Snøhetta creates cloud-like children's museum in El Paso

Architecture studio Snøhetta has created a cloud-like form that reflects the purpose of the La Nube children's centre in El Paso, USA, while emphasising the transnational constituency of the Texas border city.

Snøhetta followed multiple metaphors relating to clouds when designing La Nube STEAM Discovery Center in Downtown El Paso, less than two kilometres from one of the primary crossings into Mexico.

Its roof, which has a series of rising and falling vaults and gables, and aluminium panelling were shaped in a way that resembles a cloud above the adjacent low-lying structures

"It has this cloud form that came from many, many different places," Snøhetta managing director Elaine Molinar, who is from El Paso, told Dezeen. 

One of these metaphorical resonances was the transnational nature of clouds and the fact that they float high above and without concern for international borders.

"[Clouds] don't adhere to cultural or political borders of any kind," said Molinar. "So it is very much about a shared sky."

"People have friends and family on both sides of the border, and they cross daily and go about their daily lives in a straightforward, harmonious way," she continued.

The cloud also resonances with the imagination, and the team wanted to imbue the building with its purpose – creating a playful learning environment for children, according to Molinar.

"We thought it should be playful and look like it is for young people – it's not a commercial building. It doesn't need to fit into the historical context that surrounds it in a literal way," said Molinar.

"It should reflect its purpose."

The team used fitted storefront glass for the base, which Molinar compared to mist, and aluminium panelling in three different forms for the facade, topped by a standing-seam metal vaulted roof.

Circular punched windows and rounded vertical glazing were applied across the facade, accounting for the intense desert sun. At night, an array of fibre optic lights spread over the facade are illuminated that at night resemble are meant to resemble a starry sky.

Above the main entrance a cantilevered deck with pointed edges holds a waterpark and looks out over a xeroscaped park, designed with sensitivity to the arid climate. Following this sensitivity, the water in the waterpark is recycled, with a window on the facade placed to let children see the water being filtered.

"Understanding water, playing with water – that's a pretty integral part of the experience for the visitor, especially for the younger kids," noted Molinar.

Inside, a grand staircase carries people up to the second level – there are four in total. The ground floor has a rectilinear plan, while the upper levels have more curved angles, as seen on the rounded edges of the aluminium-clad portions of the exterior.

Staircases crisscross the spaces through voids in the floors that create a series of mezzanines, that, with the glass banisters, create ample lines of sight through the space.

On the second and third levels, the exhibition spaces are stacked around the voids that connect to the  lobby on the ground level, while the enclosed spaces such as classrooms and administrative spaces were pushed to the back of the plan.

Level four has a partly covered terrace that opens up to the waterpark terrace below.

Throughout, colourful installations were installed in collaboration with exhibition designers Gyroscope. They include interactive playspaces and contraptions as well as a massive series of colourful shapes at the heart of the building that serve as climbing spaces for the children.

The crisscrossing stairways, walkways and mezzanines were designed to be complementary to these exhibitions, according to Molinar.

"We wanted the rigor and playfulness of the exhibits that were designed by the exhibit designer to be complementary to the architecture," she said.

"We wanted the architecture to be more than simply a container for the exhibits."

Finally, in the lobby, a screen displays an input feed from a museum across the border, serving to connect the children of the two communities. Non-hierarchal Spanish-English wayfinding was also included to emphasise the transnational context.

Border architecture is often contentious in the United States, where immigration and border security has become even more of a hot-button political issue.

Projects that gesture to connections across the border include a proposed international park in Texas by Overland Partners.

Further west, in San Diego, a recent design festival included an installation that was designed as a commentary on design and general collaboration across the border with Tijuana.

The photography is by Casey Dunn. 

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