In honor of the 10-year anniversary of Doors Open Baltimore, Baltimore Architecture Foundation is hosting a series of events leading up to Doors Open Baltimore, October 7-8. Join BAF in celebrating with a construction site tour at crowd-favorite DOB site, Cylburn Arboretum.

The Carriage House renovation and addition establishes the Nature Education Center and provides a long-term home for the offices and programming of Cylburn Arboretum Friends. Designed to be innovative, visually stimulating, beautiful, and functional, the NEC affords visitors opportunities to learn more about the natural environment, both wild and cultivated. Interpretive experiences encourage visitors to use all their senses to better observe the arboretum, to uncover what is hidden, and to understand how we are responsible for protecting the natural world we live in.

The contemporary addition houses the exhibits and a variety of potential functions. The simple gabled form with exposed wood structure evokes a canopy of branches with large expanses of glass behind a perforated metal screen to connect to the site and views. The exterior weathered steel cladding complements the iron deposits in the locally quarried gneiss of the Carriage House. A secondary rear addition, with a greyed wood siding, provides new restrooms and storage to support the function of the facility.

The tour will be led by Ann Powell of Ziger|Snead.

Image credit to Ziger|Snead.