DuPont Environmental Education Center

Work

DuPont Environmental Education Center

Close to Nature: Beacon allows visitors to connect with Delaware’s marshlands

The four-level DuPont Environmental Education Center sits on the edge of the Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge, 212 acres of freshwater tidal marshland next to the Christina River. The year-round visitor center overlooks the landscape and provides educational events on the surrounding wetlands and wildlife habitat.

The education center was part of Riverfront Development Corporation’s program to create economic vitality, enhance the environment, and promote public access to the refuge. Elevated above the marshlands, the building blends with the surrounding natural systems, tidal river, and wetlands, as well as infrastructural elements, an adjacent railway, high voltage power lines, and multiple utility rights of way.

Location:

Wilmington, Delaware

Square Feet:

9,400

Stories:

Service:

Structural

Industries:

Sports

Primary Material:

Concrete, Masonry, Wood

Project Highlights

DCI+MacINTOSH Engineers designed the visitor’s center timber framing and pedestrian bridge.
A 280 ft x 12 ft pedestrian bridge bypasses the nearby train tracks and provides access to the Jack Markell Bike & Hike Trail.
Engineers detailed framing which utilized connections that were both structurally efficient and aesthetically appealing.
The team designed the building’s upper-level system of heavy timber beam and girders.

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Robert MacIntosh

Principal, Wilmington

PE

I love to solve problems – Sudoku puzzles, crosswords, cryptograms, brain teasers. Then, there’s combining problem solving with math, drawings and construction that is our trade by nature. By never settling for ‘cookie cutter’ solutions, but instead developing tailored engineering designs specific to each project… well, that makes for a very rewarding career.”

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