On the Boards: Seney National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center and Headquarters

The new visitor center and headquarters building for Seney National Wildlife Refuge will replace the existing visitor center and administration offices at this remote site in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A refuge with a rich cultural history and landscape, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) began to re-establish Seney’s landscape in 1935 and today, the refuge’s 95,238 acres continue to evolve into the forest, wetlands, and river environment it once was — creating a draw for visitors to see the vast diversity of refuge’s habitats and wildlife.

The overall visitor center project encompassed the design of access roads, parking areas, sidewalks, hiking trail enhancements, wildlife observation platforms, an on-site potable well, sewage collection and treatment systems, connections to public utilities, on-site renewable energy systems, stormwater management, and landscape architecture to tie all these things together.

“Landscape architects look holistically at their projects to create context-specific design solutions,” said Angela Hansen, a landscape architect with Cushing Terrell. “The opportunity found in nature to create the bridge between the built and natural environment is key to helping wildlife refuges be successful in telling their unique story of place.”

For Seney, and other visitor centers at National Wildlife Refuges, the goal is to bring people into these spaces while educating them about the natural habitats the USFWS helps to restore. “We work closely with clients to prioritize their restoration work while carefully crafting public access and education into the design solutions for the refuge,” added Angela. “Through a robust site analysis, we approach design solutions using universal design standards, creative best practices for infrastructure improvements, and strong consideration for materials that are durable yet blend naturally into these unique settings.”

The USFWS has specific standards meant to ensure buildings blend in with the surrounding landscape, and the benefit of Cushing Terrell’s multidisciplinary team is that the landscape architects work hand-in-hand with the other disciplines influencing the project. For Seney, the landscape architects worked closely with the architects to help them understand how to envision the building shape and materials to reflect the natural environment. For example, the building itself incorporates a particular stone pattern and color picked up from the landscape, which also is mirrored in the foundations, retaining walls, overlooks, and even signage.

The layering of these elements sets the stage for clients to then build on the design solutions and take a deep dive into telling the landscape narrative of refuges like Seney.