outlier designing for the alaskan wilderness
Outlier is a series of structures located 60 miles into the pristine expanse of wilderness know as Denali National Park and Preserve in central Alaska. This project seeks inspiration in these natural surroundings and endeavors to create buildings with minimal environmental impact, that embrace the mission and ethos of the national park service, and that establish a bold architectural aesthetic reminiscent of this beautiful yet unforgiving environment. In doing so, the hope is to embody a careful balance between built structure and the natural world.
Daniel Chittick / Advisor - Sherman Aronson
site
Denali National Park and Preserved is composed of 6 million acres of pristine wilderness ranging from 200 feet in elevation to 20,320 feet, the highest point on the North American continent. The site selected for Outlier is that currently occupied by the Eielson Visitor Center. This point is located at mile 66 along the Denali Park Road. The site looks out across the Thorofare River, the Muldrow Glacier, and up towards the Peak of Mt. McKinley.
Park Photos from 2013 Visit
Mt. Galen Moose Creek Green Dome
Thorofare River
Denali Park Road
Mount Eielson 5,802
29%
16 mph
15 mph 23 %
22% J
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N
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12 mph
66°
64°
61° Average Highs
53°
Site as Picnic Camp 1930s
Site as Picnic Camp 1938
Average Lows
50°
Site as Military retreat 1947å
43°
39°
38°
39° 32°
31°
29° 25° 15°
18°
16°
14°
11°
9° J
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1° A
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1°
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-5°
-8°
-6°
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Alaska Railway
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Completed Allowing Visitors Acccess To The Park Mckinley Park Renamed
Denali National Park And Preserve
1.6 Million Acre
Mount Mckinley Park
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1980
J
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2000
1971
1939
1917
1923 1921
1916
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DAYLIGHT 5.75 / 19.12
PRECIPITATION 0.3”/3.16”
DARKNESS 18.25/ 4.88
SNOW 0”/13.7” SNOW DEPTH 0”/22”
Park Road
Charles Sheldon
Completed To Wonder Lake
Petitions Congress For Denali Region Preserve
National Park Service
Alaska Highway Completed Easing Travel To The Park
Founded
200
Harry Karstens
Caribou
Appointed First Park Superintendent
Grizzly Bear
1
6
11
16
21
26
31
Moose
41
46
51
56
61
66
W. Lake
80
40
36
Wolf
OUTLIER SITE
60
Polychrome
Dall’s Sheep
100
Toklat
Inhabitants In Denali Region
1950
Teklanika River
Athabaskan
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Savage River
First Evidence Of Native
1900
1908
500
1850
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Expanded To 6 Million Acres
Established By Congress
71
76
81
86
91
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program
The Program for Outlier is the result of series of interviews. During the summer of 2013, Denali Park facilities staff, the director of operations for the main visitor center, the head of park research, and a partner from a local firm that has completed work in the park were each interviewed at length. All of this information was synthesized in order to establish the ideal program elements for a structure at mile 66. The result is a multi- use facility servicing the western half of Denali Park. The three main program elements are a wilderness center to orient and initiate park visitors, a research facility with small lab and workspace, and a dormitory style housing structure for park staff and researchers.
Housing / Storage 100
Outlier Hut 100 SF
restrooms 120
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Research Facility
Labs
2,300 SF S S F
470
storage
280
offices 500
kitchen
Housing
508
bathrooms
3,400 SF S S F
200
common 800
Cafe
Wilderness Center
630
5,650 SF
bedrooms
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900
Restrooms 650
exhibit
Exhibit 2,000
Kitchen 200
Service 900
Housing / Storage 100
Outlier Hut 100 SF
Housing / Storage 100
Outlier Hut 100 SF
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inspiration
The following are a few projects that both inspired many of the concepts behind Outlier and informed the technical development of the project.
