For Immediate Release:

Quechee - The VINS Nature Center located in Quechee, Vermont, received the 2005 American Institute of Architects Northeast Pennsylvania Chapter Award of Excellence, the highest award given by the Chapter, at its annual awards dinner in late November. The jury of architects from the Maine AIA commented on the entry sequence and the carefully considered integration of the people spaces and the wildlife spaces: "The exhibit spaces are enhanced by the detailing, the use of simple materials and the consideration of geometry, landscape, and solar exposure."

Anonymous nominations were submitted for architectural projects completed after December 31, 2000, and there were no geographic limits for the nominated projects. The Award for Excellence is given "for the project that exemplifies the highest design quality at the Jury's discretion." Past recipients of the Award for Excellence include The Financial Center in Nilford, PA (2004, Architects: Bohlin Cysinski Jackson); The Atwater Commons at Middlebury College (2003, Architect: KieranTimberlake Associates, LLP); and the Williams Visual Arts Building at Lafayette College (2002, Architect: Joseph N. Biondo Architects / Werner A. Buckl Associates).

The 47 acre site shows the effects of both human and natural forces at work upon the landscape. The upper portion of the property is a former gravel quarry, which was also briefly used as a trailer park. This already flat and rather barren area has been regraded to provide visitor parking interspersed with planted swales for retention and treatment of storm runoff. The remainder of the site drops off in a series of wooded terraces to the river.

Visitors to the VINS Nature Center take a winding path from the gravel parking area to the 'hawk fly' clearing in the forest, around which the raptor exhibits have been built and where raptors are allowed to soar as part of the exhibit experience. The raptor exhibits, comprised of seventeen pole-framed enclosures grouped around the open space of the Hawk Fly are accessed through an entry pavilion containing an office, rest rooms and a small classroom. Panels at the entry pavilion begin to tell the story of VINS and continue all around the covered, arched pathway that connects the enclosures and from which the individual species are viewed, beginning with Snowy Owls and ending with Bald Eagles. Visitors see the birds from the relative darkness of the walkway, which is sheltered with board slats and mesh panels. The painted corrugated metal panel and open mesh roofs slope up away from the central clearing to views of the sun-lit forest that highlight the raptors perched on branches, trees, or nesting boxes. Exhibit panels explain where and how each bird was injured and the process of their rehabilitation. Only birds who could not recover completely enough to hunt and survive in the wild are kept on display as part of the exhibit. Visitors can also take hiking trails from the entry pavilion through the woods to a vernal pool, or investigate river edge ecology along the Ottauquechee.

AIA Northeastern Pennsylvania mission is to foster collegiality within the architectural community, while promoting the art and science or architecture. The VINS Nature Center opened in June 2004 and has welcomed 81,500 visitors since opening day. VINS mission is to protect our natural heritage through education and research designed to engage individuals and communities in the active care of their environment. The VINS Nature Center is open all year, with special winter hours until April 30 (10am to 4pm, Wednesday - Sunday). For more information about programs, visit www.vinsweb.org or call (802) 359-5000.

Link to photo: http://www.vinsweb.org/assets/jpg/VNNEnclosures.jpg
Photo caption:VINS Nature Center Enclosures

Link to photo: http://www.vinsweb.org/assets/jpg/VNNClassroom.jpg
Photo caption:VINS Nature Center Classroom

Website: http://www.vinsweb.org