Design team sees wood through the forest at Bronx Zoo.

Though a lot of recent projects have given architects the opportunity to integrate outdoor materials into great New York City buildings FXFOWLE Architects was recently given the opportunity to truly meld with the natural environment.

Construction is underway on the $25 million Jose E. Serrano Center for Global Conservation, a Wildlife Conservation Society Project on 4.5 acres at the Bronx Zoo due to be completed by next April.

"Creating this project we had to think of a lot of natural elements you don't necessarily thinking about when you are working downtown on the city grid," said Sylvia A. Smith, AIA, LEED, Principal-in-Charge of the Cultural/ Educational Studio at FX Fowle Architects, the exclusive team that worked on the project. "For many of the people on the team, this is the first time they have been working in a wooded natural setting."

Architects worked to blur the borders between the building and the natural environment. The buildings will seem to grow within the forest, setting the building with the length on axis conducive to south sun, and northern ponds, connected to two major rock outcroppings and wrapped together with an elaborate green roof and "weaving" the entire building through the trees. Inside the building, nature prevails. Each interior gathering space is paired with an exterior space and rock outcroppings, trees, and sandstone overhangs. Much of the wood used for the trim and veneers was taken from the trees felled on the site to create the space. An under floor air delivery system keeps ducts to a minimum.

"We are perfecting systems that for the most part we have used elsewhere, but in a much more sophisticated way. The way all the materials talk to each other is more sophisticated. All the systems work together," Smith said.

As a Wildlife Conservation Society project, the building of the 40,000 s/f, three-level Center for Global Conservation which architects expect will score a Gold LEED rating with the U.S Green Building Council helped Fox Fowle to take branding one step further and truly sculpt the building to conform to the centers mission to help support wildlife and wild lands across the world. It will include facilities for the expanded Wildlife Health Center which is renowned for its research in disease and will be committed in the next few years to addressing worldwide health threats including bird flu and ebola.

"I think this project will help raise the bar on sustainable construction. The fact that people from all over the world will be coming, and can gain a greater understanding of how holistic buildings can be further helps emphasize its benefits. WCS wants to make that message clear--the building is part of the story," said Sylvia A. Smith, AIA, LEED, Principal-in-Charge of the Cultural/ Educational Studio at FX Fowle Architects.

At the same time architects were challenged to work with a different canvas.

"They were working with a large green space which is rare in New York City and we didn't want to destroy that.

We had to fit the buildings within the space left near the mature trees, reducing our impact and ecological footprint as much as possible," said Sue Chin, director of planning and design for WCS.

Architects reused much of the sandstone from the Lion House--another FX Fowle project currently underway which is expected to be the first building land marked by the National Historic Preservation Commission to obtain gold LEED status. Additionally, trees they had to take out to clear space were sent to a mill and made into wood which was reused in the project

The atmosphere of the industry makes this a peak time for a project like this, Smith said. As architects come to terms with that aspect of the market, they build upon their experiences for the next project.

"We are constantly looking for new ways for buildings to consume less and regenerative methods of using energy. This project really allows us to do that."