Boone's Ridge Trailblazer's Hall

The building is a wildlife tourism destination and the wood was selected as the material best suited to accent the wildlife exhibits and displays, providing a natural and organic feel to the place and connecting the indoors to the outdoors.

Architecturally it was very challenging with the hybrid nature of the project. This required close collaboration between all the consultants to achieve the aesthetic goals of the project. Structurally, the coordination between concrete, steel, and wood trades was at an extremely high level relative to other projects with similar budgets. This required dozens of sections and details by both the structural engineer and architect to ensure fit up and minimize changes orders. Due to the high levels of front end detailing and coordination between all parties, the project experienced no change orders due to lack of coordination.

The main corridor, exhibit halls, and gift shop utilize exposed pre-fabricated glulam trusses. These trusses were fabricated and assembled in the shop and delivered to the jobsite in a single piece. Their erection only required them to be set in place and fastened to the supporting structure. At exhibit halls B and D, glulam beams extended over interior columns and passed through the building envelope and providing a cantilevered eave on the building with an exposed glulam appearance at the exterior and interior. The beams are visible from within the building through the windows, as well as from the exterior.