area’s environment; the sky, the topography, and the stereotomy.

To accomplish this, the visitor center was positioned to stratify the landscape and was sectioned into three main spaces, each of which was designed to focus on a specfic environmental quality. Furthermore, all programmatic space was pushed to the east and west side of the visitor center, leaving the interior space of the building open, This openess allows visitors to truly experience the unique mountainous environment from within a partially protected man-made structure.