BRUCE ROADCAP ARCHITECTURE
environmentally responsive, technologically modern, materially honest design
STAGECOACH COMPRESSOR STATION, OWEGO, NEW YORK - 2003
AIA Honor Award and Best of Show 2002
Published: Celebrate Architecture - 2002
Published: AIArchitect - June 2002
The Stagecoach Natural Gas Compressor Station located in the rural hills of upstate New York is a showplace of modern industrial machinery that grows harmoniously out of the native landscape. The program called for a technologically modern, environmentally “green” facility with a low visibility and “good neighbor” relationship within the surrounding community.
Exterior building walls of local blue stone rise from rolling berms seeded with wild native grasses reflecting the surrounding hillsides. Wild grasses also cover the entire building roof and remaining grounds. Native trees are randomly clustered around the site periphery and allowed to reseed. Grass paver roads and parking areas are defined with natural boulders and minimal lighting bollards.
A break in the exterior façade identifies the main entry into the complex with an exposed steel stairway and a detached metal canopy. Once inside the work yard of the facility, the exterior walls are skinned in brushed aluminum panels with integrated louvers for ventilation and vast expanses of glazing. The introverted plan provides acoustic and visual containment of heavy industrial equipment. Mullionless glazing defines the upper Control Center and provides uninterrupted views of the interior equipment yard, while "storefront" glazing wraps the equipment halls and allows a visual display of the impressive machinery within.
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Parking / Entry
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Main Entry
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Control Center / Entry
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Compressor Hall
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Compressor Hall
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Control Center / Entry
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Compressor Hall
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Piping Hall
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Glass Skin
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