North Mountain Visitor Center

What was once merely a trailhead parking lot, now serves as a gateway to North Mountain Park, a vast and rugged desert preserve. The visitor center educates locals, visitors and school children about the significance of the preserve’s Sonoran Desert ecology. Some 20,000 visitors tour the center annually and have taken with them a new sense of understanding about the importance of open-space preservation within a bustling metropolis.

Prior to beginning design studies, specific research was conducted to ensure that the design of the facility would be responsive to its desert environment. Key contributors to the design team’s understanding of the site was a group of geologists from Arizona State University. Their explanation of the hidden forces that shape the terrain led directly to the form and materials of the center.

This particular site lies at the juncture of new and very old geologic events. The angle of uplift visible in the hillside that forms a backdrop to the center is about 10 to 12 degrees from vertical. The walls of the center that parallel this feature are canted outward at that angle to express the hidden dynamic of the landforms.

The geologist team also pointed out that zinc was a naturally occurring mineral in this hillside, inspiring the use of zinc cladding for the canted walls to further reference the site conditions. A collection of rocks and minerals from the site also inspired the building’s color palette. Ultimately, the exterior concrete block walls of the center were dyed to match the three most dominant colors in the landscape, allowing the structure to have a strong visual tie with its surroundings.