Old road signs repurposed into “metal petals,” part of a newly built nature pavilion, are meant to resemble beauty found in the Lawrence prairie behind it, student Sarah Montes said.
Students in a University of Kansas architecture class, ARCH 509 Designbuild Studio, on Saturday celebrated the pavilion they designed and built at Prairie Park Nature Center. The structure was built out of all repurposed materials, with the exception of some steel parts.
Oftentimes when students were out at the center designing, local wildlife would curiously emerge for visits, according to Keith Van de Riet, interim chair of the school of architecture and design at KU.
“In this case, we had live animals at our design reviews, which is the first time we’ve ever had that,” Van de Riet said. “Snakes, turtles, possum, you know, everything came out, and that put such a nice touch on the whole project for students and myself.”
Montes, who’s among 11 student architects in the class who were present Saturday, said the experience was invaluable.
“We all put a lot of literal hard work, sweat and tears — and as far as I’m aware, no blood — but it’s such a unique opportunity to get to be a part of the design build as well as getting the firsthand experience of working with the community all the way through that to construction,” Montes said. “It’s just a way to connect back to what’s actually happening underneath here — all the learning, relaxing and celebrating.”
The road signs, which the class collected with the help of the Kansas Department of Transportation, underwent a process with sandblasting to create the pavilion’s shade. Several other community partners assisted with efforts to obtain materials and build the structure.
“We went dumpster diving,” Montes said. “We went to several cities and got to meet a lot of people to try to figure out how many road signs we needed, what size. And so that was a big part of this process.”
Additionally, Courtney Masterson, executive director of Native Lands Restoration Collaborative, has led restoration of the native prairie adjacent to the structure. Lawrence Parks and Recreation plans to bring that prairie grass closer to better merge the area.
Luis Ruiz, director of parks, recreation, arts and culture for the City of Lawrence, commended the collaboration that went into the project. He said city staff are committed to creating programming around the pavilion and providing upkeep to the area.
“I started here in May, and my first day of the job, they were already out here sweating profusely,” Ruiz said. “I’m amazed at what they’ve been able to achieve.”
The pavilion, which will not only serve as an outdoor classroom but also a community space, is the largest project the ARCH 509 Designbuild Studio class has undertaken, Van de Riet said.
Van de Riet said ideas for weddings, community movie nights and other events in the new space are already flowing.
The unveiling Saturday kicked off an afternoon of festivities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Prairie Park Nature Center. There were activities, craft stations, shaved ice and lots of animals during the free community event. See photos in this post.
Prairie Park Nature Center is located at 2730 Harper St. with hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. The park is always open to the public.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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