The Ford Calumet Environmental Center (FCEC), serving as a gateway to Chicago’s Big Marsh Park in the Calumet City suburb, utilizes nail-laminated timber (NLT), glulam, Corten and weathered steel, to create a building exemplifying the future of sustainable design.
Designed by the architect, Vario Dewalt Train, spanning 838 m2 (9,300 sf), the facility is crafted for educational and park-related purposes. It encompasses a permanent exhibit showcasing the site and its surroundings, classrooms, offices, a bike repair area, restrooms, and storage spaces.
The building’s construction materials align with its mission. Weathered steel cladding—which will develop a protective patina of rust over time—is reminiscent of the area’s steel mill past. It is utilized with exposed NLT on the interior, along with glue-laminated (glulam) columns and beams. Two expansive rooftop light monitors, adorned in exposed NLT, extend over the entrance, adding natural light to the interior double-height exhibition area.
Upon entering, visitors are immersed in the Calumet Region’s narrative and the history of Big Marsh Park. Steel frames house information on wood and acrylic panels, alongside preserved taxidermy and custom wall murals. With the understanding that the building would accommodate a diverse range of events and activities, the interiors were designed with flexibility in mind. All displays are mounted on casters, enabling easy relocation to a storage room. On the opposite side, retractable walls divide or open the classroom space.
Originally a haven for nature with its wetlands, the Calumet Region underwent a transformation due to more than a century of industrialization. Prior to the 1970s, environmental regulations were nearly absent, resulting in changes to Big Marsh Park, which is now the Chicago Park District’s most extensive restoration endeavor. This once-natural area suffered damage from slag originating from nearby steel mills.
Today, Big Marsh Park boasts an 18.2-ha (45-acre) bike park and a network of walking trails, offering eco-recreational prospects on the Southeast Side of Chicago. Welcoming visitors at the park’s entrance, the FCEC serves as a gateway and as a central hub. Its purpose is to educate visitors about the region’s history and set a precedent for a sustainable future throughout the Calumet Region.
The Chicago Parks District aims to balance openness with security, even when park staff is off-site. In response, the center incorporates 0.93-m2 (10-sf) floor-to-ceiling windows facing the park. To secure the facility when closed, sizable operable hydraulic hangar doors, constructed from steel, hinge downward to align with the exterior wall. Perforated metal screens on the doors maintain visibility to the interior. Due to the marsh’s significance for migratory birds, bird-friendliness was an important consideration. When raised, the hangar doors form a canopy over the fritted glass, providing shade and preventing birds from mistaking the reflected landscape in the windows for open space.
The FCEC employs an innovative wastewater wetlands system, the first of its kind in Chicago and among the pioneering examples in Illinois. Drawing inspiration from the park itself, the system mimics natural processes occurring in the marsh to generate clean water that is reintroduced to the site via a leach field. Plants and organisms in the system act as filters for the building’s blackwater and avoid overloading the city’s sewer system.
The collaborators on the project were:
Experiential designer, Media-Objectives; general contractor, Chicago Commercial Construction; civil engineer, Primera Engineers; structural engineer, Matrix Engineering; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineer, dbHMS; landscape architect, Jacobs Ryan Associates; and environmental consultants, Tetra Tech, and Biohabitats.