Tåkern Visitor Center
Monte Rosa Hut, SAC
Tåkern Visitor Center
Antarctica 2009 20,000 sf
Zermatt, Switzerland 2009 12,000 sf | 15000 ft altitude
Glänås, Sweden, 2008 8,000 sf
This is the first zero emission polar research station on antarctica. The research center uses a combination of photovoltaics, wind turbines, and passive techniques in order to produce energy year round. The station also uses what is termed a ‘programmable logic controller.’ This computer system constantly monitors 2,000 points of energy production and consumption prioritizing and delivering energy with maximum efficiency. Also the station has the capacity to reuse 100% of its waste water using space based technology. This project showcases successfully implemented sustainable technologies in an extreme polar climate.
Built to replace an existing alpine hut, the Swiss Alpine Club chose to design a highly modern and sustainable structure in the high Alps. Construction at this location involved 3,000 helicopter to trips to deliver precision milled timber, prefabricated glass, and aluminum panels. The stated goal for this structure was complete self sufficiency and it manages well, producing 90% of its own energy. The structure can house up to 120 people and is only accessible by foot or helicopter. While the focus of the ‘hut’ is efficiency and functionality, the structure also has some very warm and pleasant interior spaces. This structure meets both the sustainable criteria, and possesses a certain remote and essential quality that ideally will be replicated in this project.
This visitor center is built on pilings beside a lake in the Tåkern nature preserve in Sweden. The structure sits at the forest edge and appears to ‘touch the earth lightly’ to borrow Glenn Murcutt’s phrase. The crystalline geometry of the structure appears dynamic and fresh yet not out of place in its natural environs. The center also possess a simplicity in program with flexible open spaces compact and efficient service spaces. It maintains a consistent interior connection to the natural environment. The space appears comfortable but not overbearing. The minimal interior finishes and natural wood are particularly appealing, and appear to resonate well with the verdant surroundings.
Transmission Yosemite This is a series of rendered digital laser scans produced by the photographer, Dan Holdsworth. Holdsworth reappropriates terrain data gathered by the USGS from the National Parks to create a series of stark yet familiar landscapes. As with much of Holdsworth’s work, these landscapes articulate an uneasy tension between the natural and built environment and express the potential for beauty therein. This innovative synthesis of digital technology and natural forms serve as a potential source of inspiration for building in Denali.
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mid review
The Mid Review presentation consisted of a comprehensIve site analysis, program studies, form making concepts, site test fits, conceptual floor plans, and potential methods for seasonally expanding and contracting program space.
Prospect / Refuge
Arrival / Sequence
Enclosure / Porosity
Expansion / Contraction
Orientation / Disorientation
Resonance / Definition
The perception of safety and comfort can be magnified by the vastness of Denali Park. Spaces in which one can survey long distances from shelter tend to resonate with their occupants as pleasing.
These forms will shape the experience of their users. Specific attention must be paid to the experience of the park visitor. As the park experience for many is limited to the park road and visitor centers, the placement of forms and spaces in the sequence of the visitor’s experience, and the way in which they color that experience will dictate the success of these structures.
The form should enclose to the degree that a distinctive sense of identity and place are archieved. However, there should also exist a sense of porosity in which the user of the space remains in constant contact with the natural world and never loses a sense of their place within that broader context. This permeablilty is also crucial in diminishing the interuption to surrounding ecological systems
As the scope of program will shift seasonally, these structures must shift as well. One looks to the metaphor of a seed expanding into a plant and then contracting back to a seed. The size and function of these structure will change with shifting program demands and also the seasonal shifts of the natural environment.
The visitor center and research facility can also be viewed as a points of departure. This is the place at which a user transitions form a single path to and infinite number of paths. These structure should organize this transition but not dictate or limit the experience.
