CSULB UNDERGRADUATE THESIS PROJECT // ALTA STRATA
Project Description
Alta Strata is an educational facility designed for the programs and goals of the Inside the Outdoors organization and located in Thousand Oaks, CA. The center is an interface for students to learn inside before fully experience nature in the outdoors. The concept of the center is allow topography to define the interior spaces. The interior is inspired by the hill the existing structure sits upon. Exhibits throughout the center depict California landscape.
Why Alta Strata?
Within the past 25 years, children have lost direct experiences with nature. Participation in outdoor activities has decreased and outdoor education has slowly been left out of education budgets. Half as much time is spent outdoors than did 20 years ago. Children are growing up in urban environments with little to zero exposure to wilderness, or even, green space. To understand our impact on nature, one must experience it’s fragility.
Video Walk Through
Physical Model
Site
Interior Views
Lobby and Front Desk
Mountains - the layers of the Earth
Desert - horizontal landscape, layers and colors of the desert
Northern Coast - forest canopy, Sequoia, Pine
Southern Coast - Waves, dunes, how the water meets the land
Mountains Exhibit - Signage and display area
Teaching Amphitheater
Southern Coast - Nature Park Entrance