A Path Through the Wetlands is a landscape and architecture portfolio for a seedbank at Six Nations of the Grand River. 

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The driving force behind my site approach and building design is land reclamation. The proposal furthers the mission of Kayanase, a local indigenous ecological restoration organization “to create ecologically sustainable landscapes and to foster environmental awareness” by proposing to restore the site from an under-utilized cornfield to a natural wetland habitat. This landscape approach is in response to worsening flooding events and native habit loss in the local area. An elevated boardwalk is proposed to bridge the entire site and form the connection between architecture and landscape. 

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Much of the natural wetlands in Southern Ontario has been loss to agriculture. When wetlands are drained, it leaves behind fertile soil for agriculture. Zooming into Brant where Kayanase is situated, the area lost half of its wetlands within the span of two centuries, nearly all of which to agriculture. 

My approach started with restoring the existing farmland into a wetland. Given its size and prominence, it drove me to design a long elevated boardwalk that would bridge the site. The boardwalk would start at the existing main building and take you through the various ecosystems (woodland, meadow), connect to existing trails, folding and turning before arriving at the new building. The boardwalk folded up to meet the building, wrapping around itself to become architecture, before returning back to the ground and traversing through the wetland and heading towards the river.

When creating my form, I used a strip of paper to represent the boardwalk path and wrapped it around a box. The wrapping technique created distinct bands that became a way to organize the program. 

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When approaching the building, the first band encountered is the covered outdoor area, where one can stay, enter the building, or bypass it entirely and continue to the canoe launch. The second band is the double storey multipurpose space. Nestled into the heart of the building is the third band of seed vault programs. The offices and laboratories are spread across the second floor, and looks out onto the activities and workshops happening in the atrium from the balcony. The greenhouse is left fully glazed and uncovered by the wrapping boardwalk. The architecture that comes about is a result of figuring out how a path can become architecture.

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