Gulf Coast Eco Center Wins Trio of AIA Alabama Design Awards

The Gulf Coast Eco Center had lots to celebrate at the Oct. 18 AIA Alabama Design Awards. The Center took home three honors: The People’s Choice Award, a Divine Detail Award, and a Design Honor Award.

The jury noted that they were deeply moved by the project, which they said “transforms the idea of sustainability into an architectural and cultural experience. Organized as a collection of buildings forming a camp-like campus, the Center finds its poetry in the spaces between, those shaded courts and breezeways that become the true glue of the project.

“Here, nature is not something observed but something inhabited, making the entire place an immersive lesson in ecology and community. Though newly completed, it already feels timeless, an ensemble so grounded in its site that future additions will seem not appended, but inevitable.”

The Watershed team thanks the jury for this recognition. We also thank the Gulf Coast Center for Ecotourism & Sustainability, as well as our partners on the Eco Center design and construction team: ArchitectureWorks; Thompson Engineering; and TLC Engineering Solutions. This project is the result of a shared vision over a decade in the making – a vision in which the buildings and site work together to teach about the unique ecology and culture of the Gulf Coast, and offer visitors a memorable experience in nature.

Learn more about the project here.