“The program for this building is to do research,” said Project Manager Meg Needle, AIA, LEED AP, who works for the Atlanta, GA, office of Lord, Aeck & Sargent. “The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a very bio-diverse, unique part of the world. Congruent with the goals of preserving its assets and understanding the natural habitat of its space, we wanted the building itself to also speak to those goals.”
Part of making sure the design for the building was corresponding with the program’s objective, was to have proper site selection. “The siting was worked around Native American and ancient archaeological sites, so there were many people helping to decide on the site,” Needle said. “When we designed the building, we wanted to make it the aesthetic of the region.”