These structures should possess a formal resonance with the surrounding evironment while simultaneously distinguishing themselves from this same environment. While showing a deep sypathy for the natural context, these structures will ideally also express a tension between the natural and built world.
ness Orientation WildernessCenter Orientation Center
Total
Exhibit
5,500 / 1,500 3,000 / 1,000
Approach 1
Café Exhibit
Kitchen
1,0003,000 / 500/ 1,000500
Café
Research Facility Research Facility
Toilet
1,000 /500 500
Kitchen Staff
Toilet
Staff
Total
Total Lab
Office
500
500
500
2560 / 1040
2560 1440 / 1040 / 720
640 / 320 1440 /320 720
500
Approach 2
Lab
Housing
Storage
Housing
Office Toilet
Storage
Toilet
Total
Bedroom Total
Common Bedroom Kitchen
Common Rest-
Kitchen
Rest-
640 / 160 320
320
160
2,000 / 760
880 2,000 / 440 / 760
640 / 320 880 / 440 320
640 / 320 160
320
160
Approach 3
Expansion Studies
Base
Deck
Canopy
Preferred Approach SIte Plan
Office
Sto.
Lab
Lab
T
Office
BEDROOMS T
T
COMMON KITCHEN
Kitchen
T Staff T
Exhibit
Café
Café Exhibit
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tech review structure
systems
assembly
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final
WILDERNESS CENTER AND TERRACES
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plans
Research Lab
MECH
MECH MECH
MECH
STORAGE
CAFE
EXHIBIT
MAP ROOM
LAB SPACE
WORK SPACE COMMON
SEASONAL WORK / STAGING AREA
SEASONAL EXHIBIT / LECTURE AREA
Wilderness Center
KITCHEN
Research Lab
Housing
seasonal use
Most activity in the park is dictated by a huge seasonal shift. The use of Outlier is no different. During the summer months, buildings open and program space spills out onto the surrounding terraces. Conversely, during the winter months, The structures seals up and usage is extremely limited. In this way the use of the facility reflects natural cycles.
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Wilderness Center - April 15 - September 15
Park open to public May 1 - Sept 1
Research Lab - April 1 - October 1*
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*Uses Entirely Renewable energy - Open beyond with non- renewable backup
Housing- March 15 - October 15*
*Uses Entirely Renewable energy - Open beyond with non- renewable backup
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Summer
Winter south trailhead
outdoor Cafe
north trailhead
Snowmobile Parking bus / park staff parking
covered observation area
covered drop off / waiting area expanded work space
partially open depending on demand
seasonal work / staging area
expansion of living space / kitchen
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Ramp to Research Lab and Housing
WIlderness Center Map Room and Main Hall
Housing Common Space
WILDERNESS ResearchCENTER Lab Collaborative AND TERRACES Space
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engaging the wilderness
The National Park Service is perennially looking for ways to encourage visitors to venture out into the wilderness without compromising the purity of this environment. The park service is hesitant to set permanent trails as these will create human thoroughfares and disrupt the surrounding ecology. This project proposes a transient network of trails and deployable hut structures to guide visitors as they enter the back country. Each season these paths can shift allowing former paths time to return to their natural state
Outlier Huts are designed to be air-dropped into place. Due to the pervasiveness of small aircraft in Alaska and the incredibly rugged terrain, these 100 s.f. structures are intended to be air lowered via helicopter as a refuge in some of the most inhospitable regions of the park. As they touch down they expand and deploy themselves on the ground. These structures are composed of a double layer of pvc fabric with pv film cells imbedded in a south facing side. This will provide sufficient power to provide illumination during the nightime, creating beacons in the wilderness.
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10 ” 10 ’-0
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7’-0”
Closed
Transition
Open
Heli drop
LED Illuminated Hash Marker
PV Film
Ground Plane Anchor Key Deployable Anchor
Trail Markers are designed to be stacked and easily transportable. A Ranger could stake out a new trail with markers every mile in a single trip. They are comprise fo a thin sheet of steel and have a keyed anchoring device so that they remain fixed in place until needed to set the next trail. They also have a small PV cell and illuminated hash marker to help guide wayward hikers in the evenings
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Path to Terraces
Research Lab and Housing In the Winter
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