Photo Credit: HGA
Located on a 160-acre site of forest, marsh, and restored prairie in St. Louis Park, Minn., the new Westwood Hills Nature Center, designed by HGA, includes indoor and outdoor spaces and programming for all ages and abilities.
Supporting the city’s Green Building Policy and Climate Action Plan, the zero-energy building serves as a teaching tool, demonstrating passive and active strategies for energy efficiency and stormwater management, while showcasing interpretive exhibits that highlight Minnesota’s landscape and wildlife habitat.
The nature center is a hidden gem within the city, part of a reclaimed landscape—a former golf course purchased in the middle of the last century for public recreation, then cultivated into a nature center with landscape features found throughout the state.