Involving a shelter/outdoor classroom and trail to access it within designated wetlands, the purpose of this project was formally connecting the campus with Auke Lake, a moraine with sweeping views of the Mendenhall Glacier and Coast Mountains. The lake is emblematic to UAS, yet the school has no formal connection to it.

The genesis of the design was based on over two years of meetings with Tlingit elders of Aak’w Khwáan and UAS who graciously shared their stories. In particular, the story of Aak’w du Shaa resonated. Specific to Aak’w, it is the story of the Lady of the Lake. The poetry of her character, suggesting an interconnectedness of all things made tangible through the metaphor of her hair flowing out from the lake becoming the fabric of the world – the grasses of the shore, the branches of the trees – anchors the formal and spatial experience of the shelter.

Striving for greater inclusivity, we turned to Formline – the traditional Northwest Coast art form. Our effort sought to use Formline in a new way – as the basis for spatial expression. Design was further driven by the imperative that it respect the land. This manifested in a shelter, sculpted by Formline and rendered with natural materials – bent, laminated Douglas fir, cedar and weathering metal, and a site and trail design, much of it floating, minimizing wetland impacts, with the balance utilizing crushed rock forming a low-impact, permeable trail system.