鹅溪安全休息区丨美国

VJAA

National AIA Firm Award Recipient

GOOSE CREEK SAFETY REST AREA

Location:

Northern Minnesota

The Goose Creek Safety Rest Area is located on Interstate 35 between the Twin Cities and Duluth, Minnesota. The facility is at the gateway to Upper Minnesota’s Arrowhead Region and the North Shore of Lake Superior. The new rest stop is sited on the edge of a wooded area overlooking Goose Creek with picturesque views of wetlands and meadows in the distance. The original rest stop was designed in the 1960s as a series of circular forms distributed along a bluff. The landscape is richly foliated and new plantings and pollinator beds provide habitat for a variety of animals, birds and insects.

To preserve the memory of the site and the role of the original structures as a wayfinding device, the redesign of the structures on the site maintained the round formal elements and organic patterns of trails and adapted them to new programs and uses. This included the main safety rest area building, picnic pavilions, trails and seating and a support building. In keeping with the intent of the original park facility, the architectural design concept weaves a series of curved circulation paths into the natural landscape. The most dramatic views are experienced from within the building over-looking the creek and from an elevated walkway that circles the exterior of the building providing an unexpected vantage point. A children’s play area is integrated with a circular trellised shading canopy, site seating that connect to the larger site and more remote picnic areas.