COOP
Fall 2019 | Houston Audubon Society | High Island TX
Project Team: Natalie Avellar, Luis Bosquez, Marcella Pastrano, Christian Pena, Draven Pointer, Makayla Ponce, Trenton Sexton, McKenzie Sosa, Iuliia Tambovtseva, Valentina Tambovtseva, Emrehan Tuna, Ruofeng You
Advanced design students are working with Houston Audubon this semester at their Coastal Operations (COOP) site on High Island. It’s a 30 minute drive east for Galveston and is known for the remarkable amount of migratory birds it attracts, especially in the spring when they return from South America, exhausted from their unbroken journey over the Gulf of Mexico. The island is heavily wooded offering cover and it has fresh water needed for the birds.
Students have been asked to design & build the first new facility at the COOP development for what will be a temporary home for researchers, guests and refuge volunteers. COOP improvements include a new bird observation habitat, nursery, a refurbished warehouse and bunkhouses. It also has an area for visitor’s R/V campers who plan to spend several days to weeks. The stakeholder has asked the GCDL students to design and build an outdoor living room and accompanying fire circle where guests and staff can gather.
The project sits close to an old live oak that offers full shade from mid-afternoon until sunset. The living room comfortably fits 12 guests and is screened to protect from mosquitoes.
On their first field trip to High Island, students contributed their time planting native grasses in the new bird observation habitat. That studio work was coupled with a seminar challenging them to consider their ethical role as designers—and citizens—regarding global warming and its impact on the Texas gulf coast. Acting on this through their design/build project, part of their mission was to find ways in which to encourage environmental stewardship, so that their efforts would support the Gulf Seawatch and Land Conservation work of Houston Audubon.